CHAPTER X.
TWO SURPRISES.
It is a sad necessity that compels us to pry into the weaknesses of our fellow-creatures, and seek to turn them to our own profit.

I am not philosopher enough to say whether this course of conduct derives any justification from its universality, but in the region of practice, I have never hesitated to place myself on a moral level with those with whom I had to deal.

I may occasionally even have left the other party to make this needful adjustment, and I have never known him fail to do so.

I felt, therefore, very little scruple in making use of the one weak spot discoverable in the defenses of our redoubtable opponent, his Excellency the President of Aureataland.

No doubt the reader's eye has before now detected the joint in that great man's armor at which we directed our missile.