fellow and a reputed bully, while the other is a plucky youngster but
one-half his opponent's size--invariably goes with the smaller and
weaker combatant, so it is even amongst nations. Thus, early in the past
century, when the tiny States of Spanish America were keenly struggling
with the mother-country in their endeavour to cast off the Spanish yoke,
practically the whole world wished them the success which eventually
crowned their efforts.

It seems ridiculous to call them "tiny" States when the smallest of
those of which we are treating--the Republics of _Central_
America--could find room for all the counties of Wales; while, if we
were able to set down the whole of England upon the largest, we should
find not only that it fitted in comfortably, but that the foreign State
would yet have a goodly slice of land to spare--sufficient, at any rate,
to accommodate three or four cities of the size of London. I call them
tiny, therefore, solely because they are such when compared with other
countries on the American Continent, such as Canada, the United States,
and Brazil.

During the years 1820 and 1821 a very keen spirit of independence was
manifested in those regions, and by 1823 the last link of the rusty
chain which had bound those colonies to Spain was snapped altogether
beyond repair; and then, for a time, Central America became part of the
State of Mexico. One by one, however, the colonies withdrew, and in 1824
the independent Republic of Central America was formed, which, in its
turn, was dissolved; and ever since the States have been continually at
war--either with their neighbours or amongst themselves.

It is these incessant wars and revolutions which have given the country
its present rather bad name, and have convinced those who happened to
sympathise with the inhabitants when they were fighting for their
independence that, after all, they had fared better even under the lame
government of Spain than they have done under their own.

The present-day native of Central America can scarcely be said to be an
improvement on the inhabitant of 1824. He still retains the fire and ire
of the Spaniard in his blood--in fact, he is nothing short of an
unfortunate mixture of the fiery Spaniard and the extremely restless
Indian. Small wonder, then, that "peace" is quite a luxury in those
parts, and that revolutions break out periodically.

In Nicaragua--the country with which my tale is concerned--this is
especially th