"I have warned you," said Alfonso, in a strangled voice.

"And I have warned you," replied the keeper.

"Recollect that I have already killed one man."

"Bah!" replied Pedro, the keeper, drawing a pistol. "If you were so much as to raise your little finger toward me, I would stretch you a corpse on this floor."

"What should I be doing to let you?" asked Pedro, with a sneer which was peculiarly aggravating.

Alfonso breathed heavily.

"Do you mean to report me?" he demanded.

"Certainly I do, and you know very well what that means."

"Yes—I—do," answered the convict—speaking with difficulty.

"Shall I tell you?"