?"

General Bambos nodded to the Captain to answer.

"Forty-two _pesos_."

"Ah-um!" mused the American, who picked up a pencil from the table and
made a few figures on a blotting pad; "the present value of a _peso_
is twenty-eight cents. That would make the total damage eleven dollars
and seventy-six cents in the currency of my country. Does President
Yozarro refuse to pay this claim?"

"He not only refuses to pay the just demand," thundered the President,
"but accompanies his refusal with an unpardonable insult."

"No one can deny that you have cause for indignation, but knowing how
deeply you have the good of your people and country at heart, General,
I would ask whether there is not some way of settling the dispute
without going to war."

"Explain yourself," said the President severely, for, having set his
heart on having war, he did not mean to be bluffed out of it.

"Why not refer the dispute to The Hague Tribunal of Arbitration?"

"What good could come from that?"

"Suppose it decided in your favor and ordered General Yozarro to pay
the claim?"

"That wouldn't wipe out the insult."

"But, if he was ordered to apologize?"

"He wouldn't do it."

"How do you know he wouldn't?"

"Don't I know the man better than The Hague Tribunal or anyone else
knows him?"

"If you have so clear a case against President Yozarro, the decision
is sure to be in your favor."

"You forget, Sir, that The Hague has insulted the Republic of
Zalapata through its President."

"I was not aware of that."

"When the members assembled a short time ago, I sent a representative
with a request that he be permitted to act as one of them. Do you know
what reply was made? They said they had never heard of the Republic of
Zalapata."

"In other words, they told you to make a reputation first. Quite
natural, under the circumstances. Nevertheless, I would beg to insist
that the proper course is to refer this quarrel to The Hague Tribunal,
unless the President of the United States can be induced to act as
arbitrator. More than likely he will settle the wrangle by paying the
claim out of his own pocket."

"You mistake your man!" roared General Bambos; "you fail to see that
that would relieve General Yozarro from punishment for his insults and
outrages against Zalapata. It would encourage him to continue his
infamous course, since our powerful neighbor on the north would
relieve him from all penalty. Moreover, it would display a fat