LAF. Colonel Tolosa, what have you to say in your own defense? (Pedro is silent.) Perhaps you know the whereabouts of that ally of yours, Don Manuel d’Acosta?
PED. I can—
LAF. Silence! I will not send you to your reckoning with an added villainy. I can find Don Manuel myself.
PED. You—
LAF. For your plunder of an American vessel in the name of Lafitte. I order you shot. (exit. Pedro is conducted to the back of the stage, near the Bay, where two men set about digging his grave.)
1st GRAVE-DIGGER. I have often cautioned the men never to trust anyone no matter what his guarantees, without asking for the pass-word. I’ll bet you this fellow couldn’t have answered. “To-morrow,” I say and if the other fellow answers “and her dupes,” all right, I’ll believe him. (enter Beluche; he goes to Pedro and searches him.)
2d G-D. You shouldn’t speak the pass-word except upon necessity. (Beluche throws unimportant things found on Pedro to the ground.)
1st G-D. (looks at Pedro; laughs) Ha! Dead men tell no tales. (Beluche finds a small picture; looks at it studiously.)
BEL. (aside.) There is something familiar about this face. Ahbah! (throws picture aside; pirates nearer the front have been drawing lots with dice.)