Page:Rowland--The Mountain of Fears.djvu/145

  "I reflected for a moment, then asked him if he thought the commandant of the prison would keep his faith.

We must take some chances, of course,' answered Rosenthal. 'For your part, Doctor, there is no risk, and you may name your own figure. Remember that I am already deeply in your debt.'

"I turned the thing over in my mind, Doctor, and it seemed quite a reasonable proposition. You have seen the prison at Porto Cabello; it is on that little sandy island about five hundred yards from the town and only about eighty miles from Curaçao. The prison guards were a lot of shiftless half-breeds and would no doubt be drunk by ten o'clock of the appointed night. Curaçao schooners were always coming and going—on the whole, it seemed no difficult achievement, and it certainly is a commendable act to get any one out of a Venezuelan prison, whether he belongs there or not. I made a bargain with Rosenthal for five hundred dollars, which he [ 129 ]