“You come in good time,” she declared to the captain. “The wench has been kept in the storeroom. But an instant ago, hearing no sounds within, I unbarred and opened the door. And she had enlarged the window, and dressed in those rags. She intended escaping, señor! Had it not been for me now she would be gone.”
“You have done well,” Ramón declared. “That is the door to the storeroom?”
“Sí!” Inez answered. She dropped the bar and threw the door open. Captain Ramón peered inside, then turned and smiled again, first at the hag, and then at the señorita.
“It is indeed well,” he said. “Señorita, you might have been injured on the outside, for men are fighting. And your present garments are scarce suited to your station in life. Your dainty face is streaked with dirt, too, and your hands soiled.”
“Your presence soils me more!” the señorita said.
“You prefer pirates, señorita?”
“There are several grades of depravity,” she said, “and pirates may not be the lowest.”
“Ha! A biting tongue in a sweet face!” Captain Ramón declared.
“More biting than the blade you wear at your side, señor! Why do you not show your true colors? Why not go out and fight with your friends, the pirates and thieves and murderers, against men of gentle blood?”