“Then you accept?”
“He does not want to! If you could lend us something: you have already said that you knew us....”
Lucas scratched his head, pulled down his camisa and replied:
“Yes, I know you. You are Tarsilo and Bruno, both young and strong. I know that your brave father died from the result of the hundred lashes which the soldiers gave him. I know that you do not think of avenging him.”
“You need not meddle in our history,” interrupted Tarsilo, the older. “That is a disgrace. If we did not have a sister, we would have been hanged long ago.”
“Hanged? They only hang cowards, or some one who has no money or protection. Certainly the mountains are near.”
“A hundred against twenty on the blanco,” cried one as he passed the group.
“Loan us four pesos ... three ... two,” begged the younger brother. “Presently I will return it to you doubled. The fight is going to begin.”
Lucas scratched his head again.
“Tst! This money is not mine. Don Crisostomo has given it to me for those who want to serve him. But I see that you are not like your father. He was really courageous.”