“Of course, or pay them out of your own pocket.”
“Well, I am not disposed to become a brigand chief; and I could not keep a band of guerillas at my own charge even if I were disposed. As we cannot get out of the country either by the north or east, what do you say to trying south?”
“How far? To the Brazils?”
“Farther. Over the Andes to Peru.”
“Over the Andes to Peru? That is a big undertaking. Do you think we could find that mountain of gold and precious stones you were telling me about?”
“I never entertained any idea so absurd. I merely mentioned poor old Zamorra’s crank as an instance of how credulous people could be.”
“Well, perhaps the idea is not quite so absurd as you suppose. Even stranger things have happened; and we do know that there is gold pretty nearly everywhere on this continent, to say nothing of the treasure hidden in times past by Indians and Spaniards, and we might find both gold and diamonds.”
“Of course we might; and as we cannot stay here, we may as well make the attempt.”
“You are not forgetting that it will be very dangerous? We shall carry our lives in our hands.”
“That will be nothing new; I have carried my life in my hands ever since I came to Venezuela.”