The Flag Paramount Page: 492
This prose (fiction) is part of the collection entitled: O. Henry Project and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.
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192 . ., . .'
imorn:nt. The prize was the first capture
to the credit of the department for ten
vyars. It often happened that government
olicials required transportation from point
ti point along the coast, land means were
usually lacking. Furthermore, the sloop
cuil act as a coast guard to discourage the
Inrnicious art of smun gling. The Collector
wiirld also vlelture to nanle one to whll the
charge of tile bIoat could lie safely entrusted
a youiing inLI, Felilpe (arrela, not, be it
unlcrstood, one of extreme wisdom, but
loyal, and the liest sailor along the coast.
It was upon this hint that the Minister of
\\War executed his little piece of drollery
that so enlivened the tedium of executive
session .
li thIe constitution of this small, mari-
Lime Ianana republic was a forgotten section
providing for the nutintenance of a navy.
The chan;pagne was bubbling trickily in the
veins of the mercurial statesmeln. A for-
midable documentii was lpreptared, encrusted
with chromatic seals and jaunty with flutter-
ing ribbons, hearing the florid signatures of
state, and conferrinl upon el Seior Doni
I'lie Carrern the title of Admiral of the
marine fleet and force of the republic. Thus,
within the space of a few minutes and the
dominion of a dozen extra dry, the country
rose to a place aioiing naval powers, and
'elilpe C(arrera hlecaule entitled to a salute
of twenty one guns whenever lie should
enter port.
The Southern races are lacking in that
particular humor that finds entertainment in
Natural miisfortunes. J\ing to this defect,
t hv are not moved to laughter at the
del'ormed, the feeble-minlded, or the insane.
lFelipe Carrera was but half-witted. There-
fore, the people of Solitas called him "'li
phrcito wo'," saying that ('nd had sent
but half of him to earth, retaining the
other. A somber youth, glowering and
speaking only at the rarest times, Felipe
was but negatively loco. Ile generally re-
fused to answer all questions when oin shore.
Ile seemed to know that hlie was badly handi-
capped on land where so manyV kinds of
understanding are needed, but on the water
few sailors whom (Hod had entirely and care-
fully coipleted could handle a sailboat as
well. lIe could sail a slop live points nearer
to the wind's eve than thie best of them.
II( owned no boat, but worked among the
crews of the schooners and sloops that
skimmed tile coast, trading, and freighting
fruit out to the steam'ers where there was
no harbor. It was throlIgh Jis aous boll-ness and skill as a sailor, as well as the
pity felt for his mental imperfections that
he was recommended by the Collector as a
suitable custodian of the captured sloop.
\\When the outcome of Senor Placido's lit-
tle Illieasanltry arrived in the form of the im-
posing commission, the Collector wondered
and then smiled. lie sent for Felipe, placed
the document in his hands, explaining care-
fullyto him the high honor that the govern-
ment had granted him. Without a word, the
newly created Admiral took his commission,
and departed.
The next morning he came again to the
Collector, and, as he passed through the
village streets niny were the compassion-
ate exclamations of < ol(ccito muchacho,"
but never a laugh or a smile.
Somewhere, Felipe had raked together a
pitiful semblance of a military uniform -a
pair of red trousers, a dingy blue jacket em-
broidered with yellow braid, and an old
fatigue cap abandoned by one of the Ilritish
soldiers in Belize. In the latter he had fts-
tened the gaudy feathers of a parrot's tail.
Buckled around his waist was an ancient
ship's cutlass contributed by Pedro LaI fitte,
the barber, who proudly asserted its inherit-
ance from his ancestor, the illustrious buc-
caneer.
At the Admiral's heels tagged his newly
shipped crew -three grinning, glossy black
Caribs, bare to the waist; the sand in the
streets spurting in a shower from the spring
of their naked feet.
With becoming dignity, Felipe demanded
his vessel of the (Collector. And now, a
fresh honor awaited him. The C'llcetor's
wife, a thin, little, yellow woman who read
novels in a hammock all day, had found, ill
an old book, an engraving of a flag purplrt-
ing to be the naval flag of the republic.
Perhaps it had been so designed by the
founder of the nation; but, as no navy had
ever been established, oblivion had claimed
its flag. With her own tawny hands she had
made a flag after this pattern a red cross
upon a blue and white ground. Living a
little of the romance that aboundied in her
novels, she presented it to Felipe with the
words: "lrave sailor. This flag is of your
country. It you will defend with the life.
(Go with God."
For the next month or two the navy had
its troubles. ]Even the Admiral i. s per-
plexed to know what to do without 1rder.
but none came. Neither did am darie.
The sloop was re-christened "l .1i.,,oal,"
re-painted, and swung idly at anch,. WheliL I I 'I rP
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Henry, O., 1862-1910. The Flag Paramount, prose (fiction), January 1902; New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth139394/m1/3/: accessed June 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.