"I am doing so. A soldier against my will, General Rubio has entrusted me with a dispatch for Captain Melendez, in which he gives him a place of meeting, so as to avoid the Rio Seco, where the report runs that you intend to ambush, in order to carry off the conducta." "Ah, ah," the Jaguar said, becoming very attentive, "but how do you know the contents of the dispatch?" "In a very simple way. The General places the utmost confidence in me; and he read me the dispatch, because I am to serve as the Captain's guide." "Then you are betraying your Chief?" "Is that the name you give my action?" "I am looking at it from the General's side." "And from yours?" "When we have succeeded I will tell you." "Good," he carelessly replied. "You have this dispatch?" "Here it is." The Jaguar took it, examined it attentively, turning it over and over, and then prepared to break the seal. "Stop!" the soldier hurriedly exclaimed. "What for?" "Because, if you open it, I cannot deliver it to the man for whom it is intended." "What do you mean?" "You do not understand me," the soldier said, with ill-concealed impatience. "That is probable," the Captain answered. "I only ask you to listen to me for five minutes." "Speak." "The meeting-place appointed for the Captain and the General is the Laguna del Venado. Before reaching the Laguna there is a very narrow and densely-wooded gorge." "The Paso de Palo Muerto; I know it." "Good. You will hide yourself there, on the right and left, in the bushes; and when the conducta passes, you will attack it on all sides at once; it is impossible for it to escape you, if, as I suppose, your arrangements are properly made." "Yes, the spot is most favourable for an attack. But who guarantees that the conducta will pass through this gorge?" "I do." "What do you mean?" "Certainly, as I shall act as guide." "Hum! We no longer understand one another." "Excuse me, we do, perfectly. I will leave you, and go to the Captain, to whom I will deliver the General's dispatch; he will be compelled to take me for his guide, whether we like it or not; and I will lead him into your hands as surely as a novillo taken to the shambles." The Jaguar gave the soldier a glance which seemed trying to read the bottom of his heart. "You are a daring fellow," he said to him, "but I fancy you settle events a little too much as you would like them. I do not know you; I see you to-day for the first time, and, excuse my frankness, it is to arrange an act of treachery. Who answers for your good faith? If I am foolish enough to let you go quietly, what assures me that you will not turn against me?" "My own interest, in the first place; if you seize the conducta by my aid, you will give me five hundred ounces." "That is not too dear: still, allow me to make a further objection." "Do so, Excellency." "Nothing proves to me that you have not been promised double the amount to trap me." "Oh!" he said, with a shake of the head.