"Treason!" cried the general, "What is it you dare to say, señor? Do you forget to whom you are speaking?"
"I forget nothing, señor," coldly answered the Montonero; "would there be anything extraordinary in the former bandit of the Pampas becoming today the traitor of his country for the sake of gold?"
Don Eusebio drew out his sword, uttering a cry of rage, and made a movement to throw himself on the bold Montonero.
But the latter, without taking his eye from him, took a pistol from his girdle.
"If you stir, I will shoot you," said he, coolly.
Don Eusebio stopped, grinding his teeth.
"Who is that man?" then said the Brazilian general. "Don Sebastiao, arrest that fellow, I beg."
Zeno Cabral turned towards him like a wounded lion.
"Help, my friends!" cried Don Eusebio; "Fire on that wretch!"
"Silence!" resumed the partisan, in a firm voice.