He had just been thinking about the portrait upon the wall, and how beautiful the original must be.

Now hearing her name coupled with that of the ruffian whose blow he had felt, and whose blood he had spilled, he almost regretted not having ended that duel by killing his adversary outright.
"But surely, Colonel Miranda," he said at length, "there could be no danger of such an event as that you speak of ?" "Never, so long as I live.

But, amigo, as you have learnt, this is a strange land--a country of quick changes.

I am here to-day, commanding in this district, with power, I may almost say, over the lives of all around me.

To-morrow I may be a fugitive, or dead.