"I proposed that to him."
"And what did he say?"
"He refused."
Doña Maria shrugged her shoulders with a smile of disdain. "Still," she remarked, "all that does not tell me who you are."
"I! I am an Ulmen in my tribe; a great warrior among the Puelches," he replied, proudly.
"Ah!" she said, with an air of satisfaction, "you are an Ulmen of the Puelches, are you? Good! then I can depend upon your fidelity."
"I am the friend of Joan," he remarked simply, with a respectful bow.
"Do you know the woman whom you have brought here?" the Linda asked, darting at him a mistrustful glance.
"How should I know her?"
"Are you ready to obey me in everything?"