Daughter of the Sun

LF TO BE A

is ease. "We've always been friends; let's stay friends. If we can't pull together in

His companion thrust out a hand; Kendri

into this port for in the first place. There's the loot; no matter h

he old-time Ba

w any more than you do. But it ought to be easy tellin' when a man's on the spot. The middle peak ought to be a good fifty feet higher than the others and flat lookin' on top. In a ravine, between the tall boy and the one at the left, Juarez said there was a lot of scrub trees and brush. He said plow through the brush, keepin' to the up edge

t job, all of it. It's not a half mile off and plain sight from here.

n a fly in a bottle. He isn't allowed to stick nose outside the walls after dark; and he isn't allowed to

d you al

e d

close-herd

kin' her chances, and she knows it, plannin' th

ndric drily, "she hanke

tested Barlow. "Escobar would keep his mo

bar knifed Juarez; she knows why; she knows pre

it ain't in her path and she's not turnin' aside for anything. And she's the richest lady in Mexico right now. Those pearls of hers, man, are worth over a hundred thousand dolla

n kings," offered Kendric coolly. "And any treasure, lef

a claim like that, could she

could get them off alone, one at a time, a

earned during the evening; how the walls were sentinelled and how at the prese

ace, "the trick is put over with the connivance of Miss Castelmar. Thi

fast. And who the devil sent you and me down this way to preach righteousness? It's their busines

re was a queer note in his voice. "Well, Twisty, old mat

Each went into his own bedroom

ave Lower California without his share of the buried treasure or at least without knowing that the tale was a lie. And, little by little, a third consideration forced itself in with its place with these matters; he could not get out of his mind the picture of t

t twenty of the boys and to swoop down on this place like a gale out of hell! Clean 'em for fair,

p the matter through the regular diplomatic channels would be a process too infinitely slow to suit the situation. It was eit

close in to these diggings; wonder if he has any American boys working for him? Why, a

e had written to him to come and now that events had led him so near, he should grant the request; Bruce was having his own troubles, no doubt against the lawlessness of Escoba

early dawn. And therefore, when Zoraida's message was handed to him at the breakfast table, he stared at it

written, even to the

f he will only set his signature below what follows he will be given a

s, with date and a dott

ar, that I will return to her at Hacienda Montezuma n

as promptly he decided to take it. The maid who had brought him the pape

ed yet?" he asked, re

, Se?or. He

lo

With La Se?o

dric. "And Rio

though she could tell him more but, with a quick glance over her shoulder,

rican girl?

still,

bar been

me and Rosita. La pobrecita," she added, a

s shoulder. In his pocket were the few fifty-dollar bil

," she t

ll along the tablecloth toward her. "Give Rosita

the bank note. Kendric felt better for the transac

mping up, "for the

per in her hands, went

told him. "It remains only for me to tell

ng off his feet the mestizo holding it, was a tall, rangy sorrel

e, Pedro," called Juani

bles. Kendric swung up into the saddle and for a moment curbed the

way from you and made a

s dark eyes and she drew hastily bac

ess and aghast. "You would

d what?"

with!" Juanita shivered, and drew still further back. "With my life

away through the shrubberry; the horse slid to a standstill before the

rough. And direct me

rry you up over the mountain; there are piled stones to mark the way to the pass. In

ween his knees. He looked off to the left to Barlow's three peaks; the sun was gilding the top of the tallest and it was unquestionable that it was flat-topped. But he did not dwell long upon buried gold nor

ma would be about double that distance. The trail, once he reached the hills, was a dilatory, leisurely affair, thoroughly Mexican; it sought out the gentlest slope

up. So he came into a splendid solitude, a region of naked rocks, of a few windblown trees, of little open level spaces grown up with dry brush and wiry grass; of defiles through stone-bound ways that were so narrow two men could not have

e was going this morning. Everyone in the border town had known of his letter at the postoffice; further, it was not in the least unlikely that Se?orita Castelmar would know of the letter when it was dropped into the slot at the Mexican pos

r me to see Bruce," he decid

wall. He made a turn, none too wide for the body of his horse and drew sudden rein, looking into two rifle barrels. The men covering him lay a dozen feet above his head upon a bare

e, compa?eros," he said l

tepping out from behind a shoulder of rock. He came on

the man on foot, his voice quiet b

of yours, my friend

the figures above. "It is El Rey

. Or a sign. Or he has stolen the h

es," cried Kendric hotly. "It's a fr

fore him o

your saddle st

did he mean by a thing like this? Surely not just the opportunity to draw clo

head aside, pressed close and looked at the rawhide strings on one side of the saddle. Then he m

e said courteously.

re sign of another than himself upon the mountain. Curiously he looked at his saddle strings; in one of them a slit had been made through which the end o

ny," he grunted. "With not even the me

of ineffable peace lay across the solitudes. And yet he felt that the placid promise was a lie; that the laughing loveliness of the day was but a mask covering much strife. In the full light he moved on not unlike a man groping in absolute darkness, uncertain of the path he trod, suspicious of pi