"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?"