"To be off, of course. Are you not returning to Galveston?"
"Certainly; still——"
"Still," the stranger interrupted, "you would have had no objection to prowl a little longer round the rancho, I presume?"
"I confess it."
"Well, on my honour, you are wrong, for two excellent reasons: the first is, that you will learn nothing more than you have surmised,—that is to say, that the rancho is the headquarters of the insurrection. You see that I am frank with you."
"I perceive it. And now, what is your second reason?"
"It is very simple: you run the risk, at any moment, of being saluted with a bullet, and you know that the Texans are decent marksmen."
"Certainly; but you know also that this reason possesses but slight value for me."
"I beg your pardon; courage does not consist, in my opinion, at least, in sacrificing one's life without reason; it consists, on the contrary, in being only killed for a good price,—that is to say, for a motive worth the trouble."
"Thanks for the lecture, Caballero."