The doctor smiled sorrowfully.
"Yes," he said, "he has a dysentery; but do you know what the physician gave him?"
"No."
"Belladonna; that is to say, poison."
"Oh!" the captain said in horror.
"Silence!" the surgeon continued. "Let this remain a secret between us two."
At this moment the physician entered. He was a plump little man, with the look of a frightened cat. The captain seized him by the collar, and dragged him into a corner of the room.
"Look here!" he said to him, pointing to the glass the surgeon still held in his hand. "Of what was that potion composed you gave the count?"
The Mexican turned pale.
"Why?" he stammered.