When his young companions had tired of looking at the equestrian figure of the warrior, Jack said:
"Now come with me, lads, and I will show you a sight worth two of this to you and me."
Without reply, Ronie and Harrie followed their friend until they came upon a delightfully retired retreat, which, without the bizarre attractions of the Plaza Bolivar, had a freshness and quiet beauty the other lacked. Anticipating now what they were to meet, to our young Americans there was indeed an air of sanctity and hallowed peace that the more ornate spot did not possess. With reverential steps they moved silently but swiftly along the clean, graveled path bordered with deep, green grass and overhung with interlacing branches of the trees which formed a roof over their heads, until they reached the center of the plot, where the torrid sun of the tropics beat down upon the head of the statue they had come to see.
This was the Plaza Washington, and the man honored here was the American patriot, the Father of His Country, who had been given this honored recognition in the capital of the United States of Venezuela. Uncovering their heads, the three stood for several minutes in a silence that seemed too sacred to be broken, while they looked upon the calm, benign features of Washington, honored thus by a race they had not expected would pay such homage. At that very moment, unobserved by them, a couple of natives a little way off, at the uncovering of their heads, removed their wide-brimmed headgear, and looked on with respectful attention. Farther removed, a group of women, dark-eyed, dark-featured, but not unpleasant of countenance, also paused in their morning work to watch the newcomers with respectful admiration rather than curiosity. Evidently these people understood and shared with these strangers from a far-away land this spirit of national pride and patriotism, for true patriots always revere the memory of heroes.
"Isn't it strange Washington should be given a statue here?" asked Harrie.
"Not so very strange," replied Jack, "when you come to think that the histories of the two countries are so nearly alike, up to the day of these two heroes, they might be written by the same historian with slight modifications. Bolivar was the Washington of Venezuela. Then, too, you will remember that Miranda, the pioneer of patriots in this country, served his apprenticeship under Washington, fighting for our country. When he had finished there he returned to his native land to take up her battles. What he learned with our army helped him here.