"Hold, José!" the most important of the men shouted to the Indian, employing the general nickname of these poor fellows. "Hold, José! Mind you do not lead us astray, scoundrel, if you do not want to have your ribs broken; we must arrive this night at the Real de Minas of Quitovar, whither important business summons us."
"You would arrive there before two o'clock, Excellency," the Indian answered, with a crafty laugh, "if instead of riding at a foot pace you would consent to give your mule the spurs; if not we shall not get there till after sunset."
"¡Válgame dios!" the first speaker said, angrily; "What will my honourable client, El Señor Senator Don Rufino Contreras say, who must have been awaiting my arrival for several days with the utmost impatience?"
"Nonsense, Excellency! You will arrive soon enough to torture honest people."
"What do you dare to say, scoundrel?" the bailiff exclaimed, raising the chicote he held in his hand.
The Indian parried with a stick the blow which would have otherwise fallen on his loins, and answered drily, as he seized the mule by the bridle, and made it rear, to the great alarm of the rider,—
"Take care, señor; though you call me José, and treat me no better nor worse than a brute, we are no longer in one of your civilized towns, but on the prairie; here I have my foot on my native heath, and will not put up with the slightest insult from you. Treat me as an idiot, if you like, and I shall not care for it, as it comes from one whom I utterly despise; but bear this in mind,—on the slightest threatening gesture you make, I will immediately thrust my knife into your heart."
And while saying this, the man flashed in the bailiffs terrified face a long knife, whose blue blade had a sinister lustre.
"You are mad, José—quite mad," the other answered, affecting a tranquillity he was far from feeling at the announcement; "I never intended to insult you, and I shall never do so; so let go my mule's bridle, pray, and we will continue our journey in peace."
"That will do," the Indian said, with his eternal grin; "that is the way you must speak for us to remain good friends during the period we shall have to pass together."