Читать книгу Chata and Chinita. A Novel онлайн

19 страница из 163

“Ingles,” thought Planillos, using a term which is indiscriminately applied to English or Americans. “A man I dare vow it would be hard to deal with in fair fight!”

But evidently the Englishman, or American, was not there with any idea of contest; a pistol gleamed in his belt, but its absence would have been more noticeable than its presence,—it was worn as a matter of course. For so young a man, in that country where every cavalier native or foreign affected an abundance of ornament, his dress was singularly plain,—black throughout, even to the wide hat that shaded his face, the youthful bloom of which was heightened rather than injured by the superficial bronze imparted by a tropical sun.

Planillos had time to observe all this. Evidently the late-comer knew his ground, and had but little fear of discovery. “A bold fellow,” thought the watcher, “and fair indeed should be the Dulcinea for whom he ventures so much. It must be the niece of Don Rafael, or perhaps the governess—did I hear she was young?”