Therefore, soon after my prompt release from the Brooklyn Navy Yard, just before Christmas in 1893, after my outrageous treatment at the hands of Captain Picking and the Navy Department, I engaged with the Maxim Powder & Torpedo Company to travel through Central and South America and the West Indies and sell munitions of war to governments, or to any one who had the necessary cash or could furnish reasonable security. But before setting forth I organized, with several of my friends, the International Export & Trading Company. Through this concern it was proposed to arm and finance any promising revolution I might encounter whose leaders would guarantee, in the event of success, to pay us anywhere from three to ten times the amount of money we had actually invested in the enterprise, and give us valuable concessions besides. No get-rich-quick scheme that was ever devised equals the financing of a revolution, when it succeeds and is honestly managed. The experience tables of the turbid tropics prove that the chances are somewhat against the success of these outbursts of predatory patriotism, but the prospects of failure are amply discounted by the exorbitant terms of the contract; the great trouble is that they generally are in charge of men who have no more respect for a written agreement than for a moral obligation. The man who bets at random on the honesty of revolutionary leaders in Latin America, no matter how sincere their promises nor what odds they offer, stands a much better chance of winning from a faro game operated with a two-card box, but as I had a personal acquaintance with or knowledge of most of the disturbing elements in those days, and knew how far they could ordinarily be trusted, I thought I might run across one or two with whom it would be safe to do business. In case any such ambitious ones were found I intended to become an active participant in the proceedings, as a sort of guarantee of good faith and to increase my interest in them.