"'How far do you go to-night?'
"'To Orizaba.'
"'A light, if you please, senor—I have lost all my lucifers.'
"He was a sallow, dark-skinned, half-blood; that is, half Mexican, half Spaniard, and wholly devil—partly seaman, partly landsman, and wholly pirate in spirit."
"Good heavens!" exclaimed Rose, "were you not terrified to be alone with such a person in such a place? I am sure I should have screamed and died of fright."
Hawkshaw smiled and continued:
"His eyes, black and sparkling, told of a cunning equal to that of the serpent in the scripture, and of a ferocity that death alone could tame. He had neither beard nor moustache, for he was too young; but his raven hair hung in masses beside his olive cheeks, and he had silver rings in his ears.
"Such was Zuares Barradas, who, like his brother, Pedro, feared nothing on earth, and respected nothing in heaven."
"Was, you say—is he now dead?" asked Ethel.
"You shall hear; but such fellows don't die easily, Miss Basset, be assured.