Billings's teeth ground together. "Never!"
"Never?" glancing at the taper.
"It would not be the first house you have blown up."
"But it would be the last, my Commodore."
Mendoza seemed to grow in stature, to become colossal, terrible.
"This taper burns low. I have not another."
Billings's form relaxed.
"Your province is not worth a quarter thousand lives."
"So, you decide, Señor Billings. Well, open that window, then, and order your men to the ships."
"I shall not. What a diabolical advantage for you to take, Mendoza!"