The General was somewhat surprised and somewhat amused, but he invited us to enter. When the officers had lined up against the walls he said, “As a rule, I call my own councils of war, but no doubt Mr. Aiken has some very good reason for affording me the pleasure of your company. What is it, Mr. Aiken?”
Instead of answering him, Aiken said, with as much manner as that of General Garcia himself, “I want a guard put outside this house, and I want the men placed far enough from it to prevent their hearing what I say.” The General nodded at me, and I ordered the sentries to move farther from the hut. I still remember the tableau I saw when I re-entered it, the row of officers leaning against the mud walls, the candles stuck in their own grease on the table, the maps spread over it, and the General and Aiken facing each other from its either end. It looked like a drumhead court-martial.
When I had shut the door of the hut Aiken spoke. His tone was one of calm unconcern.
“I have just come from the Palace,” he said, “where I have been having a talk with President Alvarez.”
No one made a sound, nor no one spoke, but like one man everyone in the room reached for his revolver. It was a most enlightening revelation of our confidence in Aiken. Laguerre did not move. He was looking steadily at Aiken and his eyes were shining like two arc lamps.
“By whose authority?” he asked.
We, who knew every tone of his voice, almost felt sorry for Aiken.
“By whose authority,” Laguerre repeated, “did you communicate with the enemy?”
“It was an idea of my own,” Aiken answered simply. “I was afraid if I told you you would interfere. Oh! I’m no soldier,” he said. He was replying to the look in Laguerre’s face. “And I can tell you that there are other ways of doing things than ‘according to Hardie.’ Alvarez’s officers came to me after the battle of Comyagua. They expected to beat you there, and when you chased them out of the city and started for the Capital they thought it was all up with them, and decided to make terms.”
“With you?” said Laguerre.