"
"And what have I to do with all this? You said you had use for
me--what use?"
CHAPTER XXIV
I JOIN THE SEA GULL
I can see the fellow still, as he sat there smiling, his teeth revealed
under his mustache, his eyes filled with cunning.
"You! why you chance to be the very sort of man I need. The devil
could not have sent me a better," he said, with some enthusiasm. "You
are an American soldier, the best-drilled men in the world for
irregular service. You can understand that the longer I can keep those
fellows down there fighting, the more I will sell. Good! that is part
of my business. And the better they are drilled, the longer they will
keep it up. That is what I want you for--to help make that mob of rags
into an army. By God! you can do it, and I am willing to pay the
price."
I got up, and walked across the cabin, apparently struggling with
temptation, arguing the matter over with myself. In very truth,
however, there was little choice. Either I must coincide with his
desire, or be thrust helplessly back into my old quarters, under guard.
There was no mercy, no weakness, behind the smile with which he watched
me. The man was a tiger who would kill me with as little remorse as he
would brush a mosquito from his cheek.
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