"Oh, gentleman!" he cried, "You must not be seen by the others. They line the road to the town. You will surely be killed even running the gauntlet, though we believed you would be stifled in your own bedroom at don Stefano's, but you shall not be harmed now! I swear it!" he added vehemently. "You are under the charge of the Saints; your escape from our bullets showed that!"
Gladsden did not trouble just then to undeceive him in his conceit about the horseman who had drawn the fire of the ambuscade.
"Come! You are not so bad a fellow, I grant!"
"And you are a brave heart, Señor. I watched you close while you played the captain disguised."
"Oh, were you there? Now well, I won't say fraternal love would make you help me, but there is a prospect of a bushel of pearls, for your sister, the orphans, and yourself, and, in faith—as you would say—I honestly believe you had better be my safe guide to the port! What say you?"
"It's a bargain, Señor. Besides—" (here he could not help laughing heartily, though in a low tone) "with me you can trick that humbug, the captain, lovely!"
"In what way? Will he not burst with vexation if I slip past his dogs unhurt?"
"He will with disappointment when you sail away in the Burlonilla."
"I believe that."
"And that you may do, with my help, if we are on the alert! I am the chief officer of that barque."