Must he draw his revolver and simply sell his life as dearly as possible?
It may be sweet to die for one's country, but most men much prefer to live, especially when health and wealth and honor are their inheritance by right of birth.
Roderic never felt less like giving up the ghost in all his life than he did just then.
He had been far down below zero up to the moment when he discovered that it was not Georgia who accompanied Julio, and then of a sudden his spirits took a bound that sent them away above fever heat; life assumed a rosy hue, and happiness came again within his grasp.
A man of remarkable resources in emergencies, Roderic felt no dismay paralyze his limbs when he discovered how next to impossible it was that he make his escape through the crowd.
There were other methods.
He had made it a rule in life never to depend wholly upon one source of income—to avoid the mistake of putting all his eggs in one basket.
Julio's scattered wits came back.
He even smiled, but there was a devil in that smirk; a gleam in his eyes that told of gloating triumph.