"Well?"
"Why, you understand, my lord, we are about, in a few minutes, to enter the territory of the redskins."
"To what are you driving, with these interminable preambles?" asked the marquis.
"To this, your Excellency; you are a great lord, expert in everything connected with civilised life, but pardon me for saying so, in complete ignorance of life in the desert. I believe then, with all due respect to you, my lord, that it would be well for you to permit me to take upon myself alone, from today, the responsibility of the journey of the caravan. There, your Excellency, that is what I wished to say to you."
The marquis remained some moments silent; his eyes fixed on the calm and loyal countenance of the captain.
"What you ask of me is very serious, Don Diogo," at last answered the marquis. "Treason surrounds me on every side; the men on whom I thought I had the most right to count have been the first to abandon me; you yourself consider this journey in advance to be a folly, and appear to be afflicted by sad presentiments."
"Your Excellency, I am not surprised at the suspicions against me which arise in your mind; on the contrary, I think them very natural. But the soldados da conquista are all tried men, chosen with the greatest care, and since the formation of this corps there has never been found a traitor in it. I do not say this for myself, but the honourable manner in which I have spoken to you—the things I have told you—ought to inspire, if not entire confidence in me, at least the commencement of it."
"Yes, I know; all your proceedings have been in good faith; you see that I render you justice."
"Not sufficiently, your Excellency; you judge me according to the knowledge acquired in civilised life, and not by that of the desert. Permit me, then, to make a simple observation."
"Speak."