"This receipt is payable on the day General Fombombo extends his estate to the sea. When that day comes, present this receipt at the capital of the future state of Rio Negro, and you will be paid in full."
Tolliver broke into sardonic laughter.
"To hell with you and your receipt! General Miedo was to pay me when he marched into Caracas as a conqueror."
Coronel Saturnino bowed and tossed the paper away.
"You English folk are childish," he philosophized. "You have no sense of the inevitable. You, señor, suffer from the same evils as all other citizens of Venezuela. I, and my men out there, are risking our lives to rectify those ills. Many of them will die to-morrow, that is ineluctable. Yet while they spend their lives to benefit you, you grudge them even the beef and a few fowls which they eat and the horses upon which they ride to their death."
Tolliver drew a disgusted mouth.
"I've heard that so many times it makes me sick."
Saturnino bowed again.
"May I pay my respects to the señora, and may I wish you adios, pues." He turned to Strawbridge. "Señor, the company awaits your convenience."