As the cool air of the river fanned his face, he rubbed his cheek vigorously. "Wish the greasy blighter hadn't kissed me," he soliloquized, as he gave a backward glance at the smug features of Don Ramon Diaz. CHAPTER XXXII The Fence Impregnable During the next fortnight, events moved rapidly. The new Government of Rioguay expressed its willingness to submit at discretion to the British arms and craved the clemency of the victors. The terms were similar to those offered to San Antonio. All fortified posts in the republic were to be dismantled, together with armed ships-of-war and those of the flying-boats that had previously escaped capture. An indemnity of £6,000,000, payable either in negotiable bonds or in natural products of the republic, was demanded, to be delivered in instalments extending over five years. Until the indemnity was paid, a naval force was to remain at San Antonio, its upkeep being guaranteed by the Rioguayan Government. Almost at the same time that the treaty was signed, Great Britain was able to mediate between the Associated Republic and the Empire of Hondo. It was a ticklish business--calming down the fierce little Asiatics without ruffling their _amour-propre_. They had beaten the Associated Republic. The latter's navy was practically wiped out, and the teeming millions of the Union were absolutely helpless. They could raise a huge army, but to what purpose? Possessing sea-power, Hondo, separated from her foe by the width of the Pacific, could and did defy the armed might of her antagonist. Vainly the Associated Republic proposed arbitration, but arbitration is no good when an enemy is hammering, and hammering very forcibly, at one's gate. And the Asiatics still remembered with bitterness that the fruits of victory in times past had been taken from them by certain European Powers whom they could now ignore with impunity. Even had she wished, Great Britain could not have intervened with armed force against Hondo on behalf of the Associated Republic. For one thing, she had not a sufficient fleet to operate with any likelihood of success in the distant Pacific. For another, Great Britain had no desire to make war, either on Hondo or any other nation, without good and just cause; and in the present instance there was none. Now that the war clouds had dispersed, Lieutenant Peter Corbold began to ponder over his position. Taken back into the Royal Navy owing to the Rioguayan war, he was now faced with the possibility of having to "go on the beach" once more. It was not for pecuniary reasons that the prospect worried him. Apart from his share in the award by the Government for the "Strong anti-aircraft ray apparatus", he knew that, if necessity arose, he could exploit the Rioguayan diamond mine that Uncle Brian and he had discovered.