You should be glad that your lives have been spared, because you are rebels and you deserve death.

But great is the magnanimity of our most illustrious president and general, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna." Ned looked up quickly.

He thought he had caught a note of cruelty in that soft, measured voice.

He never trusted Urrea, nor did he ever trust Santa Anna.
"I believe it is customary in civilized warfare to spare the lives of prisoners," he said.
"But rebels are rebels, and freebooters are freebooters," said Urrea.
It seemed to Ned that the young Mexican wanted to draw him into some sort of controversy, and he refused to continue.

He felt that there was something sinister about Urrea, or that he represented something sinister, and he resolved to watch rather than talk.