CHAPTER FIFTEEN.
LIFE FOR LIFE.
"_Gracias_!" cried the young Mexican, "_mil gracias, caballero_! That'sall I can say till I get back my breath."
He stopped. I could hear his respiration, quick and heavy, as that of ahorse halted after a rapid run.
"I hope you have not received any serious injury?" I said, on becomingassured that the only Red Hat remaining in the street was the one lyingalong the kerb-stone. "Are you wounded?"
"Nothing to signify, I think. A cut or two, perhaps. They're onlyscratches."
"You're sure?"
"Not quite, caballero; though I fancy I'm all right. I don't feeldisabled--only a little fatigued. It was rather quick play, keepingguard against all five at once. I had no chance to get a thrust atthem, else I might have reduced the number. You've done that, Iperceive. Once more let me thank you for my life."
"There is no need. It is simply a debt paid in kind; and we are nowquits."
"Senor, your speech mystifies me. I cannot tell whether I have thehonour 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'sso 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 myremark. "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 Americanofficer?"
"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, thatI 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 ownroof."
"_Caspita_! You confound me."
"'Tis true, I did not go inside--only just over the doorstep. There wemet 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 closingof the door, you gave me no chance of showing politeness; else I shouldhave stayed to thank you for doing, what you say I have just done foryou. I intended to seek an opportunity some day. It seems I have foundit without seeking."
"_Santissima Virgen_! you, then, are the gentleman--"
"Who on a certain night so unceremoniously made entrance into the houseof Don Francisco Moreno, in the Callecito de los Pajaros; who went inhead-foremost, and no doubt would have been carried out feet foremost,but for the fortune that gave him such a generous host. Ah! captainMoreno," I continued, in the ardour of my gratitude grasping the youngsoldier's hand, "I said we were quits. Far, far from it; you owe meperhaps 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 ofconfessing my _amourette_ with Mercedes, and telling him how he hadinterrupted it--in short, telling him all. No longer rivals, butfellow-suitors for two fair sisters, we were journeying along the sameroad. A common motive--each having a different object--instead ofestranging, ought rather to unite us?
And yet there was a doubt. Something counselled me to reticence. Mysecret remained unspoken; not even mention being made of the Calle delObispo.
"Oh!" I answered, taming down my tone of enthusiasm, "Much moredepended on my life. Had I lost it--"
"Had you lost it," interrupted the young Mexican, relieving me from thenecessity of further explanation, "it would have been a sad misfortunefor 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. Butfor their timely arrival, we might not have been able to withstand theassault of the angry _patriotas_; who were led by a man of no commonkind."
"So much the greater reason for my gratitude to you."
"Well, you have amply acquitted the debt. But for your interferencehere--the more generous that you did not know for whom it was exerted--Imight 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 thespeaker's patriotism had become fired at the sight of the renegaderobber.
"But, caballero!" he continued, changing to a more tranquil tone, "yousay 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 requiredpunctuality. I executed it; and was on my way back, when these_picarones_ attacked me. Thanks to you, sir, it may still be in mypower to gain another _onza_ or two; which I intend doing, if the luckhas 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 haveanother _albur_."
"I shall go with you, to see whether you've received any wounds thatrequire looking after."
"Thanks, thanks! They're nothing; else I should have thought of thembefore now. No doubt they're scarce worth dressing. A little soap andwater will set them all right. Are we to leave _him_ here?"
"If dead, yes. He don't deserve even the scant honour of being carriedupon 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 itsescutcheon. 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 bandof brigands taken into the service of a civilised nation, and treated asits own soldiers! Who ever heard of such a thing?"
"Ah, senor! I see you are a true soldier of civilisation. I am sorryto say that in my poor country such travesties are but too common. Inour army--that is, the army of his most Illustrious Excellency, GeneralDon Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna--you may discover captains, colonels--nay, even generals, who--. But no. It is not for me to pour these sadrevelations into the ears of an enemy. Perhaps in time you may find outfor yourself some strange things; which we of the country are accustomedto call--_Cosas de Mexico_!"