"You forget I have lived there myself—that I speak Spanish, and by direct association discovered the good qualities of these people who are almost enigmas to the common run of Americans. I believe in giving the devil his due. Yes, you cannot surprise me very much. I too have seen many remarkable dramas played under the crimson and gold banner of Spain."
"This daughter of the governor saved Leon. She bribed the prison doctor who pronounced my brother dead while in reality he only lay in a stupor caused by a subtle drug.
"He was carried from the prison in a coffin and buried just as the sun went down.
"Then darkness came as the grave diggers turned back to the fort.
"Hardly were they out of sight than from a chaparral where she had remained hidden sprang the governor's daughter, may the saints protect her as an angel of mercy.
"At her side was a faithful negro, and while the fire-flies spangled the darkness around, this man flung back the newly set earth.
"When Leon had been snatched from the rude pine box intended for his coffin this was again buried in the ground.
"They carried the boy to the negro's cabin and there he was tenderly nursed through a long and weary sickness.
"There he lay while I mourned as only a loving, stricken sister could; for we believed the published account of his death before the guns of the avenging Spanish executioners.
"It was six months before he was well, and during that time he had become so mixed up in the great game of independence that he dared not let me know even of his existence—besides, he feared lest a breath of suspicion should be cast upon the girl who had risked all this for his sake, and whom he loved with heart and soul.