As for his character, the following scenes will make it sufficiently well known for us to dispense for the present with entering into any lengthened details.
[CHAPTER XII.]
LOVE AND JEALOUSY.
The first feeling of terror which had caused the three men to recoil at the appearance of the Jaguar, had gradually worn off; their effrontery, if not their courage, had returned on seeing the inoffensive manner of the man they had long been accustomed to fear.
Ruperto, the biggest scoundrel of the three, was the first to regain his coolness, and, reflecting that the man who caused them such terror was alone, and therefore could not have the force on his side, he walked resolutely toward him.
"Rayo de Dios!" he said in a brutal voice, "Let that girl alone, for she deserves not only what has happened to her, but also the chastisement we are about to inflict on her at once."
The young man started as if a snake had stung him, and darted over his shoulder a glance full of menace at the man who had addressed him.
"Are you speaking to me in that way?" he asked.
"To whom else?" the other answered, resolutely, although in his heart he felt alarmed at the way in which his question had been taken up.