"Your Excellency was wrong to allow him to leave; when people have in their power a rascal of that stamp, they should not let him go."
"What could I do? His engagement was up, and he refused to renew it, or even to prolong it for some days; so I was obliged to consent to his departure."
"That is right, your Excellency; pardon me. This man was free, so you could not retain him; but, under similar circumstances, I should not have acted so, especially after my suspicions."
"I know well that is wrong; unhappily, I had no pretext to give him, no plausible reason to keep him."
"Yes, yes, all that is true; but believe me, my lord, if Malco has so abruptly left us, it is because he had strong reasons for doing so, and that he has near here some accomplices, in conjunction with whom he is preparing our ruin."
"I think with you, Don Diogo; but who are these accomplices? Where are they hidden?"
The captain smiled with cunning.
"Only birds and fishes do not leave traces of their path," said he; "skilful as a man may be, we can always discover his track."
"So you would give much to know where this man has gone to?"
"Certainly, my lord; notwithstanding the precautions by which he has surrounded his flight, and the care which he has taken to hide his tracks."