The Dictator (1915)

Brooke Travers, a young society man of a roving disposition and much leisure, gets into a cab with his valet and his trunks, to go to his yacht for a cruise. Arriving at the pier, the cabman demands an exorbitant charge for his fare, and, upon Travers resenting the charge, he is again soaked by the cabman, this time with his capable fists. Travers strikes back, and the cabman falls, his head hitting a curbstone. The ambulance surgeon arrives, pronounces the man dying, and advises Travers to flee. Taking the advice and the cab, Travers and his valet hasten for another wharf, and take ship for Central America. As they are landing at the little port of Porto Banos, the consul of that place, who is also an instigator of revolutions, offers to let Travers take his credentials and pose as Dictator in his place, pretending to be afraid of the yellow fever, but really because he has learned of a new revolution, and is afraid of his life. Travers, fearing the law is already on his track, eagerly accepts the offer, and goes ashore as the new Dictator. Then things happen with marvelous celerity, and Travers becomes the center of a small cyclone of trouble, the chief factors of which are the opposing faction of the revolution, the wife of the consul, a vengeful former sweetheart of the latter, and a pretty young missionary, with whom Travers has fallen desperately in love. How he finally comes unscathed from his many perils, and wins his lady love, form an interesting denouement.