It was I who gave him to them."
Although bending busily over her task, Mariquita felt her heart beat
faster and faster. These words, which she now overheard through such a
strange chance, clearly referred to her lover.
"Will they hang him, do you think?" asked Benito.
"As sure as the sun breeds flies. We have done our business too well
to give him a chance of escape."
"Would that I might hold the rope, that I might see his agony, his
last convulsions! That I might myself revenge the tortures he has made
me bear!"
And Benito sank back upon his miserable bed, groaning with pain.
"Don't whine like that, you miserable cur!" said Joe, brutally. "It's
bad enough to have you here at all, without your disturbing the whole
place. Why did you come here?"
"Where else could I go? I never expected to get so far. I was faint
from loss of blood, and in frightful pain. I thought I should die as I
crawled along."
"Better you had than bring me into trouble, as you will if the
provost-marshal finds you here."
"It is cowardly of you to ill-treat and upbraid me. Take care! I am
helpless now, but by-and-by, when I am well and strong, you shall
suffer for your cruelty."
"What! you threaten me? But there, it is idle to waste words on such a
wretched rogue; I have other work to do.
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