"And now, what you say? You all 'appy, eh?"
Gilbert was still too dazed to understand. "You've killed him!" was all he could utter.
"I 'ave," the bandit answered. "You need not thank me. It was a great pleasure." Evidently he smiled; Lucia would not look up.
Gilbert paced the floor. "He's dead!" he kept repeating, as though to brand the truth upon his brain. "He's dead!" He paused once and stared down again at the body.
"He's dead, just as I say," Lopez stated. "Pedro never misses."
As though he had heard his name spoken, the ubiquitous Pedro ambled in, slowly, and with a bored expression upon his ugly countenance.
"Azcooze, my general," he said. His chief turned. "It is ze damn ranger. Zey is after us some more."
Lopez never turned a hair. Lucia heard him say: "It is time. I was agspectin' zem. Ze 'osses?"
"Zey are ready," Pedro informed him.
Pancho paused and considered a moment. "Zey come from ze souse, zose rangers?"