“To my tent, which had been pitched for me close to that of my chief lieutenant, came Kearny, indomitable, smiling, bright-eyed, bearing no traces of the buffets of his evil star.  Rather was his aspect that of a heroic martyr whose tribulations were so high-sourced and glorious that he even took a splendour and a prestige from them.

“‘Well, Captain,’ said he, ’I guess you realize that Bad-Luck Kearny is still on deck.  It was a shame, now, about that gun.  She only needed to be slewed two inches to clear the rail; and that’s why I grabbed that rope’s end.  Who’d have thought that a sailor—­even a Sicilian lubber on a banana coaster—­would have fastened a line in a bow-knot?  Don’t think I’m trying to dodge the responsibility, Captain.  It’s my luck.’

“‘There are men, Kearny,’ said I gravely, ’who pass through life blaming upon luck and chance the mistakes that result from their own faults and incompetency.  I do not say that you are such a man.  But if all your mishaps are traceable to that tiny star, the sooner we endow our colleges with chairs of moral astronomy, the better.’

“‘It isn’t the size of the star that counts,’ said Kearny; ’it’s the quality.  Just the way it is with women.  That’s why they give the biggest planets masculine names, and the little stars feminine ones—­to even things up when it comes to getting their work in.  Suppose they had called my star Agamemnon or Bill McCarty or something like that instead of Phoebe.  Every time one of those old boys touched their calamity button and sent me down one of their wireless pieces of bad luck, I could talk back and tell ’em what I thought of ’em in suitable terms.  But you can’t address such remarks to a Phoebe.’

“‘It pleases you to make a joke of it, Kearny,’ said I, without smiling.  ’But it is no joke to me to think of my Gatling mired in the river ooze.’

“‘As to that,’ said Kearny, abandoning his light mood at once, ’I have already done what I could.  I have had some experience in hoisting stone in quarries.  Torres and I have already spliced three hawsers and stretched them from the steamer’s stern to a tree on shore.  We will rig a tackle and have the gun on terra firma before noon to-morrow.’

“One could not remain long at outs with Bad-Luck Kearny.

“‘Once more,’ said I to him, ’we will waive this question of luck.  Have you ever had experience in drilling raw troops?’

“‘I was first sergeant and drill-master,’ said Kearny, ’in the Chilean army for one year.  And captain of artillery for another.’

“‘What became of your command?’ I asked.

“‘Shot down to a man,’ said Kearny, ’during the revolutions against Balmaceda.’

“Somehow the misfortunes of the evil-starred one seemed to turn to me their comedy side.  I lay back upon my goat’s-hide cot and laughed until the woods echoed.  Kearny grinned.  ‘I told you how it was,’ he said.

“‘To-morrow,’ I said, ’I shall detail one hundred men under your command for manual-of-arms drill and company evolutions.  You will rank as lieutenant.  Now, for God’s sake, Kearny,’ I urged him, ’try to combat this superstition if it is one.  Bad luck may be like any other visitor—­preferring to stop where it is expected.  Get your mind off stars.  Look upon Esperando as your planet of good fortune.’