Cousin Diggory, and Mistress Mercy, and the girls little think into what a horrible fix I have fallen--alone among a strange people, who breathe smoke out of their mouths, and load me with rich presents one day, and may kill me on the next.

Well, when the day comes I shall try not to disgrace my country, and religion, and color; but it is very hard, being all alone here.

If I had but two or three of my companions of the Swan with me, I should feel that I could face whatever came; but it is hard to stand quite alone, and I am only a boy.
"Still, they shall find that I can strike a rough blow or two, before I die.

They shall not find that it is a lamb that they are going to sacrifice, but a Devonshire lad, with such bone and muscle as one gets from a life on the sea.
"It is strange that these people should be so cruel.

They seem so mild and so gentle, and yet Malinche says they sacrifice tens of thousands of captives, every year, to their gods.