n't be such a barbarian!... What a stubborn fool you are!...
What do these exaggerated scruples amount to?..."

Then he smiled malignly and said in a low tone, "You know already what
we know, and I know very well that in your youth you carried
contraband."

Toni drew himself up haughtily. Now it was he who was indignant.

"I have carried contraband, yes. And what is there astonishing about
that?... Your grandparents did the same thing. There is not a single
honorable sailor on our sea who has not committed this little
offense.... Who is the worse for that?..."

The only one who could complain was the State, a vague personality
whose whereabouts and place nobody knew and who daily experienced a
million of similar violations. In the custom-houses Toni had seen the
richest tourists eluding the vigilance of the employees in order to
evade an insignificant payment. Every one down in his heart was a
smuggler.... Besides, thanks to these fraudulent navigators, the poor
were able to smoke better and more cheaply. Whom were they
assassinating with their business?... How did Ferragut dare to compare
these evasions of the law which never did anybody any harm with the job
of aiding submarine pirates in continuing their crimes?...

The captain, disarmed by this simple logic, now appealed to his powers
of persuasion.

"Toni, at least you will do it for me. Do it for my sake. We shall
continue friends as we have always been. On some other occasion I'll
sacrifice myself. Think.... I have given my word of honor."

And the mate, although much touched by his pleadings, replied
dolefully:

"I cannot.... I cannot!"

He was anxious to say something more to round out his thought, and
added:

"I'm a _Republican_...."

This profession of faith he brought forward as an insurmountable
barrier, striking himself at the same time on the breast, in order to
prove the hardness of the obstacle.

Ulysses felt tempted to laugh, as he had always done, at Toni's
political affirmations. But the situation was not one for joking, and
he continued talking in the hope of convincing him.

He had always loved liberty and been on the side opposed to
despotism!... England was the great tyrant of the sea; she had provoked
the war in order to strengthen her jurisdiction and if she should
achieve the victory, her haughtiness would have no limit. Poor Germany
had done nothing more than defend herself.... Ferragut repeated all
that he had heard in the