“And they are well?—all well?”
“Yes, Captain. Papa expects you will come this evening, with the lieutenant and the other officer.”
“The other officer! Who, Narcisso!”
“I think he was with you on your first visit to La Virgen—un señor gordo.”
“Oh! the major! Yes, yes, we shall come; but where have you been since we met, Narcissito?”
“To Orizava. Papa has a tobacco-farm near Orizava; he always goes to it when he comes up here. But, Captain, we were so astonished to hear from your people that you had been a prisoner, and travelling along with us! We knew the guerillos had some American prisoners, but we never dreamt of its being you. Carambo! if I had known that!”
“But how came you, Narcisso, to be with the guerilla?”
“Oh! papa had many things to carry up the country; and he, with some other families, paid Colonel Cenobio for an escort—the country is so full of robbers.”
“Ah! sure. Tell me, Narcisso, how came I by this?”
I held out the dagger.