"Do not compare me with you, scoundrel!"
"Where is the difference between us? I am a scoundrel, I grant; but, by heaven, you are another, my master, however powerful you may be."
"Listen, caballero!" the stranger answered, in a cutting voice. "I will lose no more of my time in discoursing with you. I want that girl, and will have her, whatever you may do to prevent me."
"Good; in that case you declare war against me?" the squatter said, with a certain tinge of alarm, which he tried in vain to conceal.
The stranger shrugged his shoulders.
"We have known one another long enough to be perfectly well acquainted; we can only be friends or foes. Is not that your opinion?"
"Yes."
"Well, then, hand Doña Clara over to me, and I will give you the papers which—"
"Enough!" the squatter said, sharply. "Have you those papers about you?"
The stranger burst into a laugh.