“I see,” said Buckland.
“And he’d rather surrender to us than to the blacks, sir,” concluded Hornblower.
“Yes indeed,” said Bush. Everyone had heard a little about the horrors of the servile rebellion which for eight years had deluged this land with blood and scorched it with fire. The three men were silent for a space as they thought about the implications of Hornblower’s last remark.
“Oh, very well then,” said Buckland at length. “Let’s hear what this fellow has to say.”
“Shall I bring him in here, sir? He’s been waiting long enough. I can blindfold him.”
“Do what you like,” said Buckland with resignation.
A closer view, when the handkerchief had been removed, revealed Colonel Ortega as a younger man than he might have been thought at a distance. He was very slender, and he wore his threadbare uniform with some presence at elegance. A muscle in his left cheek twitched continually. Buckland and Bush rose slowly to their feet to acknowledge the introductions Hornblower made.
“Colonel Ortega says he speaks no English,” said Hornblower.
There was only the slightest extra stress on the word ‘says’, and only the slightest lingering in the glance that Hornblower shot at his two superiors as he said it, but it conveyed a warning.
“Well, ask him what he wants,” said Buckland.