“Senhor Commandante,” said the Portuguese captain at La Praya, while the pair rode out, as usual, with a company or two at their heels, “you can now see for yourself, yonder, how little the number of the enemy has been magnified.”
“So much the better,” answered the commander, like the Wolf in Little Red Ridinghood; “we will have more to make prisoners.”
“O—h!” cried the Portuguese, the idea being new to him.
“Confound the man’s bragging,” he muttered to himself; “he talks as if they were children or savages he has to do with.”
Whereupon De Chaste added, with something like a smile on his hard face:
“You see at least, senhor captain, they are not afraid of us, if we are of them, for they pull within reach of our batteries; and here comes a ball to measure the distance between us.”
“St. Hubert! Are we to stand here to be shot without chance of drawing sword?” cried Captain Gaza, brushing the sand thrown over him from his holyday doublet. “It is madness, sir commander, madness; and I cannot expose my brave men to such needless danger.”
“As you like best; you will find a half mile up the beach out of cannon range,” indifferently rejoined the French knight, and spurred closer to the water’s edge, followed by his countrymen, many of whom, in passing, saluted the Portuguese ironically, while others, out of earshot of the conversation, wondered at the blanched visage of the captain, and his taking himself and company to the skirt of the wood a mile or more back.
“Duvict,” said De Chaste, presently, to that cavalier, whom he had called to his side, “you will ride over to-night to Angra, and tell the viceroy we all count it strange, that, with the enemy threatening the coast, he is no where to be seen; perhaps, if he is bent on shutting up himself, he will take this captain off our hands; the fewer such cowards in our ranks, the better chance will we have of successful defense. At all events, I insist on the withdrawal of this Gaza, even if his troop goes with him. Moreover, I demand in the queen’s name, an immediate supply of rations for our men here and elsewhere. Lose no time on your journey.”
“I am so well pleased with the errand, that I will set out this instant, monseigneur, if you consent. Why wait until our return to Porta Praya?” cried Duvict, cheerfully.