Billy and the Big Stick , livre ebook

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pubOne.info present you this new edition. Had the Wilmot Electric Light people remained content only to make light, had they not, as a by-product, attempted to make money, they need not have left Hayti.

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Publié par	Pub One Info
Date de parution	06 novembre 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9782819934707
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0050€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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BILLY AND THE BIG STICK
by Richard Harding Davis
Had the Wilmot Electric Light people remainedcontent only to make light, had they not, as a by-product,attempted to make money, they need not have left Hayti.
When they flooded with radiance the unpaved streetsof Port-au-Prince no one, except the police, who complained thatthe lights kept them awake, made objection; but when for thisillumination the Wilmot Company demanded payment, every one up toPresident Hamilear Poussevain was surprised and grieved. So grievedwas President Ham, as he was lovingly designated, that he withdrewthe Wilmot concession, surrounded the power-house with hisbarefooted army, and in a proclamation announced that for thefuture the furnishing of electric light would be a monopoly of thegovernment.
In Hayti, as soon as it begins to make money, anyindustry, native or foreign, becomes a monopoly of the government.The thing works automatically. It is what in Hayti is understood as haute finance. The Wilmot people should have known that.Because they did not know that, they stood to lose what they hadsunk in the electric-light plant, and after their departure to NewYork, which departure was accelerated as far as the wharf by sevengenerals and twelve privates, they proceeded to lose more money onlobbyists and lawyers who claimed to understand international law;even the law of Hayti. And lawyers who understand that arehigh-priced.
The only employee of the Wilmot force who was notescorted to the wharf under guard was Billy Barlow. He escaped thehonor because he was superintendent of the power-house, andPresident Ham believed that without him the lightning would notstrike. Accordingly by an executive order Billy became an employeeof the government. With this arrangement the Wilmot people weremuch pleased. For they trusted Billy, and they knew while in thecourts they were righting to regain their property, he would see noharm came to it.
Billy's title was Directeur General et InspecteurMunicipal de Luminaire Electrique, which is some title, and hissalary was fifty dollars a week. In spite of Billy's colorPresident Ham always treated his only white official with courtesyand gave him his full title. About giving him his full salary hewas less particular. This neglect greatly annoyed Billy. He came ofsturdy New England stock and possessed that New England consciencewhich makes the owner a torment to himself, and to every one else anuisance. Like all the other Barlows of Barnstable on Cape Cod,Billy had worked for his every penny. He was no shirker. From thefirst day that he carried a pair of pliers in the leg pocket of hisoveralls, and in a sixty-knot gale stretched wires betweenice-capped tele graph poles, he had more than earned his wages.Never, whether on time or at piece-work, had he by a slovenly job,or by beating the whistle, robbed his employer. And for his honesttoil he was determined to be as honestly paid— even by PresidentHamilcar Poussevain. And President Ham never paid anybody; neitherthe Armenian street peddlers, in whose sweets he delighted, nor theBethlehem Steel Company, nor the house of Rothschild.
Why he paid Billy even the small sums that from timeto time Billy wrung from the president's strong box the foreigncolony were at a loss to explain. Wagner, the new American consul,asked Billy how he managed it. As an American minister had not yetbeen appointed to the duties of the consul, as Wagner assuredeverybody, were added those of diplomacy. But Haytian diplomacy hehad yet to master. At the seaport in Scotland where he had servedas vice-consul, law and order were as solidly established as thestone jetties, and by contrast the eccentricities of the BlackREPUBLIC baffled and distressed him.
“It can't be that you blackmail the president, ”said the consul, “because I understand he boasts he has committedall the known crimes. ”
“And several he invented, ” agreed Billy.
“And you can't do it with a gun, because they tellme the president isn't afraid of anything except a voodoopriestess. What is your secret? ” coaxed the consul. “If you'llonly sell it, I know several Powers that would give you your price.” Billy smiled modestly.
“It's very simple, ” he said. “The first time mywages were shy I went to the palace and told him if he didn't comeacross I'd shut off the juice. I think he was so stunned at anybodyasking him for real money that while he was still stunned he openedhis safe and handed me two thousand francs. I think he did it morein admiration for my nerve than because he owed it. The next timepay-day arrived, and the pay did not, I didn't go to the palace. Ijust went to bed, and the lights went to bed, too. You mayremember? ” The consul snorted indignantly.
“I was holding three queens at the time, ” heprotested. “Was it YOU did that? ”
“It was, ” said Billy. "The police came for me tostart the current going again, but I said I was too ill. Then thepresident's own doctor came, old Gautier, and Gautier examined mewith a lantern and said that in Hayti my disease frequently provedfatal, but he thought if I turned on the lights I might recover. Itold him I was tired of life, anyway, but that if I could see threethousand francs it might give me an incentive. He reported back tothe president and the three thousand francs arrived almostinstantly, and a chicken broth from Ham's own chef, with HisExcellency's best wishes for the recovery of the invalid. Myrecovery was instantaneous, and I switched on the lights.
“I had just moved into the Widow Ducrot's hotel thatweek, and her daughter Claire wouldn't let me eat the broth. Ithought it was because, as she's a dandy cook herself, she wasprofessionally jealous. She put the broth on the top shelf of thepantry and wrote on a piece of paper, 'Gare! ' But the next morninga perfectly good cat, who apparently couldn't read, was lyingbeside it dead. ”
The consul frowned reprovingly.
“You should not make such reckless charges, ” heprotested. “I would call it only a coincidence. ”
“You can call it what you please, ” said Billy, “butit won't bring the cat back. Anyway, the next time I went to thepalace to collect, the president was ready for me.

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