"Viva Dios!" the Colonel shouted; "better to die than surrender thus!"
And he rushed forward with uplifted sabre. Suddenly a hand of iron clutched him, threw him down, and he felt the point of his own sword, which he had let fall, slightly prick his throat.
"Surrender, or you are a dead man," a rough voice shouted in his ear.
"No; mil Demonios!" the Colonel said, furiously; "I will not surrender to a bandit; kill me."
"Stop," the Jaguar said, "I insist."
The man who held the Colonel down left him at liberty, and the latter rose, ashamed and partly stunned.
"Well," the young man continued, "do you accept, General?"
"Yes, demon," the latter replied passionately; "but I shall revenge myself."
"Then, you give me your word as a soldier that the conditions I impose on you will be legally carried out by you?"
"I give it; but who guarantees me that you will act honourably on your side?"