The Man Inside — Context and Discussion

Why was he an outcast? For him alone there were no childhood and no home; his thinking life began as a full-grown man. Was there to be no awakening?

In a few moments the _mozo_ returned, and placed a glass and bottle of liquor before him. The stranger hastily filled and drank. As the stimulant crept through his veins, a feeling of physical contentment replaced all other sensations, and, lighting a cigar, he was slowly sinking once more into reverie when from behind the partition he heard a voice:

The words, spoken clearly in English, startled him from his abstraction, and he glanced through the vine and, himself unseen, saw two men sitting at a table. They had apparently entered the patio from another part of the house.

"Quite right, I approve your caution." The words were also in English, but with a strong foreign accent, and the speaker, a man of middle age and fine physique, laid some papers on the table before them. "Where is the Senator this evening?"

"He accompanied several members of the Congressional party to inspect the plant of the Quartermaster and Subsistence Departments, and on his return will dine with Major Reynolds and several other officers at the hotel."

"I see." The foreigner drummed impatiently on the table. "You were late in keeping your appointment."

"I had the devil's own time in finding this dive," returned the younger man, and, as he moved his chair half around, the inquisitive stranger, peeping through the leaves of the vine, obtained a view of the speaker's boyish face. The weak mouth was partly hidden by a short black mustache; the features were well cut, and by some would have been called handsome.

The older man gave vent to a half-smothered chuckle. "Goethals and Gorgas have reformed the Canal Zone, and the local government is trying to do the same with Panama, but, _por Dios_, drinking and gambling continue _unnoticed_ in Colon," he said, dryly. "I find a room in this house most convenient during my short visits here. No '_gringo_'," he sneered, "dare show his face in this room."

The stranger settled down in his chair, which was wedged into the corner formed by the wall of the room and the wood and glass partition, until his head was screened from the two speakers by the thick foliage of the vine. The Spaniard and the Jamaican, who had occupied the table nearest him, had gone, and the few men who still lingered over their wine at the farther end of the room paid no attention to him. He could listen without being observed.

"So you believe the people of Panama are already dissatisfied with their president?" inquired the younger man, whom the listener judged to be an American.

"I do," came the firm reply. "And but for the presence of _los tiranos del norte_ here there would have been already a _pronunciamiento_."

"Then you think the time is ripe for carrying out your scheme?"

His companion nodded without speaking, and tugged at his gray imperial. "If it is done at all it must be soon," he said, finally. "American rule is not too popular here, and now is the time to act. And I pray God I shall be spared to see the fruits of the _labor de los cochinos sucios_ reaped by another nation," he spoke with intense bitterness.

"And that nation?" questioned the other.

"Is better left unmentioned."

"You do not love my countrymen," exclaimed the American, as he drew out his cigarette case and passed it to his companion, who waved it away impatiently.

"Say rather--hate," was the terse reply. "But I do not look on you as one of that nationality. Your mother was my dearly loved cousin, and Colombia boasts no prouder name than the one she bore before she married your father. By the love you bear her memory I entreat you to assist me in this undertaking."

"I have promised," said the American gruffly. "I hear that Colombia intends accepting the ten million dollars offered by the United States for certain islands near Panama."

"Never!" The Colombian spoke with emphasis. "Our hatred lies too deep for that; it cannot be placated by an offer of 'conscience money,' no matter how great the sum."

"The more fools you," muttered the American, _sotto voce_.