The Marquis de Serrato is not one given to speaking twice in such quest.

I have a soft tongue in ladies' bowers, but my hand is hard enough in camp and field." He uttered these words in fierce threat, his one evil eye glaring full at me as though to terrify.

Before I could answer, he shot forth a question, direct as a bullet from a gun.
"I beheld the flap of a dress yonder amid those trees; what means it?
Women are not common in these parts--have you one in your company ?" "We have, my lord," I replied, holding myself to calmness, striving to speak with apparent respect for his rank.

"We are four, altogether; one has his wife along to cook for us." "You are voyaging from New Orleans ?" "Nay; from the savannahs of Red River, where we enjoyed a good season of sport." "You are French ?" "A natural guess, yet a wrong one, Senor.

I am of English blood." "_Saprista_! 't is a beast of a nation! I like not that such as you should be here.