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bullets may be run. Let it come down to the harbour, ready
for shipment.
The next north-going steamer would carry it off for the
very salvation of the San Tome mine, which had produced
so much treasure. And, moreover, the rumour was proba-
bly false, he remarked, with much conviction in his hurried
tone.
‘Besides, senora,’ concluded Decoud, ‘we may suppress
it for many days. I have been talking with the telegraphist
in the middle of the Plaza Mayor; thus I am certain that we
could not have been overheard. There was not even a bird
in the air near us. And also let me tell you something more.
I have been making friends with this man called Nostro-
mo, the Capataz. We had a conversation this very evening,
I walking by the side of his horse as he rode slowly out of
the town just now. He promised me that if a riot took place
for any reason—even for the most political of reasons, you
understand—his Cargadores, an important part of the pop-
ulace, you will admit, should be found on the side of the
Europeans.’
‘He has promised you that?’ Mrs. Gould inquired, with
interest. ‘What made him make that promise to you?’
‘Upon my word, I don’t know,’ declared Decoud, in a
slightly surprised tone. ‘He certainly promised me that, but
now you ask me why, I could not tell you his reasons. He
talked with his usual carelessness, which, if he had been
anything else but a common sailor, I would call a pose or
an affectation.’
Decoud, interrupting himself, looked at Mrs. Gould cu-

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