"Everybody, señor, looks at matters from his own point of sight; for my part I repeat that the way in which the woman to whom we are alluding has twice interfered in my affairs has excited in me, I will not say a curiosity, but such a lively interest, that I swear to you I mean to learn something about her at all risks so soon as I am at liberty again."
"Take my advice, Don Oliver, do not try to discover the matter, for there is a sad story beneath it."
"You know her, then?"
"Perhaps so. I can only form conjectures, for the persons directly interested in that woman's actions insist on maintaining the deepest silence."
"Why, wait a minute," the Canadian said, hitting his forehead like a man who suddenly remembers something he had quite forgotten, "I believe now that Don Aurelio Gutiérrez told us at the Hacienda del Barrio certain facts connected with this person."
"To what are you alluding, señor?"
"Good gracious! I attached but slight importance to the narrative at the time, so that what I heard is very confused in my head. Still I think it referred to the extermination of an Indian tribe encamped on Don Aníbal de Saldibar's estates, and atrocious revenge on the part of the redskins, in consequence of which the hacendero's wife became insane."
"Yes, all that you say is true. When Doña Emilia regained her reason she vowed an implacable hatred against the Indians, and since that period, if what is said be true, she has constantly pursued them without truce or mercy, hunting them down, and massacring them like wild beasts."
"That is indeed extraordinary."
"The redskins, tracked by this lady, whom they believe to be protected by a charm, as she has constantly foiled their snares and escaped unwounded from all their attacks, have conceived such a superstitious fear for her that her name alone, as you saw last night, is sufficient to cause them a wild terror and set them to flight, and as if rendering homage to the terror with which she has continued to inspire them, they have given her the name you heard repeated during the fight."