Fray Ambrosio cast a suspicious glance at his partner.
"Hum!" he muttered, "that would be very unlucky, for hitherto the business has been well managed."
"For that reason," Red Cedar hastened to add, "I only suggest a doubt —nothing more."
"Come, Red Cedar," the monk said, "you have yourself narrated all the embarrassments of our position, and the countless difficulties we shall have to surmount before reaching our object. Why, then, complicate the gravity of our situation still more, and create fresh enemies needlessly?"
"I do not understand you, señor padre. Be good enough to explain yourself more clearly."
"I allude to the young girl you carried off."
"Ah, ah!" Red Cedar said with a grin, "Is that where the shoe pinches you, comrade? I am vexed at it; but I will not answer your question. If I carried off that woman, it was because I had pressing reasons to do so. These reasons still exist; that is all I can tell you. All the better if these explanations are sufficient for you; if not, you must put up with them, for you will get no others."
"Still it appears to me that, regarding the terms on which we stand to each other—"
"What can there be in common between the abduction of Doña Clara and the discovery of a placer in the heart of Apacheria? Come, you are mad, Fray Ambrosio; the mezcal is getting to your head."
"Still—" the monk insisted.