orment? Pray, Deliverer,
that the hour may not be near when you shall rejoice to die by the
bullet with which you threaten me, so that you may escape worse things."
And she turned and went.

"I am not nervous," said Leonard to Francisco, "but that she-devil
frightens me. If it were not for Juanna, she would cause us to be
murdered on the first possible opportunity, and if only she can secure
her safety, I believe that she will do it yet."

"And I believe that she is a witch, Outram," answered the priest with
fervour, "a servant of the Evil One, such as are written of in the
Scriptures. Last night I saw her praying to her gods; she did not know
that I was near, for the place was lonely, but I saw her and I never
wish to see anything so horrible again. I will tell you why she hates us
all so much, Outram. She is jealous, because the senora--does not hate
us. That woman's heart is wicked, wickedness was born in her, yet, as
none are altogether evil, she has one virtue, her love of the senora.
She is husbandless and childless, for even among the black people, as I
have learnt from the Settlement men, all have feared her and shrunk from
her notwithstanding her good looks. Therefore, everything that is best
in her has gone to nourish this love for the woman whom she nursed from
a babe. It was because of her fierceness that the Senor Rodd, who is
dead, chose her for his daughter's nurse, when he found that her heart
was hungry with love for the child, for he knew that she would die
before she suffered harm to come to her."

"He showed good judgment there," said Leonard. "Had it not been for Soa,
Juanna would have been a slave-girl now, or dead."

"That is so, Outram, but whether we showed good judgment in trusting our
lives to her tender mercies is quite another matter. Say, friend, do you
think it well to go on with this business?"

"Oh, confound it all!" said Leonard with irritation, "how can we turn
back now? Just think of the journey and how foolish we should look.
Besides, we have none of us got anything to live upon; it took most of
the gold that I had to bribe Peter and his men to accompany us. I dare
say that we shall all be killed, that seems very probable, but for my
part I really shan't be sorry. I am tired of life, Francisco; it is
nothing but a struggle and a wretchedness, and I begin to feel that
peace is all I can hope to win. I have done my best here according to my
lights, so I don't know why I should be