“Could we not swear her to silence if we released her?” I asked, for I shrank from such a dreadful deed, however just and necessary it might be.
“Swear her to silence!” said Maya contemptuously, “as easily might you swear a snake not to use its fangs, if one should chance to tread on it. Do you not understand that this woman hates me so bitterly, who she thinks has robbed her of her husband’s love, that she would gladly die herself, if thereby she could bring about my death and that of those who are dear to me. So soon as she could leave her bed of sickness she came here to taunt me with the doom she had prepared, knowing that I was alone. Then she saw the child, and so great was her desire for revenge that she could not even wait till the law should wreak it for her. No, the issue is plain: if we cannot fly, either she must die or we must. Is it not so, Ignatio?”
“It seems that it is so,” I answered sadly, “and yet the thing is awful.”
“It is awful, but it must be done,” said the señor, “and it falls on me to do it for the sake of my wife and child. Alas! that I was ever born, that I should live to stand face to face with such necessity. Could not another hand be found? No; for then we should confess ourselves as murderers. Give me a knife. Nay, my hands will serve, and this end will seem more natural, for I can say that when I found her in the act of murder, I seized her and killed her suddenly by my strength alone, not meaning it in my wrath.”
Now he stepped to where Nahua lay, and knelt beside her, and we two drew away sick at heart and hid our faces in our hands.
Presently he was with us again.
“Is it done?” asked Maya hoarsely.
“No; nor will be by me,” he answered, in a fierce voice, “sooner would I choke the breath out of my own body than strangle this defenceless woman, cruel-hearted murderess though she is. If she is to be killed, some other man must do the deed.”
“Then it will remain undone,” said Maya. “And now, since we have thus determined, let us think of flight, for the night draws on, and in flight is our only hope.”
“What, then, is to be done with this woman?” I asked. “We cannot take her with us.”