“‘Tiens!’ said he, ‘we cannot return and leave the little Jacob in that cesspool! Think of his lung, my dear Doctor; besides, it would be necessary to refund the money subscribed by our friends in Curaçao.’
“‘Did you give them receipts?’ I asked, curious to get at the odd principles of the man. He looked at me reproachfully.
“‘There, there, Leyden! Did you ever hear of Isidore Rosenthal going back upon his word?’
“‘I apologize. What is the next move?’
“Rosenthal shrugged. ‘They are not much to be feared, these nigger guards at the prison.’ He glanced at me furtively. ‘Suppose we take a boat to-night and go over and get little Jacob?’
“I did not at once reply. To tell the truth, Doctor, I was too much surprised at the suggestion to reply. I knew that Rosenthal possessed the stubborn courage peculiar to his race; but this policy of cold, aggressive daring seemed incompatible with the Hebrew. He watched me narrowly.
“‘I am not a fighter, my dear friend,’ said he, thrusting out his hands. ‘I am a man of affairs, a financier, a diplomat, but there are times when all of these things fail. No doubt I seem to you like a fool’ (he seemed positively ashamed of himself—as ashamed as might another man, a Gentile, of a display of cowardice), ‘but what would you have? They will not keep their faith; to offer more bribes would be to throw good money away after bad.’ He shrugged, chewed at the end of a cigar, glanced about him furtively, then took to gnawing his nails, while I sat and considered the proposition.
“To tell the truth, Doctor, it was not at all attractive. To be sure, the guards were a scrubby lot, but there were plenty of them, and the prisoners were locked up and had no knowledge of any plan for escape. Moreover, we did not know in what part of the prison they were confined, nor had we any plan of the inside of the place.
“‘You do not object to making an attempt, Leyden?’ asked Rosenthal, who had been watching me narrowly.
“‘Not if I were able to see how it could be done,’ I answered, slowly, for, you see, Doctor, he had engaged my services for a particular piece of work and I was professionally bound. If it had been my custom to abandon a project because it was dangerous I must long ago have sought another profession. ‘Would it not be much better to wait until we can try to bribe the guards or establish some communication with the prisoners?’ said I.