But how do I know they'll be any better?
I met DeChair just now and asked him what the temper of the troops was.
The little brute grinned, and said, 'Ah, mon President, it would be better if the good soldiers had a leetle more money.'" "That's about it," said I; "but then you haven't got much more money." "What I've got I mean to stick to," said the colonel.

"If this thing is going to burst up, I'm not going to be kicked out to starve.

I tell you what it is, Martin, you must let me have some of that cash back again." The effrontery of this request amazed me.

I was just drawing on the second leg of my trousers (for it was impossible to be comfortable in bed with that great creature fuming about), and I stopped with one leg in mid-air and gazed at him.
"Well, what's the matter?
Why are you to dance out with all the plunder ?" he asked.
The man's want of ordinary morality was too revolting.

Didn't he know very well that the money wasn't mine?
Didn't he himself obtain my help on the express terms that I should have this money to repay the bank with?
I finished putting on my garments, and then I replied: "Not a farthing, colonel; not a damned farthing! By our agreement that cash was to be mine; but for that I wouldn't have touched your revolution with a pair of tongs." He looked very savage, and muttered something under his breath.
"You're carrying things with a high hand," he said.
"I'm not going to steal to please you," said I.
"You weren't always so scrupulous," he sneered.
I took no notice of this insult, but repeated my determination.
"Look here, Martin," he said, "I'll give you twenty-four hours to think it over; and let me advise you to change your mind by then.