"What use is an escort, Excellency? You want your money here? I will buy a mule at Hermosillo, and load the money on it, and it will take a very clever fellow to rob me, I assure you."
"Still, it would be, perhaps, better to have an escort."
"Permit me to remark, Excellency, that it would be the best way of setting robbers on my track."
"¡Viva Dios! I should be curious to know how you arrive at that conclusion."
"You will easily understand me, mi amo. A single man is certain to pass unnoticed, especially when, as at this moment, the roads are infested with bandits of every description and every colour."
"Hum! what you are saying is not re-assuring, Don José, do you know that?" Don Hernando remarked, with a smile, for his majordomo's reasoning amused him.
"On the contrary, the bandits to whom I am referring, Excellency, are clever, too clever, and it is that which ruins them; they will never imagine that a poor devil of a half-breed, leading a sorry mule, can be carrying fifty thousand piastres. Deceived by my appearance, they will let me pass, without even pretending to see; while if I take persons with me, it will arouse their suspicions, they will want to know why I am guarded, and I shall be plundered."
"You may really be right, Don José."
"I am certain I am, Excellency."
"Well, I will not argue any longer; do what you think proper."