“Picaro! A thousand of them, quickly!”
“Thou didst promise me a ducat—”
“Truly, and thou shalt have it. Only wait till the division cometh, and thy master saith to me, ‘Take thy share.’”
“Thou hearest, father?”
“How! Dost doubt me?”
The boy stepped back. “No. Alvarado’s promise is good against the world. But dost thou not think the Señor Hernan will attack the temple?”
“Cierto, with horse, foot, guns, Tlascalans, and all.”
“He goeth merely on a visit, and by invitation of Montezuma, the king.”
Olmedo’s face relaxed, and he rubbed his hands; but the captain said, dismally, “By invitation! Picaro! Instead of the ducat, that for thy news!” And he struck open-handedly at the page, but with such good-will that the latter gave him wide margin the rest of the day.