"Well," the officer said, "let me hear your propositions, after which I will let you know my conditions."

"What conditions?" the bandit asked in amazement.

"Those I intend to impose on you, by Jove."

A Homeric laugh from the border rifles greeted these haughty words. The Captain remained cold and impa.s.sive.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"The Chief of the men who hold you imprisoned."

"Prisoners? I do not believe it; however, we shall see. Ah! you must be the Jaguar, whose name is held in execration on this border?"

"I am the Jaguar," the latter answered simply.

"Very good. What do you want with me? Speak, and before all be brief,"

the Captain said, as he leaned the point of his sword on the end of his boot.

"I wish to avoid bloodshed," the Jaguar said.

"That is very kind of you, but I fancy it is rather late to form so laudable a resolve," the officer said in his sarcastic voice.

"Listen, Captain, you are a brave officer, and I should be in despair if any misfortune happened to you; do not obstinately carry on an impossible struggle, surrounded as you are by an imposing force; any attempt at resistance would be an unpardonable act of madness, which could only result in a general ma.s.sacre of the men you command, while you would not have the slightest hope of saving the conducta under your escort. Surrender, I repeat, for you have only that way of safety left open to you."

"Caballero," the Captain said, and this time seriously, "I thank you for the words you have spoken; I am a connoisseur in men, and see that you are speaking honourably at this moment."

"I am," said the Jaguar.

"Unfortunately," the Captain continued, "I am forced to repeat to you that I have the honour to be an officer, and would never consent to deliver my sword to the leader of banditti, for whose head a price is offered. If I have been mad and idiotic enough to let myself be drawn into a trap, all the worse for me--I must accept the consequences."

The two speakers had by this time come together, and were conversing side by side.

"I can understand, Captain, that your military honour must, under certain circ.u.mstances, compel you to fight, even under unfavourable conditions; but here the case is different--all the chances are against you, and your honour will in no way suffer by a capitulation which will save the lives of your brave soldiers."

"And deliver to you without a blow the rich prey you covet."

"Whatever you may do, that prey cannot escape me."

The Captain shrugged his shoulders.

"You are mistaken," he said; "like all men accustomed to prairie warfare, you have been too clever, and your adroitness has carried you past your object."

"What do you mean?"

"Learn to know me, Caballero; I am a cristiano viejo; I am descended from the old Conquistadors, and the Spanish blood flows pure in my veins. All my men are devoted to me, and at my order they will let themselves be killed to the last without hesitation; but whatever may be the advantages of the situation you occupy, and the number of your companions, you will require a certain time to kill fifty men reduced to desperation, and who are resolved not to ask quarter."

"Yes," the Jaguar said in a hollow voice; "but in the end they are killed."

"Of course," the Captain replied calmly; "but while you are murdering us, the arrieros have my positive orders to cast the money chests to the bottom of the abyss, to the brink of which you have forced us."

"Oh," the Jaguar said with an ill-restrained look of menace, "you will not do that."

"Why shall I not, if you please?" the officer said coldly. "Yes, I will do it, I pledge you my honour."

"Oh!"

"What will happen, then? You will have brutally murdered fifty men, with no other result than that of wallowing in the blood of your countrymen."

"Rayo de Dios! This is madness."

"Not at all; it is simply the logical consequence of the threat you make me; we shall be dead, but as men of honour, and have fulfilled our duty, as the money will be saved."

"All my efforts, then, to bring about a peaceful settlement are sterile."

"There is one way."

"What is it?"

"To let us pa.s.s, after pledging your word of honour not to molest our retreat."

"Never! That money is indispensable to me, and I must have it."

"Come and take it, then,"

"That is what I am going to do."

"Very good."

"The blood I wished to spare will fall on your head."

"Or on yours."

They separated.

The Captain turned to his soldiers, who had been near enough to follow the discussion through all its turnings.

"What will you do, lads?" he asked them.

"Die!" they answered in a loud and firm voice.

"Be it so--we will die together;" and brandishing his sabre over his head, he shouted, "_Dios y libertad Viva Mexico!_"

"_Viva Mexico_!" the dragoons repeated, enthusiastically.

While this had been going on, the sun had disappeared below the horizon, and darkness covered the earth, like a sombre winding-sheet.

The Jaguar, with rage in his heart at the ill success of his tentatives, had rejoined his comrades.