He (bending his brows): "And when he finds that Dom Sebastian d'Estovalderos is not to be hoodwinked?"
I: "Then he will seek to get what he wants by force. Neither he nor his men will go away unsatisfied."
He: "He may be satisfied to go away with what he does not want. My guns are not toys."
I: "I hope with all my heart he may under-rate them to his cost. It is more likely, however, that he will stand well out of their reach. He is hardy, but he is prudent. Be assured he would rather murder us all in our beds than venture an open encounter."
At this, Mistress Sebastian, who also understood the Italian a little, set up a shrill scream, and, after feeling about her person in great concern, called a servant who waited hard by, and bade him run at once to the house for her beads. The governor himself was too concerned to take much heed of his lady's agitation, though his pride kept him in good countenance.
He: "Are there any measures that you think it advisable to take?"
I: "I would have stout beams chained together, and thrown across the river from one side to the other to prevent an enemy's boat slipping past the guns of the fortress; also I should propose to send your lady, and anything else you value, to some place of security out of the town; finally, I would set up a gallows on the top of your citadel to be seen by Rodrigues, and at his first approach let him know that you will hang without mercy upon it him or the first of his company that comes within your reach."
He: "You have nothing else to recommend?"
I: "Nothing."
He (with a penetrating glance of his quick eye): "How is it you have not thought of defending that part of the town by which you entered, and the part most likely to be attacked by an enemy who has the discretion to perceive that his boats and men would be swept from the water by my guns if he were to venture an assault by the river?"