sir, I shall lose the whole venture."

The secret was out. The old fool had been sending flour to Rio, knowing
as little of the state of affairs there as a child.

"And do you really mean, sir," continued the old man, "that there is an
embargo in force in Monte Video?"

"Certainly, sir; but I'm very sorry for it."

"Sorry for it! of course you are;--and that all foreigners are sent out
of Buenos Ayres?"

"Undoubtedly, sir. I wish--"

"Who does not wish so? Why, sir, my corresponding friends there are half
across the sea by this time. I wish Rosas was in ---- and that the
Indians have risen near Maranham?"

"Undoubtedly, sir."

"Undoubtedly! I tell you, sir, I have two vessels waiting for cargoes of
India-rubbers there, under a blunder-headed captain, who will do nothing
he has not been bidden to,--obey his orders if he breaks his owners. You
smile, sir? Why, I should have made thirty thousand dollars this winter,
sir, by my India-rubbers, if we had not had this devilish mild, open
weather, you and Miss Julia there have been praising so. But next winter
must be a severe one, and with those India-rubbers I should have
made--But now those Indians,--pshaw! And a revolution in Chili?"

"Yes, sir."

"No trade there! And in Venezuela?"

"Yes, sir."

"Yes, sir; yes, sir; yes, sir; yes, sir! Sir, I am ruined. Say 'Yes,
sir,' to that. I have thirteen vessels at this moment in the South
American trade, sir; say 'Yes, sir,' to that. Half of them will be
taken by the piratical scoundrels; say 'Yes, sir,' to that. Their
insurance will not cover them; say 'Yes, sir,' to that. The other half
will forfeit their cargoes, or sell them for next to nothing; say 'Yes,
sir,' to that. I tell you I am a ruined man, and I wish the South
America, and your daily Argus, and you--"

Here the old gentleman's old-school breeding got the better of his rage,
and he sank down in his arm-chair, and, bursting into tears, said:
"Excuse me, sir,--excuse me, sir,--I am too warm."

We all sat for a few moments in silence, but then I took my share of the
conversation. I wish you could have seen the old man's face light up
little by little, as I showed him that to a person who understood the
politics and condition of the mercurial country with which he had
ignorantly attempted to trade, his condition was not near so bad as he
thought it; that though one port was blockaded, another was opened; that
though one revolution thwarted him, a few weeks