they?"

"Yes, to Cathay. And then the people they found and conquered! The
spoils they exacted! They were men--those conquistadores--whatever
else they were--big, cruel, heroic fellows like Bastida, Nicuesa,
Balboa, Pedrarias the Assassin, and the rest. They oppressed the
natives terribly, yet they paved the way for civilization, after
all. The Spaniards did try to uplift the Indians, you know. And
the life in the colonies was like that in old Spain, only more
romantic and picturesque. Why, whenever I pass through these
Latin-American cities I see, in place of the crumbling ruins,
grand cathedrals and palaces; in place of the squalid beggars
idling about the market-places I see velvet-clad dons and high-
born ladies."

"Aren't there any beautiful ladies left?"

"A few, perhaps."

"What happened to the cathedrals and the velvet fellows and all
that?"

"Oh, the old state of affairs couldn't last forever. The Spanish
administration wasn't so bad as is generally supposed, yet of
course there was too much rapacity and not enough industry.
Central America, broadly speaking, was known as the treasure-chest
of the world, and there were constant wars and disturbances. The
colonies as a whole did not progress like those in the North, and
in course of time deteriorated. The old cathedrals decayed and
were not rebuilt. The old Spanish stock died out and in its stead