"And then?"

"Hide it somewhere. I can't tell you where. We must think."

Suddenly a mine-boss came along, with gentle, cat-like footsteps.

"What are you two skulking for?" he asked, exhibiting a rattan, his badge of office.

"Who's skulking?" asked Alfonso, savagely.

"You are."

The murderer looked at him with a foreboding gleam in his eye.

"Pedro," he said, "I warned you once before not to interfere with me."

"It is my duty."

"Let me alone; I'm a desperate man, and I'd just as soon be dead as working here. Do you understand?"