"'Corpo di Baccho!' the man exclaimed, making as though he would strike me, yet hesitating before my determined attitude.
"'But let us be reasonable,' I continued. 'Let me make a proposal to you.'
"'Speak!'
"'Ever since my arrival at Naples, I have been curious to know what your Camorra is, and what it does with the money which it collects with such systematic industry. If you will tell me, I will give you a piece of gold; and if you do not tell me, I will give you nothing.'
"Would he have yielded if we had been alone? I cannot say. A knot of our fellow prisoners had gathered round us, and his pride was at stake.
"'Silence! You have not to ask questions, but to pay.'
"My temper was roused, and I resolved to precipitate the crisis. I flung a piece of gold—part of my winnings at the billiard-table—on the ground, and challenged him.
"'Voyons!' I cried. 'No one shall say that Jean Antoine Stromboli Kosnapulski is mean. There is your money, and I will fight you for it.'
"A fierce cry of approval went up from the bystanders.
"'A duel! A duel!' they exclaimed in chorus, and the representative of the Camorra—to do him justice—did not shrink from the encounter.