"I have. Why do you ask?"
"Pardon me, Señor, you will see in a few moments. You observed nothing unusual about the seal?"
"Nothing."
"It was the usual seal of the Junta," put in Don Basilio. "I have the despatch."
"Will you allow me to look at it?"
The chaplain hesitated; he appeared to be about to ask a question, but Tio Jorge interposed.
"The despatch, Señor Padre! The Señor has a reason; I know it not, but he fought with me by the Casa Ximenez, and what he says, por Dios! there is sense in it."
"Produce the despatch, Padre," said Palafox.
Don Basilio went to a cabinet, and after a little search found the despatch and handed it to Jack. The seal was broken across the middle. Jack examined the edges carefully, lifting the wax slightly with his thumb nail. He looked up.
"It is as I thought," he said. "Will Don Basilio look?"