mood, and I fear nothing can be done to save your friend.  If he had been a citizen of France, of course this execution would not have been permitted to take place; but as it is, it is not our affair.  M. Lemoine seems to have been talking with some indiscretion.  He does not deny it himself, nor does he deny his citizenship.  If he had taken a conciliatory attitude at the court-martial the result might not have been so disastrous; but it seems that he insulted the President to his face, and predicted that he would within two weeks meet him in Hades.  The utmost I could do was to get the President to sign a permit for you to see your friend, if you present it at the prison before the execution takes place.  I fear you have no time to lose.  Here is the paper.”

Dupre took the document, and thanked his Excellency for his exertions on their behalf.  He realized that Lemoine had sealed his own fate by his independence and lack of tact.

The two dejected men drove from the Legation and through the deserted streets to the prison.  They were shown through several stone-paved rooms to a stone-paved court-yard, and there they waited for some time until the prisoner was brought in between two soldiers.  Lemoine had thrown off his coat, and appeared in his shirt-sleeves.  He was not manacled or bound in any way, there being too many prisoners for each one to be allowed the luxury of fetters.

“Ah,” cried Lemoine, when he saw them, “I knew you would come if that old scoundrel of a President would allow you in, of which I had my doubts.  How did you manage it?”

“The French minister got us a permit,” said Dupre.

“Oh, you went to him, did you?  Of course he could do nothing, for, as I told you, I have the misfortune to be a citizen of this country.  How comically life is made up of trivialities!  I remember once in Paris going with a friend to take the oath of allegiance to the French Republic.”

“And did you take it?” cried Dupre eagerly.

“Alas, no!  We met two other friends, and we all adjourned to a cafe and had something to drink.  I little thought that bottle of champagne was going to cost me my life; for, of course, if I had taken the oath of allegiance, my friend the French minister would have bombarded the city before he would have allowed this execution to go on.”

“Then you know to what you are condemned?” said the manager, with tears in his eyes.

“Oh, I know that Balmaceda thinks he is going to have me shot; but then he always was a fool, and never knew what he was talking about.  I told him if he would allow you two in at the execution, and instead of ordering a whole squad to fire at me, order one expert marksman, if he had such a thing in his whole army, who would shoot me through the heart, that I would show you, Dupre, how a man dies under such circumstances; but the villain refused.  The usurper has no soul for art, or for anything else, for that matter.  I hope you two won’t mind my death.  I assure you I don’t mind it myself I would much rather be shot than live in this confounded country any longer.  But I have made up my mind to cheat old Balmaceda if I can, and I want you, Dupre, to pay particular attention, and not to interfere.”