The bandit glared at him.
"Should I waste my time listening to sings which are not true?"
"Thank Gawd, I ain't got nothin' to lie about!" was Uncle Henry's relieved
thought, expressed aloud.
"H'm!" Lopez murmured. "You have given me a idea." He rubbed his hands
together, and then pushed his big sombrero a little back on his forehead.
"Better as my own. I shall use it."
Uncle Henry wondered what he had suggested. "What's that?" he asked.
Lopez took on the voice of an orator, or a man in court making an important
announcement. "If anyone 'ere shall tell me a lie, zen you shall all be--"
he paused dramatically once more--"shot." The final word rang out like a
shot itself.
A movement of despair ran through the group.
"Geemoneddy!" Uncle Henry broke the tension.
Lopez turned to Lucia. "All bot you," he graciously informed her. "I 'ave
ozzer plans for you!" Her hair enraptured him--her youth and loveliness.
The relief she felt at the first part of the sentence was quickly killed as
the sinister meaning of the latter part rushed into her brain.
"Other plans!" she cried.
"_Si._" He was unmoved by her apprehension. He walked to the very center of
the room, and looked about him, studying all their faces.
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