as 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
Nostromo, 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 populace, 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 curiously.

"Upon the whole," he continued, "I suppose he expects something to his
advantage from it. You mustn't forget that he does not exercise his
extraordinary power over the lower classes without a certain amount of
personal risk and without a great profusion in spending his money.
One must pay in some way or other for such a solid thing as individual
prestige. He told me after we made friends at a dance, in a Posada kept
by a Mexican just outside the walls, that he had come here to make his
fortune. I suppose he looks upon his prestige as a sort of investment."

"Perhaps he prizes it for its own sake," Mrs. Gould said in a tone as
if she were repelling an undeserved aspersion. "Viola, the Garibaldino,
with whom he has lived for some years, calls him the Incorruptible."

"Ah! he belongs to the group of your proteges out there towards the
harbour, Mrs. Gould. Muy bien. And Captain Mitchell calls him wonderful.
I have heard no end of tales of his strength, his audacity, his
fidelity. No end of fine things. H'm! incorruptible! It is indeed a name
of honour for the Capataz of the Cargadores of Sulaco. Incorruptible!
Fine, but vague. However, I suppose he's sensible, too. And I talked to
him upon that sane and practical assumption."

"I prefer to think him disinterested, and therefore trustworthy," Mrs.
Gould said, with the nearest approach to curtness it was in her nature
to assume.

"Well, if so, then the silver will be still more safe. Let it come down,
senora. Let