"But our wives and children; what will become of them?"
"Who will feed them in our absence?"
"You know very well that gold flows from my fingers like water from a fountain. I will not let you leave your trade and risk your lives without paying you handsomely. How much does a fisherman earn in a day?"
"That depends; on bad days, when the sea is very rough, we don't make so much as an itzibou. Good hauls of the net sometimes bring in half a kobang."
"Well! I will pay you half a kobang a day while the war lasts."
"It's too much! it's too much!" was the general shout; "our blood is not worth so much."
"I will not take back my words," said the Prince.
"But consider," cried Raiden: "there are a great many of us; if you engage us all at that price, the sum total will be considerable."
"I can count," said the Prince, smiling. "I want two hundred men: that makes one hundred kobangs a day, three thousand kobangs a month, thirty-six thousand a year."
Raiden opened his eyes wide.