"In that case permit me to return you my thanks, for I am really terribly pressed for time."
At this moment the door opened, and the count and Valentine came in. The colonel bent a piercing glance upon them, to try to discover with what sort of men he would have to deal; but it was impossible to read anything in their cold and rigid countenances, which seemed hewn out of marble.
"Gentlemen," the captain said, "Colonel Don Suarez, aide-de-camp to General Don Sebastian Guerrero, military governor of the State of Sonora. Colonel Suarez, two of my countrymen."
The three men bowed stiffly.
"Now, gentlemen," the captain continued, "pray be seated. The colonel is the bearer of dispatches he wishes to communicate to us, and they are probably important, as the colonel has not stopped even between Pitic and this place. We are ready to listen to you, colonel."
Like all men accustomed to double dealing and underhand schemes, the colonel possessed an infallible instinct for scenting treachery. In the present case, although all was being done ostensibly with the greatest frankness, and he was a thousand leagues from suspecting the truth, he guessed that he was being cheated, although it was impossible to perceive the secret object they had in view. Still he had no subterfuges he could employ: he must obey his instructions, and he decided on doing so, much against the grain, after bending on the two strangers a second glance, by which he sought to read their very hearts' thoughts, but which had no better result than the first.
"Gentlemen," he said, "you have doubtlessly not forgotten the numberless acts of kindness with which the Mexican Government has overwhelmed you."
"Overwhelmed is the word," de Laville interrupted him with a smile. "Go on, colonel."
"The Government is ready to make still greater sacrifices for you, if necessary."
"Caspita!" the young man again interrupted him, "we will spare it the trouble. The kindnesses of the Mexican Government generally cost us very dearly."