"Yes, the Jaguar," he continued in a thundering voice, "the Chief of the Freebooters, the first man in Texas who dared to rise against our oppressors; the Jaguar, who has sworn to make you free, and who will keep his oath, unless death prevent him; now let the coward who has sold us complete his work by revealing my name to the Governor, who has already almost divined it, and will be happy to acquire the certainty at last. This final denunciation will assuredly be paid highly, but he must make haste, for tomorrow will be too late." At this moment a man burst through the conspirators, thrusting back right and left those who barred his passage, and placed himself opposite the young Chief. "Listen," he said, turning to his comrades, "and let what you are about to hear form a profitable lesson to you:--The man who revealed the secret of your meetings to the Governor, the man who sold you, the man, in a word, who wished to give you up, I know!" "His name, his name!" all the conspirators shouted, brandishing their weapons passionately. "Silence!" the Jaguar ordered, "allow our comrade to speak." "Do not give me that name, Jaguar, for I am not your comrade, and never was such. I am your enemy, not your personal enemy, for I do not know you; but the enemy of every man who tries to tear from the Mexican Republic that Texas where I was born, and which is the most brilliant gem of the union. It was I, I alone who sold you, I, Lopez Hidalgo D'Avila, but not in the cowardly way you suppose, for when the moment arrived for me to make myself known to you, I had sworn to do so; now you know all, and I am in your power. There are my weapons," he added, as he threw them disdainfully on the ground; "I shall not resist, and you can do with me as you please." After uttering these words with a haughty accent impossible to render, Don Lopez Hidalgo proudly crossed his arms on his chest, drew up his head, and waited. The conspirators had listened to this strange revelation with an indignation and rage that attained such a pitch of violence that their will was, so to speak, paralyzed, and in spite of themselves they remained motionless. But so soon as Don Lopez had finished speaking, their feelings suddenly burst out, and they rushed upon him with tiger yells. "Stay, stay!" the Jaguar shouted, as he rushed forward and made of his own person a rampart for the man on whom twenty daggers were lifted; "Stay, brothers; as this man has said, he is in our power, and cannot escape us; although his blood be that of a traitor, let us not commit an assassination, but try him." "Yes, yes," the conspirators yelled, "let us try him." "Silence," the Jaguar ordered, and then turning to Don Lopez Hidalgo, who during their proceedings had remained as calm and quiet as if he were a stranger to what was going on; "will you answer frankly the questions I ask you?" he inquired. "Yes," Don Lopez simply replied.