"Isidro," the captain said to him, "at all risks this letter must be in the hands of the Marquis de Moguer within six hours at the most. You understand me? —at all risks?"
"It shall be done, captain."
"Take this for yourself,"—and he handed him some gold coins,—"and this pass, which will enable you to go in and out. You must be off at once."
Without replying, the soldier withdrew, after concealing the letter in the breast of his uniform.
"And now," the captain muttered to himself; "let them come on."
[CHAPTER XXXIII.]
COMPLICATIONS.
After leaving the captain's study, Kidd halted in the anteroom, not because he had any plan formed, but through that instinct which urges villains of his species not to leave a good place till compelled. He had heard the captain summon his asistente. The latter, after a few moments' absence, returned to the anteroom with a look of importance which at once caused the adventurer to reflect, and suggested to him the idea of knowing what the conversation was the soldier had held with his chief. Isidro, the captain's asistente, was an Opatas Indian, of tried bravery and fidelity. Unluckily, though he did his duty in the battlefield, his intellect was rather restricted, and, like all Indians, he had a propensity for strong liquors, which had several times brought him to great grief. Kidd was familiar with the soldier, and knew his weakness; hence his plan was formed in a moment.