day, in Louisiana, and to
pass unchallenged?"

The priest's voice rose and it cut like the sharp edge of a knife. Never
since his boyhood had Francisco Alvarez flushed more deeply, and he moved
uneasily on his cane chair.

"You give it a name that does not belong to it," he said. "It was play, or
not much more. Romildo, the swordsman, had orders not to hurt him much."

"That may or may not be true, Francisco Alvarez," said the priest,
speaking slowly and precisely. "But I have more to ask you. What of this
plot of yours to set the Indian tribes and a Spanish force with cannon
upon Kaintock? What of your plan to become Governor General in place of
Galvez? What of your intention to make distant war upon the rebel colonies
and therefore commit Spain to an alliance with England? Answer me,
Francisco Alvarez. What of these things?"

The priest rose from his seat, as he spoke, and lifted that stern,
accusing finger. Alvarez was as still as if struck by lightning. His great
plan known to this man, this man who feared not even torture, or death,
or the world to come! He shrank visibly both mentally and physically, but
then his courage came back under the spur of dreadful necessity.

"A priest can take great liberties," he said. "Sometimes I think it
scarcely fair that you of the Book may denounce us of the sword and that
we may say nothing in return, although we may be right and you may be
wrong. It is sufficient now for me to tell you that I do not know what you
are talking about. I, the Governor General! Any man may dream of that! I
have done so, and I have no doubt that many others have done the same. I
favor, too, an alliance with England, as do nearly all the Spanish
officers in Louisiana, but I am a faithful servant of His Majesty, the
King, and though I may hold my opinions, I know of no plot, either against
Bernardo Galvez or to make a war upon Kaintock."

"I have heard you, Francisco Alvarez," said the priest, "but it is for
your actions to prove the truth of your words. See to it, also, that there
is no further cruelty practised against these men from Kaintock."

"They are my prisoners," replied Alvarez, "and I mean to hold them. There
you cannot interfere, Father Montigny. They were taken in arms against us
upon our soil of Louisiana, and that they are my prisoners even you cannot
dispute."

"No," replied Father Montigny, "I do not dispute it; at least not for the
present. But if they are held as prisoners th