"Rube laughed unconcernedly. 'Well, signora, after what you now
permit me to see of you, I am really thankful that you are so kind
and lenient. Thunder! what a fate mine would have been if you had
taken it into your head to marry me!'
"There was a general laugh among the men at the cool way in which
Rube treated the girl, and the enraged Pepita struck him a box on
the ear. It was a hearty one; but Rube's face hardly changed, and
he said, still smiling:
"'We have a custom in the States, Pepita, that when a gal boxes a
man's ears, he has a right to give her a kiss. You are reversing
that; I had the kisses this afternoon, and now I have got the box
on the ear.'
"There was again a roar of laughter among the Mexicans, and the
enraged woman drew a knife, and would have stabbed Rube to the
heart had she not been seized by the men standing round her and
forced from the room. We were kept in that room under a guard so
watchful that any attempt to escape was out of the question, until
three o'clock the next morning. The horses were then saddled, and
we were soon off, Rube and I riding in the midst of the party with
our hands tied before us, so that we could just hold the bridle. We
had found out from the conversation that El Zeres with his band was
about twenty-five miles distant.
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