"'Yes, I am he,' I answered, 'but what is your name? Who are you?'
"'It is of little consequence who I am, provided that my intentions are good.'
"'Still, I must know them.'
"'Hum!' he said, 'you are very distrustful, Comirado.'
"'Come, Sandoval,' the other horseman said, in a voice gentle as a woman's, as he suddenly joined in the conversation, 'do not beat about thus, but finish your business.'
"'I ask nothing better than to finish,' he replied, coarsely; 'it is this gentleman who compels me to swerve, when I wished to go straight ahead.'
"The second rider, shrugged his shoulders with a disdainful smile, and turned to me.
"'In a word, Caballero, here is a paper, which a person, in whom you take great interest, requested us to deliver to you.'"
"I eagerly seized the paper, and prepared to open it, for a secret foreboding warned me of misfortune.
"'No,' the Mexican continued eagerly arresting my hand, 'wait till you have joined your men again, to read that letter.'