was the embodied triumph of the best elements in the State. These were facts,
and, unless facts meant nothing, Sir John argued to himself, such a man's
influence must be real, and his personal action would produce the conciliatory
effect he required. He had succeeded in arranging the trip with the help of a
very clever advocate, who was known in Sta. Marta as the agent of the Gould
silver mine, the biggest thing in Sulaco, and even in the whole Republic. It was
indeed a fabulously rich mine. Its so-called agent, evidently a man of culture
and ability, seemed, without official position, to possess an extraordinary
influence in the highest Government spheres. He was able to assure Sir John that
the President-Dictator would make the journey. He regretted, however, in the
course of the same conversation, that General Montero insisted upon going, too.
    General Montero, whom the beginning of the struggle had found an obscure
army captain employed on the wild eastern frontier of the State, had thrown in
his lot with the Ribiera party at a moment when special circumstances had given
that small adhesion a fortuitous importance. The fortunes of war served him
marvellously, and the victory of Rio Seco (after a day of desperate fighting)
put a seal to his success. At the end he emerged General, Minister of War, and
the military head of the Blanco party, although there was nothing aristocratic
in his descent. Indeed, it was said that he and his brother, orphans, had been
brought up by the munificence of a famous European traveller, in whose service
their father had lost his life. Another story was that their father had been
nothing but a charcoal burner in the woods, and their mother a baptised Indian
woman from the far interior.
    However that might be, the Costaguana Press was in the habit of styling
Montero's forest march from his commandancia to join the Blanco forces at the
beginning of the troubles, the most heroic military exploit of modern times.
About the same time, too, his brother had turned up from Europe, where he had
gone apparently as secretary to a consul. Having, however, collected a small
band of outlaws, he showed some talent as guerilla chief and had been rewarded
at the pacification by the post of Military Commandant of the capital.
    The Minister of War, then, accompanied the Dictator. The board of the O.S.N.
Company, working hand-in-hand with the railway people for the good of the
Republic, had on this important occasion instructed Captain Mitchell to put