"Very good," he said, with an air of the utmost indifference. He rose, stifling a sigh of regret, and seated himself by the Captain's side, who withdrew to make room for him under the protecting shadow of the large tree which stretched out above his head its giant arms, loaded with vines and Spanish beard. "We are about to talk seriously," the Captain went on. "As you please." "Can you be frank?" "What?" the soldier said, thrown off his guard by the suddenness of the question. "Or, if you prefer it, can you be honest?" "That depends." The Captain looked at him. "Will you answer my questions?" "I do not know." "What do you say?" "Listen, Excellency," the guide said, with a simple look, "my mother, worthy woman that she was, always recommended me to distrust two sorts of people, borrowers and questioners, for she said, with considerable sense, the first attack your purse, the others your secrets." "Then you have a secret?" "Not the least in the world." "Then what do you fear?" "Not much, it is true. Well, question me, Excellency, and I will try to answer you." The Mexican peasant, the Manzo or civilized Indian, has a good deal of the Norman peasant about him, in so far as it is impossible to obtain from him a positive answer to any question asked him. The Captain was compelled to be satisfied with the guide's half promise, so he went on:-- "Who are you?" "I?" "Yes, you." The guide began laughing. "You can see plainly enough," he said. The Captain shook his head. "I do not ask you what you appear to be, but what you really are." "Why, señor, what man can answer for himself, and know positively who he is?" "Listen, scoundrel," the Captain continued, in a menacing tone, "I do not mean to lose my time in following you through all the stories you may think proper to invent. Answer my questions plainly, or, if not--" "If not?" the guide impudently interrupted him. "I blow out your brains like a dog's!" he replied, as he drew a pistol from his belt, and hastily cocked it. The soldier's eye flashed fire, but his features remained impassive, and not a muscle of his face stirred. "Oh, oh, señor Captain," he said, in a sombre voice, "you have a singular way of questioning your friends." "Who assures me that you are a friend? I do not know you." "That is true, but you know the person who sent me to you; that person is your Chief as he is mine. I obeyed him by coming to find you, as you ought to obey him by following the orders he has given you." "Yes, but those orders were sent me through you." "What matter?" "Who guarantees that the despatch you have brought me was really handed to you?" "Caramba, Captain, what you say is anything but flattering to me," the guide replied with an offended look.