Nothing short of an earthquake would have disturbed their self-possession.

Rather to my surprise, for he had not so far shown a super-abundance of courage, Fray Ignacio seemed equal to the occasion.

He was tall, portly, and white-haired, and as he stood at the church door, clad in his priestly robes, he looked venerable and dignified.
One of the _misterios_, whom from his remarkable head-dress--a helmet made of a condor's skull--I took to be a cacique, after greeting the priest, entered into conversation with him, the purport of which I had no difficulty in guessing, for the Indian, laughing loudly, turned to his companions and said something that appeared greatly to amuse them.

Neither he nor they believed Fray Ignacio's story of the great pale-face chief and his death-dealing powers.
The cacique, followed by a few of his men, then rode leisurely toward the house.

He was a fine-looking fellow, with cigar-colored skin and features unmistakably more Spanish than Indian.
My original idea was to shoot the first two of them, and so strike terror into the rest.