"There are, then, different shades of blackness?" asked the padre. "I believe the law holds all equally guilty."
"El Capitan's motives, at least, have been different, and it has come to be understood that when extremely brutal things have occurred on their raids, Capitan is never of the party."
"Is it so? I did not know you Americanos gave Mexicans credit for such negative virtues?"
Bryton looked up quickly. There was a mocking light in the eyes of the padre, and he was smiling across the table. The smile puzzled Bryton as much as the quick alarm in the eyes of Ana. Was she afraid of controversy over the still warm question of Mexican and United States rights?
"I think that, individually, we give each other credit," he replied, "especially to the fighters. It is only the political schemers who make the troubles between the two factions. As for Capitan, he has too much daring not to force admiration even from the people he dislikes."
Ana flashed a grateful glance at him, and a slight flush crept to the forehead of the padre; he gulped down the contents of his glass, and pushed back his chair.
"Do you fear any trouble with those Indians to-night?" he asked, abruptly. "Had I better speak with them?"
"It is better, perhaps, that we say a rosary, and bring them together that way," observed Doña Refugia; "it is the best way. I will have Pedro ring the bell—"
Ana slipped out of the dining-room beside the padre.
"You will?" she asked.