Suddenly Carmela bounded like a startled fawn, and cast herself between the two men. "Oh!" she shrieked, as she clasped her hands; "have pity on him; do not kill him, in Heaven's name!" The young man's face suddenly changed, and assumed an expression of ineffable gentleness. "Be it so!" he said; "Since such is your wish, he shall not die; but he insulted you, Carmela, and must be punished. On your knees, villain!" he continued, as he turned to Ruperto and pressed his hand heavily on his shoulder; "On your knees, and ask pardon of this angel." Ruperto sunk together beneath the weight of this iron hand, and fell at the maiden's feet, murmuring in a timid voice-- "Pardon, pardon!" "Enough," the Jaguar then said, with a terrible accent; "rise, and thank your God for having escaped this time again from my vengeance. Open the door, Carmela." The maiden obeyed. "To horse!" the Jaguar continued; "Go and wait for me at the Rio Seco, and mind that not one stirs before my arrival, under penalty of death. Begone!" The three men bowed their heads, and went out without reply; an instant later the gallop of their horses could be heard echoing on the sandy road. The two young people remained alone in the venta. The Jaguar sat down at the table where the men had been drinking a moment previously, buried his face in his hands, and seemed plunged in serious thought. Carmela looked at him with a mixture of timidity and fear, not daring to address him. At length, after a considerable period had elapsed, the young man raised his head, and looked around him, as if suddenly aroused from deep sleep. "What, you remained here?" he said to her. "Yes," she answered, softly. "Thanks, Carmela--you are kind! You alone love me, when all else hates me." "Have I not reason to do so?" The Jaguar smiled mournfully, but answered this question by asking another, the usual tactics of persons who do not wish to let their thoughts be read. "Now, tell me frankly what happened between you and those scoundrels." The maiden seemed to hesitate for a moment, but made up her mind and confessed the warning she gave the Captain of Dragoons. "You were wrong," the Jaguar said sternly to her; "your imprudence may produce serious complications. Yet I dare not blame you; you are a woman, and consequently ignorant of many things. Are you alone here?" "Quite alone." "What imprudence! How can Tranquil leave you thus?" "His duties keep him at present at the Larch-tree hacienda, where there is going to be a grand hunt in a few days." "Hum! At any rate, Quoniam ought to have remained with you." "He could not, for Tranquil required his help." "The devil is in the business, as it seems," he said, in an ill-humoured voice; "he must be mad thus to abandon a girl alone in a venta situated alone in the midst of such a desolate country, during whole weeks." "I was not alone, for Lanzi was left with me." "Ah! And what has become of him?"