"I am delighted to be of service, and to show myself a good citizen." In fact, he had been quite willing to favor the soldiers; why not, so long as he could not get rid of them?
If the Apaches would lance them all, including Thurstane, he would rejoice; but while that could not be, he might as well show himself civil and gain popularity.

It was not Coronado's style to bark when there was no chance of biting.
He was in serious thought the while.

How should he rid himself of this rival, this obstacle in the way of his well-laid plans, this interloper into his caravan?
Must he call upon Texas Smith to assassinate the fellow?
It was a disagreeably brutal solution of the difficulty, and moreover it might lead to loud suspicion and scandal, and finally it might be downright dangerous.

There was such a thing as trial for murder and for conspiracy to effect murder.

As to causing a United States officer to vanish quietly, as might perhaps be done with an ordinary American emigrant, that was too good a thing to be hoped.