"My friend, I find many notable qualities in your stories, but the
quality which pleases me best is the modesty of the narrator."
For the first time the revolutionist flashed a suspicious glance at me,
ejaculating--
"My modesty? What do you mean, then?"
"I refer," I said, "to the readiness with which you acknowledge that
your appearance in revolutions has sometimes been more picturesque than
dignified. Take that Nihilist story," I explained. "It seems that all
that you did for the cause was to smoke a cigar in your coffin."
"But you know that my _role_ has not often been so humble as on that
occasion. If I have sunk low, I have also risen high. Listen, and I
will tell you. I was once the President of a republic."
"You don't say so?" was the feeble remark I blurted out.
"I say so," he replied with gentle dignity, "for no other reason than
because it happens to be the fact. I suppose I should still be the
President of a republic if it had not been for the counter-revolution.
A counter-revolution," he added, philosophically, "is no unusual
incident in the history of the republics of Central America."