"Caray! As it is so, take this ring, which I was not to have given till our little affair was settled. But do not be frightened: when we balance our account I shall find something to please you."
The lepero's eye glistened with joy and avarice; he seized the ring, and sent it to join company with the one he received a few days previously.
"Thanks!" he said. "Heaven keep me! There is a pleasure in dealing with you. You do not huckster, at any rate."
"Now for the news."
"Here it is, short and good. El señor conde, rendered desperate by the disappearance of his betrothed, whom he supposes to have been carried off by the Apaches, has quitted the hacienda at the head of his company, and is now crossing the desert in every direction in pursuit of the Black Bear."
"By all the saints! That is the best news you could bring me. And what do you intend doing?"
"What! Did we not agree that el conde—"
"Of course," the Tigrero quickly interrupted him, "but to do that you must find him, and that, I fancy, is not so easy now."
"On the contrary."
"How so?"