Arthur O. Friel

“ He was a striking man; tall, and strongly shaped; with curly dark hair, big blue eyes with long lashes, and splendid white teeth which gleamed now and then as if he were thinking of a joke. The dark hair and blue eyes seemed odd together, but yet they made him all the better looking. His jaw was well set and his lips full and good-humored, making him look much more manly than the eyes. But the most handsome thing about him, I think, was his skin.
It was as clear and clean a skin as that of a baby—a girl baby. ”

“ You may judge for yourselves, señores, whether a man who never has lied to save himself or his money would tell false tales about matters that profit him nothing.
Now you were speaking of that tale which most men here have heard, but which is new to you strangers—that of El Blanco Negro, or Black White; the man of mystery who roams like a lost soul through the Guayana mountains south of here, and who never is seen by any man except the Indians who live there. ”

“ You Americans are not long in Venezuela, and you might be overcharged, while I—the cantineros of this Ciudad Bolívar know better than to try to cheat Loco León. The last one who tried it was three weeks in recovering.
Ha! You smile. Have you already heard of Loco León—Mad Lion? No? My name is Lucio León. But because I roam in wild places where these townsmen dare not go and see things which they do not believe, they have changed Lucio to Loco. I do not care. The laughter of fools is harmless. ”