“There is no need. It is simply a debt paid in kind; and we are now quits.”
“Señor, your speech mystifies me. I cannot tell whether I have the honour of knowing the brave man who has done me such signal service. Your voice sounds like one I’ve heard before. You’ll excuse me. It’s so dark here—”
“You and I are so much in the habit of having encounters in dark places, I begin to think there’s a fatality in it.”
“Carrambo!” exclaimed the Mexican, still further mystified by my remark. “Where have we had these encounters? Pray tell me, señor?”
“You don’t remember capitan Moreno?”
“It is my name! You know me?”
“I have good reason.”
“You astonish me. If I mistake not, you are in uniform—an American officer?”
“I am.”
“May I ask where we have met? At the monté table?”