The Mystery of The Barranca

already abroad. The sudden increase in his family had obliged Seyd to make a journey out to the railroad for more provisions, and when Sebastien paused to breathe his beast halfway up the gr

al-burner, Billy, who was already at his bricks, did not look up till warned by Caliban's stealthy his

to? He is

railroad. Won't be

ly's might have discerned the underlying satisfaction. Moreover, if he appeared merely inquisitively friendly during the hour he stayed to chat, not one mi

uilding would go faster if I hadn't so many things to do. After laying bricks all day I have to turn in and cook, and, though it's pretty

orn out." After a pause, during which he may be imagined as taking Billy's mental temperature, he sa

le now wiped them out. "That's awfully good of you. Se

dded, "That is, if I reach home to-night-to do which I shall have to be going." And refusing the

fat chuckles emitted during the afternoon testified to his increasing opinion of his own diplomacy. But his rising pride

that the girl was not an estray from a neighboring hamlet, and while her dark eyes, white teeth, and shapely brown arms were engaged in

stone metate, or grinding-stone, a pestle, and a quantity of soaked corn. She turned the beast out to graze, then dropped at once on her knees and began grinding paste for the supper tortillas, or cakes.

racted canned diet it is to be feared that he fed just as ravenously on the atmosphere shed by her luxurious presence. When, after supper, he sat in the doorway and watched the blood-reds of the sunset flow through the valley he might, with his fiery stubble, have passed for some ancient Celt

t which she vented on Caliban while giving him his breakfast next day.

strength he threw a burro off the trail into the Barranca and so turned the train that would otherwise have driven him and the 'Red Head' into the ca?on. 'Tis so. The history of it was written by Don Sebastien's whip on the shoulde

ool?" She elev

ts no figure in the calculations of the little god, providing that it be fitted smoothly over a pretty body, she found favor in his sight. At work both the next and the following days he kept always an eye open for the flash of her white garments in the doorway. When, with the earthen jar on her head, she went to draw wate

Luis's eye went instantly to the girl who had been drawn to the door by the sound of hoofbeats. But his expression

at you have added

face, rounded arms, shapely figure; yet their undeniable comeliness brought no pleasure to he

from her looks-and quite at home. You

was not sorry when, after a few minutes of strained talk, Don Luis asked to be shown the vein. Judging by his backward glance from the mouth of the tunnel, it would appear

y n

ita, se

at vil

ughter to Candelario, t

o heel carried a mute challenge and conveyed her full knowledge that a battle was pitched such as women fight all the

thou been in th

to Sebastien's tutoring or her own malic

hired

. "Don Roberto." But they lifted in time for her

erest good service, for

ould hide the issue from either. Francesca's calm, as she turned her beast, did not deceive. Mali

ully indolent and powerfully suggestive of possession. Perhaps it was her acute consciousness of it which injected an extra chill a few minutes later into her refusal of Billy's invitation to dismount and rest. His suggestion

vice?" His courtesy, however, did not remove the chill of Francesca's snub. Hurt and wondering, Seyd passed on up to the bench-to have his eyes opened the instant that he saw the girl in the doorway. W

she doi

explanations his gray eyes drew into points of black. In the middle of it h

for

ed to his irritation. "You ch

e t

t you see that you have catalogued us with the San Nicolas

out of Billy's face. Over Seyd's shoulder he could see the girl in the doorway. A certain dark expectancy in her glance told that she knew herself to be the

re for your San Nicolas people? I didn't come down here to do a social stunt, and why should t

d spoke to Caliban, who was mixing mortar close by. "As I tho

, he was not to be driven. Out of pure obstinacy he growled: "What of it? I reckon her morals

's n

e i

hip had survived, nay, had been cemented by many a qua

spoke more mildly. "This

e hastily added, as Seyd began to str

me

ern on his face. "No, no, old man! You are still weak

en minutes they went at it, clinching and breaking, jabbing and hooking, with an energy and science that would have filled the respective souls of a moralist and a prize-fighter with disgust and

close by-was ever such folly!-he helps him up from the ground. I then think it the finish, but no, they go at it again, hailing blows in the face hard as the kick of a mule, and so it continues for a time with only pauses to catch their breath. I am beginn

, and I now expect to see Don Roberto take her for his own. That she is of the same mind is proven when she comes running with he

ng back to the house. Also she makes such a quick packing that she is dri

"Well, to the victor the spoils-or the rejection thereof. That was a peach of a punch-the bum left, too, wasn't it?" The old merry look flashi

" Seyd

ul of the proprieties if the

doubtful shoulders.

All the same, while it may be correct in theory your darned morality is mighty unc

are you tal

have I

anger faded. "I beg your pardon. Of course

ou

know that it is against the law of both God

ongratulations by the other's irony, Billy floundered, bringing sever

of her admirers hadn't done me the honor of getting jealous. Until one big lout warned me to leave her alone under penalty of broken bones it was never more than a mild flirtation, but after that I went deeper-so deep that it was soon impossible for me to withdraw. At least, I thought it was then, though I have since come to regard my marriage with her almost as a crime. You see, I thought it would break her heart, but in less than a week after the marriage I discovered that she was nothing but a

She would try to impose her own inch-and-a-half notions of things upon me, and she did not hesitate to pit the scraps of knowledge she had picked up around the mines against my professional training. She was bound to remold me on her own crude model. Actual wickedness would have been easier to bear, and I can assure you that the third month of our marri

Thrusting a letter into Billy's hand, he finished, walking away: "Read that-I got it at th

s a "shame and a disgrace." But he needn't think that she would stand such treatment forever! He had better come home, and that at once! So far she hadn't tried to "better herself." But it wasn't for lack of the chance! There was a gentleman-no fresh dude or co

e the goods as he carried them from the mules into the adobe. "To think that you have had this on your min

g, the eager vehemence of his manner settled into heavy brooding, and it was n

hat Caliban dropped the package he was carrying in, h

t to be vented on him, the hunchback nodded. "On

n as to whether his niece could convey certai

ing among the women. It could b

t of satisfaction. A little sheepishly he now went on: "It must be that thou wouldst care to see thy relative? To-morrow

at least not until Seyd tossed a silver peso on the table. "This is to bu

ack broke in, "That the dove flew at thy coming. She sha

isconcerting, and Seyd blushed. But, commanding his guilty colors, he

an unearthly comprehension. "It will be a

Seyd his usual cheerful self. Next morning his spirits were still higher, but did not attain their meridian until Caliban departed for San Nicolas, bravely attired in a gaudy suit which he had dug fr

sit her mother's people at Cuernavaca.

hast done thy sha

two pesos by the light of the stable lantern. "He pays me a peso to bring him good news, and gives me two when I return with bad-and to t