``But you see, sir,'' said Clay, ``you cannot blame us. The
mines have always been there, before this Government came in,
before the Spaniards were here, before there was any Government
at all, but there was not the capital to open them up, I suppose,
or--and it needed a certain energy to begin the attack. Your
people let the chance go, and, as it turned out, I think they
were very wise in doing so. They get ten per cent of the output.
That's ten per cent on nothing, for the mines really didn't
exist, as far as you were concerned, until we came, did they?
They were just so much waste land, and they would have remained
so. And look at the price we paid down before we cut a tree.
Three millions of dollars; that's a good deal of money. It will
be some time before we realize anything on that investment.''

Mendoza shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. ``I will be
frank with you,'' he said, with the air of one to whom
dissimulation is difficult. ``I come here to-night on an
unpleasant errand, but it is with me a matter of duty, and I am a
soldier, to whom duty is the foremost ever. I have come to tell
you, Mr. Clay, that we, the Opposition, are not satisfied
with the manner in which the Government has disposed of these
great iron deposits. When I say not satisfied, my dear friend, I
speak most moderately. I should say that we are surprised and
indignant, and we are determined the wrong it has done our
country shall be righted. I have the honor to have been chosen
to speak for our party on this most important question, and on
next Tuesday, sir,'' the General stood up and bowed, as though he
were before a great assembly, ``I will rise in the Senate and
move a vote of want of confidence in the Government for the
manner in which it has given away the richest possessions in the