New York (N.Y.) -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Short stories
“‘Monseer,’ says I—for I judged him to be a kind of Frenchman—‘receive
my most exasperated assurances that your secret is safe with James
Clancy. Furthermore, I will go so far as to remark, Veev la
Liberty—veev it good and strong. Whenever you hear of a Clancy
obstructin’ the abolishment of existin’ governments you may notify me
by return mail.’
“‘The señor is good,’ says the dark, fat man, smilin’ under his black
mustache. ‘Wish you to come aboard my ship and drink of wine a glass.’
“Bein’ a Clancy, in two minutes me and the foreigner man were seated at
a table in the cabin of the steamer, with a bottle between us. I could
hear the heavy boxes bein’ dumped into the hold. I judged that cargo
must consist of at least 2,000 Winchesters. Me and the brown man drank
the bottle of stuff, and he called the steward to bring another. When
you amalgamate a Clancy with the contents of a bottle you practically
instigate secession. I had heard a good deal about these revolutions in
them tropical localities, and I begun to want a hand in it.
“‘You goin’ to stir things up in your country, ain’t you, monseer?’
says I, with a wink to let him know I was on.
“‘Yes, yes,’ said the little man, pounding his fist on the table. ‘A
change of the greatest will occur. Too long have the people been
oppressed with the promises and the never-to-happen things to become.
The great work it shall be carry on. Yes. Our forces shall in the
capital city strike of the soonest. _Carrambos!_’
“‘_Carrambos_ is the word,’ says I, beginning to invest myself with
enthusiasm and more wine, ‘likewise veeva, as I said before. May the
shamrock of old—I mean the banana-vine or the pie-plant, or whatever
the imperial emblem may be of your down-trodden country, wave forever.’
“‘A thousand thank-yous,’ says the round man, ‘for your emission of
amicable utterances. What our cause needs of the very most is mans who
will the work do, to lift it along. Oh, for one thousands strong, good
mans to aid the General De Vega that he shall to his country bring
those success and glory! It is hard—oh, so hard to find good mans to
help in the work.’
“‘Monseer,’ says I, leanin’ over the table and graspin’ his hand, ‘I
don’t know where your country is, but me heart bleeds for it. The heart
of a Clancy was never deaf to the sight of an oppressed people. The
family is filibusterers by birth, and foreigners by trade. If you can
use James Clancy’s arms and his blood in denudin’ your shores of the
tyrant’s yoke they’re yours to command.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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