And then he produced from a pocket or pouch in his
jacket a graving tool with a round wooden handle, which he took in
the palm of his hand, and the edge of the steel came out between
his forefinger and thumb: and with this he cut at the coin. And
Morano rejoined them from his merciful mission and stood and
wondered at the cutting. And while he cut they talked.
They did not ask him how he came to be chosen for hanging, because
in every country there are about a hundred individualists, varying
to perhaps half a hundred in poor ages. They go their hundred
ways, or their half-dozen ways; and there is a hundred and first
way, or a seventh way, which is the way that is cut for the rest:
and if some of the rest catch one of the hundred, or one of the
six, they naturally hang him, if they have a rope, and if hanging
is the custom of the country, for different countries use
different methods. And you saw by this man's eyes that he was one
of the hundred. Rodriguez therefore only sought to know how he
came to be caught.
"La Garda found you, senor?" he said.
"As you see," said the stranger. "I came too far from my home."
"You were travelling?" said Rodriguez.
"Shopping," he said.
At this word Morano's interest awakened wide. "Senor," he said,
"what is the right price for a bottle of this wine that la Garda
drink?"
"I know not," said the man in the brown jacket; "they give me
these things.
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