urse--if I can."

"Can! There need be no difficulty about it, _camarado_."

"I hope not; though I think there will, and a good deal. There's
certain to be some."

"In what way?"

"Suppose they don't give their consent!"

"A fig for their consent! We shall force it! Don't be letting that
scare you. Whether they're agreeable or not, we'll have a marriage
ceremony, or the form of one--all the same. I can fix that, or I'm much
mistaken about the place we're going to, and the sort of men we may
expect to meet there. When I last looked on Santiago De Veragua--
bidding adieu to a place that was rather pleasant--I left behind a few
old familiars, who are not likely to have forgotten me, though long
years have rolled by since. Some there, who will still be willing, and
ready, to do me a service, I doubt not; especially now I have the means
to pay for it, and handsomely. If the Padre Padierna be yet alive,
he'll marry me to Carmen Montijo without asking _her_ any questions; or,
if he did, caring what answers she might give to them. It's now nine
years since I saw the worthy Father, and he may have kicked up his heels
long ago; though that's not likely. He was a tough old sinner, and knew
how to take care of himself. However, it won't matter much. If he's
under ground, I've got another string to my bow, in the young _extra_,
Gonzaga; who, in my time, had charge of souls in a _parrochia_, nearer
the place where I hope we shall be able to make shore. He may by this
have risen to be grand church dignitary. Whether or not, I've but
little fear of his having forgotten old times, when he and I used to go
shares in certain little adventures of the amorous kind. So you
perceive, _mio amigo_, we're not drifting towards a desert coast,
inhabited only by savages; but one where we'll find all the means and
appliances of civilisation--among them a priest, to do the little bit of
ecclesiastical service we may stand in need of, and without asking
awkward questions, or caring a _claco_ for consequences. Neither of the
two I've spoken of will trouble their consciences on that score, so long
as it's _me_. More especially after I've shown them the colour of the
stuff with which our pockets will be so plentifully lined. And if
neither of my old acquaintances turn up, there are no end of others,
who'll be willing to tie the knot that's to make us happy for life. I
tell you, _hombre_, we're steering straight towards an earthly