When we arrived in Panama we were not at all certain that we should find the country in a state of tranquillity; nor did we exactly; though by prompt action the President had nipped a budding revolution only a short time before. Hostilities had been averted, but the people were in a bad temper and it was thought best to keep them “merely guessing” while the negotiations between the Secretary of War and the Panamanian government were in progress, and much of Mr. Taft’s time, therefore, was spent behind the closed doors of President Amador’s council chamber.