"Carmela?" the Captain muttered.
"Yes," the Jaguar exclaimed, "you love her too!"
"I do," the Captain replied, simply, as he looked on the ground with an air of embarrassment.
There was a lengthened silence between the two men. It was easy to discover that each of them was having an internal fight; at length the Jaguar managed to quell the storm that growled in his heart, and went on, in a firm voice—
"Thanks for your loyal answer, Captain; in loving Carmela you take advantage of your good right, just as I do; let this love, instead of separating, form a stronger link between us. Carmela is worthy of the love of an honourable man; let us each love her, and carry on an open warfare, without treachery or trickery; all the better for the man she may prefer. She alone must be judge between us; let her follow her heart, for she is too pure and good to deceive herself and make a bad choice."
"Good!" the Captain exclaimed, enthusiastically; "You are a man after my own heart, Jaguar, and whatever may happen, I shall always think with gladness that I have pressed your honest hand, and am worthy of being counted among your friends. Yes, I have a deep and sincere love for Carmela; for a smile from her rosy lips I would joyfully lay down my life; but I swear that I will follow the noble example you give me, and the struggle shall be as honourable on my side as on yours."
"Viva Cristo!" the young man said with frank and simple delight, "I was sure we should end by coming to an understanding."
"To produce that," the Captain remarked, with a smile, "we only needed the opportunity for an explanation."
"Canarios, I trust that it will not be repeated under similar conditions, for it is a perfect miracle that we are still alive."
"I am not at all anxious to repeat the experiment."