on, compared with the
passion itself, exhibited in the clenched hand, the lip compressed, the
flashing eye, the clouded cheek, the quick play of the muscles--weak
symbols are words compared with signs like these. No words passed
between Ijurra and myself; none were needed. Each read in the other a
rival--a rival in love, a competitor for the heart of a lovely woman,
the _loveliest_ in Mexico! It is needless to say that, under such an
aspect, each hated the other at sight.

In the face of Ijurra I read more. I saw before me a man of bad heart
and brutal nature. His large, and to speak the truth, beautiful eyes,
had in them an animal expression. They were not without intelligence,
but so much the worse, for that intelligence expressed ferocity and bad
faith. His beauty was the beauty of the jaguar. He had the air of an
accomplished man, accustomed to conquest in the field of love--
heartless, reckless, false. O mystery of our nature, there are those
who love such men!

In Ijurra's face I read more: _he knew my secret_! The significant
glance of his eye told me so. He knew why I was lingering there. The
satiric smile upon his lip attested it. He saw my efforts to obtain an
interview, and confident in his own position, held my failure but
lightly--a something only to amuse him. I could tell all this by the
sardonic sneer that sat upon his features.

As we continued to gaze, neither moving his eyes from the other, this
sneer became too oppressive to be silently borne. I could no longer
stand such a satirical reading of my thoughts. The insult was as marked
as words could have made it; and I was about to have recourse to words
to reply, when the clatter of a horse's hoofs caused me to turn my eyes
in an opposite direction. A horseman was coming up the hill, in a
direct line from the pastures. I saw it was one of the lieutenants--
Holingsworth.

A few more stretches of his horse brought the lieutenant upon the
ground, where he pulled up directly in front of me.

"Captain Warfield!" said he, speaking in an official tone, "the cattle
are collected; shall we proceed--"

He proceeded no further with that sentence; his eye, chance directed,
was carried up to the azotea, and rested upon the face of Ijurra. He
started in his saddle, as if a serpent had stung him; his hollow eyes
shot prominently out, glaring wildly from their sockets, while the
muscles of his throat and jaws twitched in convulsive action!