iment from her friends--bore exclusively upon the subject.

Paranoya had, it appeared, existed fairly peacefully for centuries under
the rule of the Alejandro dynasty. Then, in the reign of Alejandro the
Thirteenth, disaffection had begun to spread, culminating in the Infamy
of 1905, which, Roland had at last discovered, was nothing less than the
abolition of the monarchy and the installation of a republic.

Since 1905 the one thing for which they had lived, besides the
caoutchouc, was to see the monarchy restored and their beloved Alejandro
the Thirteenth back on his throne. Their efforts toward this end
had been untiring, and were at last showing signs of bearing fruit.
Paranoya, Maraquita assured Roland, was honeycombed with intrigue. The
army was disaffected, the people anxious for a return to the old order
of things.

A more propitious moment for striking the decisive blow was never likely
to arrive. The question was purely one of funds.

At the mention of the word "funds," Roland, who had become thoroughly
bored with the lecture on Paranoyan history, sat up and took notice.
He had an instinctive feeling that he was about to be called upon for
a subscription to the cause of the distressful country's freedom.
Especially by Bombito.

He was right. A moment later Maraquita began to make a speech.

She spoke in Paranoyan, and Roland could not follow her, but he gathered
that it somehow had reference to himself.

As, at the end of it, the entire company rose to their feet and extended
their glasses toward him with a mighty shout, he assumed that Maraquita
had been proposing his health.

"They say 'To the liberator of Paranoya!'" kindly translated the
Peerless One. "You must excuse," said Maraquita tolerantly, as a bevy
of patriots surrounded Roland and kissed him on the cheek. "They are so
grateful to the savior of our country. I myself would kiss you, were it
not that I have sworn that no man's lips shall touch mine till the royal
standard floats once more above the palace of Paranoya. But that will be
soon, very soon," she went on. "With you on our side we can not fail."

What did the woman mean? Roland asked himself wildly. Did she labor
under the distressing delusion that he proposed to shed his blood on
behalf of a deposed monarch to whom he had never been introduced?

Maraquita's next remarks made the matter clear.

"I have told them," she said, "that you love me, that you are willing
to risk everythin