" He put the big cup down and put in four spoonfuls of sugar,
stirred it diligently, and looked around him, the wonder of a child in his
face.
"You do kill your prisoners, then?" Lucia brought out.
"Sure!" laughed Pancho.
Could she have heard aright? "You do?" she cried, and her cheeks took on an
ashen hue.
"_Ciertamente!_" the bandit stated, as though they were talking of the
weather. "You capture ze preesoner. You 'ave no jail to put 'im in. You
pack him around wiz you. If you let 'im go, 'e come back to fight you
again. So you kill him. Eet is very simple."
"But it seems so cold-blooded!" Lucia said.
"Ah! to you, perhaps! It is ze difference between zose who live in safety
and zose who live in danger. In safety you 'ave ze bill to pay. You pay it
and you forget it. In danger you 'ave enemy to kill. You kill 'im an' you
forget 'im. _Save?_" And another heaping knifeful of the chile con carne
went into his mouth.
"It's too horrible!" said Lucia; and she turned away.
"Ees life too horrible?" Pancho wanted to know.
"I never knew life was like that!" she said.
"Because you 'ave never really lived," the bandit explained. "Because you
'ave been always protect by ozzers.
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