I cut him off.
"I don't mean well by you. I despise you altogether. You get away safely because Mary thought once you were a friend. It's a fool notion that you can take advantage of, or not, as pleases you. I won't attempt to disguise the fact that you are wanted bad by some of our side. Oriñez, there, would like to have your hide to remember you by."
"Si, Señor!" says Oriñez from the window. "It is only that my word is given you are not dead now."
There came another burst of firing, nearer. Another street taken.
"I agree," said Belknap, and now he was anxious, fawning. "I can take a few belongings? Trifles that I have picked up and wish to keep?"
"Leave your trifles and let them keep me," jeered Oriñez.
"You can take what you can carry," I answered, short.
"Thank you—thank you," he said hurriedly. "Would you mind if I asked you to leave me alone in the room? A stranger distracts one when it comes to what to leave and what to keep."
"We won't steal your darned money, even if we see it," I said. "You'll have time after we leave to gather your wealth."
He bit his nails. "The time seems short," he said. The firing broke out nearer, and now you could hear our war-whoop. "Viva Perez! Down with the traitors!" Each side called the other traitors. "Perez" was the key to the party.