When Arthur came to recount his adventures his friends were horrified at the risks he had run, and Donna Mercedes turned pale when she heard that he had been in the power of Cabrera.
"What an escape! What an escape!" Leon said. "To think that his bullet should have set you free! It seems almost miraculous."
"It was noble of you to go back to fetch your soldier," Donna Inez said, clapping her hands. "Oh, it was splendid!"
"He is always doing splendid things," Mercedes said. "You must promise me, Señor Arthur, that you will never run the risk of falling into Cabrera's hands again. Twice you have escaped him, but the third time will assuredly be fatal."
"It would certainly be fatal to one of us. If I had had a weapon when I went back, we should have finished our quarrel then and there. However, I will willingly promise you not to run the risk of falling into his hands again if I can help it."
"We shall be very unhappy if you go that way again," Donna Inez said; "sha'n't we, Mercedes?"
Mercedes only nodded her head, she was evidently too moved to speak.
"Well, go on with your story," Leon said. "You left us with your man riding on your back."
They laughed heartily when he told them how he had obtained meat by acting on the superstition of the natives.
"It was running a great risk, and you had no right to do it," Mercedes said.