The lantern-jawed man gave me a keen glance, almost a suspicious glance, I should have said. He had a nervous manner, and there was a kind of restless glow in his eyes.
"Well, sir?" he said. "I understand you desired speech with me?"
"If you are Colonel O'Donnell——"
He nodded curtly.
"—I am to tell you that your daughter awaits you outside," I concluded.
He was genuinely startled.
"My daughter? But who are you, sir, who act as her guardian?"
I was nettled, and did not hesitate to show it.
"She asked me the way hither when she came ashore," I retorted, "and, deeming it scarce probable that you would care to have her enter the taproom, I even offered my services to fetch you forth to her."
I saw now his resemblance to her, for the corners of his mouth twitched down in the same way her's had. And he muttered something like a curse in Spanish.