"A little before sunrise I sent him to kill a little game." "A capital reason; and you have been left exposed to the coarse language and ill-treatment of the first scoundrel who thought proper to insult you." "I did not think there was any danger." "Now, I trust you are undeceived." "Oh!" she cried, with a start of terror, "That shall never happen again, I swear to you." "Good! But I think I hear Lanzi's footsteps." She looked out. "Yes," she replied, "here he is." The man shortly after entered. He was of about forty years of age, with an intelligent and bold face; he had on his shoulders a magnificent deer, fastened much in the way Swiss hunters carry a chamois, and in his right hand he held a gun. He gave a look of annoyance on perceiving the young man; still, he bowed slightly to him as he placed the venison on the table. "Oh, oh," the Jaguar said, in a good-humoured tone, "you have had a good hunt it seems, Lanzi; are the deer plentiful on the plain?" "I have known the time when they were more numerous," he replied, gruffly; "but now," he added, shaking his head sorrowfully, "it is a hard matter for a poor man to kill one or two in a day." The young man smiled. "They will return," he said. "No, no," Lanzi replied, "when the deer have been once startled, they do not return to the parts they have left, however much it might be to their benefit to do so." "You must put up with it then, master, and take things as they are." "Well, what else do I?" he growled, as he angrily turned his back on the speaker. And, after this sally, he reloaded the game on his shoulders, and entered the other room. "Lanzi is not amiable to-day," the Jaguar observed, when he found himself alone with Carmela. "He is annoyed at meeting you here." The young man frowned. "Why so?" he asked. Carmela blushed and looked down without answering. The Jaguar looked at her searchingly for a moment. "I understand," he said at last; "my presence in this hostelry displeases somebody--him, perhaps." "Why should it displease him? He is not the master, I suppose." "That is true; then it displeases your father--is that it?" The maiden gave a nod of assent. The Jaguar sprung up violently, and walked up and down the room, with his head down, and his arms behind his back; after a few minutes of this behaviour, which Carmela followed with an anxious eye, he stopped suddenly before her, raised his head, and looked at her fixedly. "And does my presence here, Carmela, displease you also?" The girl remained silent. "Reply," he went on. "I did not say so," she murmured, with hesitation. "No," he said, with a bitter smile, "but you think so, Carmela, though you have not the courage to confess it to my face." She drew herself up proudly.