ld take some time to wear off.

In order to gain admission at all, Stuart was compelled to give some
hint as to his reasons for wishing to see the consul, and, as he did not
wish to divulge anything of importance to the clerk, his explanation
sounded as extravagant as it was vague. His father's name would have
helped him, but Stuart did not feel justified in using it. For all he
knew, his father might have reasons for not wishing to be known as
conducting any such investigations. This compulsion of reserve confused
the lad, and it was not surprising that the clerk went into the
vice-consul's office with the remark:

"There's a ragged boy out here, who passes for white, with some
wild-eyed story he says he has to tell you."

"I suppose I've got to see him," said the harassed official. "Send him
in!"

This introduction naturally prejudiced the vice-consul against his
visitor, and Stuart's appearance did not call for confidence. Moreover,
the boy's manner was against him. He was excited and resentful over his
brusque treatment by the clerk. Boy-like, he exaggerated his own
importance. He was bursting with his subject.

In his embarrassed eagerness to capture the vice-consul's attention and
to offset the unhappy first impression of his appearance, Stuart blurted
out an incoherent story about secret meetings, and buried treasure and
conspiracy, and plots in Haiti, all mixed together. His patriotic
utterances, though absolutely sincere, rang with a note of insincerity
to an official to whom the letters "U. S." were not the "open sesame" of
liberty, but endless repetitions of his daily routine.

"What wild-cat yarn is this!" came the interrupting remark.

Stuart stopped, hesitated and looked bewildered. It had not occurred to
him that the consular official would not be as excited as himself. He
spluttered exclamations.

"There's a Haitian, and a Cuban, and an Englishman in a conspiracy
against the United States! And they meet in a haunted citadel! And one
said I was to kill the other! And I got away in a parachute. And they're
going to do something, revolution, I believe, and----"

Undoubtedly, if the vice-consul had been willing to listen, and patient
enough to calm the boy's excitement and unravel the story, its value
would have been apparent. But his skeptical manner only threw Stuart
more off his balance. The vice-consul was, by temperament, a man of
routine, an efficient official but lacking in imagination. Besi