After a
time there sounded a murmur of voices, then a shuffling of feet in
the hall; Alaire's friend, the old lieutenant, appeared in the
doorway, saluting. Behind him were several others.
"Here is Felipe," he announced.
"Bring him in."
A sullen, frowning man in soiled uniform was pushed forward, and
Dolores hid her face against her mistress's shoulder.
"Is this the fellow?" Longorio inquired.
Dolores nodded.
"Well, what have you to say for yourself?" The general transfixed
his trooper with a stare; then, as the latter seemed bereft of his
voice, "Why did you enter this house?"
Felipe moistened his scarred lips. "That woman is--nice and clean.
She's not so old, either, when you come to look at her." He
grinned at his comrades, who had crowded in behind old Pancho.
"So! Let us go outside and learn more about this." Longorio waved
his men before him and followed them out of the room and down the
hall and into the night.
When a moment or two had dragged past, Dolores quavered. "What are
they going to do with him?"
"I don't know. Anyhow, you need not fear--"
There sounded the report of a gunshot, deadened indeed by the
thick adobe walls of the house, yet sudden and loud enough to
startle the women.
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