(For readers here making their first acquaintance with our band of young adventurers, it must be emphasized at once that—perhaps excepting the as yet insufficiently known Chick Counterfly—none would e'er have entered the morally poisonous atmosphere of the "frontón," as such haunts are called down there, had it not been essential to the intelligence-gathering activities the Chums had contracted to render at that time to the Interior Ministry of President Porfirio Díaz. For details of their exploits, see The Chums of Chance in Old Mexico.)
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This parenthetical reference answers some of my questions about the previous sentence. Some people might be thinking, "Yeah. That's how books work. Maybe give the author a little time to explain themselves!" But other people might be thinking, "Shut up, jerk!"
Actually, I don't mind taking the time after each sentence to consider what's being said or, more aptly, what's not being said. It helps a person get a handle on the story in their own way. What if I read one sentence, considered it, and came to a stunning conclusion which is confirmed in the next sentence? That's something most readers wouldn't experience if they didn't stop to let things percolate. They just might go on living their lives thinking the author exposed the twist in Sentence B when the author had actually exposed the twist in Sentence A!
It's too bad I didn't go on a tangent in the previous entry about the kids participating in gambling like I almost did because this parenthetical reference would have seemed to be speaking directly to me. My favorite bit of the disclaimer about how the Chums would never participate in this mean activity is the Narrator saying, "Except maybe Chick! We don't know enough about him yet, being he's new to the group!" You know what the Narrator really wanted to say but is too couth to say it is, "Counterfly would have lost the Chums of Chance's per diem for the entire trip on football bets and prostitutas, no doubt about it!"
The Chums of Chance were contracted to work for the Mexican government in this story. So they seem to be a mercenary organization. Or freelancers, if the term "mercenary" seems a bit too rough. That could still mean their organization is tied up with the U.S. government though.
This sentence also gives us the name of the book which may have been evocative to the youth of the 19th Century but just sounds boring after my supposed title of The Chums of Chance are Bested by Football Hooligans. Some 19th Century kid was probably all, "Oh boy! Gee squillikers! Old Mexico! By gum, that does sound exciting, doesn't it, Mother?! Could we possible not eat for four days so that I may indulge in a right jolly good adventure fantasy!"
You know what I just got an idea for? A role-playing game based on Horatio Alger novels!
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