Ronie and Jack were not loathe to do this, though while they ate, their host related to them much they had not known of the situation in the country. He showed that he was not only an educated man, but that he was well posted upon affairs, while he was very pronounced in his admiration for Castro.
"Venezuela has had revolutions and shades of revolutions, but not one more unwarranted than this. Castro is a patriot, and the uprising that he led a few years since, and which placed him at the head of the government, is no more to be compared to this than the snarling of a cowardly cur seeking to rob a bigger dog of his breakfast because he is too lazy to hunt for his own, is to the good, honest bark of a mastiff that seeks to defend his master's property. Andrade's administration, following Crespo's, was grossly dishonest, and would have drained the republic of its healthy interest, had it not been for the mountain patriot, Castro, who fought his way straight from the Venezuelan frontier, a good thousand miles, to Caracas, the capital. In a twinkling Andrade went out and Castro went in. He lost no time in setting about to clear up the clouded system of government. It required a masterly hand to guide the current of affairs. He soon found it difficult to know whom to trust.
"Among those who had rebelled with apparent honesty against Crespo and then his successor, Andrade, was the hunchback warrior, Manuel Hernandez, called by friends and foes alike as 'El Mocho.' His forces were scattered about in this region, he having rallied them by inflammable speeches against Andrade, whom he declared had been selected by fraud. Finally two thousand men, under the command of a relative of Crespo, met his band of scarcely five hundred near Valencia. In this unequal fight Crespo was killed and his men utterly routed by the hunchback, who instantly sprang into wild favor. His little army was swiftly increased by recruits. The people in general rejoiced at the fate of Crespo, who had made himself obnoxious to many. But the military prestige of Hernandez suffered an early frost. Andrade sent his minister of war to treat with him, and in the next battle he was defeated, his troops utterly routed, and he himself put into prison.
"Then Castro's triumph completely changed this. Andrade fled, and many of the followers of El Mocho joined the new ruler, who soon freed Hernandez, and offered him a place in his cabinet. Hernandez accepted, though it proved that he had not stifled his ambition to become president. He improved his new opportunity to inflate some of Castro's followers with his wild dreams. He believed he had had the experience now to enable him to overthrow the ruling power, so he stole out of the capital between two days, leading a small army at his heels.
"El Mocho made a desperate fight for his cause, but he misjudged the ability of his rival. Castro did not worry over his escapades, but when the favorable opportunity came he caught the hunchback rebel and returned him to the prison where he is likely to remain for a goodly time. Castro is the last man to be baffled where so much is at stake. What can be on foot now?"
CHAPTER XIII.
IN THE ENEMY'S COUNTRY.
The last words of José Pelado were called forth by the sudden appearance of a peon with the announcement that a body of insurgents had been seen the night before, and that a flock of cattle had been killed or driven away by them. Upon receiving this intelligence, the coffee planter replied in Spanish in a tone that showed great anger. When he had conversed with the messenger for a few minutes he turned back to his guests, saying:
"The hungry hounds are again abroad. That mountain outlaw, Juan Rhoades, is at his old pranks, and this time he has become bolder than common from the fact that he has succeeded in calling about him more than five hundred rebels. News also comes from San Carlos that two spies are in this vicinity, and that efforts are being made to hunt them down. Well, let the fools look after themselves. Rhoades had better give me a wide berth."