"I do not know, for it is not signed."
"And do you suspect nobody?"
"Perhaps I do—but before telling you whom I suspect, I had better read you the second letter."
"For what reason?"
"In order to know whether you share in my suspicions, and if they corroborate mine."
"Good, I understand you. Read!"
The Jaguar took up the paper again and read:
"This letter, written in duplicate, is addressed by Doña Carmela to two persons, Señor El Jaguar and Colonel Melendez; but the second copy has not yet been delivered, as I am awaiting the Jaguar's answer ere doing so. It depends on him not only to save a young lady, interesting in every respect, but also, if he will, to secure the triumph of the cause for which he is combating so valiantly. For this purpose, he has only an easy thing to do: he will proceed, between eight and nine o'clock in the morning, to the Cueva del Venado; a man will issue from the grotto, and tell him on what conditions he consents to aid him in this double enterprise."
The Jaguar folded up the paper, and placed it in his jacket pocket.
"Is that all?" the American asked a second time.