 taking a wide
circuit by Los Hatos and along the edge of the forest, clear of Rincon
altogether, you may hope to reach the San Tomé bridge without being interfered
with. The mine is just now, to my mind, the safest place for anybody at all
compromised. I only wish the railway was as difficult to touch.«
    »Am I compromised?« Doctor Monygham brought out slowly after a short
silence.
    »The whole Gould Concession is compromised. I could not have remained for
ever outside the political life of the country - if those convulsions may be
called life. The thing is - can it be touched? The moment was bound to come when
neutrality would become impossible, and Charles Gould understood this well. I
believe he is prepared for every extremity. A man of his sort has never
contemplated remaining indefinitely at the mercy of ignorance and corruption. It
was like being a prisoner in a cavern of banditti with the price of your ransom
in your pocket, and buying your life from day to day. Your mere safety, not your
liberty, mind, doctor. I know what I am talking about. The image at which you
shrug your shoulders is perfectly correct, especially if you conceive such a
prisoner endowed with the power of replenishing his pocket by means as remote
from the faculties of his captors as if they were magic. You must have
understood that as well as I do, doctor. He was in the position of the goose
with the golden eggs. I broached this matter to him as far back as Sir John's
visit here. The prisoner of stupid and greedy banditti is always at the mercy of
the first imbecile ruffian, who may blow out his brains in a fit of temper or
for some prospect of an immediate big haul. The tale of killing the goose with
the golden eggs has not been evolved for nothing out of the wisdom of mankind.
It is a story that will never grow old. That is why Charles Gould in his deep,
dumb way has countenanced the Ribierist Mandate, the first public act that
promised him safety on other than venal grounds. Ribierism has failed, as
everything merely rational fails in this country. But Gould remains logical in
wishing to save this big lot of silver. Decoud's plan of a counter-revolution
may be practicable or not, it may have a chance, or it may not have a chance.
With all my experience of this revolutionary continent, I can hardly yet look at
their methods seriously. Decoud has been reading to us his draft of a
proclamation, and talking very well for two hours
