BEL. (doggedly.) Yes. Now, they urge, is the time to retaliate for all the persecution they have endured at the hands of the Americans. Now. While the opportunity offers. All hail to the Emperor of Barataria!
LAF. (goes up quietly to Beluche and puts his hands on his shoulders.) Beluche,—we are first of all Americans. Who will follow me must follow now not the Emperor of Barataria, but the American soldier. Re-iterate my orders to the men of Barataria. (Beluche, humbled, bows; in turning he sees Mariana; he starts and his face is instantly hard.)
BEL. It is well the men of Barataria don’t see you with this woman, or they would refuse to obey your orders. (exit.)
LAF. (turns in bewilderment to Mariana.) What did he mean?
MAR. (looks at him desperately; Lafitte waits; finally she puts out her hands in dumb, piteous supplication.) I thought my brother had been killed ... and my uncle ... all those helpless people....
LAF. Your brother? Where?
MAR. At Barataria ... shot ... by a band of pirates....
LAF. That man! The false commander of the Creole?
MAR. Yes.
LAF. (takes her by the shoulders.) You are dreaming! That man was Colonel Tolosa; the man responsible for my court-martial from Napoleon’s army; the man who came near separating us forever. That was the man I ordered shot at Barataria.