“Call yourself worthless no longer!” the girl exclaimed. “Men must have told falsehoods concerning you. I cannot believe Captain Fly-by-Night to be the man they say.”
“Worthless compared to yourself, at least, señorita. Made better perhaps by my sudden love for you! But I must not speak of that, since you will think I insult you again.”
“Ah, it is not an insult now. Have you not saved me?”
“I do not ask love as a reward for service, señorita. And—I am strong again now, and we must be going.”
“Where?” she asked.
“Through this tunnel, though I scarcely know which way to go. The hostiles may open that hole in the wall soon, then this will be no safe place for us. I hope I have not saved you to have you placed in danger again.” He put an arm around her—nor did she protest—and led her slowly along the narrow cut in the earth, trying to shield her from falling dirt. Where the tunnel branched, he stopped.
“That way leads to the well in the orchard,” he said. “We dare not go there now, for the hostiles would see us. This leads to the mortuary chapel of the mission, a place that can be defended against both sides, señorita. I think it would be the better place. If I must die, where more appropriate than in a mortuary chapel, eh?”
“Do not speak of dying,” she said. “You must live!”
“Had I something for which to live——!”
“More than I have,” she replied. “What is there in the future for me? Where is there escape from this present predicament? Where can Anita Fernandez hold up her head, even if she escaped, since all will know one of her blood did this thing?”