"And the money to pay the laborers?"

"Don't pay them! Use the prisoners and convicts!"

"But there aren't enough, Señor Simoun!"

"Then, if there aren't enough, let all the villagers, the old men,
the youths, the boys, work. Instead of the fifteen days of obligatory
service, let them work three, four, five months for the State, with the
additional obligation that each one provide his own food and tools."

The startled Don Custodio turned his head to see if there was any
Indian within ear-shot, but fortunately those nearby were rustics,
and the two helmsmen seemed to be very much occupied with the windings
of the river.

"But, Señor Simoun--"

"Don't fool yourself, Don Custodio," continued Simoun dryly, "only in
this way are great enterprises carried out with small means. Thus
were constructed the Pyramids, Lake Moeris, and the Colosseum
in Rome. Entire provinces came in from the desert, bringing their
tubers to feed on. Old men, youths, and boys labored in transporting
stones, hewing them, and carrying them on their shoulders under
the direction of the official lash, and afterwards, the survivors
returned to their homes or perished in the sands of the desert. Then
came other provinces, then others, succeeding one another in the work
during years. Thus the task was finished, and now we admire them,
we travel, we go to Egypt and to Home, we extol the Pharaohs and the