"Why try to arouse her memory?" Tahi-Mari said, with a shrug of the shoulders.
"Oh!" Don Juan exclaimed, turning to him, "all your blood will not suffice to avenge us."
"As you please, caballero: but in the meanwhile be off, or I cannot answer for your safety."
"Not yet," said a thundering voice, which vibrated through the air.
A great disturbance broke out in camp, and a man covered with perspiration and dust proceeded towards Tahi-Mari's hut. It was Captain Leon Delbès, on seeing whom Diego turned pale, but remained motionless. Leon advanced toward him thrusting aside every obstacle that barred his progress.
"What have you done with General Soto-Mayor's daughter?" he asked, fixing his eyes on the half-breed's.
The smuggler's entrance had been so unexpected, his action so extraordinarily rash, that all the Indians who witnessed the scene stood as if petrified with admiration and amazement. On hearing Leon's question Diego looked down, but made no reply.
"What have you done with her, I ask you?" the captain repeated with a passionate stamp of his foot.
At this moment the young lady, to whom nobody paid attention, leant on his shoulder, and with a charming smile began singing again in a sweet and melancholy voice—
"Seated at the corner of a street,
They tell me that my chuca sells,
They tell me that she sells flowers."