"Still, I fancy I cannot be mistaken. I can very distinctly see the Mexican flag over the reversed Texan colours."
"It is true," the Jaguar said, coldly, "but what does that prove?"
"What do you say?—'What does that prove?'"
"Yes."
"Are you so ignorant of naval matters, then, as not to know what takes place on board a vessel after an engagement?"
"I beg your pardon, friend, but I know all about it. But I know, too, that what we see may be the result of a stratagem, and that the brig, after capturing the corvette, may have an interest in concealing the fact."
"Come, come," the Colonel said, with a laugh, "that is carrying optimism a little too far. Let us leave the corvette and brig, and return to our own affairs."
"Well, I think you are in the right; for, judging from the turn the conversation has taken, we should presently be unable to understand one another at all."
During this conversation the sun had set, and night completely fallen. The two gentlemen passed their horses' bridles over their arm to prevent them straying, and then walked slowly, side by side, in the direction of the Rio Trinidad. The night was clear, the sky studded with a profusion of flashing stars, and the atmosphere of marvellous transparency; it was, in a word, one of those American nights that conduce to gentle reverie.
The young men yielded involuntarily to the intoxicating charm of this exquisite evening; yielding to their thoughts, neither dreamed of resuming a conversation suddenly broken off by a bitter remark. For a long time they walked on thus, till they reached an angle in the road, where the track they were following divided into several branches. Here they halted.