Richard Harding Davis

“ So grieved was President Ham, as he was lovingly designated, that he withdrew the Wilmot concession, surrounded the power-house with his barefooted army, and in a proclamation announced that for the future the furnishing of electric light would be a monopoly of the government.
In Hayti, as soon as it begins to make money, any industry, native or foreign, becomes a monopoly of the government. The thing works automatically. It is what in Hayti is understood as haute finance. The Wilmot people should have known that. ”

“ Billy assured Claire, “marriages are arranged by the parents; but in my country they are arranged in heaven. And who are we to disregard the edicts of heaven? Ages and ages ago, before the flood, before Napoleon, even before old Paillard with his four children, it was arranged in heaven that you were to marry me. So, what little plans your good mother may make don’t cut enough ice to cool a green mint. Now, we can’t try to get married here,” continued Billy, “without your mother and Paillard knowing it. ”

“ In this town as many people have to sign the marriage contract as signed our Declaration of Independence: all the civil authorities, all the clergy, all the relatives; if every man in the telephone book isn’t a witness, the marriage doesn’t ‘take.’ So, we must elope!”
Having been brought up in a convent, where she was taught to obey her mother and forbidden to think of marriage, Claire was naturally delighted with the idea of an elopement.
“To where will we elope to?” she demanded. Her English, as she learned it from Billy, was sometimes confusing.
“To New York,” said Billy. ”

“ That President Ham, he is a beast, an ogre!” Her voice sank to a whisper. “And for myself also I have been frightened. The police, they are at each corner. They watch the hotel. They watch ME! Why? What do they want?”
“They want something of mine,” said Billy. “But I can’t tell you what it is until I’m sure it is mine. Is the boat at the wharf?”
“All is arranged,” Claire assured him. “The boatmen are our friends; they will take us safely to the steamer.”
With a sigh of relief Billy lifted her valise and his own, but he did not move forward. Anxiously Claire pulled at his sleeve. ”

“ With indignation the president set forth the position of the government: Billy had been discharged and, with the appointment of his successor, the stranger in the derby hat, had ceased to exist. The government could not pay money to some one who did not exist. ”

“ Then I’ll get back my old job from the Wilmot folks and we’ll live happy ever after!”
“In New York, also,” asked Claire proudly, “are you directeur of the electric lights?”
“On Broadway alone,” Billy explained reprovingly, “there is one sign that uses more bulbs than there are in the whole of Hayti!”
“New York is a large town!” exclaimed Claire.
“It’s a large sign,” corrected Billy. “But,” he pointed out, “with no money we’ll never see it. So to-morrow I’m going to make a social call on Grandpa Ham and demand my ten thousand francs.” Claire grasped his arm. ”

“ The next two hours Billy spent in seeking out those acquaintances from whom he could borrow money. He found that by asking for it in homoeopathic doses he was able to shame the foreign colony into loaning him all of one hundred dollars. This, with what he had in hand, would take Claire and himself to New York and for a week keep them alive. After that he must find work or they must starve.
In the garden of the Cafe Ducrot Billy placed his guard at a table with bottles of beer between them, and at an ‘adjoining table with Claire plotted the elopement for that night. ”

“ Billy saw his freight cleared and was going away when one of those in trouble signalled for assistance.
He was a good-looking young man in a Panama hat and his manner seemed to take it for granted that Billy knew who he was. “They want us to pay duty on our trunks,” he explained, “and we want to leave them in bond. We’ll be here only until to-night, when we’re going on down the coast to Santo Domingo. But we don’t speak French, and we can’t make them understand that.”
“You don’t need to speak any language to give a man ten dollars,” said Billy. ”

“ Billy’s title was Directeur General et Inspecteur Municipal de Luminaire Electrique, which is some title, and his salary was fifty dollars a week. In spite of Billy’s color President Ham always treated his only white official with courtesy and gave him his full title. About giving him his full salary he was less particular. This neglect greatly annoyed Billy. He came of sturdy New England stock and possessed that New England conscience which makes the owner a torment to himself, and to every one else a nuisance. ”

“ What is your secret?” coaxed the consul. “If you’ll only sell it, I know several Powers that would give you your price.” Billy smiled modestly.
“It’s very simple,” he said. “The first time my wages were shy I went to the palace and told him if he didn’t come across I’d shut off the juice. I think he was so stunned at anybody asking him for real money that while he was still stunned he opened his safe and handed me two thousand francs. I think he did it more in admiration for my nerve than because he owed it. The next time pay-day arrived, and the pay did not, I didn’t go to the palace. ”

“ When he meets foreigners and can’t understand their language, he’s always afraid if they laugh that he’s made a break and that they’re laughing at HIM. So, be solemn; look grave; look haughty!”
“I got you!” ”

“ And lawyers who understand that are high-priced.
The only employee of the Wilmot force who was not escorted to the wharf under guard was Billy Barlow. He escaped the honor because he was superintendent of the power-house, and President Ham believed that without him the lightning would not strike. Accordingly by an executive order Billy became an employee of the government. With this arrangement the Wilmot people were much pleased. For they trusted Billy, and they knew while in the courts they were righting to regain their property, he would see no harm came to it. ”