“Bien pues, it shall be as you wish, vulture,” he replied in a tone which again struck terror to Diego’s heart. He drew his knife and approached the horrified priest.
“Caramba!” shrieked Diego, shrinking back against the tree. “Hombre! you do not intend––”
“Why not, vampire?” returned Rosendo, the sardonic smile spreading across his grim features. “Did you not ask it?”
“But––Hombre! Back!––Caramba! Back!––Rosendo––God above! But would you go down to hell with murder on your soul?”
“Cierto, carrion! I kill the body. But you go down with a load of murdered souls!”
“Rosendo––God!––it means hell for eternity to you!”
“To be sure, dog-meat,” calmly replied Rosendo. “But hell will be heaven to me as I sit forever and hourly remind you of the suffering Ana and the beautiful Carmen, whom you tried to ruin! Is it not so?”
“Ah, God!” Diego saw that he had lost. Wild thoughts flashed through his mind with lightning speed. Desperation lent them wings. A last expedient came to him. He fixed his beady eyes upon Rosendo and muttered: “Coward! coward! you bind a sick man and stick him like a pig!”
Rosendo hesitated. Diego quickly followed up his slight advantage.
“We give a deer, a tapir, a jaguar, a chance for its life. We fear them not. But you––coward, you are afraid of a sick man! And a priest!”