98 WILD SPORTS IN THE SOUTH. 



" ' There were Spanish prisoners among the Indians, then ? ' 



•  Yes, they seized three or four ; but we counted them dead, 

 for they never kept Spanish prisoners.' 



" ' What, then, did they do with them ? ' 



"The soldier replied not in words, but taking his unkempt 

 locks in one hand, with the edge of the other he made a circle 

 around his head, and then with the first hand gave a twist, and a 

 wave that was horribly significant of the scalping process, that had 

 then but just come to the ears of the Spaniard, and possessed, to 

 his mind, the double terror of mystery. 



" A groan and a long pause followed this pantomime. 



 ' Soldier,' said the lady, ' he was your chief, you left him in a 

 hostile country ; you do not know his fate — will not honour, a 

 soldier's name, tempt you to return, and seek to bring some tidings 

 of his death ? ' 



" ' Ha ! where is the honour to all my comrades who are buried 

 in those woods ? There is no honour there.' 



" ' Where is your religion, man ? You swore on the cross in 

 our Holy Mother Church to defend your liege and propagate your 

 faith.' 



" ' By my Lady, I kept my oath ; but where there is no 

 standard, and even the priest is slaughtered by the savages, there 

 is no piety in staying.' 



 ' Have you ever loved since you left the Tagus ? ' 



" The soldier's eye glanced quick at the lady's, but he did not 

 answer, and the young girl peered from her veil beside her mother, 

 on the comely form of the soldier. 



" ' Ortez, I will give you the fairest girl in all the colonies if 

 you will do this one thing for me.' 



  I can't. What is love worth if you cannot enjoy it ? I have 

 been a true soldier in many a war ; but this is no war. We have 

 lost our ship, our lives, our horses, our chief, everything is gone of 

 that array, and never a real have we won to repay us alL What, 

 then, could / do alone ?' 



 ' Soldier, you are a poor man now, are you not ? ' 

 " ' As poor as a muleteer.' 



  Do this for me, and I will make you rich.' 



