"Well."
"Can you keep a secret?"
"I think so, Ruez," said Isabella, half smiling at the question of her brother.
"Well, it's not so very wonderful, since I drew the bullets from the guns!"
And Ruez explained to her that he had secreted himself in the house, with the hope that something might turn up to save his friend even yet, and there he had found a chance to draw the bullets from the twelve muskets. After he had told her, she threw her arms about his neck, and said:
"You are a dear, good brother."
"And for what, sister?"
"For saving Captain Bezan's life; for otherwise he had been shot."
"But why do you care so much about it, sister?" asked the boy, seriously.
"O, nothing, only-that is, you know, Ruez, we owe Captain Bezan so much ourselves for having hazarded his life for us all."