Decoud's gun-running experience mirrors his larger experience in Costaguana, where
his newspaper and his Separation plan are attempts to "keep up the hopes"
of the very people he believes to be deluded, manipulative idealists, in other
words "swindlers." It may be a stretch on my part, but the phrase "all
sorts of gaspipe weapons" reminds me of the voluble speech associated with
every warlike cause in Costaguana. At any rate, "the real affair" of
Part Two -- Decoud's battle between skepticism and idealism -- is conducted in
an entirely different "quarter" from his political battles.