them to put up the back pay or lose their charter. They refused and he
got back at them by preventing their ships from taking on any cargo in
Honduras, and by seizing their plant here and at Truxillo. Well, the
company didn't dare to go to law about it, nor appeal to the State
Department, so it started a revolution. It picked out a thief named
Alvarez as a figure-head and helped him to bribe the army and capture
the capital. Then he bought a decision from the local courts in favor
of the company. After that there was no more talk about collecting
back pay. Garcia was an exile in Nicaragua. There he met Laguerre, who
is a professional soldier of fortune, and together they cooked up this
present revolution. They hope to put Garcia back into power again. How
he'll act if he gets in I don't know. The common people believe he's a
patriot, that he'll keep all the promises he makes them--and he makes
a good many--and some white people believe in him, too. Laguerre
believes in him, for instance. Laguerre told me that Garcia was a
second Bolivar and Washington. But he might be both of them, and he
couldn't beat the Isthmian Line. You see, while he has prevented the
Isthmian Line from carrying bananas, he's cut off his own nose by
shutting off his only source of supply. For these big corporations
hang together at times, and on the Pacific side the Pacific Mail
Company has got the word from Fiske, and they won't carry supplies,
either. That's what I meant by saying that Joe Fiske owns Honduras.
He's cut it off from the world, and only _his_ arms and _his_ friends
can get into it. And the joke of it is he can't get out."

"Can't get out?" I exclaimed. "What do you mean?"

"Why, he's up there at Tegucigalpa himself," said Aiken. "Didn't you
know that? He's up at the capital, visiting Alvarez. He came in
through this port about two weeks ago."