There would then be in it: first, the house of Holroyd, which is all right; then, Mr.Charles Gould, a citizen of Costaguana, who is also all right; and, lastly, the Government of the Republic.

So far this resembles the first start of the Atacama nitrate fields, where there was a financing house, a gentleman of the name of Edwards, and--a Government; or, rather, two Governments--two South American Governments.

And you know what came of it.

War came of it; devastating and prolonged war came of it, Mr.Gould.
However, here we possess the advantage of having only one South American Government hanging around for plunder out of the deal.

It is an advantage; but then there are degrees of badness, and that Government is the Costaguana Government." Thus spoke the considerable personage, the millionaire endower of churches on a scale befitting the greatness of his native land--the same to whom the doctors used the language of horrid and veiled menaces.