to renew the negotiations instead of coming
himself.

All doubts on this and every other point were set
at rest one fine morning by the arrival of a sunburned
gentleman with gray side-whiskers, a man I had not
seen for years.

"Why, Lawton!" I cried, grasping his hand.
"This is a surprise. Came by the Tampico, did you?
Oh, but I am glad to see you! Here, draw up a chair.
But stop--not a word until I ask you some questions
about that lighthouse."

The genial Scotchman broke out into a loud
laugh.

"Don't laugh! Listen!" I said to him. "Tell
me, why didn't Garlicho go on with the work, and
what do you know about Onativia?"

Lawton leaned back in his chair and closed one eye
in merriment.

"Garlicho did not go on with the work, my dear
friend, because he was breaking stone in the streets
of San Juan with a ball and chain around his ankle.
When Paramba came back to power he was tried for
high treason and condemned to be shot. He saved
his neck by turning over the lighthouse papers to