When they had drunk, the capataz a glass of sherry, which he sipped like a true amateur, and Don Tigrero a few drops of chinquirito drowned in a glass of water, the capataz placed his glass again on the table with a smack of his lips, and said--
"Now, I must give you a few words in explanation of the slightly mysterious way in which I brought you here, in order to dispel any doubts which may have involuntarily invaded your mind."
"I am listening to you," the Tigrero answered.
"Take a cigar first, they are excellent." And he lit one, after pushing the bundle over to Don Martial: the latter selected one, and soon the two men were enveloped in a cloud of thin and fragrant smoke.
"We are in the mansion of General Don Sebastian Guerrero," the capataz continued.
"What?" the Tigrero exclaimed, with a start of uneasiness.
"Re-assure yourself, no one saw you enter, and your presence here is quite unknown, for the simple reason that I brought you in by my private entrance."
"And yet it is very easy to explain; the house I led you through belongs to me. For reasons too long to tell you, and which would interest you but slightly, during Don Sebastian's absence as Governor of Sonora, I had a passage made, and established a communication between my house and this mansion. Everybody save myself is ignorant of the existence of this communication, which," he added, with a glowing smile, "may at a given moment be of great utility to me. The room in which we now are forms part of the suite I occupy in the mansion, in which the general, I am proud to say, has never yet set foot. The man who took your horse is devoted to me, and even were he to betray me, it would be of little consequence to me, for the secret door of the passage is so closely concealed that I have no fear of its being discovered. Hence you see that you have nothing to fear here, where your presence is unknown."
"But suppose you were to be sent for, through the general happening to want you suddenly?"
"Certainly, but I have foreseen that; it is my system never to leave anything to chance. Although it has never happened yet, no one can enter here without my being informed soon enough to get rid of any person who may be with me, supposing that, for some reason or another, that person did not desire to be seen."