"Who?" she asked, hesitating between the shame of the supposition and the terror of her dangerous position. "He," he answered with a grin. "Listen, Carmela; several times already you have learned more of our business than we liked; I repeat to you the remark you made a minute ago to the Captain, and try to profit by it; take care." "Yes," the second speaker said brutally; "for we might forget that you are only a child, and make you pay dearly for your treachery." "Nonsense," the third said, who had hitherto contented himself with drinking, and taking no part in the conversation; "the law must be equal for all; if Carmela has betrayed us, she must be punished." "Well said, Bernardo," Ruperto exclaimed, as he smote the table; "there are just enough of us to pronounce the sentence." "Good Heavens!" she screamed, as she freed herself by a sudden effort from the grasp of the arm which had hitherto held her; "Let me go, let me go!" "Stay!" Ruperto shouted as he rose; "If you do not, some misfortune will happen." The three men rushed on the maiden, and the latter, half wild with terror, sought in vain the door of the venta by which to escape. But, at the moment when the three men laid their rough and horny hands on her white and delicate shoulders, the door, whose hasp she had been unable to lift in her terror, was thrown wide open, and a man appeared on the threshold. "What is the matter here?" he asked in a harsh voice, as he crossed his hands on his chest; and he stood motionless, looking round at the company. There was such menace in the voice of the new-comer, such a flash shot from his eyes, that the three terrified men fell back mechanically against the opposing wall, muttering--"The Jaguar! The Jaguar!" "Save me! Save me!" the maiden shrieked, as she rushed wildly toward him. "Yes," he said in a deep voice; "yes, I will save you, Carmela; woe to the man who causes a hair of your head to fall." And softly raising her in his powerful arms, he laid her gently on a butacca, where she reclined in a half-fainting condition. The man who appeared so suddenly was still very young; his beardless face would have seemed that of a child, if his regular features, with their almost feminine beauty, had not been relieved by two large black eyes, which possessed a brilliancy and magnetic power that few men felt themselves capable of enduring. He was tall, but graceful and elegant, and his chest was wide; his long hair, black as the raven's wing, fell in clusters beneath his vicuna hat, which was ornamented with a deep gold toquilla.