Again and again the infuriated convict struck him until, in his mad frenzy, he had smashed his skull into a jelly.
"What have you done?" asked Jack.
"Settled him, any way. There is one mine-boss gone, and the world is rid of another petty tyrant," replied Alfonso.
"And what will become of you?"
"I shall solve the great problem, my friend," said the convict, now a double murderer.
He stooped and picked up the pistol which Pedro had allowed to drop from his hand.
"You do not mean that you will take your own life?"
"That is precisely what I do mean."
"How?"
"Look here!" exclaimed Alfonso. "I take you to be a sensible man, though young. What have I, a slave, to live for? Is it any pleasure to me to exist, as I have been existing for the last year, since I have been in this infernal place?"