"Good!" he exclaimed, again all smiles. "You have won me over, my son. Let us hope I may aid you to overcome your graver difficulties."
"Her uncle—Don Pedro?" I asked.
"Beyond hope, I fear, Juan. Yet I will try. For the present we must avoid that problem, and bend every effort to mollify one who sits in a high place."
"Outface, not mollify," I returned. "Lieutenant Pike and myself are resolved to show him how fully we rely upon our country to defend, and, if need be, to revenge us. We have already pointed out to those who will bear our words to His Excellency the fact that the Floridas are within easy striking distance of our turbulent frontiersmen."
"Por Dios! You dared send such a message to Salcedo?"
"You may call it a message. We spoke in the presence of Lieutenant Walker. Nor is it the only one. Since the first, we have been loading him with similar information."
"Yet Salcedo has not incarcerated you? Poder de Dios! It is a miracle!"
"Rather, it is merely that we have outfaced him."
"God gave you the wisdom to be bold! Yet the danger is by no means past. He may free your companions, but detain you for years, as he has detained the men of Captain Nolan."
"I could fancy a harsher fate, padre. To remain a prisoner, yet have Alisanda to comfort my captivity—"