“Very true,” Don Pablo answered, “but he may be suspected by the Whites. See you,” he added, turning to address the assembly in Spanish, “this boy may justly be suspected by us, when he comes from we know not where and says that he wishes to reach Anselmo.”
As most of those there were like water, ready to flow in any direction opened to it, as long as it were downhill, this turned the company against Hi. They agreed that he might justly be suspected. Why should he be there, they asked, if he wished to reach Anselmo? This was now war; Anselmo was a place of the Reds undoubtedly; this was an English boy; that he should be sent on a message was a farce. Undoubtedly he was a spy or might be used as a spy. Hi did not know their words, but their meanings were plain.
“You may be this or you may be that,” Don Pablo said, in English, “but you cannot go to Anselmo.”
“But, sir, I must go.”
“What say you?”
“Sir, I must go.”
Don Pablo pretended to be deaf, he held one of his ears with his hand, so as to catch the sound: the company tittered.
“What say you?”
“Sir, I must go to Anselmo.”
“Ah,” Don Pablo said with a smile, turning to the men, “He says that he must go to Anselmo. Must go; this very important English word. No, sir,” he said, turning to Hi, “you may go to your Reds in Carpinteria, or you may go home to your English in England; no one shall stop you; it is a healthy walk, for you English are accustomed to walk; but you shall not go to Anselmo. You shall not go to Anselmo, because it is a special place, which I am determined that you shall not see.”