go on the lake.”
The strange calm effrontery of it! But truly Mexican.
“How?” said Kate.
“You can give me something,” he said.
“But why should I give something to you, if it is a tribute to Quetzalcoatl?” she stammered.
“I am Quetzalcoatl’s man, I,” he replied, with calm effrontery.
“And if I don’t give you anything?” she said.
He lifted his shoulders and spread his free hand, staggering a little, losing his footing in the water as he did so.
“If you wish to make an enemy of the lake!—” he said, coolly, as he recovered his balance.
And then for the first time he looked straight at her. And as he did so, the demonish effrontery died down again, and the peculiar American tension slackened and left him.
He gave a slight wave of dismissal with his free hand, and pushed