"_Gracias_!" cried the young Mexican, "_mil gracias, caballero_! That's
all I can say till I get back my breath."
He stopped. I could hear his respiration, quick and heavy, as that of a
horse halted after a rapid run.
"I hope you have not received any serious injury?" I said, on becoming
assured that the only Red Hat remaining in the street was the one lying
along the kerb-stone. "Are you wounded?"
"Nothing to signify, I think. A cut or two, perhaps. They're only
scratches."
"You're sure?"
"Not quite, caballero; though I fancy I'm all right. I don't feel
disabled--only a little fatigued. It was rather quick play, keeping
guard against all five at once. I had no chance to get a thrust at
them, else I might have reduced the number. You've done that, I
perceive. Once more let me thank you for my life."
"There is no need. It is simply a debt paid in kind; and we are now
quits."
"Senor, your speech mystifies me. I cannot tell whether I have the
honour of knowing the brave man who has done me such signal service.
Your voice sounds like one I've heard before. You'll excuse me. It's
so dark here--"
"You and I are so much in the habit of having encounters in dark places,
I begin to think there's a fatality in it."
"_Carrambo_!" exclaimed the Mexican, still further mystified by my
remark. "Where have we had these encounters? Pray tell me, senor?"
"You don't remember capitan Moreno?"
"It is my name! You know me?"
"I have good reason."
"You astonish me. If I mistake not, you are in uniform--an American
officer?"
"I am."
"May I ask where we have met? At the _monte_ table?"
"We have met at _monte_ more than once. It was not there, however, that
I had my first introduction to you, but--"
"Where?"
"In your house."
"_Una burla, senor_! No matter; you are welcome."
"No jest, I assure you. Our first exchange of speech was under your own
roof."
"_Caspita_! You confound me."
"'Tis true, I did not go inside--only just over the doorstep. There we
met and parted--both a little unmannerly. For the first I was to blame.
The last, I think, you ought to share with me. By your abrupt closing
of the door, you gave me no chance of showing politeness; else I should
have stayed to thank you for doing, what you say I have just done for
you. I intended to seek an opportunity some day. It seems I have found
it without seeking."
"_Santissima Virgen_! you, then, are the gentleman--"
"Who on a certain night so unceremoniously made entrance into the house
of Don Francisco Moreno, in the Callecito de los Pajaros; who went in
head-foremost, and no doubt would have been carried out feet foremost,
but for the fortune that gave him such a generous host. Ah! captain
Moreno," I continued, in the ardour of my gratitude grasping the young
soldier's hand, "I said we were quits. Far, far from it; you owe me
perhaps your life. To you I am indebted for mine; and--and much more."
"_Por Dios, caballero_! you continue to mystify me. What more?"
Under the dominion of a sweet excitement, I was on the point of
confessing my _amourette_ with Mercedes, and telling him how he had
interrupted it--in short, telling him all. No longer rivals, but
fellow-suitors for two fair sisters, we were journeying along the same
road. A common motive--each having a different object--instead of
estranging, ought rather to unite us?
And yet there was a doubt. Something counselled me to reticence. My
secret remained unspoken; not even mention being made of the Calle del
Obispo.
"Oh!" I answered, taming down my tone of enthusiasm, "Much more
depended on my life. Had I lost it--"
"Had you lost it," interrupted the young Mexican, relieving me from the
necessity of further explanation, "it would have been a sad misfortune
for me: since this night I should have lost mine. Five minutes more,
and these footpads would have overpowered me. As for my having saved
_your_ life, that is scarcely correct. Your own comrades did it. But
for their timely arrival, we might not have been able to withstand the
assault of the angry _patriotas_; who were led by a man of no common
kind."
"So much the greater reason for my gratitude to you."
"Well, you have amply acquitted the debt. But for your interference
here--the more generous that you did not know for whom it was exerted--I
might now be lying in the place of that red-hatted, red-handed wretch;
who has been alike a traitor to his country and his God!"
The last words were pronounced with a scornful emphasis, as if the
speaker's patriotism had become fired at the sight of the renegade
robber.
"But, caballero!" he continued, changing to a more tranquil tone, "you
say we have also met at the _monte_ table. Lately?"
"Our latest meeting has been to-night."
"To-night!"
"About an hour ago. Perhaps a little less."
"_Carrambo_! You must have been there at the time I left the saloon.
You saw me go out?"
"Every one saw you. More than one remarked it as strange."
"Why strange, senor?"
"It is not usual for a player to run away from such luck as you had--
without a very powerful motive. Something of the kind carried you off,
I presume?"
"_Par Dios_! Not much of that. Only a little errand that required
punctuality. I executed it; and was on my way back, when these
_picarones_ attacked me. Thanks to you, sir, it may still be in my
power to gain another _onza_ or two; which I intend doing, if the luck
has not been drawn out of me along with these drops of blood. But come,
caballero! are you going back yourself? 'Tis not too late to have
another _albur_."
"I shall go with you, to see whether you've received any wounds that
require looking after."
"Thanks, thanks! They're nothing; else I should have thought of them
before now. No doubt they're scarce worth dressing. A little soap and
water will set them all right. Are we to leave _him_ here?"
"If dead, yes. He don't deserve even the scant honour of being carried
upon a stretcher."
"You are not partial to your red-hatted associates?"
"I detest them; and so does every officer in our army who cares for its
escutcheon. They were regular professional robbers, these renegades--
were they not?"
"Were, are, and will be. _Salteadores del camino grande_!"
"Many of us consider it a scandal. So the world will esteem it. A band
of brigands taken into the service of a civilised nation, and treated as
its own soldiers! Who ever heard of such a thing?"
"Ah, senor! I see you are a true soldier of civilisation. I am sorry
to say that in my poor country such travesties are but too common. In
our army--that is, the army of his most Illustrious Excellency, General
Don Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna--you may discover captains, colonels--
nay, even generals, who--. But no. It is not for me to pour these sad
revelations into the ears of an enemy. Perhaps in time you may find out
for yourself some strange things; which we of the country are accustomed
to call--_Cosas de Mexico_!"