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A VENDETTA OF THE HILLS

By Willis George Emerson

Author of "The Treasure of Hidden Valley," "Buell Hampton," "The Builders,"
etc.

Illustrated by A. Hutchins

Boston: The Chappie Publishing Company, Ltd.

1917

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TO MY WIFE

BONNIE O'NEAL EMERSON


Our enchanting years of pleasure, dear, are speeding all too fast,

As our ever-fleeting joys become blest mem'ries of the past.

Heaven's blessings, glad and golden, strew with bliss the paths of life

When a sweetheart, fond and cheery,

Has her "hubby" for her dearie,

And her "hubby" has a sweetheart for his wife.

--The Author.

January 18, 1917.




CHAPTER I--Guadalupe

|IT was a June morning in mid-California. The sun was just rising over
the rim of the horizon, dissipating the purple haze of dawn and bathing
in golden sunshine a great valley spread out like a parchment scroll. It
was a rural scene of magnificent grandeur--encircling mountains, rolling
foothills, and then the vast expanse of plain dotted here and there with
clumps of trees and clothed with luxuriant grasses.

Thousands of cattle were bestirring themselves from their slumbers--some
sniffing the air and bellowing lowly, others paving the earth in an
indifferent way, and all moving slowly toward one or other of the
mountain streams that wound serpent-like through the valley, as if they
deemed it proper to begin the day with a morning libation.

To the south, commanding a narrow pass that pierced the Tehachapi
mountain range, stood old Fort Tejon, dismantled now and partly in
ruins, picturesque if no longer formidable--a romantic relic of old
frontier fighting days. In the foreground of the crumbling adobe walls,
sheltered under giant oaks, was a trading store and postoffice combined.

Within this building half a dozen men were in earnest conversation,
swapping yarns even at that early hour. Perhaps they, too, like the
cattle, had felt the call for their "morning's morning."

A young army officer, Lieutenant Chester Munson, was telling of a rough
experience he had had a few days before with a mountain lion in one of
the near-by rugged canyons.

The story was interrupted by a sound of galloping hoofs.

"Here's Dick Willoughby," someone announced.

The rider brought his mustang to a panting stop, threw the bridle rein
over its head, and, leaping lightly from his saddle, entered the store.

Dick Willoughby was a tall, athletic, square-jawed, grey-eyed young
fellow who looked determinedly purposeful. He was originally an
architect from New York City, but during the last five years had become
an adopted son of the West--had made the sacrifice, or rather gone
through the improving metamorphosis, of assimilation.

"Good morning, Ches, old boy," he shouted to the lieutenant.

The latter returned the salutation with a friendly nod.

"The camp was lonely without you last night, Dick," he said. "Who is the
fair senorita that keeps you away?"

"That's all right," replied Willoughby, smiling. "I will tell you
later." Then after a genial allround greeting for the others present, he
eagerly exclaimed: "Boys, she is coming."

"What! Guadalupe?" shouted everyone in chorus of surprise.

"Yes, Guadalupe is headed this way. I spied her on the mountain trail
an hour ago, and thanks to my field glasses, was able to determine the
moving speck was none other than the old squaw herself. She is just
beyond yon clump of trees and will be here shortly."

"I am wonderin' if she's got her apron filled again with them there gold
nuggets," remarked Tom Baker inquiringly, while a smile flitted over
his grey-bearded countenance. "That squaw is a regular free-gold placer
proposition."

"She would have been held up before now in the old days, eh, sheriff?"
laughed one of the cowboys. Tom Baker had been sheriff for a long term
of years in early times, and, although no longer in office, the title
had still clung to him.

"By gad!" exclaimed Jack Rover, another cowboy, and a gentlemanly young
fellow in manner and appearance. "She's not going to get back to her
hiding-place this time, nor to that will-o'-the-wisp placer gold mine of
hers unless she shows me."

"That will do for you," said Dick Willoughby with an admonishing look.
"Don't you forget that Guadalupe, although an old Indian squaw, is also
a human being. There is going to be no violence if I can prevent it."

"Well," laughed Jack, pushing his hat back as if to acknowledge that he
had been checkmated, "you're my boss on the cattle ranch, and I'll have
to take your tip, I guess."

"I say, Dick," asked the other cowboy, "did you see anything of the
white wolf?"

"Do you mean the real wolf?" interjected Jack Rover, "or the bandit, Don
Manuel?"

Willoughby was looking along the road and took no notice.

"I guess both are real," mused Tom Baker, grimly smiling, and a general
laugh followed.

"Well, I for one will subscribe to that," exclaimed Buck Ashley,
storekeeper, postmaster, bartender, and all-round _generalissimo_ of the
trading establishment. "If Don Manuel is not a wolf in human form, and
a bigger outlaw than Joaquin Murietta ever thought of being, why you may
take my head for a football."

"But he's dead, ain't he?" asked the cowboy who had introduced the
subject of the white wolf.

"Just one thing that I want to emphasize good and plenty to you
fellers," said Tom Baker, "and that is--"

"Here she comes!" interrupted Dick Willoughby.

A hush fell over the group as the bent, aged figure of an Indian woman
was seen approaching the store. Her features were hidden by a shawl that
closely muffled her head and shoulders.

Buck Ashley saluted Guadalupe with a "How?" The squaw answered with the
same abrupt salutation, shuffled up to the counter and said brokenly,
"Coffee--sugar--tea--rice." With her left hand she had gathered up the
lower portion of her calico apron and held it pouch fashion. She thrust
her right hand into the pocket so formed, and bringing forth a handful
of gold nuggets, laid them on the counter. Some were the size of peas,
and others as large as hulled hickory nuts. Not a word was spoken by the
onlookers, who were wild-eyed in their astonishment. Soon interest rose
to high tension.

Buck Ashley tied up a large package of sugar and pushed it toward the
bent form of his customer; then resting his hand on the counter, he
looked fixedly at the squaw and said, "More gold."

Again she thrust her hand into the apron pocket and brought out another
handful of nuggets, whereupon Ashley proceeded to tie up a large
package of coffee. This done, he repeated the request for more gold.
Old Guadalupe added another handful of nuggets to those already on the
counter, and Ashley tied up a package of rice.

The squaw looked up at the storekeeper for a moment and then said,
"Tea."

Buck Ashley's laconic response was "More gold," and immediately another
handful of nuggets was brought forth, whereupon a fourth package was
deposited on the counter.

Old Guadalupe stowed the parcels in her apron on top of any remaining
gold nuggets she might have brought. Then she turned and walked
limpingly away, through the low brushwood toward a little grove of
gnarled and twisted sycamores close to the ruined fort.

When she had gone Buck Ashley observed, "No use following her--not a
damn bit of use in the world! She'll make camp out there under the trees
until some time tonight, and then vanish like a shadow into the dark."

While speaking, Ashley had been gathering up the gold.

"I say, Buck," observed Dick Willoughby, winking at his friend
Lieutenant Munson, "it is my private opinion that that bandit, the White
Wolf, has nothing on you."

Tom Baker laughingly chimed in: "If I am any judge, and I allow as how
I am, Buck here would make that pound-of-flesh Shylock feller look like
thirty cents Mex."

Ashley smiled greedily, but in a satisfied way, as he said with
unruffled calm: "Guess I'd better weigh them nuggets and see how much
the old squaw's groceries cost her."

"The treacherous Indian and the honest paleface," laughed Dick
Willoughby in a half-rebuking tone.

Buck Ashley bridled up. His voice rang with deep feeling.

"Boys," he said, "you think I'm a Shylock, a robber, a devil I expect,
and everything that's bad. I don't talk much about myself, but just
so you'll not think too blamed hard of me, I'll ask you a question.
Supposen when you was only about fifteen years old, you stood by, tied
hand and foot, and saw a lot of redskins scalp and kill your father and
mother and two little sisters, and then rob your dead father of over
ten thousand dollars in gold, run off the family stock, and take you to
their camp to burn at the stake as a sort of incidental diversion at one
of their pow-wow dances; and supposen you performed a miracle and got
away and took an oath to kill and rob every derned Indian you might see
throughout the remaining days of your life--what, then, if I reformed
and gave up the kilin' and stuck to robbin', would you blame me?"

During this tragic recital of his wrongs the old storekeeper had become
noticeably excited.

Dick Willoughby got up from the cracker-box where he had been resting,
and advancing with hand extended, said: "Buck, what you have told us
presents the whole matter in a new light. Shake!"

"Thanks," replied the storekeeper as he turned away to wipe a mist from
his eyes.

Then quickly facing about, he called out in his usual gruff, hale and
hearty manner: "Say, boys, what'll you all have? This round is on the
house." They drank in silence. A fragment of Buck Ashley's history had
cleared away a good deal of previous misunderstanding.




CHAPTER II--Charmed Lives

|THE spell of restraint that resulted from Buck Ashley's story was at
last broken by the cowboy, Jack Rover.

"Look here, Dick," he exclaimed, "I'll give a month's salary if you will
let me take a chance and follow old Guadalupe. I've simply got to find
out and locate that sand-bar in some mountain stream from which she
brings in all this gold. This is the third time I've seen our friend
Buck Ashley collect a grocery bill from the old squaw, and the whole
business, gold nuggets and all, is getting on my nerves. Why, I dreamed
about it for a week last time I saw her forking out whole handfuls of
gold."

"Very well," replied Willoughby, "if you want to take the chance, Jack,
go ahead. But it is a mad project which will end in my expressing your
remains back East or else planting you in the cemetery on the hill. It's
up to you to make your choice before you tackle the job. You certainly
know what happened to four or five others who attempted to follow the
old squaw. Each mother's son of them was buried the next day."

"Oh, that's ancient history," Jack retorted.

"Not such very ancient hist'ry," remarked Tom Baker. "I myself saw young
Bill McNab drilled through the heart with a bullet that seemed to come
from nowhere. After that I'll allow I wasn't filled up with too much
curiosity as to where Guadalupe hiked over the mountains."

"There was a regular sharp-shootin' outfit," concurred Buck Ashley.

"And there wasn't a sheriff in the country would have led a posse into
that damned ambush," Tom went on. "There wasn't a sportin' chance along
that narrow ledge round which Guadalupe always disappeared. And with all
them outlaws in the mountains!"

"But the outlaws have been wiped out years ago," persisted Jack Rover.

"Mebbe," said Tom Baker, sententiously.

"You forget the White Wolf," added Buck Ashley.

"Which white wolf?" asked Jack. "I put that question before but got no
answer."

"Both," replied Tom. "To begin with I don't believe that Don Manuel is
dead at all. That was only a newspaper story. You may take it from me
that the bandit won't pass in his checks till he gets old Ben Thurston.
I'm allowin' as how Ben Thurston would quick enough give a thousand head
of his fattest beeves just to rest easy in his mind on that score. He'll
find out, sure enough, some day."

"Yes, when the White Wolf finds him," interjected the storekeeper with a
terse emphasis.

"What's that old feud anyway?" queried Lieutenant Munson. "Tell me,
Tom."

"Oh, it is an old story," the sheriff answered. "I thought everybody
knew about it, but of course you're a newcomer. Well, you see,"
he continued, clearing his throat and expectorating a copious and
accurately aimed pit-tew of tobacco juice toward a knot-hole in the
floor, "the White Wolf's father, Don Antonio de Valencia, a reg'lar
high-toned grandee from Spain, had settled in these here parts away
back longer than anyone could remember. He claimed this whole stretch of
country from horizon to horizon. Then came the Americans, among them
a government surveyor named Thurston. He had a pull at Washington and
managed to get a legal grant to the San Antonio property. Of course the
old Spaniard had no real title--his was just a sort of squatter's claim.
But they do say as how he had lived in this here valley more than half a
century, so it was mighty hard luck to lose the land. And the boy Manuel
never would admit the Thurstons had any right to call it theirs."

"Don Manuel had a younger sister," interposed Buck Ashley. "Rosetta,
a beautiful girl--looked like a morning-glory. Gad! but she sure had a
purty face. You remember, Tom, don't you?"

"Oh, yes," replied Tom Baker, "it's not likely I should forget the poor
girl. It was 'cause of her the quarrel became a bitter blood feud--the
Vendetta of the Hills, as we got to calling it. You see," he went on,
resuming the thread of his story, "old man Thurston's son, Ben, the
present owner of the rancho, was in his younger days a gay Lothario
scamp, and he came from the East to his new home in California loaded
down with a college education and a mighty intimate knowledge of
the ways of the world that decent folks don't talk about, much less
practice. He had not been here a month until he commenced makin' love
to little Senorita Rosetta. Before the second sheep-shearin' time came
around, she was--well, in a delicate condition. To save himself and,
as he thought, cover up the disgrace--you see he was engaged to a rich
Eastern girl of prominent family--why, the young scoundrel conceived the
hellish plot of lurin' little Rosetta to Comanche Point one dark night.
And when he got her there he threw her over the cliff--at least that's
the way the story goes. Guess Don Manuel was about twenty-five years old
at that time, and Ben Thurston two or three years his junior. Well,
the disgrace killed Rosetta's father and mother. They died of grief
and shame soon after the affair, almost on the same day, and Don Manuel
buried them together in the old churchyard on the hill by the side of
his murdered sister. And it was there and then, they say, that he took
an oath to kill Ben Thurston. That was mor'n thirty years ago and the
feud has been on ever since, and all us old-timers know hell will be
poppin' 'round here one of these days."

"But nobody ever sees the White Wolf, Don Manuel," added Buck Ashley.
"That's the ex-tr'ornery part of it."

"Oh, you yourself are likely to see him one of these dark nights, Buck,"
laughed Jack Rover, as he winked at the other boys. "A storekeeper
that'll work night and day stacking up money year in and year out is
liable to have a call sooner or later from the bandit and his friends."

"Oh, hell!" was the laconic response of Buck Ashley. "Guess I sure can
take care of myself."

"But Don Manuel may not be alive," suggested the young lieutenant.

"He's alive right enough, make no mistake," said Tom Baker, "although
I'll allow I don't know a single soul who has actually seen him
personally for more'n twenty years. He is a kind o' shadowy cuss.
Everybody knows him by his old-time deeds of high-way robbin' and
all-round murderin' for golden loot. I heard of a feller last year who
claims to have seen the White Wolf when he was makin' that last big
stage delivery over by Tulare Lake. He was masked, and had all the
passengers out on the roadside with their hands thrown up over their
heads while he was takin' their valuables away from them."

"It's a dead cinch," Buck Ashley observed, "that whenever there was a
hold-up or a robbery, or a murder in cold blood for money, why everybody
knew that the White Wolf was again in the hills and playin' his
cut-throat game for pelf and plunder, or mebbe just for revenge against
the gringos, whom he hated like hell. Sometimes he was not heard of
in these parts for two or three years, and then he showed up more
blood-thirsty than ever. His hand was agin every man, and it looked like
as every man's hand was agin him."

"I've been told," said Dick Willoughby, "that when the White Wolf was a
boy he saved the life of the old highwayman, Joaquin Murietta."

"Yes, them are facts," replied Tom Baker. "Leastways I've heard say so.
They claim that he saved Murietta's life from a posse of deputies one
night, and altho' the White Wolf was only a boy at that time, yet a heap
of people think he's the only livin' soul who knows the whereabouts and
location of the secret cavern where Joaquin Murietta planted his loot,
amountin', they say, to millions of dollars in gold and jewels and
valuables of all kinds. The retreat always proved a safe one for the
murderin' gang, and now they're gone no one even to this day can find
the place. It's somewhere on San Antonio Rancho, but where? The White
Wolf kept his secret well."

"If old Pierre Luzon ever gets out of San Quentin," remarked the
storekeeper, "I guess he could tell, but he's up for life. He was nabbed
in that same Tulare Lake affair 'bout which Tom had been talkin'."

"Yes," said the sheriff, "two others were shot dead before they got back
to the mountains. The White Wolf and Pierre were ridin' alone when the
Frenchie's horse stumbled. They picked him up insensible, a broken leg
and concussion of the brain, and he was the only one of the gang who
ever went to jail."

"God 'lmighty," exclaimed Buck, "old Pierre used to sit around in this
here store day after day, smokin' an old foreign-lookin' pipe, and
hardly speakin' a word. He used to pretend he knew no English. We never
once suspected that he was one of Don Manuel's bunch--always thought
of him as an old sheepherder, a bit off his nut, who had saved a few
dollars and was takin' things easy. And hell, all the time he was the
White Wolf's look-out man, makin' note of everything and passin' the
word o' warnin' when there was talk of the sheriff gettin' busy."

"I'll allow Pierre Luzon fooled me proper," concurred Tom Baker.
"However, he got what was cornin' to him all right, a life sentence,
though he ought to have been hanged. Well, perhaps it is only the White
Wolf and Pierre Luzon who now know the cave where Joaquin Murietta
cached his treasure."

"And Guadalupe perhaps as well," remarked Buck Ashley.

"Yes, perhaps Guadalupe also," assented the sheriff. "But the White Wolf
keeps guard over her."

"That's the real White Wolf this time," laughed

Dick Willoughby, with a nod toward the young lieutenant, who had been
listening intently to the tale of weird romance.

"The real White Wolf?" replied Munson, enquiringly. "You've got me all
tangled up. What do you mean?"

"Don't you know how Don Manuel came by his name of the White Wolf?"
asked the sheriff.

"No, all this folk lore is new to me."

"Why, gosh all hemlock! He is named because of a darn big white wolf
that has been seen at different times in this here country for a hundred
years."

"Wolves don't live so long," protested the lieutenant incredulously.

"Well, this one does," retorted Tom, curtly. "Leastwise he's been seen
from time to time since ever I can remember. In the old days they named
the White Wolf Rancho after this monster animal. It has a charmed life.
No one can kill this big fellow, altho' lots of shots have been fired
at him. And the same was true of Don Manuel de Valencia. He escaped so
often that folks believed his life a charmed one. And so they called him
the White Wolf."

"I saw the white wolf once myself," said Buck Ashley, "the real white
wolf that even now, as Tom says, guards old Guadalupe and makes it best
for young fellows like you, Jack Rover, to leave the squaw alone when
she makes back for her hidin' place in the mountains. I'll never forget
that morning, although it's more or less twenty years ago. The great
shaggy brute was following Guadalupe along the trail like a Newfoundland
dog. In those days I was out on the hills roundin' up some mavericks.
One of the calves broke from the herd and scampered along a trail that
led directly in front of the old squaw. And say, boys, would you believe
it? From less than half a mile away I saw with my own eyes that monster
devil of a white wolf--white as the driven snow--make one terrific
mad leap and grab that yearlin' by the neck. Guadalupe spotted me
and disappeared, and the white wolf trotted after her round the bend,
carryin' the dead calf in its jaws as a cat carries a mouse."

"Did you not shoot at the wolf?" excitedly asked Lieutenant Munson.

"Shoot, hell! What would have been the use? Didn't you hear what Tom
Baker said? White wolves have charmed lives whether they go on two legs
or four."




CHAPTER III--Feminine Attractions

|TOM BAKER, the sheriff, cleared his throat. "You fellers, I'm
assoomin', are all boys. I have been loafin' 'round in this man's land
for forty years. I was here the day Don Manuel had been buryin' his old
father and mother from the little Mission Church, less than a quarter of
a mile from where we are settin'. He was standin' right in front of this
store when young Ben Thurston and two of his ranch hands rode up. If
ever I saw real bravery it was that mornin'. Don't take much bravery
to do some things heroic when you have your artillery handy, but it
requires the real stuff when you're gunless.

"Young Thurston spoke to his companions and they drew their guns and
kept them leveled at Don Manuel as their boss dismounted.

"Don Manuel was one of the handsomest young fellers I ever laid my two
eyes on. He walked straight up to Thurston, and notwithstandin' the two
loaded pieces of artillery was pintin' straight at him said:

"'Ben Thurston, you are the man who killed my sister.'

"'You are a damned liar!' retorted Thurston.

"'Yes, you killed her,' went on Don Manuel. I found this button in her
dead hand, and right there, by God! is where it came from. Look at your
coat. Your life shall pay for this dastardly murder. If I had my gun
I would settle the matter now, notwithstandin' that today I have been
burying my beloved father and mother.'

"When young Thurston heard about there bein' no gun, he snatched the
tell-tale button from his accuser's hand, swung himself into his saddle,
laughed mockingly, and with his quirt struck Don Manuel across the face;
then he wheeled round his pony and rode away with his bodyguards in a
cloud of dust.

"God! I will never forget it. Don Manuel stood there, as white as a
piece of paper, and never moved for a whole minute. The quirt had drawn
the blood from his face in one long streak. At last he turned away with
a resolve in his eyes--one of them there terrible resolves that change
the life of a man, and went back to the little church to finish the
last sad rites to his people. It's my opinion Don Manuel, from that very
hour, turned bandit in his heart and took oath to murder all the gringos
in California.

"As I said before, that was thirty years back, and mebbe a little
more, and I have never seen him since. But we all heard of him good and
plenty. He certainly left a red trail."

A silence followed. Presently Buck Ashley in the way of explanation,
said:

"That tombstone on his sister's grave was put up one night. Nobody saw
it done, but everyone knows, of course, it was the work of Don Manuel.
It has just one word--'Hermana'--chiseled on the cross of white marble.
That's the Mexican for 'sister,' guess you all know. So the name Rosetta
is only remembered by old-stagers here, like Tom Baker and me. And we
ain't forgotten her pretty face either. Poor little girl!"

"A doggoned shame," muttered the sheriff, meditatively, his eyes cast
down.

"How about the law?" asked Lieutenant Munson. "The law!" exclaimed
Baker, raising his eyes and flashing a look of withering contempt.
"What kind o' law was there in those days and in these parts? A gun
was usually both judge and jury. Besides, with the only bit of evidence
gone, how could Don Manuel prove anything agin a rich young feller like
Ben Thurston?"

"But if he was laying for him all the time, how is it that the White
Wolf never got his man all through those thirty years?"

"Because Ben Thurston lit out--he was too demed scared to live on the
rancho any longer. But that's another story."

"Let's have it, sheriff."

"Well, it's a longish yarn, and p'raps you fellers are about tired of
hearing me."

No one protested; there was rather a movement of settling down in
pleased expectancy of something worth listening to. So Tom Baker
continued:

"Ben Thurston had one warnin', good and plenty, and he didn't wait
around for a second one. After Don Manuel's threat, he seldom left his
home, and a little later went back East again. It wasn't till more'n a
year that he showed up agin at the rancho. This time he brought with him
his Eastern bride, a fine slap-dash young woman who could ride a horse
and handle a team in good shape. But we could all see that she wasn't
too happy, for Ben Thurston started in to drink heavily, and she was
ashamed of him and showed it."

"Guess it was to drown his conscience and keep from thinkin' about
Rosetta," interjected Buck Ashley.

"Like as not," assented Tom. "Well, anyhow, he hadn't been here very
long afore Don Manuel got him--yes, got him fair and square, although he
managed to save his neck at the last moment. There was card-playin' and
drinkin' one night at the rancho--Thurston had got a bunch o' gay young
dogs down from San Francisco. Mrs. Thurston had left the room, and was
sittin' out alone in the moonlight on the verandah. Suddenly she heard
a sound that made her sit up and listen--the clatter o' twenty pairs
o' gallopin' hoofs a-comin' straight for the house. She must ha' known
something about the vendetta, for she rushed in terror to her husband
and gave him warnin'. He escaped by a back door, and a minute later the
place was surrounded. The shootin' came first from some of the ranch
hands, who had tumbled out of the bunk house and were spyin' around
corners. They said later that the hold-up party numbered more'n twenty,
some of them masked with handkerchiefs tied around their faces, but
others bold as brass and not carin' a dang who saw 'em. Among these last
was Don Manuel. But Pierre Luzon was a downy duck, for no one spotted
him, although later on we came to know that he played the principal part
that night, next to the leader of the gang.

"Well, after the shootin'-scrap became general, there was a pretty scare
in the ranch house--one of the card-players dropped, and the others
were hiding under tables, when Don Manuel appeared and asked for Ben
Thurston. His wife, mighty brave, denied that he was there--he had left
that afternoon for Visalia to buy some cattle, she boldly declared. Don
Manuel, always the true gentleman, mark ye, was for believin' her when
Pierre, his face masked, came in from the verandah and in a low voice
passed some words to his chief. Mrs. Thurston knew in a moment that her
bluff was goin' to be called, and, while the outlaws were confabbin',
darted from the room.

"But Pierre was just as quick out by the verandah, and before she got to
the door o' the woolshed beyond the horse corral, he was there to block
her passage. It was Pierre who had caught a glimpse of the fugitive
sneakin' into this outbuilding, and now he knew for certain that
Thurston was hiding among the bags o' wool inside. But a cornered man is
a dangerous animal, and it might mean a good few lives if the door was
opened and any attempt made to rush the place.

"The gang was soon buzzin' all around; the woman, now almost in
hysterics, was hustled aside, and a few bundles of loose hay was being
dumped into the shed through an open window. A match did the rest.
Within three minutes the door opened and Thurston came staggerin' out
through thick clouds of smoke. Pierre grabbed him and had a noose around
his neck in doublequick time.

"The shootin' was over before this, and some of the ranch hands were
lookin' on from a little distance, for now everyone knew that it was
only the boss that the night-riders were after. So more'n one was able
afterwards to tell the story--how the young wife threw herself at Don
Manuel's feet, and with sobs and tears pleaded for mercy. And by the
living God she won out even after the rope, with her husband at the end
of it, had been swung over the limb of a near-by sycamore.

"The White Wolf stood stock-still for perhaps a minute, weighin' things
like, his arms folded across his breast. Then he raised the weepin'
woman, and, turnin' to Thurston, now half-dead with fear, laid hold of
him by the shoulder and shook him as a terrier shakes a rat. Then with
his other hand he flung the noose from around his neck. 'Take your
miserable life, then, this time'--that's what Don Manuel said. 'Take
it, but the day will come when we shall meet again, man to man, with no
woman's tears to save you.' And he pushed Thurston away contemptuously,
topplin' him over like a ninepin, and a minute later rode off at the
head of his men."

The narrator paused, and there was a general murmur of repressed
excitement.

"My word, that's a peach of a story," exclaimed Jack Rover.

"He certainly was a chivalrous fellow, this oldtime Don Manuel,"
remarked the lieutenant.

"And don't you see," said the sheriff, "that, when a man acted like that
and spoke like that, his words must come true? Don't tell me that Don
Manuel today is dead while Ben Thurston is still alive. But he has taken
mighty good care of himself ever since that day. He an' his wife skipped
East the very next morning, and I'm told they never stopped till they
got to Europe. Nobody knows where exactly they lived during the time
that followed, but news came through years later that the wife had died,
somewhere in the south of England, leaving a son behind. That's young
Marshall who has come West with his dad now--the young man's first visit
and his father's last one, I reckon, if he sells the ranch, as I'm told
he's trying to do."

"But I say, boys," observed Jack Rover, "what do you suppose the White
Wolf did with all the gold he took away from the people? It's said that
in one stage robbery he got over fifty thousand dollars of the yellow
stuff."

"Hid it," replied Buck Ashley, "with Joaquin Murietta's hoarded gold.
For it's sure as sure can be that Don Manuel came to know the secret o'
the bandits' cave where Murietta used to store his loot. The only thing
anybody else knows is that it is around here somewheres."

"But they do say," observed one of the cowboys, "whatever Sheriff Baker
may think, and you, too, Buck, that Don Manuel is sure 'nuff dead. Most
folks herabouts believe that the White Wolf has gone to his long restin'
place, sort a j'ined forces with old Joaquin Murietta. The Tulare Lake
affair was, I guess, his last raid."

"He ain't dead," muttered Tom, determinedly, while Buck Ashley also
shook his head in repudiation of the cowboy's theory.

"Well, I happen to know," observed Dick Willoughby, "that Mr. Thurston
has run down the story of the White Wolf's death in that Seattle saloon
brawl pretty thoroughly, and he is of the opinion that the big-featured
articles in the San Francisco and Los Angeles papers were correct--that
the dead man's identity was absolutely established."

"That's how he'd wish it to be, at all events," said Buck Ashley. "But
even now, when Ben Thurston ventures to come home to the rancho, he
brings with him a great big hulking bodyguard--Leach Sharkey, I'm told
is the fellow's name. That don't look much like believin' the White Wolf
to be dead and the vendetta played out, does it? You can see it in his
hang-dog face that it isn't any real pleasure for him to be around in
these parts. He ain't once paid me a visit at the store. Guess he thinks
his hide'll last longer by stickin' close to home. You owe your job o'
runnin' his cattle, Dick Willoughby, to the fact that he's still plumb
scared."

"Oh, well, I am in his employ," said Dick loyally, "and I'm inclined to
give him the benefit of the doubt as regards these ugly rumors and idle
stories. He has always been on the square with me. But perhaps he'll
stick to the rancho, now he believes the White Wolf to be dead."

"He may believe it, but, as Buck says, why then the bodyguard?"
commented the sheriff as he relighted his pipe.

"Yes." replied Dick Willoughby, "but I believe he is thinking of letting
Leach Sharkey go. Personally I would be willing to wager that Don
Manuel, whom no one has seen since that last raid on the stage coach, is
dead and sleeping with his sires."

"Well, dead or alive," exclaimed Jack Rover, "I don't care a hang for
the White Wolf and his-buried treasure. But what I would like to know
is the exact location of that rippling mountain stream, the identical
sandbar where the old squaw Guadalupe gathers up her pocket change with
which to buy groceries. That would be a heap better than any blooming
cave. Them's my sentiments."

As he said this he threw some silver on the bar and invited everybody to
lubricate.

"Just nominate your poison, boys, and let's drink to my finding old
Guadalupe's gold mine."

They all laughed good-naturedly, and Lieutenant Munson declared that he
thought he would put in the balance of his furlough days prospecting.
"You know," he explained in an aside to the storekeeper while the latter
was preparing the drinks, "I am only here to visit my old college pal,
Dick Willoughby, and incidentally see the place where my father was a
soldier in the early California days. He was stationed several years in
Fort Tejon."

"That was before my time," said Buck Ashley.

"The soldiers had abandoned the old fort when I came first into these
parts."

Meanwhile Dick Willoughby was clinking glasses with Jack Hover.

"There are some mighty pretty little senoritas hereabouts," said Dick,
"good American blood mixed with Spanish blood, you know, and all that.
If a fellow could only find the right one--understand, I say the right
one, Jack--he wouldn't be losing any time in chasing after the old
squaw's secret gold mine or the White Wolf's buried millions."

Jack Rover laughed outright.

"I say, Dick, what are you reddening up about? Gee, if I had as fine a
lead as you have staked out, I'd feel the same way. Ain't that right,
Buck?" Buck Ashley winked at Jack Rover and said: "If you mean who I
think you mean, you sure are righter than right. I speak wide open and
unrestrained when I give it as my opinion that Miss Merle Farnsworth is
the finest specimen of young womanhood that I ever set eyes on, and I
have seen some girls East as well as West. Take it from me, she is a
jewel, she is a regular beauty rose. Yes," he went on, "and too damned
good for that young Thurston whelp, who hangs around tryin' to act smart
whenever she and that old duenna chaperon of hers comes here to trade.
I'll simply boot him out of the store one of these days."

Dick Willoughby smiled in a satisfied way as he moved toward the door.

"Well, hold on, Dick," called out Jack Rover, "don't be in such a
dangnation hurry. I'll ride with you in a minute. I've just got this
to say to you, Buck Ashley, that I like you better than ever for what
you've said about Marshall Thurston. Even though I'm working for the
Thurston outfit, I'm free to express my opinion that that young feller
is about the meanest specimen of low-down humanity I've ever struck."

"It's a case of the second decadency, I suppose," remarked Munson. "The
worthless profligate, spawn of the rich old roué, Ben Thurston."

"Such a drunken pup," continued Rover, "aint' good enough for a
half-breed Indian, much less for the likes of the young ladies of La
Siesta. Gee, if I thought there was one chance in a thousand for me with
either of them, why goodbye to that placer gold mine ambition that's
eating my vitals, or to the planted millions of the White Wolf."

As he spoke the last words, he followed Dick Willoughby into the open.
Dick was standing by his pony.

"You're superlatively in earnest, aren't you?" he said as he laughed
good-naturedly at the cowboy.

"You bet your life I'm in earnest," replied Jack. "And if you don't
get busy with that love affair of yours, well, take it from me, you had
better look out, for somebody will be picking the peach right from under
your very nose. Well, so long, Dick; I've changed my mind; I'll not ride
with you. I'll see to that bit of fence repairing up on the range. And
who knows but I may find a sand-bar and a riffle sparkling with yellow
gold?" He laughed like a big overgrown boy as he touched the rowel to
his pony and galloped away across the valley.




CHAPTER IV--Back to the Soil

|JACK ROVER is a great boy," said Dick Willoughby to Lieutenant Munson
as the two rode off at a leisurely pace toward the group of ranch
buildings peeping through a clump of trees at the edge of the foothills.

"A type of Western character," replied Munson, "that in a way is quite
new to me. And yet, do you know, I rather like this Western atmosphere."

"Like it!" exclaimed Dick. "Why, man, it is _the_ atmosphere in which to
live, move and have one's being."

They both laughed at his enthusiasm.

"Really," continued Dick, soberly, "I would not live another year in New
York City for all the property fronting on the Circle, the coming centre
of old Gotham. Out here a man is a man for what he is worth. You grow
bigger, you think broader thoughts, you are not confined to following
precedents or taking orders from the man higher up."

"Oh, I know," replied Munson, "or at least I am beginning to understand
something of what you mean. I have only been here ten days and I am
already feeling loath to return to my post."

"Ches," exclaimed Dick, turning abruptly and facing his companion,
"give it all up, old fellow, and come and live in this glorious
country--California! There's music in the very name. It is the land of
sunshine, of fruits and flowers, and of pretty girls into the bargain."

"You keep telling me of the pretty girls, but when am I to see them?"
questioned Munson. "If you have any real senoritas who will cause a
fellow to forsake his Eastern home and send in his resignation to army
headquarters, let me get a peep at them."

Again they both laughed, this time at the challenge in Munson's words.

"All right," said Dick, "you shall see them. And, by the way, don't
you remember that this is the very day we have arranged to call on Mrs.
Darlington at the Rancho La Siesta? It is a beautiful place, this little
rancho, and Mrs. Darlington you will find to be a most admirable woman.
But just wait until you see Grace Darlington."

"How about Miss Farnsworth?"

"Not for you, old man," replied the other quickly, reddening at the
temples. "Not as long as my name is Dick Willoughby--providing, you
understand, always providing that I shall prove successful in my
wooing."

"Is it as bad as that, Dick?"

"Well,"--his laughing tone was only a mask to deeper feelings--"I cannot
deny that I am pretty hard hit."

"My, but you do whet my impatience," said the lieutenant. "And I am
about as anxious to be paying that afternoon call as I am to have my
breakfast. I don't know how you feel, Dick, but I'm as hungry as a lean
coyote." He paused a moment, then asked in a musing tone: "How far away
is this wonderful La Siesta Rancho?"

"Oh, only about twenty miles."

"Twenty miles! You speak of miles out here in the same way as we speak
of city blocks back in New York. Surely it must be quite a farm."

"Quite a farm? I should say! You musn't confound our Californian ranchos
with Eastern farms, old man. Why, this rancho of San Antonio covers over
four hundred square miles of territory."

"You astonish me."

"La Siesta Rancho adjoins the great San Antonio possession and contains
comparatively few acres, just under three thousand. But it surely is
a beautiful little place, fixed up like a nobleman's park in the old
world. And then the ladies--"

"Aha, the ladies," repeated Munson, doffing his hat in courtly fashion
and smiling audaciously.

Dick touched the flank of his pony with his spur, and for a few
miles they rode on at a quicker pace and in silence. Soon they were
approaching the ranch buildings. On the outer edge was a little cottage,
covered with vines and surrounded by fruit trees, the place which Dick
Willoughby, the cattle foreman, had called "home" for the past five
years.

After turning their horses into a corral, they passed by way of a broad
verandah into a big room, roughly but comfortably furnished. Some logs
were smouldering in the fireplace, and quickly started into a bright
blaze when Dick kicked them together. The warmth was grateful, for while
out of doors everything was now bathed in genial sunshine, here the
morning air was still keen.

A Chinaman appeared from the back quarters, and smiled expectantly.

"Breakfast, Sing Ling," called out Dick, "and just as quick as you can
serve it."

Sing Ling departed as noiselessly as he had come.

"These are certainly great quarters," observed Munson, settling himself
in a big Old Mission rocker and glancing around.

The walls, curiously enough, were pretty well covered with pen-and-ink
sketches and designs of buildings that might have adorned an architect's
office, while there was a partly completed landscape painting in oils
standing on a rudely fashioned easel.

"And you've certainly stuck to the old line of work, Dick," the
lieutenant went on.

"Of course one must have something to think about when he is all alone
in a new country," replied Willoughby. "But most of that stuff I did
in my first year here," he added, following the other's survey of the
walls.

"You still paint, however," remarked Munson, his eyes resting on the
unfinished canvas.

"Or try to," was the laughing response.

"Oh, that's a modest way of putting it. Do you know, old man," Munson
went on, "since I came here I have often thought what a marvelous change
has been wrought in you--what a transplanting has taken place? You were
a chronic New Yorker, except for that one year you spent in the Latin
Quarter of gay Paree. You thought then you were going to make a great
painter. And, by gad, I almost believe so myself," he added, bending
forward to make a more critical scrutiny of the work on the easel. "By
jove, that's really fine, Dick."

"I'm afraid that's flattery, Chester, my boy," responded Willoughby.
"However, it sounds good to hear you say so. A word of appreciation
is what all hearts hunger for. Personally I even believe in a moderate
amount of flattery. Its psychic influence is more potent in arousing and
causing the heart to throb with ambition than all the stimulants, drugs
or reasoning in the world. Indeed, without a certain amount of flattery
one becomes ambitionless, languid, and perishes; whereas the unexpected
caress or kindly words of praise from loved ones, just or unjust, adds
more strength to the good right arm of the breadwinner than all the beef
in Christendom, and makes the sunshine seem brighter and earth's every
breeze a south wind blowing across beds of violets."

"A bit of a poet, too, I see," smiled Munson.

Willoughby made no reply. He had crossed over to the open door and was
looking out on the valley that stretched away for miles--great oak trees
in the foreground, with cattle-dotted pasture lands beyond. Waving his
hand toward the vast expanse, he said:

"Just look at that for a picture, and see how tame a man-made gallery is
as compared with this great art gallery of Nature. Do you know, Ches, I
despise New York? There was a time, when I first came here, that I felt
I should die of ennui, yearning for the Great White Way once again. But
I have outgrown all that. I know now, thank God, there's nothing to it.
Here a man can fill his lungs with pure air, and at the same time feast
his soul all day long with beautiful things."

There followed a brief interval of silence. Munson had risen and joined
his comrade at the door. Both were gazing over the glorious sunlit sweep
of territory rimmed by the distant, pine-clad hills. In the heart of
Dick Willoughby was supreme contentment, in that of Chester Munson a
vague longing to get away from red-tape army routine and breathe the
exhilarating and inspiring freedom of life in the open.

"Blakeflast," bleated a soft voice behind them, and turning round they
found the suave, smiling Chinaman with hand outstretched toward the
smoking viands upon the table. Sentiment was instantly forgotten in
favor of lamb chops grilled to a turn, a great fluffled omelette with
fine herbs that would have done credit to a Parisian chef, and coffee
that was veritable nectar.

At last appetite was satisfied. The lieutenant had produced his cigar
case, Dick was filling his briar-root pipe with tobacco from the
humidor. The latter spoke:

"Say, Ches, we were talking about New York. Do you want me to give you a
toast on that modern Babylon?"

"Sure, old man, go ahead! You know I haven't lost my interest in old
Gotham, by any manner of means. It may the a modern Babylon. But to me
it is none the less the greatest of American cities."

"That's just the trouble," said Dick, seriously. "It is too great. There
identities are swallowed up. Individualism cannot survive. It is all one
great composite."

"Well, let us hear the toast."

Dick raised his cup of coffee and said: "Very well, here it is; here is
my opinion of New York:=

```'Vulgar in manners; overfed,

```Over-dressed and under-bred;

```Heartless, godless, hell's delight,

```Rude by day and lewd by night.

```Bedwarfed the man, enlarged the brute;

```Ruled by boss and prostitute.

```Purple robed and pauper clad;

```Raving, rotten, money mad;

```A squirming herd in Mammon's mesh;

```A wilderness of human flesh;

```Crazed by avarice, lust and rum--

```New York! thy name's delirium.'"=

"Great Heavens, old man," exclaimed Munson, when Dick had finished, "you
are severe, to say the least."

Willoughby laughed good-naturedly as he passed the match box to his
friend.

"Not severe, only truthful," he said. "You see, in New York no man
dares think for himself. Everything is controlled by a machine-appointed
chairman, secretary and committee, and you must hear the resolutions
read before you know the doctrine you are perforce to advocate."

Then he lit his pipe and rose from the table.

"Now, I have a lot of things to attend to, old fellow," he resumed.
"Make yourself comfortable. Here's a bunch of Eastern newspapers--oh,
I read them regularly, haven't got rid of that bad habit yet. I'll tell
Sing Ling to have lunch ready on the stroke of noon. Then we'll be in
good time to start out for the Rancho La Siesta. So long!"




CHAPTER V--At La Siesta

|SOON after one o'clock Dick Willoughby and Chester Munson were again in
the saddle. They galloped along the foothills for some time in silence.
But coming to the boulder-strewn wash of a mountain stream, they had
perforce to rein their horses to a walk. Conversation was now possible.

"Dick, will you give me a job as a cowboy if I quit the army?" asked
Munson abruptly.

"Surest thing you know," replied Dick. "But why try to kid me like
that?"

"Oh," laughed the other, "I am not jesting."

"Well, by gad, if you feel that way already, the chances are you will
write out your resignation when you get back to the shack tonight."

"You mean by that--"

"I mean," said Dick, smiling benignly at his friend, "that when you have
once seen Grace Darlington you will feel like browsing on the California
range until you have learned to throw a riata."

"Oh, it is not the thought of any mere girl that will influence my
decision. I feel like getting back to Nature--back to the soil--back to
a life of untrammeled freedom."

"Back to unspoiled womanhood," added Dick sententiously.

"Well, you've certainly got my curiosity aroused over these young ladies
at La Siesta. How much farther do we have to go?"

"Within an hour, sir, within the hour, my lord, shall you see the lady
fair. But remember," Dick went on banteringly, "that you are not to
practise any riata-throwing on Miss Merle Farnsworth."

"I understand. But we won't fall out over her. You may have your
beautiful brunette. I have always been partial to blondes."

"In the plural number," grinned Dick. "But Grace Darlington will dim the
light of all your previous flames. She is the most perfect blonde you
have ever yet encountered."

"You are certainly enthusiastic--for a disinterested party."

"Well, you'll say the same thing, Ches, my boy, when you see her."

It was not yet four o'clock when they approached the Rancho La Siesta.
The house was of a style quite unusual in California--a miniature castle
that might have been planned by some European architect of renown. It
stood amid noble oak trees, old and gnarled and of gigantic size, but
not too numerous to hide the architectural features of the building. To
the rear the trees grew more thickly till they finally merged into one
great forest that covered the lower ridge of the mountain beyond. Far
up, just within the timber line, could be seen the red-tiled roof of a
house which Dick told his friend was the home of a Mr. Ricardo Robles.
Beneath the forest, the gently undulating lands sloped away to a
considerable stream that dashed down from one of the mountain canyons
and debouched into the great valley.

"Whew!" exclaimed Munson admiringly, as they rode up and turned their
horses over to an attendant. "Some swell architecture around here! Is
this your work, Dick?"

[Illustration: 0055]

"Oh, no!" replied Willoughby. "I had nothing to do with it. But I do
like the architectural lines of Mrs. Darlington's home. She's English
and has English tastes, and transplanted ideas are not always successful
in a new country. But in this case the building just seems to fit the
scenery. It has always delighted me."

"It is certainly beautiful," concurred Munson as they walked along a
winding graveled pathway that climbed the gentle slope and led to the
portico of the mansion.

Around them were gay beds of flowers dotting the greensward. Almost
hiding the columns of the portico were climbing roses, one bush of the
purest white, the other of deep crimson.

As they passed under the porch roof, a handsome and well-preserved lady
of middle age appeared at the top of the steps with a welcoming smile.
She descended to give them gracious greeting.

"How glad I am to see you, Mr. Willoughby. No one could be more welcome
at La Siesta."

"Thank you," said Dick with marked chivalry.

"Mrs. Darlington, permit me to present my friend, Lieutenant Munson."

The introduction over, they ascended the steps together, and passed
into a spacious courtyard, with broad verandahs running all around and a
fountain playing in the centre. The hostess conducted her visitors to
a cosy corner, screened by glass panels from the open air and furnished
with rich Persian rugs, divans, cushions, tapestries, carved ebony
tabarets, all in oriental fashion. When they were comfortably settled,
she opened the conversation.

"Lieutenant, the young ladies of La Siesta are most impatient to meet
you. Mr. Willoughby has told us so much about you and yet has been so
very dilatory--yes, really you have, Mr. Willoughby--in bringing you
over, that we have put down several black marks against his name."

"Oh, thank you," stammered the young officer, reddening. "I quite agree
with you about Willoughby, for I have been pleading with him to present
me from the very first day of my arrival." Turning to Mrs. Darlington,
Dick laughingly protested: "My dear Mrs. Darlington, that is the first
whopper you have heard from my esteemed friend. You have yet to learn
that he always speaks in the superlative degree."

At this moment Grace Darlington stepped through one of the French
windows. As she stood hesitating for a moment, Chester Munson there
and then agreed with all the preliminary praise Dick Willoughby had
bestowed. She was certainly a vision of loveliness, with a wealth of
golden hair and eyes of sapphire blue; petite, her figure plump but
beautifully molded, her cheeks aglow with the red roses of health and
youth and happiness.

"My daughter Grace," announced Mrs. Darlington, rising and formally
introducing the lieutenant to her as she joined the group.

Again Munson blushed and stammered. Dick was chuckling; he saw that
the gallant son of battle, with a penchant for blonde beauties, had
succumbed to the first glance from Grace Darlington's eyes.

"Delighted to meet you, Lieutenant Munson," she declared with frank
friendliness as they shook hands.

"Where's Merle?" asked Dick almost before Grace had time to turn to him.

"There now, Mr. Impatience," she replied, shaking her finger teasingly
at, him, "Merle will be here in her own good time. She's busy with Bob
just now."

"Who the dickens is Bob?" asked Dick, visibly disconcerted.

"Oh, her new Irish terrier," laughed Grace, her voice ringing with
mischievous merriment. "And such a beauty!"

Dick breathed again. The lieutenant had recovered his composure; it was
his turn now to bestow a sardonic smile upon his comrade.

"We'll have afternoon tea," suggested Mrs. Darlington. "And of course
you two young men will stay for dinner."

Both uttered a simultaneous protest--they were only in riding clothes.
But Mrs. Darlington made short work of the argument, and touched a
pushbutton by her side. A maid responded, the extra covers for dinner
were ordered, and meanwhile tea was to be sent on to the verandah.
Pleasant small talk succeeded, the lieutenant being called upon for his
first impressions of California.

Of a sudden Grace exclaimed in a voice, half of joy, half of surprise:

"Why, here comes Mr. Robles!"

Advancing along the verandah, hat in hand, was a man of striking
presence and dignity, perhaps fifty years of age. His jet black hair was
streaked with gray, the full beard almost verging on whiteness. Olive
complexion and brown eyes, together with the courtly manner of his
salutation, indicated the thoroughbred Castilian.

He bowed and raised to his lips the hand of his hostess. To Grace he
paid the same deference. Next he turned to Dick Willoughby and extended
his hand.

"I have met Mr. Willoughby. I am pleased, sir, to see you again."

Then his eyes rested on Lieutenant Munson, and Mrs. Darlington presented
the young army officer.

"And where, I pray, is Miss Merle?" Mr. Robles finally asked, glancing
around.

"That's what I want to know," blurted out Dick. Then he reddened just a
little.

The older man looked kindly at Dick, and smilingly said: "The audacity
of youth."

"Yes," put in Grace, "the audacity and the impatience as well."

But just at that moment there floated from the recesses of the home the
fragment of a song: "I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls, with vassals and
serfs at my side."

"Ah, here comes the recreant now," exclaimed Mrs. Darlington.

The song stopped abruptly, and a moment later Merle Farnsworth appeared.
She went first of all to Mr. Robles and greeted him warmly, giving him
both her hands, which he kissed in his princely fashion. For Willoughby
she had a pleasant smile, and for his friend, the lieutenant, a kindly
welcome to California.

The tea tray had meanwhile arrived, and soon both the young ladies
were busy attending to their guests. While he sipped his tea, Munson
completed his inspection of Merle Farnsworth--dispassionately, for the
brunette type of beauty had never yet made his pulses beat faster. But
he could none the less admire. She was a stately girl, taller than Grace
Darlington, with fine, regular features and brown eyes that matched the
dark heavy braids of her hair. Her manner was alert and vivacious, yet
there was the quiet dignity of gentle breeding even in her smile.

After half an hour of general conversation, Mr. Robles arose to take
his leave, notwithstanding Mrs. Darlington's pressing invitation that he
should remain and join the dinner party.

"My home is not far away," he said when shaking hands with Munson, "up
in the woods yonder. Perhaps you may have seen it as you came along the
road."

"Yes," observed Dick, "I pointed it out to the lieutenant."

"Well, both you gentlemen are cordially invited to pay me a visit any
time you are riding through this part of the country. Although I live
far away from the busy world, and am a recluse by choice, I have some
things that may interest you--pictures, old manuscripts and books of the
Spanish days."

"Pictures?" interposed Dick, inquiringly.

"Yes, a few that I picked up during several visits to Europe."

"If people only knew it," remarked Mrs. Darlington, "Mr. Robles has
perhaps one of the finest private picture galleries in America."

"Then I'm certainly coming to see you," said Dick, eagerly.

"Me or my pictures?" asked Mr. Robles with a quizzical smile.

"Both," and the young fellow showed he meant it by a cordial hand grip.

"You will pass our door, Mr. Willoughby?" exclaimed Merle in
half-laughing reproachfulness. "You will dare to give the go-by to La
Siesta?"

"Well, art is art," replied Dick sturdily, although he did not trust
himself to look at Merle while he answered.

"But perhaps the young ladies will show you the way through the oak
forest," suggested Mr. Robles.

"That would be great," said Lieutenant Munson, with his eyes fixed on
Grace Darlington.

"Delightful," she blushingly assented.

"Well, arrange it among yourselves. For the present, _adios_." And with
a sweeping bow the senor took his departure.

A stroll through the gardens and orchards, dinner and sprightly
conversation, an hour of piano-playing and singing to follow--altogether
a delightful evening was spent. The nearly full moon had risen before
the young men found themselves on the homeward trail.

As side by side they rode down into the valley, Munson said:

"Dick, boy, there's no use talking. You have introduced me to some
perfectly charming people today--they're wonderful."

"What did I tell you?" asked Dick.

"You surely did not tell me the half," replied the other. "I think Grace
Darlington is the prettiest girl I have ever seen."

"Guess you'll be writing out your resignation and sending it to army
headquarters," laughed Dick. "_Quien sabe?_"

The lieutenant made no reply, and quickening their pace, they pushed on
in silence.

At last they were nearing home--passing round the last spur of the
mountain. The moon was now riding high overhead, bathing the whole
landscape in bright effulgence. Willoughby brought his pony to a walk,
and Munson, coming up behind, soon joined him.

"How do you like riding by the light of the California moon?" asked
Willoughby.

"Really, Dick, you call even the moon a California moon, as if the same
moon didn't shine in New York City or in Paris."

"Not in the same way," said Dick soberly. "The truth is, the moon really
looks larger and brighter here, and the stars, too, are more brilliant.
Haven't you noticed it?"

"I have noticed that the atmosphere is exceedingly clear," replied
Munson, and, as if to verify his observation, he cast a glance up to the
rock-ribbed flank of the mountain above the belt of timber.

"Good God, what's that?" he added breathlessly grasping the arm of his
friend.

Instinctively both halted their horses as they continued to gaze.

[Illustration: 0105]

The bent form of the old Indian squaw Guadalupe was unmistakable as she
toiled slowly along a narrow ledge on the face of the precipice. But
following close behind her was a vague, shadowy figure--the figure of
some four-footed beast, bigger than a big dog.

"The white wolf!" gasped Dick.

"Is it real, or is it a spectre?" whispered Munson.

Just then a scudding cloud momentarily obscured the moon, and when the
full light again shone forth, both woman and wolf had vanished.

The young men looked into each other's eyes in awe and wonderment.




CHAPTER VI--The Quarrel

|THE following days were busy ones on San Antonio Rancho. Dick
Willoughby was constantly in the saddle, looking after his subordinates,
watching the line fences, and generally keeping track of the vast herds.
Lieutenant Munson was becoming acclimated. He not only accompanied
Willoughby on many of his rides, but had also paid several visits to
La Siesta, and one afternoon in particular had enjoyed immensely a
successful trout fishing expedition with the young ladies along the
mountain stream that flowed through the property.

One morning there was great excitement at San Antonio headquarters. Ben
Thurston returned from a visit he had been paying to Los Angeles, and
with him floated in a circumstantial story that the rancho had been
really sold. As usual, he was attended by the plain-clothes detective
whom he retained as bodyguard. Leach Sharkey was a big, hulking fellow,
more than six feet in height, with a tousled shock of reddish hair, a
stubby red mustache, and teeth that showed even when his face was in
repose. Bulging hip pockets indicated the brace of heavy revolvers which
he invariably carried.

Within an hour of Mr. Thurston's coming, Dick Willoughby, as foreman,
was summoned to an interview at the ranch house. The owner received him
alone in his office.

Ben Thurston was a squat, solidly built man, and despite his life
of idle luxury, carried his fifty odd years well. He was sullen and
taciturn in manner, but brusque and imperious when he did choose to
speak. Two features were markedly characteristic--the chin was weak and
the eyes had the restless, alert look of one who constantly lived in an
atmosphere of fear and suspicion.

Thurston opened the conversation without any preliminaries.

"Willoughby, I want an accurate count of all the cattle and horses on
the ranch; and especially I require a fair idea as to the number of
fatted beeves--those ready for the market, you understand."

"Very well," replied Dick, "your orders shall be carried out as
expeditiously as possible, but it will require a few days to complete
the work."

"How many days?"

"If I make use of all the force it may take a week--perhaps a little
longer."

"All right, use all the help you can get. I must have these figures
promptly. There is a Los Angeles syndicate who are after an option on
the rancho. They are counting on buying me out--lock, stock and
barrel." Ben Thurston smiled, squinted his shifty eyes and blew his nose
vigorously.

"It always makes me laugh," he added pompously, "to have these fellows
come around this great principality of mine and try to buy me out."

Just then someone outside flitted past the window, and, quick as
lightning, Thurston turned and exclaimed in a startled tone: "Who was
that?"

"That was Jack Rover," replied Dick, "one of our cowboys."

"Oh," and the frightened look in the eyes subsided.

"Tomorrow then," Dick went on, returning to their former topic of
conversation, "we'll begin a round-up of the stock at this end of the
range. I'll put the boys on the job right now."

"I'll join you tomorrow myself."

"All right, Mr. Thurston."

"What time?"

"At any time agreeable to you."

"Well, say eight o'clock in the morning. You see," he continued, "I want
to get through with this damned business in a hurry and start back East.
I have friends who are waiting for me. Of course I will have to stay
here until the representatives of this syndicate come up from Los
Angeles, but I will make short work of them, believe me."

This time Ben Thurston laughed outright and rubbed his hands together in
a satisfied way. For once he seemed inclined to be communicative, and,
turning to Willoughby, resumed:

"Do you know, I have collected over three hundred thousand dollars,
first and last, selling options on this San Antonio Rancho? It is quite
a joke. They all fall down. They make a first payment of twenty-five
or fifty thousand dollars, and then," throwing up both his hands and
shrugging his shoulders, "their payments cease and I am just that much
ahead of the game." Willoughby listened in frigid silence; there was not
even the flicker of a responsive smile on his face.

Thurston, eyeing him for a moment, looked disconcerted. He drew himself
up stiffly in his chair. His voice assumed its usual gruff tone.

"That's all; get to work then," he said curtly as he lifted some papers
to show that the interview was at an end.

The first round-up was held some twenty miles southwest of the ranch
house, at the base of the foothills across the valley from La Siesta.
Ben Thurston, attended closely by his bodyguard, was there, his shifting
eyes scanning each new face. Not fewer than ten thousand head of cattle
were milling about, pawing the earth and bellowing in low tones of
irritation at being herded together and held away from their accustomed
haunts of juicy grasses.

From a knoll at a little distance Lieutenant Munson, seated on a fine
riding pony, watched the great performance, which to him was more
wonderful than any hippodrome show or military parade. He was so
engrossed with the spectacle that he did not hear the patter of
approaching hoofs.

"Good morning, Senor Lieutenant," came a lady's voice in cheery
greeting.

Turning quickly in his saddle he saw Grace Darlington and Merle
Farnsworth on their ponies, which had been brought to a sudden halt
close behind him.

"Really, Mr. Munson," said Grace Darlington, "one would think you were
so completely lost in contemplation of a mob of cattle that you had no
eyes for your friends."

Chester bowed and raised his hat as he replied with a bright smile:

"It is certainly a great scene, isn't it? But you are none the less
welcome. Indeed when one is witnessing something unusual, it always adds
to the interest to have the companionship of friends."

"Very prettily put," observed Merle Farnsworth. "Fortunately the place
selected for the round-up this year isn't very far from La Siesta, so we
rode across the valley."

"Have you anything in New York," asked Grace, "to compare with this?"

"Indeed we have not," replied the lieutenant with conviction. "I am
beginning to think that the West is a pretty good place in which to
live. By the way," he went on, taking a newspaper clipping from his
pocket, "here is something that our mutual friend, Dick, gave me, and
said I should read once a day for a month, and then--well, then, he says
I will never go East again, but remain in this great picture country.
Shall I read it?"

"Oh, do, by all means," said the girls in unison. "Well, here goes!
'Every idea we have in the East is run with a convention. We cannot
think without a chairman. Our whims have secretaries; our fads have
by-laws. Literature is a club. Philosophy is a society. Our reforms
are mass meetings. We cannot mourn our mighty dead without some great
chairman and a half hundred vice-presidents. We remember our novelists
and poets with trustees, while the immortality of a dead genius is
looked after by a standing committee. Charity is an association, and
theology at best only a set of resolutions.'"

"What do you think of that?" he asked, laughing. "Isn't that an awful
slam on the East?"

"It is rather severe," smiled Merle. "But you know, Mr. Willoughby has
become a thorough Westerner. The lure of the hills and the valleys has
taken complete possession of him."

"And yet he remains unspoiled." exclaimed the lieutenant. "But are you
aware he is trying to tamper with my old allegiance to the East?"

"Indeed," asked Grace, "in what way?"

"He wants me to resign my commission and take pot luck with him, as he
terms it."

"You couldn't do better," exclaimed Grace enthusiastically.

While this conversation was going on, an exciting incident was taking
place only a short distance away. Young Marshall Thurston had come
with his father to the round-up, and was riding about watching the
operations. Chancing to pass near, Dick Willoughby overheard him use
an insulting epithet in regard to Miss Farnsworth--the young man was
evidently peeved that the ladies had not sought him out instead of
Munson, and it was obvious, too, that he had been drinking even at that
early hour in the morning.

Swiftly wheeling, Dick rode up to him with a look of anger so intense
that even the cowboys who knew him were taken aback.

"You foul-mouthed beast!" he hissed, as he pushed his quirt into the
slanderer's face. "Just let me overhear you make a rude remark again
about Miss Farnsworth and I will hammer the life out of you. You are
nothing better than a drunken hobo, not fit to associate with ladies."

The outburst was so sudden that young Thurston was cowed and attempted
no reply. But as Willoughby rode off he sent after him a look of sullen
and resentful hatred. Two or three of the cowboys, who really were good
friends of Dick Willoughby, but were nevertheless not above fawning for
the favor of the heir to the great rancho, indicated that they were on
Marshall's side.

"Guess two can play at the hammering game," remarked one.

"He don't come any of his rough-house business over you, Marshall, while
I'm around," affirmed another, pugnaciously.

But the young man, still without uttering a word, turned gloomily away
and started his pony in the direction of home.

"Guess he feels like another drink," grinned an irreverent youth.

"Hell," exclaimed an elderly man, the blacksmith at the rancho, "if the
Thurston family don't beat the band for quarrels and bloody feuds!"

But just then a bunch of cattle broke from the main herd and the group
of cowboys dispersed in a galloping scamper.

Munson and the young ladies, engrossed in their light conversation, knew
nothing of this unpleasant episode. They were now discussing the date
of the projected visit to the home of Mr. Ricardo Robles among the oaks
above La Siesta. It was decided to fix it for the first Sunday after the
cattle muster was completed, when Dick Willoughby would be free to make
one of the party.

"But hold a moment," exclaimed the lieutenant suddenly, "unless I'm to
be court-martialled for absence without leave, I must take the train
East next Saturday, or--or--"

His eyes fixed on Grace, he hesitated to complete the alternative.

"Or what?" she inquired.

"Follow Dick's advice and send in my resignation." As he spoke he thrust
a hand into his breast pocket and drew forth a letter, sealed, addressed
and stamped, all ready for the mail. "I really can't quite make up my
mind," he added, dubiously.

[Illustration: 0155]

"Let me help you," said Grace with a gay smile as she extended her hand
for the letter.

"How?" he asked.

"I'll mail your resignation for you. We shall be riding home by La
Siesta postoffice."

"Oh, Grace!" murmured Merle in timid protest. "Think of the
responsibility you are taking."

"A woman's mission in life is to encourage men to do the proper thing,"
replied Grace with roguish defiance. "Our friend here is enamored of
the West, and the West is the very best place for him. I'll post your
letter, lieutenant."

He placed it between her fingers, doffed his hat, and bowed gallantly.

"Be it so. Let the gods--or should I say, a fair goddess?--decide."

"Thanks for the compliment," cried Grace, with a pretty flush on her
face. "Good-bye, then, for the present. Get ready for Sunday's picnic
among the oaks. Come along, Merle, my dear."

And with a touch of the quirt she started her pony into a canter.

"Great guns, but she's worth while," exclaimed Munson as he gazed after
the retreating figures.




CHAPTER VII--Old Bandit Days

|ON the evening of the day that followed the big round-up of cattle,
Dick Willoughby and Chester Munson rode over to the store. As they
cantered along, both men were pre-occupied with their thoughts.

Dick was not worrying over his sharp passage of words with his
employer's son, for he knew that his services at the present time were
quite indispensable, more especially if the rancho was to be sold to the
best advantage. The owner had spoken lightly of the negotiations, and
had chuckled in a sinister way about the money he had frequently made
over unexercised options. But this time it was a Los Angeles syndicate
that was seeking the property, composed of men whose financial
reputation and keen business ability Willoughby knew well. For he had
learned their names after his interview with Ben Thurston, and he felt
certain that this particular group of capitalists would have entered
into no serious negotiations without having both the cash and the
intention to put the deal through. Therefore he scented a change of
ownership in the rancho, and consequently, perhaps, the necessity for
his looking around to find employment elsewhere. He hated to think of
leaving a place that he had come to look on as home and parting from
all the friends he had made throughout the countryside. Unconsciously to
himself, the greatest tie of all was proximity to La Siesta and to Merle
Farnsworth. But Dick was not thinking of Merle just then--he was merely
turning things over generally in his mind as he rode across the valley.

Munson also was cogitating the change in his own outlook that had
been brought about by the mailing of the letter of resignation to army
headquarters. He was recalling the many years he had striven to reach
the lieutenancy now voluntarily surrendered--of his youthful zeal and
ambition for an army career which had been powerless to withstand
the witching call of the West. And although Grace Darlington's act of
putting the letter in the post had been only the last feather to tip an
evenly balanced scale, he could not but feel that thereby this beautiful
girl of the West had entered into his life and into all his future
plans, hopes, and aspirations. The thought gave him joy; he was more
pleased than ever that the decisive step had at last been taken.

Arriving at the store, they found old Tom Baker seated on a dry goods
box, while Buck Ashley leaned against the counter, waiting for the
stage coach and the mails. Already two or three others were beginning to
congregate under the trees, in readiness for the distribution of letters
and newspapers.

"Hello, Dick," called out the sheriff, "I heard of your scrap yesterday
morning with that young ne'er-do-well, Marshall Thurston. My God, I'm
glad you gave him hell."

"Please don't speak about it," replied Willoughby quietly. "That was my
affair and mine alone. I guess we can find some more agreeable topic."

"Wal," drawled Buck Ashley, "Tom here was just a-tellin' me a yarn
that'll interest both you boys a heap, or the lieutenant at all events,
for he's new to these parts and don't know the local hist'ry yet. Of
course I've heard the story before, but not all the pertic'lars the way
Tom can tell 'em. And its a dangnation good story. So start from the
beginnin' again, Tom."

Thus addressed, the sheriff, after taking a bite from his tobacco plug,
began:

"The yarn has to do with the old-time bandit Joaquin Murietta, about
whom we were speakin' the other morn in'. Well, the way it all happened
was this: On a neighboring ranch, over Ventura way, beyond the Lagunita
Rancho, owned at that time by Senor Olivas, a rich cattle dealer comes
down from 'Frisco to buy a bunch of beeves. The stock had all been
driven up on a mesa near the Olivas ranch house, and for several days
the herders had been cuttin' out the cows and the young calves from the
steers, 'cause this feller was only goin' to buy the steers.

"The great herd was bellerin' and pawin' in a big cloud of dust, through
which the vaqueros--cowboys, you know, lieutenant--could be seen ridin'
round and round. Of course roundin' up cattle is always more or less
excitin' work, but this rich chap had come down from 'Frisco with his
saddle bags bulgin' out with gold, and this sorta added a mighty sight
to the interest of the doin's. Part of the bargain was that the deal
was to be for spot cash, all in gold, too, mind you, and it was arranged
that the buyer and Senor Olivas were to take their stations at one side
of the narrow gate, and every time a steer was driven through that gate
a twenty-dollar gold piece was to be tossed into a big bag which Senor
Olivas was holdin'.

"They do say as how the work continued all day, from early mornin' until
dark, afore the last blamed steer passed that 'ere gate, and they claim
that there was eighty thousand dollars in the Senor's bag as pay for the
day's drive. They say, too, that Joaquin Murietta, disguised, was one
of the vaqueros doin' the drivin'. Anyway that very night old Olivas was
waked up mighty abruptly by feelin' the cold nose of a revolver shoved
against his own nose.

"Well, the long and short of it all was that Senor Olivas and his wife
were both gagged and bound hand and foot, while Murietta ransacked the
house, found the strong box and carried away every blamed gold coin that
Olivas had received for the sale of his steers. The outlaw succeeded in
makin' his escape into the Tehachapi mountains with his cut-throat gang,
and they found a hidin' place in the robbers' cave that is somewhere
hereabouts on the San Antonio Rancho. It sure was as slick a piece of
rascality as was ever pulled off in the old lawless days."

"Well," observed Buck Ashley, as he shook his head reflectively, "I'm
assoomin' some of the cowboy fellers around here will find that cave one
of these days. I've put in a good many Sundays huntin' for it myself."

Just then there was the sound of horses' hoofs outside, and a moment
later Jack Rover strolled into the store. Over his shoulder was slung
the big leather bag for the rancho mails.

"Hallo, everybody," was his greeting. "I'm ahead of time Buck, but the
stage will be here in five minutes. I saw its dust above the ridge. I
hear, lieutenant," he went on, "you're going to stick to the West and be
one of us."

"Quit the army?" exclaimed Tom Baker in surprise.

"That is so," replied Munson. "California has fairly got hold of me, and
I intend to make my home in the West."

"Then you just stick here, young man," said the sheriff, rising to his
feet and extending his hand. "California is the pick of the States, and
our valley the pick of California. Don't you forget it. We're proud to
welcome you as a new resident."

"That's what I say, too," concurred Buck Ashley, cordially.

Munson smiled. "Well, I don't know if you can put me in the resident
class all at once," he observed, diffidently. "Guess I've got to join
the cowboy brigade first, if Dick and Jack here will break me in."

"Sure thing," assented Jack Hover. "You're a good rider now--for an army
man."

"An ex-army man," corrected Willoughby, laughing.

"It strikes me we should put you in as postmaster, Munson," suggested
the sheriff, a sly gleam of mischief in his eye. "Buck Ashley here is
growin' old."

"Yes, but not too old to hold down his job till your tombstone's in the
cemetery, Tom Baker," retorted the storekeeper, with a grin. "No man
takes the Tejon postmastership while I'm alive," he added defiantly.

"I'm forewarned and won't apply for your job, Buck," laughed Munson.
"But here comes the stage, so show your spryness, old fellow, by getting
us our mail."




CHAPTER VIII--A Letter from San Quentin

|BUCK ASHLEY had retired into the partitioned-off section of the store
that formed the postoffice, and was busy stamping and sorting out
the mail. The scattered loiterers outside crowded into the building
expectantly, and the local parliament was in session. Amid the buzz
of conversation Willoughby could not but hear his own name mentioned,
coupled with that of Marshall Thurston. He understood quite well that
all manner of gossip was flying around in regard to the quarrel at the
round-up. But he remained stoically indifferent, shut his ears, and
leaning against the counter busied himself with an old _Saturday Evening
Post_ that had been lying there.

At last the wicket was shoved up with a bang, and those present began to
move toward the little aperture through which Buck Ashley proceeded to
hand out correspondence and newspapers. One by one the throng melted
away. Jack Rover was examining the big bunch of mail for San Antonio
Rancho as he stowed it into the letter bag. Munson was opening and
gleaning the contents of two or three letters that had come to him from
New York. Dick Willoughby continued his reading, unconcerned; Jack would
pass over any correspondence for him. Old Tom Baker had not risen from
his accustomed seat on an empty box; he had few correspondents, and
the mail did not worry him, although he invariably assisted with his
presence at its distribution.

These four were now the only ones in the store besides Buck Ashley, who
still remained behind the partition. At last the postmaster appeared,
holding in his hand an open letter. His face showed great agitation as
he glanced around to take stock of those who might be present.

"Say, boys," he whispered in a mysterious manner, as he held up the
letter, "this is the most dangnation extr'ornery thing that has ever
happened to me. You're just the bunch of fellers I'd like to consult.
Close the door, Tom."

"What's up, Buck?" asked the sheriff as he rose to comply. "You look as
if you had the ague shakes."

"No ague in this here land of California," laughed Jack Rover. "Is it a
proposal of marriage you've been getting, Buck?"

"A derned heap better'n that. God 'lmighty, boys, this may mean millions
for all of us. Shoot the bolt, Tom; I'll hand out no more groceries
tonight. Come close together, all of you. You read the letter aloud,
Dick. My hand's a-tremb-lin', and I can't get the Frenchie's lingo just
right."

"The Frenchie?" echoed Tom Baker in puzzled surprise.

"It's a letter from Pierre Luzon," explained Buck.

"Good God!" The sheriff was now as deeply stirred as his old crony.

"The bandit scout you were telling us about the other morning?"
exclaimed Jack Rover, also fired with excitement.

"I thought that fellow was in San Quentin for life." remarked Munson,
composedly.

"Wal, and ain't this letter from San Quentin?" retorted Buck. "See the
headin'! But Dick'll read it aloud. I feel clean knocked out." And the
old man sank back on his chair behind the counter.

The four others were now clustered around Dick Willoughby. The latter,
deputized to do the reading, had nonchalantly taken the epistle from
Buck Ashley's trembling hand. While the others were speaking he had
bestowed a preliminary glance, and from his lips there escaped a murmur
of surprise.

"Great Caesar!" As he uttered the ejaculation Dick sat up, keenly alert.

"Well, what's it all about?" inquired Munson, by this time the only cool
man in the bunch.

"Read, read!" cried the storekeeper hoarsely.

Dick Willoughby began:

"Mr. Buck Ashley, Storekeeper, Tejon, California.

"If God in His goodness permits this letter to come to your hands,
remember it is from old Pierre, the Frenchman, who used to be about your
store sometimes a half a day at a time, smoking his pipe. You never knew
much about me or where I lived. But I will tell you.

"I am an old man now--very old. I was born in the South of France, came
to this country in the '40's and entered into the service of Joaquin
Murietta, who was one great man, but a big bandit. Peace to his soul!
Well, he was good to me, and I was faithful to him, taking care of the
cave, the big grotto, the cavern among the Tehachapi mountains where he
many times hid from the sheriff's posse, and also, where he brought all
his gold to stack up and keep from everybody.

"You also know Don Manuel, him whom the people call White Wolf. Well,
once when a boy, Don Manuel he save Marietta's life from the sheriff by
helping him to escape from one close place. Murietta was very grateful,
and one day he bring the boy to the grotto cave, and there I see him and
like him very much. That was while Murietta still lived.

"Afterward when the little boy grow up and was one man, and turned
bitter against the gringos because they wrong his sister, Senorita
Rosetta, and his old father and mother die of grief, he say to me, 'I
will become a bandit like Joaquin Murietta.' He came to the cavern one
night and tell me and say, 'You be my servant.' So I say, 'All right,'
because Don Manuel one brave man.

"So that night of the great stage robbery over near Lake of Tulare,
I hold horses. That's all I do, but all the same they put me in this
horrid prison, and here I am. The other two men, Felix Vasquez and Fox
Cassidy, were shot by the posse and I have been told by a Portugee in
the jail here about the White Wolf being killed away north in Seattle,
and he is no more.

"Don Manuel de Valencia, he was one great man. Peace to his soul!

"I am alone. I want to get away from this terrible prison. I have
promised one of my guards--a good Frenchman who comes from my town
in France--$5,000 in gold if he can secretly get this letter into
postoffice to you and get me away from this living hell. You do this and
I show you the cavern. Nobody knows where it is but me.

"Come and get me, please, my good Mr. Ashley, come, and may the spirit
of the Virgin Mary reward you. All I say here is truth. You come get me
and I show you the secret grotto. I show you the great stacks of gold
hidden by Joaquin Murietta and Don Manuel. Also the sand-bar in the
hidden stream where Guadalupe gathered up much gold.

"I beg and pray you to keep what I say in this letter secret. I am old
and weak and sick. Come and get me.

"Obedient servant,

"Pierre Luzon."

"Ain't that just one hell of a letter, boys?" exclaimed Buck Ashley.

"Gospel truth, every word," cried Tom Baker, emphatically.

"It certainly reads like the truth," concurred Munson.

"Then what are we going to do about it?" asked Jack Rover.

Dick Willoughby spoke now with the quiet and quick decision that marks
the leader of men:

"What we will do is this. We five are partners in this secret, and, if
Buck is willing, we'll play the game together for all it is worth. To
begin with, we'll put up one hundred dollars apiece to send Tom Baker to
Sacramento. He will try to get a pardon or a parole for Pierre Luzon."

"That can be managed," assented the sheriff. "I've got a political pull,
you know, boys."

"Well," continued Dick, "we'll bring old Pierre here and we'll get from
him the information he promises about the secret grotto."

"Not forgetting Guadalupe's placer mine," interjected Jack Rover.

"Everything will be attended to in its turn," replied Dick. "One thing
at a time, and the first thing to be done is to get the Frenchman out of
San Quentin. When can you start, Tom?"

"The day after tomorrow."

"Well, we'll have the cash ready for you by tomorrow night. You must
bring Pierre Luzon here without anyone else besides ourselves knowing
his name or getting next to him."

"I'll fix up a cot for him in my own room behind the store," suggested
Buck Ashley.

"That's a good plan," assented Dick. "When the Frenchman's here, it
will be time then to discuss our next move. Meanwhile, it's an honorable
promise of secrecy all round, and to begin with I give my word."

While speaking the last words, Dick solemnly raised his hand, and each
man in turn followed his example as he gave the pledge required.




CHAPTER IX--Tia Teresa

|TEN days had passed and the count of the stock on San Antonio Rancho
had been completed, every canyon searched, the last wandering maverick
roped and branded, the number of fat beeves accurately estimated. Three
members of the Los Angeles syndicate had arrived in a big automobile and
remained over night at the ranch house. Most of the time they had been
closeted with Ben Thurston in his office, and had finally taken their
departure without exchanging a word with anyone else on the rancho.
Nobody knew whether the deal had gone through or not, but rumor said
that, after some disagreement on the first day, terms had been arranged
next morning.

Dick Willoughby, although he discussed the question with no one, made
his own inferences. The very fact that the visitors had not made any
inspection of the property proved that they already knew it thoroughly
well. The counting of the cattle and horses had been the final factor
in the negotiations, and the figures had enabled the deal to advance a
further stage toward completion. Ben Thurston might fool himself about
easy option money put up only to be forfeited, but Dick Willoughby was
not fooled. The days of closer settlement in California had come, and
these Los Angeles men were the most enterprising and skilful subdividers
in the West. They dealt only in big propositions, and after mopping
up all the available tracts in the southern end of the State, were
extending their operations northward. This vast so-called "Spanish
grant," an empire in itself, had no doubt for several years been in
their eye, and now they were prepared to handle the San Antonio Rancho
with the lavish expenditure it deserved and required to transform the
great sweep of cattle range--rich agricultural land, as the luxuriant
native grasses showed--into smiling orchards and alfalfa farms, each
provided with the irrigation water which intelligent conservation would
ensure in abundance.

Dick knew in his heart that the era of transformation had at last come,
that the roaming herds were to be pushed back into regions more remote,
that homes and schoolhouses and garden cities would soon be dotting the
landscape, that the passing of Ben Thurston, the cattle king, and of his
hard-riding, devil-may-care vaqueros was at hand.

Yet Thurston spoke no word--in fact, he seemed to be more grouchy and
taciturn than ever. Not even his son Marshall was in his confidence, for
the young man was seldom with his father, preferring to spend his
time in the drinking saloons and dance halls of Bakersfield, where the
activity of oil-developing operations attracted all sorts and conditions
of men, among whom the dissipated decadent had readily found friends to
his liking.

Ben Thurston who had gone the pace himself in his early days, did not
seek to interfere with his son's pursuit of pleasures, but he had very
promptly squelched any interference from Marshall with his own business
operations. On the evening of the quarrel with Dick Willoughby at the
round-up, Marshall had attempted to tell his father about the affair and
suggest Dick's dismissal. But the old man had at once silenced him
by saying: "Why, damn you! I brought you out to this country to enjoy
yourself and not to get into trouble. So far as Willoughby is concerned,
I can't afford to quarrel with him. He is my foreman, and I am right
in the midst of a big business transaction. So just you mind your own
business, my boy, and leave him alone."

Accordingly, Marshall Thurston, a coward at heart, had not sought to
pursue the feud singlehanded, and Dick had seen but little of him during
the rest of the mustering work. When they did happen to meet, it was a
case of a black scowl of hate from the one and a contemptuous smile of
indifference from the other. And so the days had passed until the task
was finished.

It was the Sunday morning that had been fixed for the visit to the
home of Mr. Ricardo Robles, when the cattle foreman could at last
conscientiously take a day of recreation. With the first break of dawn
he and Munson were in the saddle, for they had been invited to breakfast
at La Siesta before starting with the young ladies on the ride through
the oak forest.

The visitors arrived early, but not too early for their hostesses. Grace
and Merle were waiting to welcome them in the portico, looking more
charming than ever in their neat riding suits of khaki.

"We saw you cross the bridge," declared Grace, "and mother has gone in
to order breakfast to be served. You must be hungry after your early
start."

"Oh, Sing Ling didn't let us go without a cup of coffee," laughed Dick.
"But I fancy we'll do full justice, all right, to the bountiful fare of
La Siesta."

It proved to be a delightful meal in every way, the viands seasoned with
gay repartee and laughter. A full hour had sped before Dick recalled the
real object of the day's excursion.

"We usually walk to Mr. Robles' place," remarked Merle. "It is only a
mile or so by the short cuts up the hill, but by the winding road it is
very much longer. So we ordered our ponies."

"I see," smiled Munson, "to prolong the pleasure of our foursome among
the oaks."

"Not at all, sir," retorted Grace. "The climb on foot is a stiff one,
and we knew that you must be out of condition from the lazy life you are
living."

"I am only waiting for Willoughby to give me a cowboy's job," replied
the ex-lieutenant.

"I don't know if there will be any cowboy jobs going," observed
Willoughby. "It's my belief that San Antonio Rancho is sold and is going
to be broken up into small holdings."

"Oh, what a pity!" exclaimed Merle.

"From one point of view, perhaps," answered Dick. "But from a hundred
other points of view, what a blessing! There will be a dozen happy homes
for every steer the range now feeds!"

"But La Siesta will remain just as it is," cried Grace.

"That will be all right," replied Dick, gallantly, "It's already a happy
home."

The ladies smiled pleasantly.

"Then this will mean the elimination of Mr. Ben Thurston," observed Mrs.
Darlington.

"The greatest blessing of all," declared Merle, clapping her hands. "You
see, I am already converted to the change, Mr. Willoughby," she added
merrily.

"But what about my job?" asked Munson in mock dolefulness.

"Consult Mr. Robles," laughed Grace. "He may take pity on you, and find
you a place as handy man on his estate."

In merry mood they all sallied forth. The saddle horses were waiting,
and standing beside them was an elderly Spanish woman.

"Tia Teresa, Mr. Munson," said Mrs. Darlington by way of introduction.

Munson had often enough heard the name, and in answer to an inquiry,
Willoughby had told him that the old dame had been the personal
attendant of the two young ladies ever since they could remember. Tia
or Aunt Teresa was now more a friend of the family than a servant of the
house, and, taking her hand in salutation, Munson treated her with the
affable courtesy that was her due.

"I am glad to make your acquaintance," he said, raising his hat.

Tia Teresa looked pleased. Despite her seventy years, she was a buxom
and splendidly preserved woman, and there was still the flash of
youthfulness in her big dark eyes.

"You will look after my little girls," she said, as she gathered
together the folds of her black lace mantilla. "By rights I should
be coming with you, too," she added, in the manner of a true Spanish
duenna.

"You forget that we are home again--in free America," laughed Merle as
she settled herself in the saddle.

"Too free, I sometimes think," rejoined Tia Teresa. "But there is safety
in four," she added, turning with a smile to Mrs. Darlington.

And as the young folks rode away she waved them a pleasant _adios_.




CHAPTER X--The Home of the Recluse

|AT a gentle pace they wound their way through the forest of magnificent
old oaks.

As for Munson, riding by Grace Darlington's side, the miles were the
shortest he had ever before traversed. It seemed only a few minutes
before the red tiled roof and towers of a house built in the California
Mission style were gleaming through the trees only a short distance
ahead.

Great oaken doors closed the arched gateway, but at the clatter of hoofs
and the sound of voices, a little peep-hole wicket was withdrawn. The
inspection by unseen eyes apparently was satisfactory, for a moment
later a postern was opened, and two men, Mexicans obviously by their
garb and deferential manner, emerged to take and lead away the horses.
Within the patio stood Senor Robles, his usually grave face lighted by a
smile of cordial welcome.

"Let me tell you, young men," he said while shaking hands, "that while
Grace and Merle are quite at home here, you are the very first strangers
who have passed through my portals."

"Strangers no longer then," said Dick, good-naturedly.

"Precisely," replied Mr. Robles, "or you would not be here. But I
foresee that all of us are going to be very close friends. Isn't that
so, Grace, my dear?"

"I'm sure I cannot say," replied Grace, with a smile of demure innocence
toward Mr. Munson. Then she turned to Mr. Robles with a roguish twinkle
in her eye. "But I've news for you. Mr. Munson has resigned from the
army and is looking for a job."

"Both facts are already known to me," answered Robles, smiling.

"Oh," exclaimed Grace, "one can never surprise you, Mr. Robles. Although
you live the life of a hermit, you seem to be always the first to learn
everything that is going on."

"A hermit, my dear, need not necessarily be out of touch with the
world," replied Robles, playfully pinching her ear. "And now, Mr.
Willoughby, you came specially to see my pictures. Lead the way, Merle.
Gentlemen, I say again--welcome to my mountain home."

They lingered awhile in the patio to admire the marble columns of the
cloister that ran all around, the playing fountains at each of the four
comers, with groups of symbolical statuary, the wealth of beautiful
shrubs and flowers. On the side opposite to the gateway rose a tall
tower, fashioned like the campanile of an Old Mission and crowned with
bright red tiles.

"We shall ascend there later on," remarked Mr. Robles, following Dick's
upward glance.

Then they passed through the wide-opened French window into the living
rooms.

The first was a great apartment that occupied one entire side of the
building. In the centre was a large globe of the world. Here and there
were glass cases displaying manuscripts and illuminated missals. Along
the walls were finely-carved bookcases filled with several thousands of
volumes.

"When you have the leisure you can come and browse here," said the
host, addressing both young men. "Meanwhile you may care to look at the
bronzes and statuary"--this with a sweep of the hand that indicated the
art treasures distributed about the apartment.

On the side of the house beneath the tower were the dining room and the
billiard and smoking room. Passing through these, the visitors came to
the picture gallery, a room corresponding in size to the library. Here
were hung treasures of the painter's art, masterpieces signed by names
that are immortal. These, as their owner again explained, had been
acquired by him during several prolonged visits to Europe.

"Count this just as a preliminary survey, Mr. Willoughby," he said
finally. "Then come again. There are guest chambers on either side of
the gateway, and one of these will always be at your disposal when I am
at home. I extend the same invitation to you, Mr. Munson."

"My word, but you may feel honored," exclaimed Grace, in unconcealed
amazement.

"When I open my gates, I open my heart as well," said Mr. Robles, with a
courtly little bow to his new friends.

Next they ascended the tower. Its first floor, above the living rooms,
was a delightful den filled with curios of all kinds. From this sprang a
winding iron staircase, up which Mr. Robles led the way.

The upper chamber, extending on all sides some distance beyond the
supporting tower, proved larger than might have been expected. Its one
conspicuous article of furniture was a great terrestrial telescope. The
sliding panels of glass which formed a complete window all around the
room showed that the instrument could be used without obstruction in any
direction.

Here a Mexican boy was on duty. When the visitors entered, his hand was
resting on the telescope. A bright red sash around his waist imparted a
touch of picturesqueness to his costume. He was perhaps only twelve or
thirteen years of age, but wonderfully keen and alert-looking for his
years. At a glance from his master, the youngster took his departure,
closing the door behind him.

"Gentlemen," remarked Mr. Robles, when they were again alone, "perhaps
before I brought you here I should have exacted the promise I am now
going to ask you to make. Grace and Merle know that I am a recluse and
wish to live undisturbed by curiosity-mongers or tittle-tattlers. I want
nobody but the friends I deliberately choose to know about my habits
of living or the contents of my home. Only in this way can I hope to
be left alone. Therefore, please give me your word, Mr. Willoughby and
Lieutenant Munson, that you will not speak with any outsider about the
things I am showing you today."

The promise was instantly given and sealed by a hearty hand clasp.

"Now," resumed the host in lighter tone, "perhaps you would like to view
the landscape. I may explain that I had this observatory, as I call it,
specially built and equipped so that I could sweep the valley from end
to end. For example, I saw you two young men riding along the road this
morning," he went on, with a smile. "I saw one of you alight, about
twelve miles from here--it was you, lieutenant--and tighten the girths
of your saddle."

"Great Scott!" murmured Munson, in half-incredulous surprise.

"Test the glass for yourself," continued Robles, as, placing one eye
at the lens, he adjusted the instrument. "Look"--and he stepped back,
motioning Munson to approach.

Munson peeped through the long tube and there came from his lips a cry
of mingled delight and amazement.

"Dick, Dick, there's the store as large as life--Buck Ashley standing
at the door and lighting a cigar. Geewhizz, and it must be twenty miles
away."

He rose erect and made room for Dick. The latter gazed in silence for a
few moments. When he turned to Mr. Robles he said:

"It's really wonderful--it is the most wonderful glass I ever looked
through."

There was the glimmer of an exultant smile on the face of Ricardo
Robles.

"I saw you at the round-up across the valley the other day," he
remarked. "You were much nearer to me than is the store. And while I do
not invite any confidence, Mr. Willoughby, you certainly engaged in
a very spirited conversation, to say the least, with young Marshall
Thurston. Indeed, I half expected to see you come to blows."

"What was that?" asked Merle in some trepidation.

Willoughby had reddened.

"Nothing of consequence," he responded, almost curtly. "I had to tell
the young cub to mind his own business. That was all."

"You certainly have the whole valley under observation," remarked
Munson, considerately diverting the conversation.

"Yes," assented Mr. Robles, with an almost grim smile of satisfaction.
"The telescope teaches one not merely to observe, but to reason from the
facts observed. Tia Teresa evidently thought that she should have come
along today to play duenna, eh, Merle?"

"You don't say you guessed that?" exclaimed Merle in great astonishment.

"Guessed it! I knew it when she raised her protesting finger."

"You are a magician, Mr. Robles," cried Grace.

"No, only a logician," was the sententious rejoinder.

"Please let me peep at our garden," asked Merle. "I wonder if mother is
among her roses."

Without a word Robles swung round the instrument on its pivot and
changed the focus.

"That's about right," he said, stepping back. "There is no one out
of doors at present. Move the glass slightly and you can see over the
entire garden."

Each girl in turn made a prolonged scrutiny; they were enchanted with
the clearness and marvellous detail of the picture.

"Henceforth we'll have to be on our best behavior, Dick," laughed
Munson, as they turned toward the winding stairway. "We've got to
remember Mr. Robles has a constant eye on us."

"Perhaps I've had you under observation quite a while," laughed the
senor, tapping the young fellow on the shoulder.

Then he threw open the door, and, with a slight bow and extended hand,
motioned to his visitors to descend. At the foot of the narrow, winding
staircase they found the Mexican youth standing on guard. He bowed low
as the ladies passed, and when Mr. Robles followed last of all, saluted,
and then immediately returned to the chamber above, again without
a single word of instruction from his master. Munson and Willoughby
exchanged meaning looks; obviously a well-disciplined outlook was kept
from the observatory all the time, as if from the conning-tower of a
battleship.

Again the party was in the patio. Mr. Robles turned to Willoughby.

"I hope Grace and Merle have explained to you that at present I do not
entertain. My own fare is of the simplest."

"Mother is to have luncheon ready at one," interposed Grace. "I caught
the broiled trout myself this morning."

"You caught them ready broiled, eh?" laughed Munson.

"Oh, you know what I mean," rejoined Grace, with a pretty little _moue_.

"Broiled trout!" exclaimed Dick, appreciatively. "Then I think we'll
be hurrying down the hill, senor." He had recognized with intuitive
courtesy that the interview was at an end.

"Is he not delightful?" asked Merle, as their horses started off at a
walk. "And you would never guess how sweet and kind he can be."

"I don't doubt it," assented Willoughby. "A polished gentleman, but a
man of mystery, isn't he?"

"Not when you come to know him. A recluse always has his little
idiosyncrasies." As she spoke, she set her pony at a canter down the
gentle incline.

After luncheon, Dick found himself tête-à-tête with Mrs. Darlington in
the music room. The mystery attaching to the personality of the recluse
was still uppermost in his mind. But for the present the music claimed
his attention.

Merle had seated herself at the grand piano and was softly fingering the
keys, striking a chord here and there, until finally she drifted into
Chopin's Fifth Nocturne. There was something almost divine in her
interpretation. The music fairly rippled from her deft fingers, as they
glided on from one beautiful cadence to another until at last, note by
note, as if sobbing a reluctant adieu, the melody died away.

Both the visitors were generous in their tributes of congratulation.

"Thank you," said Merle, as she arose from the piano and proceeded to
unfasten the clasps of a violin case.

"What now?" exclaimed Munson.

"Oh, I am not the performer; I am merely the accompanist," and she
held out a beautiful old violin to Grace. As Merle sounded a key on the
piano, Grace touched the strings of the Stradivarius. When all was ready
she tenderly caressed the violin with her chin, and, her bow sweeping
across the instrument, Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata trembled from the
strings, in soft and plaintive melody, filling the room with echoing
and re-echoing notes of sweetness, while Merle's accompanying notes lent
support, in blending harmony, to the rich cadences.

"Splendid! magnificent!" exclaimed the young men in unison.

Munson was now called upon to sing, and Dick felt himself at full
liberty to converse with Mrs. Darlington. He broached the subject that
had been occupying his thoughts.

"What is known of Senor Ricardo Robles?" he enquired. "Have you been
long acquainted?"

"Oh, I have known him for many, many years," replied Mrs. Darlington.
"We used to be next door neighbors in Los Angeles. That was twenty years
ago. Then we returned to England--Mr. Darlington had fallen heir to the
family estates. Mr. Robles used to visit us off and on. He is, as you
have seen, very fond of Grace"--she paused a moment, then went on--"and
of my adopted daughter Merle as well. Merle, you know, was the child of
my dearest girl friend who died a year after her baby was born."

"Yes, Merle has told me this."

"Well, six years ago my dear husband died, and it was Mr. Robles who
persuaded me to return to California. He selected this beautiful ranch
for us, near to his own home. And we have all been so happy here at La
Siesta."

"Mr. Robles is certainly a wonderful man, with all those art treasures
around him."

"He has princely tastes and princely wealth as well--this you will have
seen for yourself today. He travels a great deal abroad, sometimes for a
whole year at a time, and then returns quietly to his hermitage. He has
taken a great fancy to you, Mr. Willoughby. You are lucky in gaining the
friendship of such a man."

"I think I'll like him, too--when I know him better," replied
Willoughby, with cautious reserve.




CHAPTER XI--A Rejected Suitor

|IN Dick Willoughby's presence Marshall Thurston contented himself with
sullen looks. But beyond his sight and hearing he spoke truculently of
what he was going to do some day to get level with "the hired hand who
had had the infernal insolence to call him down in public." So all the
little world on the rancho knew, or at least believed, that a bitter
feud was in progress.

Two or three of the cowboys fostered young Marshall's feelings of
animosity, partly out of sheer devilment, partly because they deemed
it good policy to keep in the good graces of the heir to the rancho.
Moreover, so long as old Ben Thurston knew nothing about it, they were
always willing to break a bottle with the dissipated spendthrift, not
only because good liquor was not to be despised at any time, but also
for the sake of the amusement afforded by Marshall, in his cups, with
his stories of fast life in New York and his apparently inexhaustible
fund of highly spiced anecdotes. Even his braggart threats against
Willoughby had an element of fun.

"Why don't you cut him out with the girl?" one of his boon companions
had suggested on an occasion of this kind.

"By gad, I will," Marshall had responded with vehemence. "You just watch
me."

Thenceforward this thought was uppermost in his alcohol-sodden brain.

Marshall Thurston had met Mrs. Darlington and her daughter on several
occasions, but, although he had been formally introduced, he had never
been invited to call at La Siesta. Nor up to the present had he felt any
inducement to take the initiative. Like clings to like, and these people
were not of his kind--in the presence of pure and refined womanhood the
human toad becomes uncomfortably conscious of his own loathsomeness.

But now there was a valid reason to egg him on. He would show Dick
Willoughby who was who on the San Antonio Rancho. If the heir to all
those broad acres chose to pay court to Merle Farnsworth, the girl would
only be too glad to jump at him and his millions. He would tell her,
too, that Willoughby was going to be fired and that the fellow was not
worth a moment's consideration.

Such was his mood one afternoon when, his motor car being in the repair
shop, he had not made his usual trip to Bakersfield. "Yes, he would
ride over that very day to La Siesta;" and he proceeded to fortify the
resolve by opening a bottle of champagne in the solitary seclusion of
his den. After gulping down the wine he felt brave enough to face
the devil himself. Yet, when mounted on his horse, he still evinced
sufficient discretion to make a wide detour lest Willoughby should catch
sight of him and divine his intentions.

As he rode along young Thurston nursed his wrath to keep it warm. At
the same time the desire to possess the girl for her own sake began to
inflame his imagination. Unscrupulous passion had been bred in the very
bone of this worthless degenerate. Just as his father, Ben Thurston, had
thirty years before trampled on the virtue of the young Spanish beauty,
Senorita Rosetta, the sister of Don Manuel, so now was the son hatching
in his brain a foul plot of spoliation.

"I'll get even with Willoughby, by God, in the very way that will
hurt his pride the most. Women!--pshaw, they're all alike. And she's a
peacherino all right--those flashing dark eyes--she sure looks good to
me." This was now the tenor of his musing as his pony cantered up the
slope to La Siesta.

He advanced on foot to the portico with a swagger and a smile, and
there, as luck would have it, he found Merle seated in a rocker,
reading, and alone. She rose with quiet courtesy and returned his
greeting.

"I am sorry," she said, "mother is not at home. She and my sister Grace
have driven over to the dairy. We have a model dairy, you know, on La
Siesta," she went on, anxious to make conversation that would not prove
embarrassing. For already she divined some particular object in the
young man's visit, knowing as she did that he and Willoughby had
recently exchanged angry words.

"Won't you show me your famous rose gardens?" asked Thurston, boldly.

"With pleasure," she replied, assenting with a sweet smile of
politeness, although there was sore reluctance in her heart, as she
stepped from under the portico.

But, unknown to herself, she did not go unattended, for as Merle and her
visitor passed round the house and through the shrubberies there glided
after them the figure of a woman, clothed in black, wearing over her
head and shoulders a Spanish mantilla. It was Tia Teresa, the ever
watchful duenna.

The roses of La Siesta, as Marshall Thurston had said, were indeed
famous. Here were all the finest varieties, growing in the perfection
to which only care and scientific skill applied under ideal climatic
conditions can attain. Merle was glad to point out the different blooms
and give them their names--the topic was certainly an innocuous one,
and she smiled at the thought as they strolled along. She was vaguely
wondering, too, whether Dick Willoughby would approve even this slight
measure of courtesy toward the visitor to her home. Although she had
as yet not the remotest conception that the quarrel at the round-up had
been in any way connected with her name, she knew that the two young men
were at daggers drawn, and toward Dick there was the instinctive loyalty
in her heart that prompted her to count his enemies as her enemies, his
friends as her friends.

The young girl was too unversed in the ways of the world to notice
that Marshall Thurston was under the influence of wine. He was too
experienced a toper to show any signs of unsteadiness on his feet, but
all the same there was undoubted tipsiness in his leering side-glances
and occasional slurring of his words. Of this Merle in her maidenly
innocence was supremely unconscious, nor did she dream that the very
sparkle of her eyes was completing the intoxication of wine fumes.

Once she cast a look up the hill and asked herself whether the wizard
of the red-tiled tower had his spy-glass on La Siesta and was even
then quietly surveying the scene in the gardens. The thought made her
uncomfortable; she felt sure that her kind friend, Mr. Robles, would
not look with favor on her condescending to show even the slightest
attention to one whose evil ways of living were notorious.

Suddenly she came to a halt, close beside a little clump of oleander
trees laden with rich blossoms.

"I am sorry I must leave you now," she said, quite abruptly.

"Leave me?" stammered Thurston. "What for?"

"I have other things to attend to," she replied.

"Oh, I say, Miss Farnsworth"--the inebriate as he spoke made a gesture
of appeal--"I hope you are not angry with me. If that scalawag of a
fellow Willoughby told you I said anything disrespectful of you the
other day, he is a demed liar--that's what he is, a derned liar, and a
poor penniless beggar as well, whom my father's going to fire off the
ranch."

Merle stood speechless. She stepped back when Thurston advanced with
outstretched hands.

"The truth of the whole matter is," he rambled on, with growing
incoherence, "I am madly in love with you myself. That's what I am, and
I'm going to have you, too." And he grabbed her fiercely and attempted
to draw her to him.

Merle screamed both in fear and in repulsion as she tried to push him
away.

Just then, from among the oleanders, rushed Tia Teresa. The old duenna
came like a cyclone. Her eyes blazed with anger. Grasping the young
libertine by the collar of his coat, she pulled him madly from the now
half-fainting girl. Then, whirling him around, she rushed him, with
the strength and ferocity of a tigress defending her whelps, down the
gravelled path and flung him bodily over the low retaining wall along
the embankment that separated the rose gardens from the public road. She
spat upon his prostrate figure below and rained down on him a torrent of
imprecations in the Spanish tongue.

It was all over in one brief minute. When young Thurston picked himself
up, it was to see the aged fury half-leading, half-carrying Merle away
in the direction of the house.

"The hell cat," he murmured.

Then he brushed the dirt from his coat and straightened out his tumbled
appearance as best he could. His horse was tied to the gate post a
hundred yards along the road. He slunk toward it, climbed into the
saddle, and rode slowly away in the falling twilight. He had been
thoroughly sobered by the incident, yet continued somewhat dazed, for
his horse was headed toward the woods and hills and not in the direction
of home.




CHAPTER XII--The Sped Bullet

|MEANWHILE events had been happening in the conning tower high up
among the hills. The Mexican boy on duty had observed the lone rider
approaching the gateway at La Siesta, and for a brief few moments had
put the figure under observation by the telescope. He had then sprung
alertly erect and pressed a button on the wall. Mr. Robles had quickly
responded to the summons, and it was he who had had his eye to the
lens during the scene in the rose garden which had terminated in the
ignominious expulsion of young Thurston at the hands of the infuriated
duenna.

When the recluse at last withdrew his gaze, his hands were clenched and
he stood absolutely rigid in the tenseness of his indignation. He had
seen Merle's insultor ride toward the hills and Merle herself taken
indoors under Tia Teresa's protecting care. For almost a minute the
storm of rage held him, then he relaxed and his look changed to one of
terrible determination. He seized a rifle that was hanging on one of the
walls and swiftly departed.

At the arched gateway he spoke a few words to the two retainers on
guard, and when he passed through the postern one of them, also equipped
with a rifle, followed. Taking a cross-cut from the high road, together
they descended the wooded hillside.

In a little canyon just below the forest Dick Willoughby was rounding
up a bunch of vagrant steers. He was alone, riding at a walking pace,
driving a dozen or more beasts in front of him, and keeping an eye among
the brushwood searching for more.

On the roadway through the woods Marshall Thurston ambled along. He was
a poor and awkward rider at all times, the discreetly-veiled jest of
the nimble cowboys, to whom reins, saddle, and spurs were all as second
nature. Now, when he imagined himself free from observation, he did not
take pains to display even a semblance of horsemanship and, with bridle
dropped, steadied himself by a grip on the saddle horn.

In her bedroom Merle had soon recovered from her distress of mind.
Dashing the tears from her eyes, she had enjoined Tia Teresa to say
nothing to anyone about the unpleasant incident. Mrs. Darlington would
be angered and would certainly tell Mr. Robles, while if the story ever
reached Dick's ears there could be no saying what further trouble might
not ensue--a horse-whipping at least, with jeopardy to Dick's position
at the rancho and embitterment of an already dangerous quarrel. So Tia
Teresa, to complete the comforting process, had assented to secrecy.

On the pathway down through the forest the Mexican, now in advance,
uttered a low "hist," halted, and held out a warning hand toward his
master. The gaze of both was now fixed in the same direction. Below them
could be seen the figure of the horseman coming around a bend in the
roadway. The Mexican raised his rifle to the shoulder, but the hand of
Robles detained him. The time was not yet--the distance was too great in
view of the obstructing timber.

Robles turned away and rested an arm against a tree trunk. His eyes were
downcast; for the moment his mind was far away. He saw once again the
little cemetery on the hill, with the marble cross inscribed "Hermana,"
and the other gravestone at the head of the twin mounds that marked the
resting place of his parents whose hearts had been broken by Rosetta's
tragic end. The fingers of the man who had long years ago sworn the
vendetta worked nervously, closing and unclosing themselves.

The rider was nearer now, in a higher loop of the road where the trees
were more scattered than below. Merle, drowsy from the reaction of her
emotions, had dropped off asleep on her sofa. Tia Teresa had returned to
the portico, to make sure that the interloper had taken himself off
for good and would not return. In the little canyon Dick Willoughby was
quietly riding behind his accumulating drove of cattle.

Suddenly a shot from among the woods rang through the air. Tia Teresa
heard it, and after the start of first surprise, into her eyes came the
light of swift comprehension and her whole face was illumed by fierce
vindictive joy. "At last, at last," she murmured, "vengeance begins."
And in the fervor of her triumph she threw up her extended arms, as if
to give benediction to a righteous deed.

Dick also heard the sharp detonation which his experienced ear knew at
once to be from a rifle, not from the shot-gun that some sportsman
after quail or rabbits might have been using. He betrayed no great
surprise--just the unspoken word "curious" hovered on his lips as,
halting his horse, he turned in his saddle to glance upward in the
direction whence the sound had come. Then after a moment he wheeled the
pony round, and, abandoning his drove for the present, ascended at a
leisurely pace the narrow pathway which he knew communicated with the
winding highroad above.

When the bullet had reached its fated billet, Marshall Thurston's
fingers were still gripping the saddle horn. And right there the missile
of death struck, glancing upward from the metal crown and piercing
the victim right through the heart. Not a cry--just an outflung arm, a
swaying figure slipping down onto the roadway, and a terrified riderless
horse pivoting quickly round on its haunches, then galloping madly for
home.

Dick, glancing upward through the timber, caught a glimpse of the
fleeing steed, and he touched his own pony with the spur so that it,
too, darted forward.

Farther along the road Tia Teresa heard the clatter of the hoofs and saw
the animal in its swift stride disappear in the direction of the rancho.
She knew now for certain that her surmise was correct, and the first
flush of triumph on her fact settled down into an expression of grim
satisfaction. "It served him right in any case." she muttered. "It was
just what the young villain deserved." Then she re-entered the house and
passed upstairs. Her young mistress was placidly asleep, smiling in her
dreams. The duenna nodded her head in a satisfied sort of way; Merle
would learn the news at the proper time, and would not meanwhile be
agitated by wild conjectures. So she tiptoed from the room, and was soon
busied with domestic duties as if nothing had happened.

Dick, emerging on foot from the last steep ascent of the canyon,
promptly swung himself again into the saddle and started at a loping
canter up the winding roadway through the woods. After rounding the
first comer he spied the huddled figure on the ground. Before he turned
the body over he knew that the man was dead. But when the dead face
looked up at his, it was with a terrible shock of surprise that he
recognized Marshall Thurston.

Dick stood for a few moments, gazing around in utter bewilderment. One
hand of the dead man was shattered and bloody, while a big splurge
of red on the shirt showed where the bullet had completed its work.
Murder--palpable murder! But who could have done this deed? Who had any
valid motive to rid the world of this stray piece of humanity--and in
such coldblooded manner, not in the heat of some angry quarrel, but by a
deliberate act of assassination in a place so lonely as these pine-clad
hills? Dick sat him down by the roadside and pondered these questions.

There was no real pity in his heart. Young Thurston had been utterly
bad--not big-brained enough to belong to the social dregs, but just
equally worthless scum, the more repellent because it made itself
visible all the time. He would pass almost without a tear except from
the father whose own record had been so foully besmeared that there
could be scant sympathy even for him in the hour of his bereavement.

Dick just wondered and wondered. For the time being he had quite
forgotten that old legend--the Vendetta of the Hills.




CHAPTER XIII--Accused

|AROUND the horse corral at the San Antonio Rancho some half-dozen
cowboys were squatted on their heels, cowboy-fashion, swapping the news
of the day. They had ridden in from various points of the compass, and
two or three of their horses, those of the latest comers, still stood
saddled outside the enclosure, the reins dropped loosely over their
heads, which for the trained cow-pony is just as effective an anchorage
as any stake and rope.

Two or three cigarettes were a-light, and the "makings" were passing
from hand to hand among those not yet engaged in the leisurely blowing
of smoke rings. The topic of conversation was the rumored sale of the
ranch, which some declared to be assuredly impending, while others
dismissed the possibility of such a big deal going through as the merest
moonshine.

Jack Rover was among those who had no illusions as to the future.

"Believe me, fellers," he was remarking, "it's no false alarm this time.
The old rancho is as good as sold, the stock is a-going to be shipped
out, the farmers is a-coming in, and in a few months' time we'll all be
hunting jobs if there's any more cow-punching jobs left in this blamed
new topsy-turvy world. And that's the straight goods--hell!"

Just as this terse and vigorous summation of the whole dispute found
utterance, all eyes were turned in a particular direction. It was young
Thurston's riderless steed that had attracted attention as it swept
toward its accustomed quarters in the corral.

"It's Marshall's horse," observed one of the boys.

"Off again, on again, gone again, Flannigan," laughed another--an
adaptation of a popular story that evoked a general grin.

But one youth had sprung to his feet, and skilfully caught the bridle of
the panting animal as it passed him.

"Whoa, beauty!"

The others had not stirred. The involuntary dismounting of the young
boss was too familiar an episode to provoke anything more than a laugh
tinctured with mild satisfaction--

"No Easterner can ride a Western broncho, anyhow."

"Pass your baccy, Bob," came a voice from the ring. But the cowboy
holding the riderless horse now brought them all to instant attention.

"By God, he's been shot! There's blood on the horn, and here's the rip
of the bullet."

Everyone was on their feet now, and the situation was being eagerly
discussed while the saddle was undergoing confirmatory inspection.

"Something's happened, boys," exclaimed the big husky fellow addressed
as Bob, conclusively, if somewhat obviously. "And I guess we'd better
investigate."

As he spoke he swung himself into his saddle--he had been one of the
late arrivals and his horse was all ready for the road or the range.

"Up toward the hills then," remarked another, indicating the direction
whence the riderless horse had come. And a moment later he, too, was
astride his broncho.

"I'll borrow your pony, Ted," cried out Jack Rover as he jumped astride
a third mustang.

And a moment later all three riders were pelting along the road leading
to La Siesta. There was no difficulty whatever in picking up the long
galloping strides on the dusty highway, and the speed of the trackers
depended only on the swiftness and endurance of their mounts.

Meanwhile the boy who had caught Marshall's horse had disencumbered it
of saddle and bridle, and turned it into the corral with a kindly pat on
its heaving flank.

"Guess I'll report to the boss," he called out, as he picked up the
saddle and moved away toward the ranch home.

"Look out for yourself," shouted one of the group. "Old Thurston will be
madder than hell."

But it was terror, selfish terror, not anger nor grief, that came into
Ben Thurston's eyes when he saw the saddle horn smeared with fresh blood
and scarred by a bullet.

"My God, and I believed Don Manuel was dead," he whispered in a hoarse
voice to Leach Sharkey.

The two had been, as usual, in close companionship; Sharkey reading a
weekly newspaper, while the employer he was paid to protect, restlessly,
as was his wont, paced the room.

"Disappeared and dead ain't exactly the same thing," replied the
sleuth as he critically examined the saddle. "And there may be another
explanation to this. What about Dick Willoughby?"

"Yes, yes, Dick Willoughby," eagerly assented the trembling man.

"You saw them quarreling the other day--they hate each other like
poison," continued Sharkey. "Where's Dick Willoughby now?" he enquired,
with a swift glance at the cowboy.

"Good Lord, that's just where he is--searching the canyons below the
forest for mavericks," was the reply.

Sharkey smiled blandly; the informant looked disappointed, yet
confident.

"I couldn't have believed that of Dick," he added, regretfully.

"Well, clear out now," said Sharkey. "Mr. Thurston and I will want to be
alone. You say Jack Rover and two others have gone out to search? Well,
we can't do more till they bring us in some news. Let us know at once
when they return."

Ben Thurston had collapsed onto a chair, then raised himself, and was
leaning eagerly forward now. He met Sharkey's glance of hardly concealed
contempt.

"That's right," he murmured, "It has been Dick Willoughby's work. I knew
Don Manuel was dead."

"And what about your boy?" asked the sleuth curtly.

"Oh, yes, poor Marshall! I forgot about him. But perhaps he's only
wounded. We'll send to Bakersfield for a doctor." And he half rose from
his seat.

"You'll just wait patiently here," replied Sharkey, as he pushed
Thurston back into his chair. "All that is possible for the present is
being done."

And the rôles were now reversed--it was the bodyguard who slowly and
meditatively paced the room.

Meanwhile Dick Willoughby had ceased from his ruminations, and was
beginning to take practical steps for getting Marshall's body home. He
had no thought of coroner's regulations that a corpse should be left
undisturbed till the proper official investigation had been made. He
had got his riata ready, and was just going to sling the body across
his saddle and tie it there, when the rhythmic thud of clattering hoofs
smote upon his ear. Thank God! Help was coming. There would be others
to assist him in his gruesome task. So Dick patiently waited while the
sound grew nearer and nearer, until at last the three cowboys dashed
round the bend.

"I heard the rifle shot," Dick explained, "and rode up from the canyon
below to have a look. I found him here, huddled up just as you see him
by the side of the road."

"Who the devil did this?" asked Jack Rover, contemplating the corpse.

"God only knows," replied Dick. "You take him on your saddle, Bob," he
added, addressing the big cowboy, whose horse was a full hand taller
than the other ponies and more stalwart in proportion.

And so the cortege was formed, Jack Rover leading the way, with Bob and
the body following and Dick Willoughby bringing up the rear.

The sun was low when at last they gained the rancho. They made their way
quietly round to the bunk house and quite tenderly swathed the mortal
remains of the young boss in a blanket, before carrying it to his
father's home.

At the sound of approaching footsteps old Ben Thurston, with Leach
Sharkey close on his heels, emerged onto the verandah. There was no need
to announce the death of his son--the ominous bundle told its own sad
tale. The ranch owner stared at it, horrified, inarticulate from a
conflict of emotions, the hunted look of terror again in his eyes. Leach
Sharkey took up the work of interrogation.

"How did it happen?" He was addressing Jack Rover, who chanced to stand
next to him after helping to deposit the body on a bench that stood
conveniently against the wall.

"Dick Willoughby heard the shot up among the woods, and found him lying
dead on the road."

Sharkey advanced a pace or two and confronted Dick.

"Who fired the shot?"

"How should I know?" retorted Dick, reddening slightly from the
brusqueness of the enquiry.

"I reckon I can tell," cried Sharkey. And with a swift, experienced
movement he grabbed Dick by both arms and clicked a pair of handcuffs on
his wrists before anyone, Dick least of all, had fathomed his intention.

Dick Willoughby was a square-shouldered, powerful fellow, but the great
husky bodyguard, Leach Sharkey, towered above him. In the first flush of
anger and surprise Dick struggled to break the shackles of ignominy. But
the sleuth grabbed him by both shoulders with a grip that rendered its
recipient absolutely powerless.

"Go easy, young man."

Dick's muscles relaxed, and Sharkey was content to release his hold.

"Go easy. If you have any answer to make to the charge of murdering that
boy, you'll have the chance all in good time."

"What right have you to arrest me?" demanded Dick, somewhat recovering
his poise.

"Oh, I've a special constable's star all right," replied Sharkey,
throwing open his coat and displaying, close to his armpit, the badge of
the office he had claimed.

"Guess that's good enough for you and all others here. And now take my
advice, Willoughby. You'll come quietly with me to Bakersfield. I've
no special grudge against you, but have my obvious duty to perform. You
threatened young Marshall more than once in all our hearing, and it will
be up to you to prove yourself guiltless of his death. You bring round
Mr. Thurston's automobile, Rover. We start right now."

Everything had happened so rapidly that none of the cowboys, had they
so desired, could have protested or interfered. Meanwhile the news had
spread, for others among the ranch hands were coming up and crowding
toward the verandah rails. General sympathy was obviously with Dick
Several of the onlookers advanced and shook his manacled hands. "All
right, Mr. Willoughby." "You'll be home again tomorrow," "Buck up, it's
a ridiculous charge"--these were among their expressions of
encouragement. Dick just smiled his thanks--a wan, wistful smile. He now
had himself under perfect control--even his resentment toward Sharkey
had been allowed to evaporate.

"Very well," he said quietly, addressing the sleuth. "I'll give you no
trouble, Sharkey. Let us get away from here as quickly as possible."

Just then Lieutenant Munson came hurriedly onto the scene. For a moment
he looked thunderstruck when he saw the handcuffs around Dick's wrists.

"Great Scott, Dick! What's the meaning of this?" Then without waiting
for a reply he turned to the sleuth.

"I've just heard about young Thurston's death, but you're surely not
going to mix up Dick Willoughby's name with it, Mr. Sharkey? You must
know that he would have nothing to do with such a cowardly crime."

"He can prove all that at the proper time and place," was the cool,
determined rejoinder.

"Don't interfere, Munson," interposed Dick. "Mr. Sharkey considers
that he is doing his duty. That's an end to all argument. I'll have no
difficulty in obtaining my release once we get to Bakersfield."

"And the lieutenant can come along with us if he likes," observed the
sleuth, conciliated by his prisoner's sensible view of things. "As Mr.
Willoughby's best friend, you can see that everything's done right, Mr.
Munson."

"But why these handcuffs?"

"I know my own business," replied the sleuth, with returning severity,
as he touched the constable's star on his breast. "And as a soldier you
should know the wisdom of letting it go at that, sir."

Munson turned to Mr. Thurston. All through the colloquy the ranch-owner
had spoken not a word. He had dropped onto the bench beside the still
swathed body of his son, and was sitting there with bowed head and
stolidly fixed eyes.

"You are no party to this accusation, Mr. Thurston?" the lieutenant
enquired. "I am sorry for the blow that has fallen on you. But you can't
seriously believe that Dick Willoughby's the man who fired that shot."
As he spoke he pointed at the dead rigid form.

Thurston raised his eyes. There was a dull glare of fury in them, a
savage snarl on his parted lips.

"Mind your own business, young man. He killed my boy, and by God he'll
hang for it." While speaking he rose to his feet, holding forth a
denouncing arm toward Willoughby, "Yes, he'll hang for it," he growled
again with savage determination, turning round to the open door.

With a gesture to the cowboys standing nearest, he bade them carry the
body within. He stood aside to let them pass with their burden, then
followed and slammed the door behind him with an angry bang.

Despite the tragedy of it all, a little smile went round the group
of onlookers. It meant to say that that was just Ben Thurston all
over--irascible and vindictive. But some faces looked grave.

"May go mighty hard with Willoughby," murmured one voice, that of the
old grey-headed man, the blacksmith at the rancho for twenty years or
more. "I wouldn't like to feel the weight of the old devil's hand."

But just then the automobile came round the house, piloted by Jack
Rover. Sharkey began to make his dispositions for the journey.

"Do you want to take anything with you, Willoughby?" he asked in a
considerate manner.

"Nothing," was the prompt reply.

"Well then, you'll ride with me on the front seat. Lieutenant, you can
share the tonneau with Mr. Thurston." There was a slight grin on the
sleuth's face as he signified the arrangement.

"Mr. Thurston?" queried Munson, taken somewhat aback. "Does he come,
too?"

"Sure," replied Sharkey. "Who's going to make the charge, I'd like to
know? Willoughby, I just need your promise that you won't move from this
verandah till I return."

Dick nodded assent. "You have my word," he said with quiet dignity.

"Then I'll be back in a minute," added the sleuth, his hand on the door
knob.

Ben Thurston was standing alone in the centre of the living room, the
body with its bearers having passed to an inner apartment. His arms were
folded across his breast in an attitude of deep dejection. But it was
with the scared look of a hunted beast that he started away at the touch
of Leach Sharkey's hand upon his shoulder.

The sleuth smiled understandingly.

"You don't want to be left here all alone, do you?"

"No, no. For God's sake, no. I had forgotten that."

"Then you've got to come with me to Bakersfield. In any case you will be
wanted to swear the information. And you can also make arrangements for
the funeral. So get your hat and overcoat. We are all ready outside."

"Yes, yes, I'm coming," faltered Thurston. "Wait for me, Sharkey," he
added, as with nervous fingers he detached his overcoat from a rack on
the wall.

And a few minutes later the automobile, with Sharkey at the wheel, the
handcuffed prisoner by his side, and Thurston and the lieutenant seated
frigidly apart in opposite comers of the tonneau, was spinning
through the gathering dusk of evening on its way to the county town of
Bakersfield.




CHAPTER XIV--Entanglements

|FROM the observatory high up among the hills, Mr. Robles had witnessed
the arrest and the departure of the prisoner. He had understood every
move just as if he had been present on the verandah down below and had
heard each spoken word.

As he stood erect, his hand still rested on the telescope. For a few
moments he pondered, then murmured to himself as he turned to leave the
room: "A bad complication! I must break the news tonight to Merle. Poor
little girl!"

But it was two hours later before he wended his way down through the
moonlit forest in the direction of La Siesta.

There dinner was over. No word of untoward happenings had as yet come
from the outside world to disturb the tranquillity of the little
household. In the drawing room Merle was at the piano, while Grace,
close by, was curled on a sofa reading the latest novel. At
some distance from the young girls was Mrs. Darlington, occupied
intermittently over a piece of embroidery.

She was seated in semi-darkness, only her hands and her work illumed by
the soft pink radiance of a shaded lamp resting on a little table by
her side. In the evening costume of the chatelaine of La Siesta was the
suggestion of old lace and old-time lavender--the old lace at her bosom
and around her neck, the subtle fragrance of lavender exhaled from her
garments that gave to her a sort of personal atmosphere. And as she sat
musingly, with the skeins of silk passing through her fingers, she might
have formed a picture of some Penelope seated at the loom of pensive
memory.

The music from the piano was in harmony with both her mood and her
attitude--the soft dreamy melodies of Mendelssohn's "Songs without
Words" to which she was vaguely listening while busy with her thoughts
and her stitches.

Downstairs amid the oriental luxuriousness of the cosy corner sat Tia
Teresa, waiting in the dark to intercept the visitor of whose coming
she had been apprized by a secret messenger. And at last Ricardo Robles
came, with the noiseless footfall that was characteristic of the man and
imparted to him an air of mystery. He was standing by the old duenna's
side before she had realized his presence.

"I wanted a few words with you first of all, Tia Teresa," he murmured,
as she grasped his hand in both her own and affectionately kissed it.
"Something has happened."

"I know what has happened, Don Manuel," she whispered. "The young man
deserved his fate, for I am sure you saw what occurred in the rose
garden during the afternoon. For one of his breed to have dared even to
touch my little girl!" She hissed the words venomously, then added in
calmer tone: "So all is well. He brought down his doom upon his own
head, and vengeance for Rosetta begins."

Robles pressed her hand as he disengaged his own from her almost
fiercely caressing touch.

"I nursed you both," continued the duenna in a low impassioned voice.
"Your people were my people, you children were my very life, and your
revenge has come to be my own. So I rejoice that the young ruffian
died."

He had seated himself by her side on the divan. "We shall say no more
then about that," he responded. "In some ways I am sorry over the day's
work. At times I find it difficult to reconcile my firmness with my
softness."

"But you cannot forget that you are no longer the owner of your father's
lands and flocks, and are virtually childless besides." She breathed the
words with intense repressed fury, intensified as she added: "And all
through the accursed gringo who wrecked our happy lives--Rosetta's,
yours, your beloved parents' as well. While that abominable wretch
lives, the vendetta can never end."

For a moment Robles remained silent. Then he spoke resolutely:

"I know it, Tia Teresa. Today my work only begins. Rest assured that it
will be carried to the bitter finish. For this I have waited all through
those long years. But I wanted to tell you of another matter--to warn
you of a very serious complication. Dick Willoughby has been arrested
for the slaying of Marshall Thurston." The duenna sat bolt upright in
shocked surprise. "Oh, my! What will this mean?" she murmured.

"Terrible grief for my little girl--possibly much suffering for him
until I choose to take the responsibility upon myself."

"You must not do that."

"No. Not yet, at all events. Or the victory will be his--my enemy's."

He mused again. She, too, remained silent. At last he broke the spell.

"But I have already devised measures for his safety. Now I must go
upstairs. They have heard nothing yet?"

"Not a word."

"Then I must tell them of the mysterious shooting in the woods, and at
the same time reassure Merle that her lover is in no real danger."

"And Mrs. Darlington?" asked Tia Teresa. "How much is she to know?"

"Nothing! The vendetta is for us Spaniards. It is ours and ours alone.
No one knows of my vow but you and I. Let it remain so. _Adios_, my dear
friend."

In the darkness he stooped and kissed her on both cheeks. For a moment
she clung to him, but he gently liberated himself from her embrace. He
moved toward the stairway, and Tia Teresa followed him cautiously up to
the drawing room door, outside of which she remained. Knowing that she
was there, he left the door ajar. The soft music was still playing, but
suddenly ceased when Robles advanced into the apartment.

"My word, but this is an unexpected pleasure," exclaimed Merle, as she
came from the piano with outstretched hands.

He took them both in his own, and bestowed on her a grave but kindly
smile. He also nodded to Grace, who had dropped her book and risen in
courteous greeting.

"But you look sad and serious," Merle went on, with quick intuition that
his coming at this late hour meant something more than a mere neighborly
visit.

"Something sad and serious has happened," he replied.

Mrs. Darlington had advanced from her lamp-lit table.

"What?" she enquired eagerly. "Somehow I had a sense of impending
trouble all day long."

"Young Thurston of the rancho has met with an accident."

"Dead?" gasped Merle, her hands clasped against her bosom.

"Yes, dead, I am afraid. He was mysteriously shot this afternoon when
riding through the pine woods."

Merle was stricken dumb. Grace glided to her side and listened in silent
expectancy.

"Shot! By whom?" asked Mrs. Darlington.

"That I cannot tell," gravely replied Robles. Then he smiled faintly.
"But an amazingly stupid blunder has been made. By some combination
of circumstances suspicion is being fastened on our dear friend Dick
Willoughby."

"Dick!" exclaimed Merle. "Who dares to suggest such a thing?" she added
indignantly.

"I infer that Mr. Thurston is his accuser," replied Robles.

"The two young men quarreled," murmured Mrs. Darlington, in a voice of
deep agitation.

"Mother!" cried Merle reprovingly. "Even to think for one moment that
Dick, whatever the provocation, could have done such a thing! He is
absolutely innocent, Mr. Robles," she went on decisively, again turning
to their visitor.

"Of course he is innocent--absolutely innocent. No one knows that better
than myself." And he gave an enigmatic smile as he spoke the words of
reassuring confidence.

"Where is Mr. Willoughby now?" queried Grace.

"He has been compelled to go to Bakersfield."

"To Bakersfield?" exclaimed Merle, half wonderingly.

"There to prove his innocence," replied Robles.

But Mrs. Darlington had probed the real significance of his words.

"You don't mean to say that they have--arrested him?"

Robles nodded gravely. "That's how the law acts. A man under suspicion
must be taken into custody--he must be charged so that he can refute the
shameful calumny."

Merle had dropped into a settee--white and speechless. Her lips
trembled. Then she burst into a passion of weeping, burying her face
against an arm flung across the upholstery.

Mrs. Darlington moved forward quickly to comfort the sobbing girl.

"Oh, don't take on like this, my dear child. The arrest was a mere
formality. He will be immediately set at liberty."

Merle raised her tear-stained face. She spoke in gulping sobs.

"But, mother, I never told you--I shrank from telling any of you. While
you and Grace were away this afternoon, Marshall Thurston called and
wanted to make love to me--he even dared to try to kiss me. Tia Teresa
flung him out of the rose garden. It was I who made Tia Teresa promise
to say nothing about it to anyone. I feared trouble. And, oh, trouble,
terrible trouble, has already come." Again she bowed her head and
continued weeping, but quietly weeping now. Grace was bending over her,
patting her shoulder in soothing sympathy.

Mrs. Darlington's eyes met those of Robles.

"This may prove serious," she said softly, that Merle might not
overhear.

"It is decidedly unfortunate," replied Robles; "an unfortunate
complication that may, of course, strengthen the suspicion against
Willoughby and so render it more difficult for us to help him."

Merle sprang to her feet, and with a hand dashed away her tears.

"Suspicion!" she exclaimed. "There can be not one moment's suspicion."
And she gazed up into Robles' face in ardent appeal.

"Of course not, my dear, among us--among all those who know Dick
Willoughby. But there is the harshly judging world to reckon with
besides. They may say that this discloses a motive for the crime."

"However, Merle has just told us," commented Mrs. Darlington, "that only
she and Tia Teresa know anything about this unhappy episode in the rose
garden. Mr. Willoughby has not been here at all today."

"But I happen to know that he was not far away this afternoon--that he
was rounding up some cattle in the near-by canyons. Malice may suggest
that he was a witness of Thurston's insolent behavior."

"Then we should all keep silent on the subject."

"Which might be compromising in the long run, my dear Mrs. Darlington.
Altogether it is a difficult situation."

Merle had been hardly listening to this conversation. She had been
thinking, and with thinking had regained her composure. Her mind was
quickly made up as to the line of prompt action that must be taken. She
spoke quite calmly now.

"He is in prison. You have not spoken the word, Mr. Robles, but I know
the truth all the same. We shall go to him tonight."

"Not tonight, my dear," replied Robles, with gentle firmness. "But
tomorrow morning, certainly, I would suggest that you drive over to
Bakersfield. He will appreciate your kindness in paying him this prompt
visit, and you can at the same time convey to him my message of absolute
belief in his innocence."

"You will not come, too?"

"I can do more for him, Merle, by not going to Bakersfield for the
present. Do not forget that for reasons of my own I live in seclusion.
My name must be mentioned to no one but Mr. Willoughby. Trust me, all
three of you, and leave me to work quietly alone and by my own methods.
There, I give my promise. The captive will be set free within a short
time. My hand on that, and you know that I never break my word."

[Illustration: 0155]

There was a joyous smile of confidence on his face as he spoke the
words. Merle took the extended hand gratefully, trustfully, and pressed
it to her lips. Robles went on:

"My advice is--try to sleep tonight. Tomorrow, or within a few brief
tomorrows, all will be well. Good night."

Tia Teresa followed him from the open door down into the outer hall.

"You heard everything," he said as he paused to speak a final word of
parting. "Comfort her, but at the same time guard our secret closer than
ever. Not one hair of Willoughby's head will be touched--make her know
that for certain. And everything will come right in a very little time."

"My poor little girl," he murmured to himself as he strode down the
silent tree-shadowed avenue.




CHAPTER XV--Behind the Bars

|Dick Willoughby had been lodged in the county jail at Bakersfield, duly
charged by Ben Thurston as the murderer of his son. To his surprise, and
indeed to his dismay, the prisoner was informed that, the crime alleged
being a capital one, no bail could be accepted. This was first of all
a blow to Willoughby's pride. Here he was under the stigma of
imprisonment, but with no possibility of redress. It was not the loss of
comforts, the deprivation of personal liberty, the hardships to body and
to soul, inseparable from such restraint, that he resented, so much as
the semiconviction of guilt implied by the durance vile to which he was
to be subjected, although absolutely innocent of the deed of which he
was accused.

However, after first chagrin came manly philosophy. The law might be
right or wrong, wise or unwise, necessary or superfluous. But all the
same it was the law of the state and had therefore to be obeyed. So,
when the situation was finally reviewed, it was Lieutenant Munson who,
when bidding his friend good-night, had been the angry man, fretting
and fuming over such an abominable act of injustice, while the prisoner
himself was tranquilly resigned to the ordeal through which he must
pass and to which unkind fate was subjecting him for reasons that he was
powerless to fathom.

"Good night, Ches, old man. You'll see me again in the morning. It's
mighty kind of you to stay in town all night. But we can decide on the
best lawyer to employ, and then you must hasten back to break the bad
news at La Siesta."

Such had been Dick's quiet words when their colloquy had been broken up,
and he had been ordered to the retirement of his prison cell. To enter
that place was for Dick a horrible experience. But he accepted the
experience calmly, bade the turnkey a cheerful good-night, and laid him
down to sleep on the narrow mattress resting upon the hard bench, at
peace with himself and the world, even with the bitter enemy who had all
so unexpectedly appeared on his path.

Although Munson was back in the jail betimes next morning, he found Dick
already conferring with a lawyer--the best and most honored in the town,
as Munson knew the moment his name was mentioned.

"Let me introduce you to Mr. Bradley," said Dick, presenting him. "Some
kind friend whose name he declines to reveal for the present, sent him a
special message last night retaining his services for my defence."

"Mrs. Darlington, I bet," interjected the lieutenant.

"No, not Mrs. Darlington, let me assure you," rejoined the lawyer,
"although undoubtedly she would be willing to do the same thing. But I
am not permitted to say any more."

"And he has _carte blanche_ for all expenses," smiled Dick. "Although I
should not think there will be much money required to clear an innocent
man," he added.

"Wait till you see," said the lawyer crisply. "We have to reckon with a
malignant persecutor, I am already informed."

"Well, I've got a bit to my bank credit," Dick replied. "And we'll draw
on that first before I accept the generosity of an unknown friend. It
will be quite a saving here," he went on with a humorous twinkle in his
eye as he glanced around. "Free board and lodging at the state's expense
for a week at all events."

"Much longer than that, I am afraid," gravely remarked the lawyer.
"You see, Mr. Munson, just before you arrived we were discussing
the decidedly unfortunate coincidence that at the time the shooting
occurred, Mr. Willoughby, by his own admission, was in the little canyon
below the scene of the tragedy."

"Rounding up some cattle," observed Dick. "Of course. But all the same,
open to suspicion as being on the ground, and indeed being the first to
reach the dead man's side."

"That should be proof of innocence," observed Munson.

"Or may be taken as evidence of well-reasoned audacity to throw accusers
off the trail," retorted the attorney. "You see we have to look at
everything, not from our own point of view, but from the other side. Now
I want to learn something more about that quarrel between you and young
Thurston at the cattle muster."

"He made an insulting remark about one of the young ladies from La
Siesta," replied Dick. "I told him I would tan his hide if he ever did
it again. That's all. But the last thing I want is that these ladies'
names should be dragged into the case."

"But his remark and your reproof were overheard by others," commented
the attorney.

"Oh, yes, by a bunch of ranch hands."

"Whose evidence will undoubtedly be called for the prosecution,
necessitating, perhaps, the evidence of the young ladies on our side."

"By God, I won't stand for that," exclaimed Dick hotly. "I can defend
myself without their being called to the witness stand. Think, Munson,
of subjecting Merle or Grace to any such thing"--and his indignant face
appealed to the lieutenant's.

"I saw nothing of the quarrel," observed Munson, addressing the lawyer,
"although, of course, I heard something about it later on--not from
Willoughby, however, for he has never once referred to the matter in
conversation with me. But I say, Dick, old fellow, you know that Merle
Farnsworth and Grace Darlington, too, will be only too proud and happy
to stand up for you in a law court or anywhere else."

"That may be," replied Dick gloomily, "but I don't propose that they
shall be made the objects of vulgar curiosity in a crowded court-room,
or that their ears should ever hear the vile words that fell from that
miserable degenerate who has at last met the fate he properly deserved."

"Well, it is a point that we shall have to consider carefully," spoke
the lawyer as he rose to take his departure. "I have all the main facts
of the case now, Mr. Willoughby. Of course I shall apply formally to
the court for bail, but I know it is bound to be refused. I'll make all
arrangements outside for your comfort here--meals, etc., and no
doubt your friend, Mr. Munson, will bring you over clothing, toilet
requisites, and the other little things you will require. I'll see you
again later on today."

The lawyer was gone, and the two comrades were alone in the little room,
stone-walled and bare of furniture except for a few chairs, where the
consultation had been held. Beyond the open door stood a constable, just
out of earshot. But he now took his stand within the room.

"Well, Munson, old chap," said Dick with cheerful alacrity, "you get
back to the rancho in double-quick time. Then go on to La Siesta and
tell Merle not to worry on my account. Tell her that I'm bright and
happy, and just enjoying a good rest, and will be set at liberty within
a week or so. But remember, she is not to come here. Good Lord, I
never want her to see me in a place like this." And he glanced around
forlornly, and in a measure ashamed.

But at the very moment there was a flutter along the corridor--the sound
of voices, and women's voices, too. A moment later the superintendent of
the jail appeared, bringing with him Mrs. Darlington and Merle. At the
doorway he spoke to the officer on guard; the man withdrew.

"Mr. Willoughby, here are some more friends," said the superintendent
as he ushered in the ladies. "I am going to interpret the regulations as
leniently as possible--that's a matter which can rest between ourselves.
I'll come back for you, Mrs. Darlington, in half an hour."

Merle advanced toward Dick with outstretched hand. In her other hand was
a fine bouquet of roses.

"What a shame that you should be here," she exclaimed. "But I realize
that the only thing to do is to submit as cheerfully as possible to the
inevitable. Mother and I came over to give you our sympathy and proffer
our help in every possible way. Grace also sends her very kindest
regards, and I was bidden by Mr. Robles, whom we saw last night, to
assure you of his complete belief in your innocence."

"Oh, I'm not afraid of any real friend thinking me capable of a cowardly
deed like that," replied Willoughby. "But it is nice to have these kind
messages, although I could have wished, Miss Farnsworth, that you had
not seen me amid such surroundings."

"Do you think that we would desert you in such a time of trouble as
this?" replied Merle, as she sat down. "But seeing that our visit is
to be restricted to half an hour, it is well that we should get to
the important points without delay. I have been talking over a certain
matter both with mother and Mr. Robles, and although I shrink from
telling it, they have decided that you must know about the affair."

She then proceeded, in a low voice and with lips that trembled, to tell
how young Thurston had forced his attentions on her just a little time
before the shooting occurred and how Tia Teresa had rescued her from his
clutches.

This was the first that Dick had heard of the incident and his face
flushed with anger. But Merle quieted him at once. "You need not be
angry now, Mr. Willoughby. It is all over. But your lawyer will want to
consider what bearing this may possibly have upon the case."

"It can have no bearing at all," maintained Dick. "In the first place I
didn't even know till now that Marshall had been visiting at La Siesta.
And in the second place, just as I was saying to Munson a few minutes
ago, I am determined that the names of you ladies shall not be dragged
into this miserable affair. Isn't that right, Mrs. Darlington?"

"In a measure. But all the same we are ready to stand by you so as to
establish your innocence with the least possible delay. I heard this
morning that Mr. Thurston is very bitter against you, keeps vowing
vengeance, and announces that no money will be spared to bring the
slayer of his son to retribution."

"Well, I hope he'll find him without loss of time," smiled Dick. "That
will be the quickest and easiest way to get me out of confinement.
But at this moment I have not the faintest idea on whom to fasten the
charge. Lots of the cowboys despised young Thurston, but none were
really his enemies, and I don't know any one among the bunch who would
have shot him in that dastardly, cold-blooded manner."

"Which makes the situation for you all the more disagreeable," commented
Munson. "You had been known to threaten him, and if there is no one else
to whom suspicion can point, you may be kept here, Dick, for quite a
time--for months, perhaps, until the case goes to trial."

Dick's face fell. "For months!" he exclaimed. "Surely that would be an
outrage."

"Oh, I wouldn't be too despondent," protested Merle. "Besides, Mr.
Robles has pledged his word to me that you will be free in a very brief
time."

"Then he may know who the culprit is," remarked Dick eagerly.

"No," interposed Mrs. Darlington. "He is like ourselves--quite in the
dark. But you may rest assured that Mr. Robles will leave no stone
unturned to solve the mystery and restore you to liberty, Mr.
Willoughby, for I happen to know that he holds you in highest esteem."

"I'm glad of that," replied Dick. "Well, I want you to tell him from me
how keen I am that you ladies shall be spared from all association
with this case. You know that I am exercising great self-denial, Miss
Farnsworth, when I say that you are never to come here again. This is no
place for you."

[Illustration: 0205]

"Pardon me," laughed Merle, "but we are interested in you and will
excuse the hotel you have chosen to patronize. We brought these roses
for you from La Siesta"--as she spoke she presented him with the
beautiful blooms--"and if Lieutenant Munson will be kind enough to come
out to our automobile he will find there some books, also a box of fruit
and a few delicacies which we hope will help to make your stay here just
a little more tolerable."

"You're kind indeed," murmured Dick gratefully. "Don't worry about me,"
he added cheerfully, "I'll have a fine rest here, and will be able to
catch up with my arrears of reading."

And in this philosophic frame of mind the prisoner was left to begin his
holiday.




CHAPTER XVI--Pierre Luzon Returns

|IN the outside world the question on everybody's lips was--who had
fired the fatal shot among the pine woods? The young reprobate had been
thoroughly despised, but he had no known enemies except Willoughby. So
while Willoughby's staunch friends could only reiterate the question
in vain perplexity, most people were inclined to answer it with Dick's
name. The angry quarrel between the two young men was universally
known and had been subjected to sundry embellishments--for example, the
threatened horse-whipping had become an actual recorded event, and so
on. And even there were whispers about rivalry in some love affair--that
Marshall had had his eye on one of the young ladies at La Siesta where
Dick for some time had been a constant caller.

So among the cowboys on the ranch, the oil drillers who frequented
the Bakersfield saloons and had often enough stood around while young
Thurston had set up the drinks, the newspaper reading public generally
for whom all the facts had been set forth in elaborate detail--the
universal concensus of opinion seemed to be that Dick Willoughby was the
man. Not that this verdict of popular opinion carried with it any real
reprobation. Everyone agreed that the worthless degenerate had met even
a kindlier fate than he merited. Had he lived, not all his father's
millions could have long saved him either from the penitentiary or an
asylum for the insane.

A week passed. Thurston brooded in solitude, but at his bidding Leach
Sharkey kept up active investigations with a view to nose out every bit
of evidence that could tell against the accused man. Sharkey worked,
not from any special animosity against Willoughby, but from keen
professional pride.

Dick accepted his confinement with manly fortitude. It. was one of those
untoward happenings that come into some people's lives for no obvious
reason, but he was calm in the confidence that everything would be made
clear in a very short time.

Moreover he was clear to his own conscience, which was the main thing.
Next in importance was that Merle, Grace and Mrs. Darlington, Robles and
Munson, all the friends whom he held in highest esteem, had never for
one moment doubted him. In their unshaken friendship was sufficient
reward for all the tribulations through which he was passing.

Meanwhile word had reached Buck Ashley that old Tom Baker was on his way
home in company with Pierre Luzon, to whom the Governor of the State
had at last granted parole. In view of Dick's imprisonment Munson had
well-nigh lost all interest in the romance of the buried treasure. But
it had been Dick himself who had insisted that his friend must attend to
their joint interests during his period of enforced sequestration.

Thus it had come about that Munson found himself one evening at the
store, awaiting with Jack Rover and Buck Ashley the arrival of the
automobile in which the sheriff was bringing the liberated convict
from San Quentin. In a brief letter Tom Baker had explained that he had
decided on this manner of transportation both because of its ensuring
privacy and also because Pierre Luzon was so enfeebled by age, sickness
and prolonged confinement that he could not travel by train. "I've
rigged up a stretcher," wrote Tom, "but the poor old Frenchie is as weak
as a kitten, and we'll have to run slow."

Nine o'clock that night was the scheduled hour around which the
automobile might be expected. Buck Ashley had the extra cot for the
invalid all ready in his own bedroom at the rear of the store.

It was close on ten o'clock, however, before the headlight of the
automobile showed across the valley on the high-road. Buck piled another
big log on the fire in the sitting room. He saw that the doors were all
carefully closed and the shades pulled down. Then he brought in from the
bar a tray with glasses and a bottle of whisky.

"Kentucky bourbon--that was old Pierre Luzon's favorite lotion," he
said as he set down the tray. "And I guess he'll be glad of a good stiff
drink on a cold night like this."

At last the automobile entered the yard, and the invalid was carried in
on the stretcher and propped up comfortably in a rocking chair near the
cheerful blaze. His teeth were chattering from cold, and he gratefully
gulped down the stiff glass of bourbon which Buck lost no time in
proffering him.

"You see," explained Tom Baker, as he bustled around, "the Governor just
grants paroles; he can't grant pardons. Some sort of a board has to pass
on the pardons. But I got him out all right, and that's the main thing.
Eh, Pierre, old man?"

The sheriff nodded with great friendliness to his protégé. Luzon
responded with a wan smile that silently spoke his thankfulness. His
face was deathly pale, but there was wonderful snap and vitality in
the black bead-like eyes that roamed around the room and searched each
countenance.

Buck was now standing by the rocker. He laid a hand familiarly on the
Frenchman's shoulder.

"You see, Pierre, old scout, I don't forget you"--he pointed to the
bottle on the table. "Kentucky bourbon, the best I've got in the house,
and the very label you used to call for. Now we've got to drink to your
speedy recovery. Fill up all round, boys. The drinks are on me tonight."

"Hip, hip, hooray!" shouted Tom, as the glasses tinkled.

"Hush!" exclaimed Buck, warningly. "We don't want to bring any booze
fighters prowlin' around here tonight. You see, Pierre, we four are in
cahoots and understand each other. You know Tom and myself--we ain't
in need of any guarantee. And you can trust Mr. Chester Munson and Jack
Rover here to the limit."

Luzon bowed acknowledgment of the informal introduction.

"It was we who put up the cash to get you out of San Quentin," continued
Buck, as he dropped into a chair close beside Tom Baker.

"Together with Dick Willoughby," interjected Munson.

"Oh, yes, not forgettin' Dick," resumed the storekeeper, "as fine a
young feller as ever walked on shoe leather. But, by God, he's in jail
just now."

"Eh?" ejaculated the ex-convict, with a look of awakening, almost
fraternal, interest.

Buck turned to the sheriff.

"Of course, Tom, you'll have read all about that terrible affair in the
newspapers?"

The sheriff surreptitiously grabbed Buck's arm. He spoke in a
confidential whisper.

"Drop that subject for the present. I've said nothin' about it to old
Pierre in case it might upset him. I ain't dared to mention the name
Thurston to him, for he shared the White Wolf's hatred of the breed."
Then Tom gave a little cough and glanced across the fireplace at the
Frenchman. "Just a little cowboy shootin' scrap, Pierre, in which our
chum Dick Willoughby has got himself temporarily involved. But say,
boys," he went on, casting his eyes toward Munson and Rover, "I just
thanked the Lord it wasn't me as had to arrest Dick. Of course if I had
still been sheriff I'd a done it--when I was a sworn-in officer, duty
was duty all the time with me, as every damned horse-thief within a
hundred miles knows. But to take an honest man into custody for shootin'
a miserable human coyote like that young--"

"Well, we're not a-goin' to speak about him just now," interrupted Buck,
bestowing a cautioning kick on the sheriff's shins.

Tom took the timely reminder.

"That would have gone sore against the grain," he said emphatically, as
he reached for the whisky bottle and replenished his tumbler.

"Glad to be back?" asked Buck, beaming pleasantly on old Pierre.

The Frenchman lifted one thin hand and smiled.

"Here I will become once more strong," he murmured. "No place in ze
world like ze dear old Tehachapi mountains."

"Wal, I see you've begun to let your beard grow again," continued Buck,
pointing to the gray stubbled chin. "And when your hair comes along,
too, you'll just be lookin' fine and dandy. The same old Pierre that
used to sit for hours at a time in the store."

He paused a moment, surveying the visitor.

"A leetle more whisky, please," murmured Pierre, as he watched the
sheriff lay down his glass.

"All the whisky you want, old fellow," exclaimed Buck, with effusive
hospitality. "By gunnies, you're entitled to a good few nips after all
the long years you've been locked up. Ain't that so, boys?"

"I should say," declared Tom, fervently, wiping his lips with the back
of his hand.

The Frenchman drank gratefully, and as he felt the warm alcoholic glow
in his vitals, uttered a deep-drawn "Ah!" of appreciation.

"Tastes good, don't it?" observed Buck. "You never turned down a drink
of good whisky in the old days, did you, Pierre? Great times then! And
gosh almighty, don't it beat hell, I never suspected who you were all
those years you used to sit around the store smokin' that big-bowled
pipe of yourn? And you knew about the cave then?"

"Oh, Pierre Luzon, he know how to keep one secret," responded the
Frenchman, smiling.

"Yes, and good for us all you kept it, old man," exclaimed the sheriff.
"He's a-goin' to show us the cave tomorrow, Buck. There will be six in
the divvy-up now, boys, for of course Pierre Luzon stands in. That's
agreeable all round, fellers?"

"Sure, sure," responded the others in unison. Tom turned to the
Frenchman.

"I told you, Pierre, we'd play the game fair and square with you. Ain't
that right?"

"I trust you all," replied Luzon. "I show ze cave tomorrow to my friend,
Tom Baker, and you gentlemen who have been so kind to make up one purse
to bring me back here from zat horrid prison."

"Guess you're about the only feller that knows where it is?" enquired
Buck, cautiously.

Luzon looked at his questioner and spoke just one word: "Guadalupe."

"Does Gaudalupe know?" exclaimed Jack Rover. "I thought her long suit
was the riffle where she gets her placer gold."

"Guadalupe," answered Pierre, speaking slowly, "she know ze cave, but
she not know where ze treasure is buried. Ze cave her home. She live
zere. Lots and lots of times she come out, and nobody ever track her
when she go back. Ze outlaws they sharp-shoot from places in ze hills
nobody could see. But I show you," he continued, nodding his head at
Jack Rover, "I, Pierre, show you where zat riffle is. I know both where
Guadalupe wash out placer gold and ze secret chamber in ze big cave
where Joaquin Murietta bury him money and where ze White Wolf, Don
Manuel--peace to his soul!"--Pierre Luzon crossed himself--"hide sacks
and sacks of ze yellow gold. Oh, yes!"

This long speech had exhausted the old man. He dropped his head wearily.

"What you need now is a good long sleep," exclaimed Tom Baker. "Another
jolt of bourbon Pierre, and then you get in between the blankets, old
fellow."

"I've got your bed all ready in the next room," observed Buck.

"I guess I go to bed zen," assented Luzon.

He gulped down with relish a nightcap of the old whisky. Then Buck and
Tom helped him from his chair.

"It is good to be here," murmured the Frenchman. "I grow strong again
among ze mountains. I never go back--never go back to San Quentin, that
one horrid prison."

"We'll nurse you like a baby," said Buck assuringly, as he led the
feeble old man into the adjoining room.




CHAPTER XVII--The Bitter Bit

|ON the very night of Pierre Luzon's return, Ben Thurston was in close
colloquy with his attorney, summoned specially from New York. It was not
only the murder of his son that had brought about this consultation.
The owner of San Antonio Rancho, while filled with fury against Dick
Willoughby, was also gravely perturbed over other things. Immediately
after dinner the two men shut themselves up in Thurston's office.

Thurston opened the safe and produced a little bundle of neatly-folded,
legal-looking documents.

"These are the option papers," he said gruffly, as he tossed them across
the table to the lawyer. "Look them over, Mr. Hawkins."

The attorney glanced through the documents in a preliminary way.

"I see the first big payment falls due on April 1st," he remarked.

"Yes, April 1st," responded Thurston, "and I was a damned fool, too,
to let that Trust Company fellow inveigle me into making the date April
1st, instead of March 1st. You see," he went on, "the taxes come due
on March 1st, and on this principality they amount to quite a pretty
figure, I can tell you."

"How much?"

"Oh, about $18,000."

The lawyer again read the papers through, this time more carefully.

"Well, Mr. Thurston," he said, as he lighted a cigar and sat back in his
chair, "I left some very important matters to come to you in answer to
your imperative message. What's the work in hand?"

"Why, this option for one thing; and then, too, I want you to help me
put the noose around the neck of that scoundrel who killed my son."

"We'll take one thing at a time, please," replied the attorney, speaking
slowly and quietly. "So far as this option on the rancho is concerned,
it seems to be quite regular. Nevertheless, five million dollars is a
whole lot of money. Is there any danger of their forfeiting their option
payment of $100,000?"

"Danger? Forfeiting?" ejaculated Ben Thurston. "Well, I'm not at all
afraid of that. My fear now is that they may take up the option."

"Why, didn't you wish to make the sale?"

"Yes, but I am not getting money enough. The ranch is really worth
ten million dollars today, in cold cash. I have recently had some San
Francisco capitalists down here appraising it for me, but I had already
given the option."

"I see that the agreement provides for your cattle and horses going in
at the stipulated price."

"Yes, I don't know why I should have been so infernally stupid. But you
see those Los Angeles fellows came over here one day in an automobile
and stayed all night. We had a sort of a tiff--didn't agree very
well--and I let them start away the next morning without their
breakfast--rather uncivil, I'll admit. After they had gone I got to
thinking matters over, and I sent a telephone message along the road to
stop them and ask them to come back. They returned all right. There was
one of their number, this fellow from some Title and Trust Company, who
was pretty warm under the collar, and, if I do say it myself, was as
peeved as hell at me. Well, he was the one who drew up the agreement,
sitting here at this table. The paper looked all right to me, and so I
just went ahead and signed. I know now they caught me for the $18,000
of taxes because I didn't just insist on having the option expire March
1st, instead of April 1st. But, to be frank with you, I really didn't
much mind, for at that time I was only keen to get their $100,000 for
the option, never believing for a moment that they would come across
with the million-dollar first payment due April 1st. You see the cattle
and horses and all the stock on the ranch was a sort of sheaf of oats
that I hung out in order to get them to put up their option money--just
so much bait."

Mr. Hawkins shrugged his shoulders and said: "Well, Mr. Thurston,
judging from this inventory before me, you certainly hung up a most
generous bait."

"I didn't stop to think--that's all there is to be said. All these
details hadn't been worked out into cold figures at the time I gave the
option. When these men were here I just wanted to wheedle them into a
bargain which would leave a cool $100,000 in my hands. I never for one
moment believed they could make the million-dollar payment, although, by
God, I begin to realize the danger of their doing so now."

The lawyer looked up in silent surprise. Thurston continued:

"Of course I should have had this detailed valuation made before I went
into the deal. Up to the time I read that inventory I had no real idea
of the increased value of the property and what was on it. Oh, you may
shake your head; I'm not a good business man--never cared a damn for
business--and I know quite well I haven't given enough attention to the
ranch. You see I have been living mostly in the East, for good reasons.
I don't like it here at all--I've never felt safe in California," and
he glanced nervously at the window of the room, as if some enemy were
lurking there.

Mr. Hawkins once more reached for the inventory, and carefully examined
the figures. Finally he said: "Pardon me, Mr. Thurston, for the
observation. But you should have sent for me _before_ the option was
signed, if you did not really intend to carry out its terms. I find that
you have twenty-six thousand head of cattle, and you say that the price
of cattle is very high just now--that the whole herd ought to average
forty dollars a head. This item alone makes one million and forty
thousand dollars, or, in other words, if they exercise the option and
pay you the first million dollars, they will have forty thousand
dollars more than the payment which they make at that time." The lawyer
pencilled down the figures while he spoke.

Ben Thurston had been listening with a gloomy look on his brow. But when
he saw the figures translated into dollars he fairly bounced from his
chair, walked rapidly up and down the room, and then, coming to a sudden
halt, shouted: "By God, that's where they got me again. I see it all
now; these fellows were a damned sight too smart for me. Well, Hawkins,
you are my attorney. I don't want to go on with this deal, even if they
are able to dig up the money."

The lawyer puffed at his cigar, wholly undisturbed, and then replied:
"Mr. Thurston, you have already made a sale."

"No, by God, I haven't; nothing of the kind," replied Thurston. "The
truth is that I should get ten million dollars for this ranch, and keep
all my horses and cattle, too. I don't propose to be fleeced by that
Los Angeles outfit either," he continued, running his hands through his
hair. "I have it; we'll break the contract. I'll bet that option is so
faulty that you can drive a load of hay right through it. Hunt up a
flaw and we will send them back their option money. I don't want their
$100,000 now."

"I have already carefully studied the paper," replied Hawkins, "and can
find no flaw in it. It was evidently drawn by a master hand."

"Master hand be damned," thundered Thurston. "Why, the stiff wasn't even
a lawyer. He was just one of the syndicate--the one I told you about a
while back. He knows so cussed much about titles that the other fellows
let him write the option."

"I see," replied the attorney, as a half-smile flitted over his face;
"about all you seemingly had to do was to sign the option papers and
count the option money. The sole hope you have now, Mr. Thurston, in my
opinion, is for those Los Angeles gentlemen to let this valuable option
lapse. You have only a few days to wait."

"But I haven't told you the worst yet," said Thurston sullenly, dropping
again into his chair.

"What do you mean?"

"I had a long-distance telephone this morning from the First National
Bank at Los Angeles saying that the million dollars due April 1st has
been already paid in to my credit. But I won't touch the money--I'll be
damned if I do."

"You have no choice but to accept it," said the lawyer. "It would be
foolish to deceive yourself; San Antonio Rancho is sold, and with the
payment just made, you, by the terms of your contract, are compelled to
give immediate possession. I can only advise you to take your medicine
like a man, but don't let those Los Angeles gentlemen know that you
are swallowing a bitter dose." He refolded the papers, and pushed them
across the table. "Now, Mr. Thurston, if there is anything I can do to
assist you in the prosecution of your son's murderer, I stand ready to
do so." Ben Thurston arose.

"We'll talk about that tomorrow. I'll hang Dick Willoughby right enough
in good time. Meanwhile you tell me the rancho is sold--that I have lost
my great estate for less than half its value? Hell! Isn't that enough
for one night?" And he stalked wrathfully out of the room, slamming the
door behind him.

"He sold at the wrong price," mused the lawyer with a quiet smile.
"Perhaps he'll be trying next to hang the wrong man."




CHAPTER XVIII--Elusive Riches

|IN the meantime the quartet at the store were making a night of it.
With old Pierre Luzon peacefully asleep in the adjoining room, there
were many things to speak about. Tom Baker recounted in elaborate
detail his story of interviews with the governor and state officials
at Sacramento, the weary and harassing delays before parole was finally
granted, his own dogged determination, together with the artful pulling
of political strings that had finally brought about the results desired.
Then there was the trip to San Quentin, the breaking of the joyful news
to Pierre Luzon in his cell, the delivery of the paroled convict into
Tom's hands, and the clever solution of all further difficulties by
hiring an automobile for the journey south. The narrative was all very
interesting, each listener eagerly followed every word, and at the close
Tom Baker's chest had expanded several inches.

"I tell you boys, there's no man alive could have done what I did. The
business was in the right hands. If it hadn't been for me, you wouldn't
have Pierre Luzon here tonight."

"But if Pierre Luzon hadn't written that letter," growled Buck Ashley,
"you would never have started for Sacramento and San Quentin."

"Well, all's well that ends well," discreetly interposed Munson, as he
raked the smouldering wood ashes together. "Gee, but its cold tonight."
Jack Rover rose and tossed another log onto the fire. In a moment a
bright flame sprang up.

"The bottle's empty," observed the sheriff. "The next one's on me,
Buck."

"Guess we'll charge it to syndicate account," grinned the storekeeper,
whose momentary grouch seemed to have been dissipated by the cheerful
blaze. "We'll have to open books, boys, and go about things in a reg'lar
way," he added, as he drew the bolt of the door that communicated with
the store and groped his way into the darkness beyond.

Buck needed no candle, and was soon back with another bottle of the
Kentucky bourbon. Glasses were filled and clinked and pledges of
brotherhood renewed.

"It's champagne we'll be drinkin' tomorrow night, Buck, old sport,"
exclaimed Tom, slapping his old crony on the shoulder.

"I'll long-distance Bakersfield for a case in the morning," responded
Buck, genially. "By gosh, we'll be swimmin' in wine afore long, boys.
First thing I've got to do is to sell out this 'ere store."

"Sell it!" cried the sheriff, contemptuously. "You can afford to give it
away, Buck. We ain't a-goin' to be pikers in our old age, are we now?"

"I ain't old by a danged sight," snapped back the storekeeper, for Tom
had touched a sore spot once again. "Besides, when I've got a barrel of
Joaquin Murietta's gold safe in the bank, you'll see me friskin' around
like a two-year-old colt," he added, his momentary surliness changing to
a smile.

"And it ain't only gold, boys," said Tom Baker. "That 'ere story old
Pierre told me about the grotto cavern havin' a lake of oil in it as big
as a city block, sure 'nuff got me goin'. Why, we'll be able to blossom
out into oil kings."

"What's that?" asked Munson.

"Why, the Frenchie told me, you know, confidential like, comin' along on
our motor car that since fifty years back those bandit fellers skimmed
oil from the surface of that lake and burned it in lamps down in that
cavern."

"By Jove, that's interesting," replied Munson.

"We know there is oil to the west, oil to the north, and oil to the
south, and it stands to reason there must be oil here as well."

"Yes," interposed Buck, "but old Ben Thurston would never allow any
drillin' on his place."

"Who the hell wants oil anyhow?" exclaimed Jack Rover. "We'll have all
the money we need with the buried gold and Guadalupe's placer mine."

"Yes, but oil is oil," replied the storekeeper, with a shrewd nod of his
head. "They say Rockefeller has only to raise the price a quarter of a
cent a gallon whenever he wants to give away another million or so to a
university or a hospital."

"Well, we ain't interested in universities or hospitals," said Tom
Baker. "But I agree with Buck that oil's oil, and I, for one, intend to
take everything that's comin' to me. My God, we can afford to buy Ben
Thurston out and do some drillin' for ourselves on San Antonio Rancho.
It'll help to pass the time anyways." As he finished, he began to pour
out another round of drinks.

"Help to keep you from the booze," muttered Buck, in an inaudible aside.
But he drained his own glass and smacked his lips with satisfaction.
"Guess I'll be gettin' another bottle, boys," he said aloud, genially.

"Oh, we've had enough," mildly protested Munson.

"Not by a jugful," replied Buck. "You and Jack ain't goin' to ride home
till mornin', and there's lots of things to be talked over yet."

"Great Scott, it's already two o'clock," remarked Munson, consulting his
watch.

"Then the night's still young, boys," exclaimed Tom Baker, hilariously.
"Get the brew, Buck. The empty bottles will keep the tally. Come on,
lieutenant, drain your glass. No heel taps in this crowd."

They had started their conversation in low tones so as not to disturb
the slumbers of Pierre Luzon. But this precaution, or act of delicate
consideration, had been long since forgotten. They were talking loud
now, and often all together, and when Buck Ashley had returned from yet
another pilgrimage to the store, none heard or noticed the door of the
bedroom being cautiously pushed open by just the fraction of an inch.

All four chairs had been again drawn around the cheerful log fire.

"You were talking, Tom, of buying out Ben Thurston," remarked Jack
Rover. "Then you haven't heard there's an option been given to a Los
Angeles syndicate? Guess mebbe Ben Thurston won't be the owner of the
big rancho very much longer."

"And a good job, too," replied the sheriff, as he helped himself to yet
another drink.

Buck Ashley shook his head incredulously. "Oh, lots of fellers have paid
down money for an option, as they call it, on the Thurston property, and
finally when the rub came they didn't come across and live up to their
bargain, and so they just naturally lost their option money."

"I was talking to a geologist," intervened Munson, in whose mind the
oil question seemed to be still uppermost, "and he says there is every
indication that the Midway Oil fields, a few miles north, are not one
whit better than wells that can be opened up right here."

"But what's the use," said Tom Baker, "of all the oil fields in
California to us fellers if we are about to be let into the secret
door of a big cavern where they've got twelve or fifteen millions of
twenty-dollar gold pieces stacked up, jest awaitin' for us to take 'em."
The whisky was beginning to do its work; he had already forgotten his
aspirations of being an oil king.

"That's right," said Jack Rover, "and don't forget, while you're
counting them twenty-dollar gold pieces, that Pierre Luzon has promised
to show us the shallow riffle in the mountain stream where Guadalupe
gets all that placer gold." In the cowboy's case the alcohol was making
only still more fixed the one fixed idea in his brain.

"Damn this store business anyway," said Buck Ashley, inconsequentially
returning to the theme that appealed to him most directly. "Do you
'spose I'm goin' to work my fingers off tying up groceries after we find
old Murietta's money and the White Wolf's treasure? Not by one hell of
a sight, if I know myself, and I 'low as how I do." And at the slightly
opened bedroom door old Pierre, Luzon whom they all thought to be fast
asleep, was listening to every word!

"But there is one thing," cried Tom Baker, striking the table fiercely
as he set down his glass, "I want you fellers to get next to yourselves
now and make up your mind to."

"Wa'al, don't stop, Tom," said Rover. "Go on and tell us what you're
thinking about. Get it off your chest, old man."

"It's just this way. By God, you fellers are not entitled to as much of
this 'ere twelve or fifteen million dollars as I am, for I'm the feller
that went to the governor and got his parole and brought Pierre back
here to Tejon. Do you get me?" Buck Ashley had straightened up and
looked at Tom Baker with an ugly scowl on his face. "It was me," he
said, "got that letter from Pierre Luzon and we all throwed in, share
and share alike, all five of us. And we'll cut what we find, too,
whether it's one million or fifteen million, into five equal parts, or
there'll be blood flowin good and plenty."

Baker staggered to his feet, steadied himself for a moment and began to
roll up his sleeves.

"There be some things," he ejaculated, "that you jest can't let wait and
settle up when the deal is all closed. I know what my rights are and you
fellers can't bluff me, not by a derned sight."

"Hold on, hold on, gentlemen," interposed Munson. "Let's not commence
quarreling about something we are not even sure we shall ever see. Of
course we hope to be escorted into the cavern by old Pierre Luzon, and
we likewise hope that he'll find a hidden treasure. And by the way,
Buck, this reminds me--the cut has to be into six equal parts, not five,
for we owe Luzon the squarest of square deals."

"Oh, I'm not agin' that," muttered Buck. "I just didn't remember him."

"Well," resumed Munson, "why quarrel about something that is as yet
nothing but a myth? It occurs to me that we should rather, individually
and collectively, be exceedingly thankful that Pierre Luzon is alive,
and that the White Wolf is dead, and that the one man who holds the
secret has promised to show us this treasure."

"I've never believed one cussed word about the White Wolf being dead,"
growled Buck Ashley.

"Well, it sure was in the newspapers," said Tom Baker, turning down his
sleeves and resuming his seat.

"Yes, it sure was in the newspapers," replied Buck, "and they jest
seemed to settle the fact, leastways to their own satisfaction. But I've
been a-thinkin' about Dick Willoughby. I don't believe he ever killed
Marshall Thurston, I don't."

"Whoever did kill him," put in Jack Rover, "did it good and plenty. Put
the shot right square through his heart."

"Well," said Tom Baker, reaching for more whisky, "I ain't got much to
say, but what I says I stands to on this 'ere subject, and that is--"
Almost with one accord all turned at the creaking of the bedroom door,
and _there_ was Pierre Luzon, looking as if he had seen a ghost. His
short prison-cropped hair seemed to be standing on end like bristles,
and his eyes stared wildly at the four men. At last he cried out in a
shrill voice that was almost a scream:

"Ze son of Ben Thurston killed! Ah, ha!" he laughed, hysterically. "Shot
through ze heart!--vengeance at last begins! Ze White Wolf is not dead!
He is one live man!"

The door was hastily closed with a loud bang, and the weird figure
vanished like an apparition.

For a few moments the revellers sat in stupefied silence. Finally Buck
Ashley said in a low voice: "Damn that whisky anyhow. It has made us
talk too loud."

"Yes," remarked Tom Baker, "and also too dangnation much, I'm
a-thinkin'."

Both were sober men now.

"Believe I'll have a snooze," said Jack rover, seating himself on an old
lounge in a corner of the room. But he did not lie down.

Nothing more was said for perhaps a full half hour; all were nodding or
busy with their brooding thoughts.

At last Buck Ashley rose and tiptoed toward the bedroom.

"Guess I'll see if poor Pierre has gone to sleep again," he murmured.

A moment later he shouted out from the inner chamber:

"Hell, boys!--he's gone! He's given us the slip--the damned old
jail-bird!"




CHAPTER XIX--The Jail Delivery

|AROUND Dick Willoughby there had been woven a web of circumstantial
evidence that even before his trial had convinced most people of his
guilt. Only a few tried friends who absolutely refused to believe him
capable of shooting down an unarmed man from ambush clung to their
faith that he had had nothing to do with the slaying of young Marshall
Thurston. Among the general public the only question in discussion was
whether the jury were likely to find extenuating circumstances and,
should the life of the prisoner come to be spared, how long would be his
sentence.

Ben Thurston had lavished money with a free hand toward securing every
possible piece of testimony in support of the prosecution, and before
his return home even the cautious New York lawyer, Mr. Hawkins, had
admitted that the case against Willoughby appeared to be conclusive. It
was only a matter of a few weeks now when Thurston would be leaving the
district.

Already San Antonio Rancho was in possession of the syndicate; their
foreman was in charge, the stock under their control, and it was only
out of consideration that the former owner was being permitted to linger
a little longer in residence. But for the gloomy and morose man there
seemed to be gloating satisfaction in the grim thought that before
shaking off forever the dust of his old home he would first of all
ensure the hanging of his son's murderer.

Among the most regular visitors at the jail were the ladies of La
Siesta, and rumor now began to run around that Miss Merle Farnsworth,
despite Willoughby's pleading that she should not mix her name up in
the case, would offer some surprising evidence in favor of the accused
man--evidence that might not exonerate Willoughby from responsibility
for the deed, but perhaps would fully justify his act to the minds of
the jurymen.

It was now only three days from the trial, and the whole county was agog
with expectation.

That night in the small hours five masked men rode very quietly through
the streets to the vicinity of the jail. All were heavily armed, and one
of them was leading an extra saddle horse. The party dismounted under
the shadow of some trees. One man held the horses, while his four
companions, with drawn revolvers, advanced to the gateway. Whether it
was a simple case of cowardly yielding to threats, or whether there had
been preliminary financial greasing of locks and bolts, aided perhaps
by sympathy for the prisoner, the fact remains that within a very few
minutes Dick Willoughby had been brought from his cell.

"You are a free man, Mr. Willoughby," said the leader of the masked band
in a low voice. "You will come with us."

"Who are you?" asked Dick.

"We are friends--that is enough."

"I have no wish to go," protested Dick in the hearing of the jailers.
"The jury must acquit me--I am ready to remain here until they do acquit
me."

"Take care. The man with the money can put the rope round your neck."

"I am not afraid."

"There is another reason. The name of a certain young lady must not be
introduced into this case."

"I have begged her not to testify."

"But she will testify if this trial goes on--that you know well. Now you
will come with us, for her sake if not for your own."

"Be it so then," replied Dick. "Lead the way." Just as quietly as they
had come the little band of riders rode through the silent and deserted
streets. They took the southern road, and for the first few miles kept
to the thoroughfare. Then, reaching a stretch of unreclaimed land, they
started across country. The night was moonless and dark, but Dick knew
instinctively that they were making for the mountainous country to the
north of the Tejon Pass.

The leader rode a short distance ahead. Not a word was spoken. In about
two hours they were among the foothills. The pace slackened, and then,
as they reached a clump of oaks, a halt was called. From under the
shadow of the trees a man appeared, leading two sturdy little mountain
ponies. The newcomer wore no mask.

"This man will be your guide from now on," announced the leader, whose
features were still concealed by the strip of black cloth tied around
the lower part of his face. "I am sorry we must ask you to wear a
blindfold, Mr. Willoughby. But you are among friends, and I feel sure
you will help us all by your ready assent."

"I am in your hands," replied Dick, quietly. A few minutes later he was
seated on one of the ponies, his eyes securely bandaged. The saddle was
a big comfortable Mexican one, and he rested his hands on the horn; for
there was no bridle, only a leading rein held by the man mounted on the
other pony.

"_Adios!_"

It was the leader's voice again, and now once more Dick was on the move,
the nimble little pony cantering gently over the turf.

Hour succeeded hour. The sun had risen, as the blindfolded rider could
tell from the warmth of the atmosphere. The canter had long since
changed to a walk, and Dick knew that they had been climbing steadily,
with many a turn and sometimes up precipitous slopes.

At last a strange chilliness came into the air. Dick imagined that he
heard a growl, as of some savage animal. Then there came a stop, and
he caught some whispered words--a woman's voice he could have sworn,
speaking in some strange tongue. After a few minutes his pony started
again.

But they had not gone more than a hundred yards further when his guide
called out.

"Here we are, sir. I will help you to descend. Zen I take ze bandage
away. You see again."

The voice had a quaint foreign accent. For a little time Willoughby
remained blind. Then he began to see things, and involuntarily rubbed
his eyes in amazement.

He was in a vast vaulted cavern with no visible entrance revealed by
the dim light of several lanterns suspended from the roof. In the far
distance a log fire was burning, and silhouetted against its ruddy
glow was the figure of the aged Indian squaw, Guadalupe, with a great
dog-like creature standing by her side.

"Guadalupe!" exclaimed Dick in profound surprise, turning to his guide.

This man he now saw was old, with short gray hair and a short gray
beard. His face was pale, but there was a pleasant gleam in his eyes.

"Yes, Guadalupe," the guide replied. "Guadalupe, she guard ze entrance
to our cave--she and ze white wolf. No one can get past ze white wolf
unless Guadalupe speaks ze word."

"And who are you?"

"Oh, call me Pierre. I am Mr. Willoughby's servant. Here are fine
beefsteaks ready for breakfast. Come."

"Pierre!" murmured Dick. "Pierre Luzon?"

"Zat is my name. I am Pierre Luzon."




CHAPTER XX--In the Cavern

|WHEN Dick proceeded to follow Pierre Luzon he found that the ponies had
already trotted away through the semidarkness, evidently quite capable
on their own account of finding their accustomed stable. Leading the
way across the cavern, Pierre entered a corridor at the far end of which
bright lights were burning. Soon, Dick, to his great wonderment, found
himself in a comfortably, almost luxuriously furnished apartment.

There were big thick rugs on the floor, and the rock walls were
completely hidden by tapestries. The dining table in the centre was set
with napery, china, glass, cutlery and silverware that would have done
credit to a first-class hotel. Above swung a bronze lamp of antique
pattern. Another table was laden with books, newspapers and magazines.
In one corner gleamed the snow-white counterpane of a massive bedstead
built of oak in Old Mission style. Here and there portable oil stoves
were burning, diffusing a genial warmth throughout the grotto.

Pierre watched the guest's look of bewilderment as he gazed around him.

"You will be very comfortable here," said the Frenchman. "I have orders
to attend to all your wants."

"Orders, from whom?" asked Dick abruptly. "After breakfast you will
know. I have one letter for you in my pocket."

With characteristic philosophy Dick accepted the situation. The very
mention of breakfast gave a keener edge to an already sharply whetted
appetite. Pierre departed and presently returned with a superb sirloin
steak sizzling on a hot platter. Under his arm was tucked a bottle
of wine. As he set down the latter, Dick noted that it was dusty and
cobwebby, as if it had emerged from some ancient cellar.

"Zis is not ze vintage of California," remarked Pierre, as he drew the
cork. "It is rare old Burgundy--all ze way from my beloved France."

"_La belle_ France," murmured Dick. "I spent a year there, Pierre, most
of the time in Paris."

"Ah, monsieur knows France and Paris," exclaimed the old man in great
delight. "Zen you speak French, too?"

"_Un peu_," laughed Dick. "_Mais je fais beaucoup de fautes, mon ami_."

[Illustration: 0205]

"_Non, non, monsieur_," cried Pierre, breaking into voluble French.
"Your accent is perfect--it is delightful to hear my native language
again. We shall be great friends, Mr. Willoughby. Already I am your
devoted servant." He bowed deferentially, as he held Dick's chair ready
for him to be seated.

"You will breakfast with me, Pierre?" asked Dick, still in his best
French.

"No, no. I wait on monsieur. I shall breakfast in good time."

Pierre was not to be persuaded to take a place at the table, so Dick sat
down in solitary state and was served in lordly fashion.

With the _demi-tasse_ of black coffee at the close of the meal came
a box of cigars--cigars fit for a prince, as Dick knew from the first
fragrant whiff.

The table was now cleared and Pierre ready to withdraw. He had taken a
letter from his pocket and was holding it in his hand. But Dick, warmed
and fed and supremely contented, was watching the ascending rings of
tobacco smoke.

"Do you know, Pierre," he said between complacent puffs, "that I was one
of the bunch that helped to get you out of San Quentin?" He had lapsed
into English.

"Oh, yes, I know," replied Pierre, also dropping his French. "Ze five
men who made up ze purse--I am very grateful to you all."

"Then what about the hidden treasure?"

"Ah, I was to show ze hidden treasure. But one great change come about.
I made one big mistake."

"Then the story of all this gold was a frame-up, was it?" laughed
Willoughby.

"No, no," protested Pierre earnestly. "Ze cave--you are here in ze cave,
although you do not know ze secret hiding place. Ze treasure, it is
here, too. But I can no longer show ze gold, for ze man to whom it all
belong he is not dead--he is alive."

"Whom do you mean?"

"Don Manuel de Valencia--him you call ze White Wolf."

"Great guns! So he has appeared again. The newspaper stories were all
wrong?"

"Zat is how I made my mistake. But I did not know until I came back to
Tehachapi. Ze White Wolf is alive. It is he who has brought you here
as his guest. Now you will read zis letter, and zen all things you will
comprehend."

Pierre laid the missive on the damask table cloth in front of Dick.
The latter fastened his eyes on it in speechless surprise. Before
he recovered himself Pierre, lifting the tray of empty dishes, had
noiselessly disappeared.

"Mystery upon mystery," murmured Dick as he broke the seal. The letter
was a brief one, and began without any of the usual forms of personal
address:

"You are in safe and honorable keeping. Have no care. Nor need you worry
about your friends--they will be informed of your safety.

"Just as soon as possible the real slayer of Marshall Thurston will be
revealed. You will be completely exonerated and can then return to the
world, a free man. By this means a certain young lady will be spared
from the gossip and the publicity which, although she has been brave
enough to say it does not matter, would bring for her annoyance and
pain.

"If she is dear to you, as the writer of this letter believes, you will
help to shield her from vulgar curiosity by remaining quietly where
you are until the proper hour for your deliverance comes. It is only
necessary for you to give your word of honor to Pierre Luzon that
you will make no attempt to escape or reveal your whereabouts. Your
trustfulness will be rewarded--this is the solemn promise of

"Don Manuel de Valencia,

"Your friend."

Dick read and re-read the strange message. All at once he became
conscious that Pierre Luzon was again standing by his chair. Their eyes
met.

"Does Mr. Willoughby give ze promise required?" asked Pierre.

Dick rose to his feet and extended his hand.

"I promise, Pierre. You have my word of honor. The letter says that is
enough."

"I have read ze letter before it was sealed. We all know Mr.
Willoughby's word is enough--it is as good as one gold bond."

"I'd do anything for Merle Farnsworth," continued Dick, carried away by
his fervid emotion. "I would die for her, if need be, to save her from
one moment's pain."

"Don Manuel he know that," replied Pierre. Dick paused and his look
changed.

"How the devil does he know I love the girl?"

"Ah!" The Frenchman shrugged his shoulders and smiled. "Ah! Don Manuel
he know everything. But now, I am under orders not to speak. Over there
you will find ze latest newspapers, sir," he went on, pointing to the
table laden with literature, "and every few days more will be brought
for you--not only ze newspapers of Los Angeles and San Francisco, but
also, ze newspapers of New York and London and Paris, all of which
monsieur is accustomed to read."

"Great Scott, you seem to know," exclaimed Dick in a low voice.

Pierre continued placidly:

"And you play chess. There is a box of chess--_échecs_ we call it in
France, you will remember. I too play ze game. Don Manuel and I used to
spend many hours over ze board. After I have had my breakfast, I, Pierre
Luzon, challenge you to one game of chess."

"Be it so," laughed Dick. "But you must be hungry, man. For heaven's
sake go and eat. We'll yarn later on. Meanwhile, I'll have a glance
through the newspapers."

Dick handled the newspapers with renewed surprise--the very New York
papers he was accustomed to receive regularly, also the old familiar.
_Times Weekly_ from London and the Paris _Figaro_ to which he had
subscribed ever since the old Quartier Latin days! The same with the
magazines--all his favorites were on the table.

"Well, I'll be blowed! Is it the guileless Sing Ling whom Don Manuel has
been tapping for information? This certainly looks like home," and again
he glanced over the table. He looked at the titles of the books--several
of the latest novels, a volume on socialism, another on the history of
architecture.

"Seems to know my book tastes, too. I won't be lonesome, that's certain.
Well, I can't do better than make a start with the newspapers. I've
fallen quite behind the times."

He stretched himself out on a long rattan chair, and started with a Los
Angeles daily. He had read lazily on for nearly an hour, when there came
from his lips a little cry of surprise.

Starting up into a sitting posture, Dick again perused the paragraph
that had excited his special interest.

It was an announcement stating that an ideal city was about to be built
in the Tehachapi valley, and that a prize of ten thousand dollars was to
be awarded to the designer of the best plans for laying out such a
town. Reference was made to an advertisement on another page giving the
details and the rules of the competition. To this Dick eagerly turned.

The advertisement set forth that the model city was to be located
somewhere near the centre of San Antonio Rancho, that the land was
traversed by the state highway, by two railroads, by two electric power
lines and two oil-carrying pipe lines, also the great Owen's River
aqueduct that supplied Los Angeles, some two hundred miles away, with
water from the high Sierras. It was further stated that the entire ranch
was to be subdivided into small tracts, and that already hundreds of
applicants were waiting to make choice of home sites just so soon as the
survey work was completed and the land thrown open to selection.

The plans required, and for which the prize of ten thousand dollars was
offered, were to show the finest landscape effects, the most impressive
and convenient location of public buildings, the most attractive ideas
for bringing into being a veritable ideal city provided with all the
most modern conveniences and sanitary equipment.

"By gad, I'd like to have a shot at that," murmured Willoughby as he lay
back in his chair and meditated.

After a time he picked up the London journal, and the very first thing
that met his eye was the identical advertisement on the back of the
cover. He rose and began to search through the week's file of the
_Figaro_, and there again he found the announcement of the contest.
He was too keenly excited now for more reading. He began to pace the
chamber. What a clever head had planned all this world-wide publicity!

"That Los Angeles bunch of fellows are certainly great. They are
evidently going into this thing right. Doubtless they are determined
to build the ideal--the model--city of California. They want the best
brains of all lands to help beautify the place. Gee! but I'd like to be
in this contest game. But perhaps it would be presumption on my part.
Yet, who knows the country better than I do? When it comes to landscape
effects, I'm Johnny-on-the-spot all right. And they're in a hurry--only
sixty days for the drawings. Unusual, such a short time. But I guess
they're going to make the dust fly without a week's unnecessary delay.
They are certainly live wires--they began by getting old Ben Thurston on
the run."

He was chuckling to himself at the thought when Pierre reappeared.

"Pierre, old fellow," cried Dick, "would you be able to get me a drawing
board, a box of instruments, india ink, water-colors, drawing paper, and
so on?"

"What are you going to do?" asked the old man with a smile. "Do you
think you are again in ze Quartier Latin, Mr. Willoughby?"

"No. But while I'm here I'm going back to the old Quartier Latin life,
that's a cinch. Can you buy me that stuff?" he added, diving into his
hip pocket.

But he had forgotten--he had come out of jail, and his personal
possessions had been left behind.

Pierre Luzon, however, had interpreted both the gesture and the thought
that had prompted it.

"You need no money here, Mr. Willoughby," he said. "My orders are to get
you everything you call for. Write all you need on a piece of paper. I
send a trusty messenger, and we have ze drawing paper, ze instruments,
ze ink and ze paints here very soon--yes, very soon."

"Then, by thunder, I'm going to win that ten-thousand-dollar prize."

"But she is worth millions of dollars."

"What do you mean?"

"Ze young lady--she very rich young lady, Miss Merle."

Dick laughed.

"Oh, that's quite another prize, Pierre," he replied. "And if she is so
very rich, as you say, why that puts her further out of my reach than
ever."

Pierre nodded his head determinedly.

"If I was you, Mr. Willoughby, ze prize I would try to win is ze
beautiful young lady."

When Pierre had gone, Dick again lay back in the long chair. But he was
day-dreaming and love-dreaming now, wondering whether Merle Farnsworth
really cared for him, whether he might dare whisper to her the story of
his passionate love.




CHAPTER XXI--A Debt of Honor

|PUBLIC excitement had been running high over the approaching trial of
Dick Willoughby, but his delivery from jail by the masked night-riders
came as the culminating climax. Mystery and romance were piling up.
Despite the strength of the circumstantial evidence, the sudden fate
that had overtaken the young heir to San Antonio rancho had been
shrouded with uncertainty; no witness had seen the actual doing of
the murderous deed. The sensational arrest of Dick Willoughby had been
followed by his still more sensational disappearance; for he seemed to
have vanished from the face of the earth--he had been spirited to some
place of concealment to which there was not the slightest clue, while
also the identity of his rescuers remained a profound enigma.

All sorts of speculations were rife, and it was small wonder that the
name of the famous bandit, Don Manuel, came to be revived. This was
just the sort of audacious work the White Wolf would have gloried
in--breaking into a prison, defying the authorities, leaving behind him
a trail of mystery and vague terror. But shrewd old-timers pointed out
that Don Manuel had never in his whole career helped a gringo--that his
hand had been against every American, and that in his earlier days at
all events he had killed ruthlessly, out of sheer lust for vengeance
against the race of newcomers who had despoiled him of his ancestral
acres. What reason, therefore, could he have had to help Dick Willoughby
to liberty? Even if it had been the outlaw's hand that had pulled the
trigger against the son of his hated enemy, Ben Thurston, little would
he have cared if a score of gringos had come to their end, justly or
unjustly, as an aftermath of the tragedy.

Old Ben Thurston had discussed this very question with himself. The
slaying of his only son, the clever business deal that had called his
own tricky and dishonest bluff and lost him his principality, the
sight of his herds being driven away, the approaching eviction from his
home--all these events crowding one upon the other had exasperated
him beyond measure and completed the change of the already grouchy,
disgruntled man into a veritable wild beast snapping and snarling at
everyone. Yet his mind was completely obsessed by the idea that it was
Dick Willoughby, and Dick Willoughby alone, who had shot his son, so
there was no room in his small and obfuscated brain for any seriously
renewed apprehension that his old enemy, the White Wolf, had come to
life again.

Dick's escape from jail almost gave Ben Thurston a fit of apoplexy. It
was the sleuth, Leach Sharkey, who alone of those around him ventured
to break the news. After his first paroxysm of wrath, Thurston paced the
room like a caged animal. He had begun to make a confidant of this man,
his constant attendant, the protector with the handy guns in his hip
pockets on whom he had come to rely night and day, the one associate who
phlegmatically endured his irritable moods and abusive language.

So, in Leach Sharkey's presence, Thurston, as he walked to and fro,
spoke his thoughts aloud.

"Damn all pretty faces, anyhow. First and last they have cost me a fine
sum. And now it is a pretty face that has cost me my boy's life. It's
hell, that's what it is. But I will have my revenge. I'll hang Dick
Willoughby with my own hands if necessary--even if it is the last act of
my life I'll have his neck stretched for him."

He was glaring down at the sleuth, and the pause seemed to call for some
reply.

"Well, he's given us the slip for the present," Sharkey ventured. Then
he caught the gathering fury in the other's eyes, and hurriedly went on:
"But there is no question in the world we'll run the scoundrel down. I
myself will shoot him like the dog he is the moment I lay my two eyes on
him."

"Well, don't waste your breath telling me you are going to do it,"
growled Thurston. "Hunt him down. Take all the money you need. Get all
the men you can. Search every canyon. Guard every road out of the hill
country. And don't be misled by that damn fool talk about the White Wolf
of which you've been telling me. That cursed outlaw is dead--dead as a
herring. I ran the story of his death to earth--stood on his very grave
in the potters' field at Seattle. Dick Willoughby's the outlaw now. Get
him at any cost. Get him, or, by God, lose your own job, Leach Sharkey.
Do you follow me?"

"Oh, I follow you," replied the sleuth, a sardonic smile still further
exposing the teeth that were the most prominent feature of his face and
at all times gave him a hyena-like appearance. "I'll get him, make no
mistake, Mr. Thurston. Just draw me that check, and I'll have twenty
more men out on the range before morning."

At the store, Dick Willoughby's disappearance was for days the sole
topic of conversation. One morning Tom Baker and Buck Ashley were
gossiping together.

"What beats me," remarked the storekeeper, "is that Chester Munson wears
such a spry look. He was Dick's closest chum, yet he don't seem to be
one bit anxious."

"Oh, he's got the word, make no mistake," replied Tom. "Although the
lieutenant is as close as wax, he knows Dick's all right, for sure.
And I'm told that up at La Siesta, where Dick has his girl, you know,
they're still a-playin' the pianner and the fiddle all the time. Mark my
words--there's been some wireless telephone at work. Munson don't worry,
his lady friends don't worry, so I begin to think we're a couple of
derned old fools to fret ourselves on Dick's account."

"It's about Pierre Luzon I'm frettin' most," Buck Ashley rejoined. "To
think that that damned Frenchman should have done us in the eye, got
clean away and robbed us of our share of the buried treasure--that's
what worries me, Tom Baker. And you'll allow now you made a mess of
things by not havin' the old convict shackled to the bedpost."

"A mess of things!" cried the sheriff, rising anger in his voice and
eyes. "You won't keep your mouth shut till I teach you--"

But just then there was the clatter of hoofs outside, and Tom stopped in
the middle of his sentence. A moment later Munson and Jack Rover entered
in a state of visible excitement. Munson carried in his arms a rotund
canvas sack tied at the neck. The package was not very big, but clearly
of considerable weight.

"Great Caesar," exclaimed the lieutenant, without pausing to give any
greeting. "A most surprising thing has happened. When I awoke this
morning I found this bag lying on my table. And what do you think it
contains?" As he asked the question he dumped the sack on the counter
with a heavy thud.

"You've got us guessin'," drawled Tom.

"Ten thousand, five hundred dollars in gold!" announced Munson.

"Good Lord!" ejaculated the sheriff in great surprise.

Munson went on:

"Five thousand dollars are for the French warder at San Quentin who
smuggled Pierre Luzon's letter out of the prison, and the balance is for
the syndicate."

"What syndicate?" gasped Buck, for the moment quite bewildered.

"The Hidden Treasure Syndicate, of course," exclaimed Jack Rover.
"Pierre Luzon has sent each man back the hundred dollars he put up to
get him out of the pen, and five thousand dollars extra to divide among
us."

Buck and Tom sprang simultaneously to their feet.

"Hooroosh!" shouted the sheriff. "I always knew there was no yellow
streak in old Pierre Luzon."

"And I always said I liked him, too," observed Buck. "But come into the
parlor, boys," he went on, with a cautious look around. "Let's count the
money."

"And divvy it up," added Tom eagerly. "Gosh 'lmighty, boys! I've never
yet seen a thousand dollars in gold at one time outside a bank cashier's
window. And to think there's that amount cornin' to me right now!"

"One thousand, one hundred, pal, to be exact," laughed Jack Rover,
lifting the package and following the storekeeper into the sanctum
beyond the counter.

The gold was in United States twenty-dollar pieces, bearing dates which
showed they had been minted more than twenty years ago.

"Some of Joaquin Murietta's loot," remarked Jack Rover, when attention
had been drawn to this detail.

"No," observed Tom Baker, holding up the coin he had been examining,
"Murietta wasn't alive when this 'ere gold piece came from the mint.
This is some of Don Manuel's stuff."

"The White Wolf!" exclaimed Munson.

"Yes, the White Wolf," continued the sheriff. "So if the White Wolf
ain't dead, as Pierre declared that night--" Tom gazed at the bedroom
door as if the spectral figure might reappear--"he's honorin' the
Frenchie's sight draft, that's sure."

"I see," said Munson. "He is paying the five thousand dollars old Pierre
promised in his letter if he was helped to freedom and five thousand
dollars besides."

"Precisely," Tom Baker replied. "But if the White Wolf is dead, as most
folks say, then the Frenchie's got the key to the treasure vault, all
right."

"So we've got to get him back here again, boys," murmured Buck, rubbing
his hands while his eyes feasted upon the heap of gold. "I don't mind
boardin' Pierre Luzon for a spell, and he can have all the bourbon he
wants."

"Till he tells us where Guadalupe gets her nuggets," grinned Jack. "But
you've forgotten to show 'em, Munson, the card that came with the coin."

"Oh, yes," rejoined Munson, drawing a small piece of pasteboard from his
pocket. "It is brief enough. Luzon gives his countryman's family address
in Marseilles where the first five thousand dollars is to be mailed.
Then he writes down our five names, Dick Willoughby's first, and says
the five of us are to share equally." He passed the card to Tom Baker
for inspection, and went on: "Jack and I are going to ride over to
Bakersfield, get the French bank draft and put Dick's money in the bank
along with our own."

"Where's Dick?" asked Buck, with a quick uplift of his eyes into
Munson's face.

But the latter was not to be betrayed into divulging any information
that might be in his possession.

"I have not the slightest idea," he replied airily. "But I feel sure
Dick's all right. He is the sort of fellow well able to look after
himself. Meanwhile, Jack and I will attend to his financial interests,"
he added with a laugh, as he began to count the gold.

In silence the task proceeded, five thousand dollars first being set
aside, and then the balance divided into five separate heaps. When all
were satisfied as to the correctness of the distribution, Munson swept
the gold back into the sack, except for the two little piles allotted to
Ashley and Baker. Then he securely tied the package, ready for the ride
to Bakersfield.

"Buck will lock mine in his safe, boys," exclaimed Tom Baker. "Gosh me,
but I'll want to look at it two or three times a day."

"Oh, I'm drivin' over to the bank myself tomorrer," declared Buck. "I've
got a bit more to add to this pile."

"A few handfuls of nuggets, I suppose," laughed Rover.

"Well, I'll allow Guadalupe always pays her grocery bills. But this 'ere
store ain't goin' to be a safe deposit vault, not on your demed life,
with bandits around again. So you'd better arrange to come with me to
town tomorrer, Tom."

"You'll need me to help you home, perhaps," grinned the sheriff. "But, I
say, Munson, you ain't told us yet how this sack came to be delivered at
your place."

"There's a proper mystery for you!" cried Munson. "As I said before, I
found the bag this morning, lying on my dressing table. Sing Ling was
the only one besides myself in the shack, and he never heard a sound all
night."

"You're still in Dick's old home?" asked Buck. "Yes, but I leave
tomorrow--have notice to quit, for some surveyor chaps are coming in.
I'm moving up to Mr. Robles' place. He wants me to catalog the books in
his library."

"And Sing Ling?" queried Tom.

"He goes, too. You see, Mr. Robles needs a crackerjack cook, now I'll be
boarding with him," Munson laughed, gaily. "You don't happen to have a
porterhouse steak about the place, Buck?"

"I can heat you up a can of pork and beans."

"Nothing doing! Jack and I wouldn't spoil our appetites with such truck
as that. We're going to set up a chicken dinner in Bakersfield."

"Chicken and champagne," chimed in Jack, as he swung the sack over his
shoulder.

"You're beginning to get big bugs these days," called out the
storekeeper as the young men left the room. "Guess, Tom," he went on,
turning to the sheriff, "we could do with a jolt of Kentucky."

"Make it a bottle of bourbon," gurgled Tom, "to remind us of our absent
friend."

"Dear old Pierre," murmured Buck, as he fumbled in his pocket for the
key of the safe, his eyes glued all the time on the two little heaps of
gold.




CHAPTER XXII--Underqround Wonders

|Dick Willoughby was in a way happy in his retreat. At first he had been
inclined to regret the jail delivery--it might have been the manlier
part to have faced the music and cleared his name before the whole
world. But then he reflected on the uncertainties of a trial, the
cases of innocent men having suffered because of damning circumstantial
evidence piled up against them, the vindictiveness of Ben Thurston and
the undoubted power of his money to press the criminal charge by every
unscrupulous means. So Dick soon came round to the belief that he might
be safer for the time being in the guardianship of the White Wolf than
at the mercy of a fallible jury.

Then there was Merle Farnsworth to consider. Yes; to have brought her
into a public court, to have allowed her to plead for him by telling the
story of Marshall Thurston's loathsome advances--that was a thing that
could never have been tolerated. The leader of the jail-breaking gang
had been right; Dick owed it to Merle to save her from such a cruel
ordeal.

Finally Dick's contentment over his change of quarters was completed
when Pierre Luzon appeared with a superb equipment of drawing
instruments and materials. There was no time to worry now over surmises
as to the wisdom of this course or the other course. Work lay to his
hand--work of the most absorbing and delightful kind; and with all the
ambitious enthusiasm of his temperament he tackled it whole-heartedly
there and then. Hour after hour, day after day, Pierre watched in
contemplative silence the methodical advancement of the task to which
the young architect had applied himself.

But there were frequent intervals for conversation, sometimes in French,
sometimes in English, as the mood prompted. Occasionally Pierre drifted
into semi-confidential reminiscences, and Willoughby soon came to know
in close detail the story of Don Manuel's life--the tragedy of his
sister Rosetta's death, the vow of vengeance against Ben Thurston, the
early bandit days when the White Wolf counted every gringo in the land
his natural enemy, the often hairbreadth escapes of the outlaw, his
sublime courage and nerve in the direst emergencies.

"Don Manuel was one great man," remarked Pierre at the close of one of
these confidences--the phrase was a favorite one with the old Frenchman.
"Many and many a time he could have shot his enemy from a distance
and got away. But Don Manuel had vowed zat he would kill him hand to
hand--zat ze villain must die with a last malediction in his ear, and
knowing zat it was he, ze White Wolf, who in ze end had revenged his
sister's shame."

"He felt, too, didn't he, that his father had been wronged in being
driven from San Antonio Rancho?"

"Sure--zat was another great wrong--zat was why Don Manuel was so bitter
against all ze Americans. But he made zem pay for ze land many and many
times over." Then Pierre, as was now his custom in Dick's presence when
speaking at any length, lapsed into French as he continued: "But the
White Wolf was a man of high honor. He never used any of the proceeds of
his robberies for himself. True, he spent the money to pay his band, to
pay the numerous scouts and spies whose services he secretly retained,
to plan and accomplish further hold-ups, to defy and outwit the
authorities. But on his own needs--never--not one dollar!"

Pierre went on to explain that after Ben Thurston had fled from
California and kept away in hiding, Don Manuel had visited Spain, to
claim the family estates in Valencia to which his father's death had
left him the sole heir. These he had sold for many millions of dollars,
and most of that money he kept in banks in London and Paris. So he was
a very rich man, and had no need to rob anyone except to gratify his
vengeance. Even the hoarded gold of Joaquin Murietta he had never
touched. It remained intact today in the treasure vault of the cave,
boxes and sacks of gold and jewels.

"Won't I be allowed to see this wonderful treasure?" asked Dick, half
jesting.

"Perhaps, some day, if the White Wolf chooses to show you. But it is
not for me to do that--I swore an oath of secrecy when the White Wolf
trusted me--me and Felix Vasquez, who was also his confidant. But
Vasquez was killed at Tulare Lake. So now only we two know the secret,
and until the White Wolf himself dies my lips are sealed by the solemn
oath I swore to the Virgin Mary." The old man crossed himself devoutly.

"Then where does the White Wolf live now?"

"Ah, that is another secret. Again I would break my oath if I spoke one
word."

"And Guadalupe--does she know these things?" asked Dick in English.

"Guadalupe? Oh, no," responded Pierre, politely adopting the change of
language, "she is just one servant, our cook--one very excellent cook,
as monsieur knows--and ze guardian of ze cave. For ze real white wolf
guards Guadalupe--ze big animal is just like one tame dog to ze old
squaw, but with his fierce jaws he would kill anyone who dared to
approach her or come near ze hidden entrance to zis cavern. No man can
ever find zat while ze white wolf is alive. In ze old days he killed
several men when zey dared to follow Guadalupe."

"Then the white wolf must be very old?"

"As old as Guadalupe--as old as the Tehachapi mountains," exclaimed
Pierre, again crossing himself and thereby revealing the superstitious
dread in which he held the savage animal.

"But you can pass the white wolf, can't you?' asked Dick.

"Never--except when Guadalupe give permission. Then ze wolf lies
down and I can come out of ze cave or enter. Ah! ze white wolf is one
terrible beast. But he never shows his teeth to Don Manuel. Only Don
Manuel can pass when Guadalupe is not there."

"Then where is Guadalupe's riffle of gold--where is the lake of oil
about which you told Tom Baker?"

"Come, I will show you zese," replied Pierre. As he rose he picked up
the lantern he usually carried.

Dick jumped to his feet with alacrity and followed his guide.

They crossed the main cavern, then entered another side gallery. This
had many windings and from it ran several diverging rock corridors. But
Pierre led the way unfalteringly.

Fully half a mile must have been traversed when at last the Frenchman
halted and swung his lantern aloft.

"Zere!" was all he said.

Dick followed the flash of the lantern, and there before him was a dark
pool stretching away indefinitely into the blackness beyond. He bent
down and scooped up a little of the fluid in his palm. It was a brown
oil, as thin as water, and therefore capable of use without any refining
process.

"Great Scott, this is wonderful!" exclaimed Dick in profound amazement.

"Very wonderful," concurred Pierre. "In zis cavern are oil and water,
also gold--Guadalupe's gold. Ze gold is close to here. Come."

Pierre turned and again led the way through dark and winding corridors.
At a little distance Dick became conscious of the purling of a running
stream. Pierre stopped once more, but this time held the lantern close
to the ground.

"Here Guadalupe come to wash out ze nuggets of gold, and since I have
been in prison she buy with zem, so Mr. Baker say to me, groceries at
ze store. Don Manuel, when I tell him, he very angry--she never do zat
again."

"Poor old Buck Ashley!" laughed Dick. "He lost you, Pierre, and now
he'll be losing his best paying customer, too."

While speaking, he knelt and dipped his hands into the stream, bringing
up some gravel into the lantern rays. But Pierre shook his head.

"You no find ze gold. Guadalupe wash many hours to get, perhaps, just
one nugget. But there is heaps and heaps, if ze miners came with spades
and cradles."

"Great guns, there must be the reef, too, from which the nuggets have
come!" exclaimed Dick, rising erect and dropping the handful of pebbles.

"Now, we must go back," said Pierre, "for zis evening you are to be
allowed to come for a ride with me down ze mountains."

"You don't say?" Dick cried, surprised and delighted.

"Yes; Don manuel he send word today that he give permission. But you
must wear ze bandage round your eyes, and you must promise to return
when I give ze word."

"Don't for one moment think, old fellow, that I would leave my drawings.
But where are we going tonight?"

"To La Siesta," replied Pierre.

"Hurrah!" shouted Dick. "Hurry up, Pierre! I'm mighty glad you got
me those ties and things from Los Angeles. You say you can give me a
hair-cut?"

"Ze old-time bandit learned to trim ze hair of his friends as well as ze
pocket-books of his enemies," was the laughing answer.




CHAPTER XXIII--The Unexpected Visitor

|MOST of the cattle had been driven off the land. The vaqueros had
dispersed to the four points of the compass. Chester Munson had vacated
his room in Dick Willoughby's old home, and had taken up his residence
and library duties at Mr. Robles' mansion on the hill. Sing Ling had
folded his tent like the Arab and silently stolen away in the same
direction. A small army of surveyors had appeared on the scene and were
quartered in the rancho buildings.

The only one of the old-timers who still lingered on was Ben Thurston,
more gloomy and morose than ever, seldom stirring out of doors now, but
conducting all his business by telephone or through the agency of the
sleuth, Leach Sharkey, his only companion.

Jack Rover had pitched his camp temporarily at the store. Buck Ashley
had assigned him Pierre's cot, but the cowboy had fixed it under a
wide-spreading sycamore, preferring to sleep in the open rather than
share the grocery-perfumed atmosphere of the store building.

Tom Baker was around most of the time. The three men clung together with
a vague sense that they had a common interest in the vast treasure which
had so far eluded them, but which might any day come again within reach
of their eager claws. It afforded an endless theme of conversation,
varied by talk about the passing of the rancho and all the train of
changes which were bound to follow the close settlement of the valley.

One morning Jack Rover found Buck at the door of the store, with a pair
of antiquated-looking field glasses at his eyes.

"Where did you get the goggles, Buck?" asked Jack.

"Oh, I rummaged 'em out of a trunk--had almost forgot I had the blamed
things. But we used to keep a sharp lookout in the old bandit days--got
kinda ready for any suspicious lookin' riders on the road." He had
spoken while still peering through the binoculars, but now he turned to
Jack and proffered him the glasses. "I do wonder what 'n hell we're all
cornin' to anyway. This here ranch that we've bragged up as bein'
the biggest in all California! Ugh!" The grunt was one of unspeakable
disgust. "Take a look for yourself."

Jack turned the glasses in the direction Buck had been gazing, and began
to adjust the focus.

"What's the matter now?" he asked.

"Matter 'nough," growled the storekeeper. "San Antonio Rancho is goin'
to the dogs. Do you see them specks away out yonder in the valley?
That's another band of surveyors. One feller's peekin' through a
spy-glass set on a tripod; another feller goes ahead and puts up tall
stakes with big figgers on 'em, and the other fellers are chainin' off
the distances. This 'ere ranch 'll surely look like a checker-board
blamed soon."

"Progress," said Jack, laconically.

"Progress, hell!" snapped Ashley. "These new fellers that bought the
ranch have sure 'nuff driv' off all the cattle and now they're dividin'
up the land. I bet they'll take the postoffice away from me--not that
it pays much, for the Lord knows it don't--but it brings customers to my
store."

"Well, Buck," said the cowboy, consolingly, "there are lots worse things
than moving a postoffice. What's to prevent your setting up the finest
grocery store in the new model city the advertisements speak about?"

"That would suit me fine, wouldn't it?" cried the old storekeeper,
with scathing contempt. "Goin' around in a biled shirt, and handin' out
pencils and chewin' gum to the little school gals that'll be swarmin'
all over the place. Not on your life, Jack! I'll be losin' both my
postoffice and my store in these new-fangled times." He paused a moment,
then his tone changed to one of aggressiveness. "However, they ain't
built their doggoned new town yet, and it's my belief all this boom talk
is just so much hot air."

"In any case you won't need to worry, Buck, after we get on the tracks
of Pierre Luzon again. I intend to find the old squaw's sand-bar, or my
name isn't Jack Rover."

"And I betche I'm a-goin' to find Joaquin Murietta's cache," concurred
the old man with equal determination.

Just then Tom Baker slouched out of the store, where he had overheard
the conversation.

"Oh, things are a-goin' to turn out all right in the end, boys, don't
fret over that. And there's one thing gol-dern certain, there'll be some
great things doin' in this 'ere valley once they get started on buildin'
the town. The new place will just spring up like Oklahomy City, or
Liberal, Kansas, or some of them big towns that had twenty thousand
people livin' in 'em inside o' thirty days from the time they were
surveyed and laid out."

"That seems quite impossible," commented Jack.

"Not impossible by a derned sight. My brother was at Liberal, Kansas,
down there on the Rock Island, near No Man's Land, you know. The new
town had been talked of and talked of for mebbe three or four months,
just as this new town is bein' talked about today. Then finally the
mornin' came when the new town of Liberal was to be opened up. There
was to be a regular town openin', so to speak, and a sale of lots.
Why, great guns, when the management of that town company rode into the
station, on the early train, they found more'n ten thousand people right
there campin' in covered wagons, tents and all that sorta business, just
awaitin' for the auctioneerin' to start."

Tom paused to take a fresh chew of tobacco and then rambled on:

"I tell you, boys, that within thirty days there was twenty thousand
people livin' in that 'ere town. Two banks were established, and one of
them had one hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars in deposits, too.
Oh, there's lots of people who remember the rush to Liberal, and the
boomin' of Oklahomy City also. And history's fixin' to repeat itself
right here on this 'ere ranch. Things will be sizzlin' when the town
site is finally located and the rush starts pourin' in from Portland,
Oregon, on the north, to San Diego on the south, with a few thousands
from Texas and other states this side o' the Rocky Mountains. They'll
sure be great doin's when the Los Angeles syndicate announce they've
awarded to some feller that ten-thousand-dollar prize for the best plans
for their ideal city, as they keep on callin' it."

"Munson and I were speaking about the contest and the prize," remarked
Jack, "and were saying that if Dick Willoughby were only here, he'd
about win, hands down. You know he was an architect once, before he came
West."

"Dick Willoughby," snorted Ashley, "How can he compete when he don't
know anything about the blamed business? He's hid away, right enough."

"Munson knows a thing or two," remarked Tom Baker. "If he'd only apeak,
he could tell us where Dick is. That's my opinion."

"And there once again you're dead wrong," retorted Jack, warmly. "If
Munson only knew where Dick is hiding, he would have got that very prize
competition advertisement into his hands long before now. He's sore
because he can't send Dick the word. Where is Dick Willoughby? By gad,
it's a mystery."

"I guess you're right," said the sheriff. "That sort o' exonerates
Munson from keepin' things from his partners. I think I owe it to
Chester Munson to drink his health--just for ever doubtin' him. What
shall it be, boys?"

And the open-air meeting adjourned.

It was the very evening of the day on which this conversation had been
held in Buck Ashley's store that Dick Willoughby rode forth from the
cavern blindfolded and under the guidance of Pierre Luzon. For the first
hour progress was slow--round many turnings, down steep declivities,
with just here and there a few miles of easier trail. But then there had
been a swift canter for another hour over grass land, and now at last
the riders were upon a well-made road. Dick divined that this must be
the highway leading to La Siesta, but from what point of the compass
they had come he had not the remotest conception.

Very soon Pierre Luzon, still riding ahead with the leading rein, came
to a halt.

"Here we are. Dismount, please," he said. "You are free to remove ze
bandage."

Dick looked; they were right below the knoll on which the Darlington
home stood. Lights were gleaming from the windows. Dick could even hear
the faint tinkle of the piano.

"I hide ze ponies here in zis little grove of trees," Pierre continued,
pointing to a coppice not fifty yards from the main road. "In two hours'
time, at eleven o'clock"--Pierre looked at his watch in the bright
moonlight--"monsieur will return. I have your word?"

"My word as a gentleman, Pierre," exclaimed Dick, extending his hand.
"So long then, old fellow. I've got to make the best use of my time."

The piano playing stopped abruptly when Willoughby, unannounced,
appeared at the door of the music room.

"Dick!" exclaimed Merle delightedly, leaving the instrument and rushing
toward him. If they had been alone Dick felt that right then she would
have jumped into his arms. But at the distance of a few paces she halted
and clasped her hands.

"How ever did you get here, Mr. Willoughby?" she asked intensely.

"I rode here," he answered, as they shook hands. "But it is only a brief
visit. Hallo, Miss Grace! I'm delighted to see you again. And you, Ches,
old sport--why this is great luck to find you here! Mrs. Darlington, I'm
mighty glad to see you all once more."

The whole bevy were crowding around him, shaking hands and expressing
their joyful surprise.

"We knew you were safe, that was all," explained Munson.

"So you were having just the same jolly good times," laughed Dick,
glancing at the piano. "I'm simply dying for some music."

"But wait a minute," exclaimed Munson, drawing a fat wad of newspaper
cuttings from his pocket. "I've got to tell you about a competition you
must get into--new plans for an ideal city here--"

"In the heart of the old rancho," smiled Dick, as he completed the
sentence. While he spoke, he placed his arm affectionately across his
chum's shoulders. "I know all about it, old man. I'm working hard on my
plans--they are already more than half done."

"Bravo!" shouted Munson. "That's great news."

"But here, too, is Mr. Robles," exclaimed Dick, breaking from the group
and stepping across the room. "Excuse me, senor, but I did not notice
you were here till this moment."

"No excuse needed, my friend. You were better engaged"--this with a
humorous side-glance at the young ladies. "But I am glad to see you
looking so well."

"Where have you been, Mr. Willoughby?" asked Grace.

"That I cannot tell you," replied Dick gravely. "I have pledged my
solemn word. I must leave you at eleven o'clock, returning whence I
came. And meanwhile nobody must ask me a single question about my place
of hiding. There now--that's all. What shall it be first, Miss Merle, a
piano solo or a duet with the violin?"

"Supper, I should say," exclaimed Mrs. Darlington, as she left the room.




CHAPTER XXIV--In a Tight Corner

|DICK'S after-dark visit to La Siesta was only the first of several that
followed at intervals of a few days. He came and departed mysteriously,
and during his brief stay every precaution was taken that no one except
his few trusted friends should know of his presence. But by some means
or other a whisper had reached the ear of the sleuth, Leach Sharkey,
that the fugitive had been seen at the home of Mrs. Darlington.

When the news was imparted to Ben Thurston, the old man quivered from
excitement.

"At La Siesta, do you tell me? Let us ride over there at once, and
search the place from basement to attic."

"No, no," replied Sharkey. "I've got my scouts out. Don't you worry. We
must wait till the night bird comes back. Then we'll trap him like a fat
quail."

"All right. Have my automobile ready, and a bunch of well-armed fellows
right here, so that we can make a rush over at a moment's notice. By
God, I've been disappointed in everything else--lost my son, lost my
ranch, lost my home. But I'm not going to lose that man. I'm going to
get him, even if we shoot him down on sight as an outlawed fugitive from
justice with a price on his head."

"We'll get him," answered Sharkey, with a grim smile. "You may count him
a dead bird. I guessed he wouldn't keep away from his girl very long."

"His girl! Curse her--it was she who lured my son to his death. But I'll
be avenged. If she has been harboring an outlaw, she, too, has broken
the law and shall go to jail."

"Well, she no doubt thinks him innocent," suggested the sleuth.

"Innocent! All women are alike--treacherous devils at heart. I would
give them the vote--yes, but the rope at the same time," he went on,
growling in savage incoherence.

And Sharkey, knowing that discussion or contradiction only added fresh
fuel to his vile temper, left him alone.

At last, a few nights later, a rider dashed up to Ben Thurston's house
with the news that Dick Willoughby had been seen entering La Siesta, and
that, following Sharkey's instructions, every avenue of escape was now
guarded.

"Hurry, hurry! I've got to be in at the death," fairly screamed the old
man.

Five minutes later the big seven-passenger automobile, carrying three or
four armed men besides its owner and his personal guard, Leach Sharkey,
was devouring the twenty miles of road that lay between the two ranch
homes.

That evening the four young people were quietly chatting in the cosy
corner on the interior verandah--the comfortable little nook fixed up
with rugs and tapestries and oriental divans. It was summer now, and
after a sultry day the night air was sweet and balmy. Willoughby was
smoking a cigar in languid contentment with his surroundings, when all
at once he sprang to his feet.

Tia Teresa had rushed in, frantic with excitement.

"A great big automobile is coming along the road," she cried, "and
there are men watching outside the portico. Come with me," she went on,
addressing Dick. "I know where your horses are hid. I can take you by a
secret path through the oleanders."

Dick vaguely wondered why the duenna should know anything about his mode
of coming. But there was no time to question, for just then there came
the sound of voices outside.

Mrs. Darlington, pale and agitated, emerged from the drawing room.

"What has happened?" she asked breathlessly.

"I guess I'm trapped," replied Dick quietly. "No doubt it's old
Thurston. There will be shooting if I resist. So there is nothing for it
but to surrender."

"No, no," exclaimed Merle. "I dread that vindictive man. He must never
get you in his power again. We must gain time to smuggle you out of
the house. I have it. Tia Teresa--give me your mantilla and your cloak.
Quick, quick!"

A first loud knocking had come on the door at the head of the portico
steps. The duenna in a moment had divested herself of her loose black
robe and heavy lace veil.

"Get something else to wear and meet us at the oleanders," continued
Merle, taking the garments from Tia Teresa. "Put these on, Dick, and
sit right there in that corner. Mr. Munson, turn off two or three of the
lights. Mother, dear, control yourself. Take this book and be reading.
Now, that will do. They will be here in a moment."

A second knock had been heard, and now they knew that the door was being
opened without further ceremony, for at placid La Siesta there were no
bolts or bars against unwelcome visitors.

In that brief minute a wonderful transformation scene had taken place in
the cosy corner. Tia Teresa had disappeared. Munson was stretched on
a sofa, puffing his cigar. Merle and Grace had been playing patience
during the afternoon and had left the cards in scattered confusion. Mrs.
Darlington, beneath the single incandescent aglow, was quietly reading.
From the darksome corner the pretended duenna surveyed this peaceful
scene of domesticity.

It was Ben Thurston himself who led the way for his swarm of myrmidons.

He began without formality; his tone was coarse and rude.

"We want the outlaw, Dick Willoughby. We know he is here. So make no
fuss. Deliver him over."

Mrs. Darlington had risen to her feet, and Munson, too, had sprung
erect.

"What do you mean?" asked the lady with quiet dignity.

"You know darned well what I mean."

Munson stepped forward, but he played the game best by keeping himself
under perfect control.

"You will speak civilly, Mr. Thurston, or leave this house. What is
wanted?" he added, turning to Leach Sharkey.

"We want Dick Willoughby, of course," the sleuth replied, politely
enough. "We have reason to believe he is here."

"Well, you can see for yourself whether he is here or not," said Munson,
glancing around. "But if you wish to look through the house, I don't
suppose Mrs. Darlington will refuse you permission."

The lady bowed her acquiescence.

"With your consent, Mrs. Darlington," Munson went on, "I'll show these
gentlemen round and save you the annoyance. Come along then."

Ben Thurston had been fairly silenced by the army man's suave courtesy.
He was glowering at him, dully conscious of having been suppressed.

Munson turned from the sleuth.

"Perhaps Mr. Thurston would prefer to remain with the ladies?" he asked,
with a touch of smiling irony.

"I don't leave my man Sharkey," replied Thurston gruffly. "Sharkey, keep
close watch on me. We'll search the place, but you stay near me all
the time." Once again there was the old hunted look in his eyes as he
glanced apprehensively into the courtyard.

"Then follow me," said Munson quietly.

"You have left a guard at the door of course?" asked Thurston of
Sharkey.

"Oh, you just allow me to know my business," replied the detective
sharply. He bowed to Mrs. Darlington and her daughters. "I am really
sorry to disturb you, ladies."

"Then get the business over as soon as possible," said Munson. "Come
along."

The moment the coast was clear, Merle jumped up.

"Quick! Mr. Willoughby. Follow me downstairs. I'll take you through the
kitchen to the rose gardens."

It was a strange looking duenna that stalked after Merle, with a robe
reaching only to the knees. But at the head of the kitchen stairway Dick
discarded the now useless garments, flinging them across the balustrade.

"We must trust to our good luck now, Merle," he said.

"Never fear. It won't desert us. Hurry on."

At the clump of oleanders they found Tia Teresa, provided with another
shawl. Not a moment was to be wasted in words. Merle just pressed Dick's
hand by way of farewell. As he hastened away down the dark path, she,
too, sped from the spot.

Perhaps fifteen minutes later Ben Thurston, going the round of the
house, came to the head of the kitchen stairs. He saw the black cloak
and mantilla on the balustrade.

"By God!" he cried with swift inspiration of what had happened. "We've
been properly fooled! Where is that old hag of a duenna?"

Gathering the vestments in his hands he rushed through the house to the
verandah. Merle was quietly seated with her mother and Grace. But there
was no sign now of Tia Teresa.

Sharkey had followed close on his employer's heels. Munson came a few
paces behind.

Ben Thurston glared for a moment at the vacant place where the
black-robed figure had been seated. Then he turned round and, addressing
Mrs. Darlington, fairly shouted:

"Where is Dick Willoughby? It was he who was wearing these damned
clothes." And he flung the garments on the rug before her.

"No swearing, please," said Munson, tapping him on the shoulder.

"To hell! Who wouldn't swear? Where is the man I'm after?"

"An innocent man," exclaimed Merle, rising to her feet and proudly
folding her arms.

"Looks like it--breaking jail and hiding in the hills," sneered
Thurston. "He is nothing but a murderer and an outlaw. And I'm going to
get him, dead or alive."

"Then catch him if you can," cried Merle, pointing toward the door that
opened on the portico.

Under the girl's fearless gaze Ben Thurston wilted. Baffled, humiliated,
speechless in his impotent rage, he allowed the sleuth to take him by
the arm and hustle him from the scene.




CHAPTER XXV--Love and Revenge

|BEYOND the oleanders a tall thick hedge of cypress favored the flight
of the fugitive. At the end of the gardens Tia Teresa took a little path
that dipped into the river bed, and when they ascended again out of the
hollow, Dick found himself quite close to the grove where Pierre was in
hiding with the ponies.

By this time the young fellow was angry with himself for having fled
so precipitately. He was full of solicitude for Merle. Why had not he
remained to defend her from the brutality of that ruffian, Ben Thurston?
This was the question that was now making him both ashamed and anxious.

"Hush!"

The caution came from Pierre, and showed that the Frenchman was alive to
what had happened.

"I saw ze automobile rush by," he whispered. "We will ride across
country, so zat it cannot follow us." He pointed in the direction he
would go.

"Not yet," replied Dick, determinedly. "I'm off back to the house to see
that they are all safe there."

"No, no, Mr. Willoughby," protested the duenna earnestly. "You heard
what Miss Merle said--she is afraid of that raging old man. Besides I
know. He has vowed that he and his hired gunmen will shoot you on sight.
For my little girl's sake you must not go back," she implored.

"Besides your word of honor is pledged to me," added Luzon. "You must
return wiz me. I have your parole."

"Parole be hanged," muttered Dick between his teeth.

The old Frenchman laid a kindly hand on the young man's shoulder.

"No, no. Monsieur is a man of honor. And honor comes before
love--always."

"If you love her," insisted Tia Teresa, "you will save yourself tonight.
We will look after her. You need not worry on her account."

Dick for the moment was silenced, but unconvinced.

"Well, at all events we'll wait a bit. I don't leave this spot till I'm
sure that Ben Thurston himself has cleared."

"All right," assented Pierre. "Stay where you are, Tia Teresa. You must
not be seen. Zey may be searching in ze gardens."

Even as he spoke there was the flash of a lantern among the rose bushes.

In tense silence they waited and watched. The leaden-winged minutes
stole on. For a time lights flitted about, then vanished. At last came
the "honk-honk" of the automobile, and a minute later the great machine
with its flaring headlights swept down the roadway. They could just see
that it was crowded with men. Then in a few seconds it had disappeared
around the bend.

"Now we go," said Pierre.

"Just a minute longer, please," replied Dick in a firm tone. "Tia
Teresa, you slip back to the house. I will stay here till you bring me
word from Merle that she is safe and that all is well."

"I will soon return," said the duenna as she hurried away on her
mission.

Again an interval of high-tensioned waiting. Neither Dick nor Pierre
spoke a word. At last there came a rustle of the bushes from the
direction of the river bed, and a moment later Tia Teresa was again by
their side.

"Mr. Willoughby," she said, breathless from the speed she had made,
"Miss Merle begs you to make good your escape. She is well, and happy
because you are safe. She sends this rose and"--the old lady hesitated a
moment--"her love."

"She said that?" murmured Dick, tremblingly, as he took the white
blossom and breathed its fragrance.

"Well, does not the flower speak her love?" replied the duenna. "Now go,
go."

"Come," said Pierre, as he raised himself into the saddle. "We shall fix
the blindfold later on." Dick furtively kissed the rose before he placed
it in the breast pocket of his coat. Then he mounted, and, bringing his
pony alongside of Pierre's, started off at a canter across the starlit
plain.

Ben Thurston did not feel inclined to sleep that night. He paced his
sitting room like an angry bear, and kept Leach Sharkey out of bed to
listen to his growls and threatenings.

"By God, I'll have that girl shoved into jail. Harboring an outlaw! It's
a criminal offence."

"You can't do it," objected the sleuth.

"Can't do it?" shouted Thurston, halting and glowering down upon the man
who had dared to contradict him. "You'll see damned quick if I can't."

"Not one of us could swear that Willoughby was there. Neither you nor I
could. We never saw him."

"He wore that disguise," thundered Thurston. "So you think. But thinking
ain't proof--not by a long chalk."

Thurston was now almost speechless from rage. Half articulate words of
blasphemy were upon his stuttering lips. But Sharkey went coolly on.

"Besides the sympathy of everyone would be with the girl. You can't
succeed that way. You yourself would be covered with ridicule."

At last the torrent of curses broke forth. "Damn you, Leach Sharkey!
That's what I pay you for, is it? To let that scoundrel slip through our
very fingers? And you had the nerve to ask me for another big check this
evening. It's all a confounded plot. You're bleeding me. Leach is your
name, and leech is your nature." Leach Sharkey rose to his feet. His
white teeth gleamed as his short upper lip curled in a contemptuous
smile. He raised a threatening finger. It was his turn now to give free
vent to profanity.

"Stop right there, you doggoned old fool. I bleed you, do I? Well, take
my resignation. All your pay ain't worth another five minutes of your
infernal temper. No man ever dared to browbeat me and insult me as you
have done. And now you may go to hell--where you belong."

The sleuth turned on his heel, and strode to the doorway. But Thurston
was after him in an instant, penitent, trembling, ashen pale. He grabbed
Sharkey by the coat sleeve.

"No, no, don't go, I beg of you," he whined, "I was wrong. I spoke in
anger. I apologize. Good God, some one or other will get me within an
hour if you leave me unprotected. I haven't a single friend--no one to
stand by me." There was craven fear in his eyes as he looked timidly
around. "I hear the prowling footsteps of my enemies in the night. You
alone can save me, Mr. Sharkey."

"Your damned civility comes too late," replied the sleuth, as he shook
the clutching hands from his shoulder.

"No, no. Don't say that. Sit down again. See, here is my check book.
I'll pay you that money now--I'll double the amount--I'll never haggle
with you again. Stay with me till we go East together."

Sharkey showed himself somewhat mollified. He had played his game well,
for after all, cash with him was the main consideration. So smiling over
the success of his bluff, he watched the unnerved coward as he tottered
to his desk, dropped into a chair and drew the check with slow and
painful effort, and then returned with it between his still trembling
fingers.

"You'll stand by me, Mr. Sharkey, won't you?"

"Well, no more of that nonsense," was the curt reply, as the sleuth
glanced at the slip of paper, then thrust it in his waistcoat pocket.

To Thurston the reconciliation brought instant relief. He drew himself
up; he rubbed his hands; he even attempted a smile.

"That's a good fellow, Sharkey. You know I've always held you in high
esteem. And we'll get that man yet"--the glare of vindictiveness was
again in his eyes, the rasp of accustomed irritability was returning to
his voice. "We'll get him, I say, even if it costs double the money I've
already spent. And that devil of a girl, too--I hate her more than ever
now. She'll pay for her insults tonight with her lover's life. Remember,
Sharkey, no more chances. When you get the scoundrel within gunshot,
it's up to you to shoot. That will be best in any case. It will save the
cost of a judge and jury. You understand me?"

"I understand," nodded Sharkey. "Then, as you're speaking about
doubling. Mr. Thurston, I suppose that ten-thousand-dollar reward coming
to me goes up to twenty thousand."

"Yes; twenty thousand if you shoot him like a dog, and let me get away
from this damned place. I have come to loathe the very name of it. Well,
spread your cot now across my door. I'll try to get an hour's sleep.
Good night."

And Ben Thurston disappeared into the inner room.




CHAPTER XXVI--A Date is Fixed

|ON the morning after the exciting episode at La Siesta, Chester Munson
was in the library of Mr. Robles' home ready for his day's duties. But
he was in no mood for the routine work of cataloging and classifying the
volumes on the bookshelves. Up to now the task had been one of absorbing
interest, for Munson, although not a scholar, had always been fond of
reading, and it was a treat to dip at times into the contents of the
rare and curious works which wealth and the educated taste of a true
bibliophile had accumulated.

But today the amateur librarian was thinking of other things. He was
feverishly awaiting the usual morning visit of his employer, so that he
might tell him the story of the previous night's happenings. At last Mr.
Robles made his appearance, and gave his usual quiet greetings.

"I see you are making great progress with your work," he remarked,
glancing at the pile of classified volumes resting temporarily on the
library table.

"Oh, I'm getting along," replied Munson. "But I have most surprising
news for you, Mr. Robles."

"Indeed?" The recluse arched his eyebrows in expectant curiosity as he
took a chair beside the desk at which Munson had been seated. "Sit down,
please. Let me hear the story."

"You know that I was at La Siesta yesterday evening?"

"I know that you are very often there," replied Mr. Robles, smiling.
"I understand the attraction and congratulate you on your good fortune.
Grace Darlington is certainly a charming young lady."

Munson flushed and bowed his acquiescence in the compliment as he said:

"It was not of her, however, that I was going to speak. I want to say
to you, Mr. Robles, that Miss Farnsworth did one of the bravest and
cleverest things imaginable last evening."

"Tell me about it. I am all attention." Munson then proceeded to relate
in full detail the events of the preceding evening--the surprise visit
of Ben Thurston, the brutality of the man, the quick wit of Merle, the
escape of Dick Willoughby, and his final message by Tia Teresa that he
was safe and, in obedience to Merle's injunction, was returning to his
place of hiding. During the narrative only once did the listener betray
emotion; when Thurston's rude insults were repeated there came a
flash into Robles' eyes, and he clenched his hands to restrain his
indignation. But he interrupted with no word, and at the end spoke no
comment.

Munson was a little taken aback at this silence and impassivity.

"My story does not seem to surprise you?" he remarked, with a note of
interrogation.

"No," was the quiet reply, "I already knew it."

"How?" exclaimed Munson, wonderingly.

"You have forgotten, young man, that there is a private telephone
between my home here and La Siesta. Mrs. Darlington has already told me
about the matter. But I am pleased to have your version, and
delighted more than I can tell to know that Merle proved equal to the
emergency--that it was she who may be truly said to have saved Dick
Willoughby." There was a ring of pride and admiration in his voice as he
spoke the words.

"She's the real stuff," cried Munson, enthusiastically.

"It was well done," continued Mr. Robles, his tone taking a graver note.
"For I want to warn you, Munson, as Willoughby's closest friend, that
Ben Thurston or one of his hired assassins will certainly shoot on sight
the instant they get the chance to do so. But by the Lord, if anything
like that happens, I will hang that villain Thurston to the highest tree
in Tejon for the buzzards to pick his bones." And the upraised hand,
the voice vibrating with passionate determination, showed that Ricardo
Robles meant just what he said.

Mr. Robles had risen to his feet. For a moment he turned his face away.
Then he again spoke, but now in his customary, sedate manner.

"This morning, Mr. Munson, I leave home for a few days. Go on with your
work, of course, but remember that it is quite a minor consideration.
During my absence I shall rely on you to see that Ben Thurston, on any
pretence of searching for Willoughby, does not cross my door."

"He shall never do that, so long as I'm here," declared the young army
man, with quiet confidence.

"I don't think he will, either," replied Robles. "I have given orders
for him to be shot down," he added grimly, "if he should dare to
approach my gates. But I'll count on you all the same as a second guard
to the sanctity of my home."

"You may count on me to the death," responded Munson, extending his
hand.

"I know it, and therefore I go away on a necessary duty with an easy
mind. But I have good news for you, Munson. I have instructed Sing Ling
to prepare luncheon for the ladies of La Siesta every day they choose
to come. So, while I prefer you to remain here on guard while I am
gone, you need not be lonely. Perhaps you'll hardly wish me to come back
again," he added with a smile.

"Oh, don't say that. But you're mighty kind thinking of such things at
all."

"Well, you may expect our friends today about one o'clock. Now,
goodbye--but not for long."

The library work proceeded but slowly during the hours that followed.
Munson was all impatience now for Grace and Merle to arrive. Books were
of little account, for there was none ever printed that could rival
for him the charm of a certain pair of laughing blue eyes. And it was a
self-confessed pseudo man-of-letters who at last rushed to the gateway
to greet the fair visitors.

"Mother couldn't come," cried Grace, as she jumped from her horse and
flung the bridle to a Mexican groom. "She's putting up fruit with Tia
Teresa, and I think she really believes everything would go wrong if she
didn't superintend."

Munson, as he led the girls through the arched gateway, was inclined to
bless both the fruit and the fallacy.

Sing Ling came across the patio with a welcoming smile.

"Dinnel all leady," he announced in tinkling syllables.

"And we're all ready, too, Sing Ling," laughed Merle, as she went up and
shook the Chinaman's hand.

"Me vely glad to see you again, missie."

"I didn't know you were old friends," exclaimed Munson, in some
surprise.

"Oh, didn't you? Sing Ling has been Mr. Robles' cook off and on for
nearly twenty years. When Mr. Robles is abroad of course he works
elsewhere. That's why you found him at San Antonio Rancho."

"But Dick told me he was his cook--had been for several years."

"With Mr. Robles' tacit consent, then," replied Merle.

The Chinaman was grinning in a vacuous sort of way, as if all the
conversation was so much Greek to him.

"Sing Ling, you scamp," cried Munson, "I begin to understand now how Mr.
Robles comes to know so much about Dick and myself. You've been telling
tales out of school."

"Oh, no; me cookee allee time; me no go school," replied the Celestial,
in guileless incomprehension.

After the dainty luncheon, Merle proposed that they should visit the
watch tower. There they found the Mexican lad on duty. He had been
strumming a guitar to pass the time, but at the sound of voices
had sprung erect and alert. Munson noticed at a glance that the big
telescope was ready trained on San Antonio Rancho.

"_Como estas, Francisco?_" asked Merle, addressing the boy in Spanish.

"_Bien, gracias, senorita_," he replied, with a deferential bow. But he
averted his glance instantly, and gazed out on the landscape.

Merle turned to Munson: "We are not allowed to converse with the
servants here," she explained. "Just a word of greeting--that is all."

"I'm under similar orders," replied Munson. "Not that it much matters
in my case, for I haven't your accomplishment of knowing the Spanish
language."

"Oh, Grace and I speak Spanish almost as well as English. You see, Mr.
Robles, who has always been interested in us two girls, insisted that we
should be taught his native tongue."

"And we've been all over Spain, too," interposed Grace. "Lived there
a whole year. That's where I fell in love with the violin and took my
first lessons."

"An inspiring country obviously," remarked Munson with a flattering
gesture.

"Thank you for the subtle compliment," laughed Grace, tossing the
vagrant, wind-blown curls from her face.

"I never come here but I love to gaze at the view," observed Merle. "Is
it not glorious--this valley of Tehachapi?"

It was indeed a glorious scene--that noble sweep of verdured plain,
stretching north far as the eye could reach, on the south guarded by the
rugged pass, east and west embosoming hills twenty miles apart etching
the sky with peaks and domes and lines of beauty. For a few moments all
three visitors to the tower remained silent and enraptured.

Grace was the one to break the spell.

"I'm going down now to the library to inspect your work, lieutenant,"
she announced with a roguish smile.

"Spare me," protested Munson. "But perhaps you would help me with some
of those Spanish books," he added as an afterthought.

"Delighted! Come along." And she led the way down the winding iron
staircase.

In the library the three were for the first time during the visit quite
alone. Munson carefully closed the door.

"Now I've got the chance, Miss Merle," he began, "I want to compliment
you on your splendid bravery last night."

"Bravery!" she laughed. "Why I was so scared I could hardly stand."

"Well, you deceived us all finely, then."

"And that Ben Thurston--what an old ruffian!" cried Grace. "But I agree
with you, Mr. Munson; Merle was a hero."

"A heroine," suggested the lieutenant.

"Oh, in these days we don't make such fine sex distinctions," laughed
Grace. "A real hero, that's what I call her."

"Rubbish," protested Merle. "I just did what anyone else would have done
in the circumstances."

"I'm afraid men are not so ready of wit in an emergency as are women,"
remarked Munson.

"Just listen to that, Merle," exclaimed Grace. "I verily believe the
lieutenant is a suffragette."

"A suffragist," corrected Munson, emphatically this time. "I'm hanged
if I'm going to wear a petticoat even if the women are determined to
don--the other things."

They all laughed merrily.

Grace turned and began examining the carefully written library cards.

"Any more news from Mr. Willoughby?" asked Merle, with a look of
solicitude in her eyes.

"Nothing," replied Munson. "But I'm beginning to put two and two
together," he continued. "Early every morning a horseman comes down here
from the mountains and evidently brings a report of some kind to Mr.
Robles. And when he rides off again Sing Ling has always ready a basket
of grub, all sorts of nice things, fried chicken, spiced beef--"

"Sounds quite epicurean," interrupted Grace, tossing away the card she
had been pretending to examine.

"Yes, hang it all--just the little delicacies Dick used to like."

"I never knew you fared so bountifully at San Antonio Rancho," remarked
Merle with a smile.

"Oh, Dick's no candy kid, as you know well," replied Munson. "It was
mostly rough and ready fare all right, but Sing Ling had a knack of
adding a few dainty trifles to our meals, and it strikes me that for the
purposes of this mysterious and capacious lunch basket he is trying to
excel himself."

"No doubt it goes to Mr. Willoughby," said Merle. "Well, I'm real glad
to know that they are making him comfortable."

"I guess, though, he'll miss his occasional visits to La Siesta. Mr.
Robles says you were quite right, Miss Merle. Dick is in real danger.
Those gunmen of old Thurston have orders to shoot him on sight."

"I knew it," exclaimed Merle. "Oh, I'm so thankful he got away. Even
though we miss seeing him, he must never run such a risk again."

"It is all very mysterious," said Munson, in a musing tone. "And I had
no idea, too, that this was such a lovely place. Mr. Robles has taken
me around several times. He has the choicest dairy cattle, the finest
blooded horses, rare trees and plants from every corner of the world."

"These are his hobbies," commented Merle.

"He says he wants to give me some practical lessons in estate
management."

"Why?" asked Grace.

"Well," laughed Munson, "he thinks I may some day own a rancho of my
own. But that will be a mighty long time."

"Who can tell?" said Merle, glancing mischievously from the lieutenant
to Grace. "Even in these humdrum days soldiers have been known to come
in and conquer."

Grace blushed crimson.

"Merle, how dare you?" she exclaimed, half angry, half laughing. "Next
time we visit you, Mr. Munson, I'll have to bring along Tia Teresa."

"Oh, dear Aunt Teresa has a soft side for the lieutenant," retorted
Merle, with merry audacity.

But Grace had recovered from her momentary confusion.

"Then I'll help you all I can, Mr. Munson, with dear Aunt Teresa,"
she laughingly said. "We'll send her along tomorrow instead of coming
ourselves."

"Heaven forbid!" murmured the lieutenant, with pious fervor. He, too,
had been looking and feeling awkward.

"So we'll say goodbye for the present," continued Grace, frankly
extending her hand.

"I hope I haven't said anything to offend you," stammered Munson.

"It is perhaps what you haven't said that is the cause of trouble,"
laughed the irrepressible Merle.

But Grace had fled from the room, and as the others followed, Merle went
on:

"I said when we left home that two would be company but three--a
complication. Wasn't I right, lieutenant?"

"You are always right," murmured Munson, too bewildered to think of
anything else but the obvious gallant reply.

He stood at the gateway watching the two young ladies as they cantered
away. At the bend of the road Merle turned round in the saddle and waved
her hand. But Grace rode steadily on.

"By jove, that's as good as telling me that I can sail in and win," he
said to himself. "Thank you, Merle, little girl. Next time Grace and I
are alone, my fate will be sealed."

But no one called again during Mr. Robles' absence--not even Tia Teresa.

It was toward evening a few days later when the recluse strolled into
the library. Munson did not know that he had returned, and rose from his
seat in some surprise.

"Still hard at work?" said Mr. Robles, as he nodded and shook hands.

"When did you get back, sir?"

"Last night. And today I have been busy with some important letters."

"Any word of Dick?"

"There is nothing new so far as I am aware."

"Mr. Robles, excuse me," said Munson earnestly. "But I'm anxious on
Dick's account. You know of his whereabouts, of course?"

"I have indicated as much, although for the present I prefer to say
nothing."

"Well, when is he to be restored to liberty?"

"In due time. At latest he will be free on the eleventh of October."

"Oh, that's months ahead yet. But why the eleventh of October? You
excite my curiosity."

"The date is not of my choosing--it was fixed many years ago, by another
than myself."

The enigmatic reply puzzled Chester Munson--not only the words
themselves, but the tremor of deep emotion in the voice of Ricardo
Robles as he gave them utterance.




CHAPTER XXVII--Among the Old Oaks

|PIERRE, now my sketches and plans are finished, how am I going to pass
the time?" It was some ten days after the affair at La Siesta, and
Dick had spent the interval in close and absorbed work over his drawing
board. Happy in his occupation, he had not felt the restraints of
confinement.

But now that the task was completed, and the big cardboard cylinder
containing the set of drawings rested on the ledge of the easel all
ready to be sent away on its mission, a feeling of chafing restlessness
had ensued.

"Good Lord, a fellow can't read all day," Dick went on, half in
soliloquy, half addressing his companion.

"Monsieur is comfortable here?" asked the latter solicitously.

"I should say, old fellow. I was never in better quarters in all my
life."

"And zere is nothing more I could get for ze table?"

"For goodness sake, don't talk like that, Pierre! In any ease I don't
worry about what I eat. But this is a regular Delmonico's. Guadalupe
is certainly a crackerjack cook. She is even better than Sing Ling.
Wherever did she learn to turn out all these little delicacies? And just
my favorite dishes, too."

Pierre smiled enigmatically.

"Guadalupe very clever old squaw," he remarked.

"I would like to know her better. But she keeps out of my sight all the
time."

"Guadalupe is very old. She has her fixed ideas."

"I suppose that means she does not love the Americans."

"No doubt. She prefer to be alone--alone with ze white wolf all ze time.
And where the white wolf is, monsieur dare not go."

"I understand that all right," laughed Willoughby. "I strolled only
once toward the log fire, and the brute showed me a set of teeth which I
never wish to see again."

"Ze white wolf guard ze cave well," remarked Pierre, sententiously.

"Oh, I'm not thinking of trying to run away. You know I would never
break my word. But what the dickens am I to do all day long?"

"What do you say? Suppose we go to ze riffle and wash out some gold."

"Great Scott!" exclaimed Dick eagerly. "That's not a bad suggestion. But
Don Manuel won't mind?"

"He will be very pleased--he has no use for ze gold."

"And Guadalupe?"

"Long ago she would have killed you if you had gone zere. But not now.
She very old, and all her people are dead."

"And the white wolf? That confounded beast won't interfere?"

"No, no. Ze white wolf stay near Guadalupe all ze time."

"Then, by jove, it's a bully idea," cried Dick. "It gets me all right.
We'll turn miners, Pierre, and we'll have a rare old sack of nuggets to
divide when the time comes for me to go free. I'll be better off in the
end than if I were holding down my old job at the rancho," he laughed
gaily.

"I will find ze spades and ze pans to wash ze gravel. When shall we
begin?"

"Well, wait now," replied Dick, glancing reflectively at the roll of
drawings. "I've got to send these plans away. I want you to get them
at once into the hands of my friend, Lieutenant Chester Munson. He will
know how to forward them to their proper destination."

"May I suggest one zing?"

"Go ahead, Pierre. What's in your mind?"

"I venture to make one little suggestion. Why not ask ze young lady to
take ze plans to your friend?"

"Miss Merle Farnsworth?" asked Dick in surprise. "But how am I to do
that?"

"I will promise to arrange a meeting--zat is, if you are not afraid of
Mr. Thurston and his men."

"Afraid!" shouted Dick. "You give me the chance to see Merle again, and
old Ben Thurston and all his sleuths may go to blazes."

"Zen I will arrange, and I zink it will please ze young lady very much
to have ze honor of taking care of ze plans."

"You mean it will be a mighty honor for the plans to be in her care,
Pierre. But I know she will gladly do me this service. How and when can
I see her?"

"Be ready tomorrow morning by ten o'clock. I will take you to a quiet
place among ze old oak trees."

"Pierre, you're a regular brick," cried Dick, as he slapped the old
Frenchman on the shoulder in the exuberance of his delight.

The following morning they started out for the trysting place. Dick
without demur submitted to the usual precautions. He was blindfolded
before mounting his pony in the great central domed cavern and it was
not until a couple of hours later, after a veritable switchback ride up
and down and round about in a bewildering maze, that he was permitted
to remove the bandage. Dismounting, he found himself in the heart of a
great oak forest, in what precise locality he could not tell, for there
was nothing in sight but endless vistas of tree trunks under their thick
canopy of green leaves.

Pierre touched him on the shoulder, and he followed the direction of
the Frenchman's eyes. There, advancing through the sylvan twilight, was
Merle Farnsworth, her hands eagerly extended, her face lighted with joy.
Following at a little distance came Tia Teresa.

Dick, hastening to meet Merle, took both her hands into his, and gazed
deep into her eyes.

"Oh, it's great to meet you again," he exclaimed. "And this is my first
chance to thank you for having saved me the other night. My word, but
you were quick to think and to act. You cannot know how I admired your
courage and coolness."

"Nonsense, nonsense," protested Merle, in sweet blushing confusion. "You
make far too much of the little I did."

"You saved my life," said Dick, determinedly. "You can call that a
little thing if you choose."

"No, no," she replied, earnestly. "If I really did that, then it was
truly a big thing."

"For me."

"And for all of us," she added, with face half-averted.

"And you, too?" pressed Dick.

"Yes, for me, too," answered Merle, turning round and frankly meeting
his gaze. "I should never have been happy again had any harm come to you
there--that night--in my very home--without a proper effort to get you
away to a place of safety."

"God bless you, Merle, dear," exclaimed Dick, as again he pressed her
hands. He had been carried away by his fervent emotions, but she did not
resent the familiar and endearing manner of his address.

He would have taken her in his arms there and then, but Merle drew back
and gave a little glance aside. Then Dick remembered Tia Teresa. To his
astonishment he found her chatting with Pierre Luzon as if they were old
friends.

Dick left Merle for the moment to greet the duenna.

"And I have to thank you, too, for helping me," he said. Then he added
with a laugh: "When am I to be privileged to wear that mantilla again?"

"You are not to be allowed to endanger yourself again," replied Tia
Teresa. "And I warn you now. We remain here only half an hour--these are
our orders."

"Whose orders?"

"Never mind. Just one half hour, that is all."

"Then I'll make the best of my time," exclaimed Dick, turning toward
Merle. "I see you won't be lonely with my gallant friend, Pierre Luzon,"
he added with a smile.

"Oh, I knew Pierre when he was just as handsome a young fellow as
yourself," retorted Tia Teresa. "But we'll excuse you, and Pierre will
keep the time."

Dick led Merle down a glade of the forest, but before doing so he had
unstrapped the roll of drawings from the horn of his saddle.

"What are you carrying so very carefully?" asked Merle.

"My plans for the ideal city. I told you I was going to have a try in
that competition."

"I hope you'll have good luck."

"Well, I want you to help me. Will you take this package, please, to
Chester Munson and ask him to send it to the proper address?"

"With the greatest of pleasure, Mr. Willoughby,"--and she put forth her
hands for the roll.

"No--we'll lay it down here for the present. This log will serve as a
seat. See, this twisted, limb makes quite a comfortable nook for you."
He had halted at a fallen tree, had dropped the drawing on the turf, and
was now dusting away the twigs and leaves from the seat he had chosen.

"Cannot I look at the drawings?" she asked, after settling herself
cosily.

"Before handing them to Munson, if you like. But there are other things
to talk about now." As he spoke he tossed his hat on the ground at her
feet.

"Are you growing impatient over your confinement?" she asked.

"Impatient--it is hardly the word. I long to be out in the world again.
I could never have endured the long seclusion but for my work over these
drawings and my thoughts of you."

"Why me?"

"I have felt that I am doing the best for your sake as well as my own.
I would not have had you subjected to the vulgar gaze of a crowded court
room--not for worlds. The very thought that I have saved you from that
has made me contented with my enforced idleness."

"Not idleness," she said, tapping the roll of drawings with the toe of
her shoe.

"Well, no, not idleness exactly."

"And I do hope you'll win the prize," she added, looking up into his
eyes.

"So do I. But perhaps you don't know what I count to be the real prize."

[Illustration: 0255]

"Pray, what is that?"

Dick thrust a hand into the breast of his coat and brought forth a
pocket book. From this he produced a little package, and opening the
folds of paper disclosed the white rose which she had sent him on the
night of his escape from La Siesta.

"Where did you get that?" she asked demurely.

"It is your rose--the rose you sent me."

"I did not know you were so partial to roses as to keep them after they
are withered." Her voice trembled; she bravely tried to keep up the
pretence of not understanding.

"It is not the gift I treasure--it is the thought of who was the giver."

A blush stole over her beautiful face, while the long drooping eyelashes
half concealed her brown eyes. Dick's arms slipped around the girl's
slender waist.

"Merle, my dear, I love you. For months past I have known that there is
no woman on earth for me but you. I would have spoken before, but I have
always been afraid that you could not love me, and that talk of such a
thing might terminate a friendship that had become my greatest pleasure
in life."

For reply, placing one hand on his shoulder, she just buried her face
in his breast and gave way to tears--tears of joy, he knew, as he kissed
her hair again and again, and then at last her lips when she allowed him
to raise her face toward his.

"My darling," he murmured, and the kiss she gave him back accepted and
returned the words of fond endearment.

A moment of restful bliss followed; then Merle gently disengaged herself
and rose to her feet.

"What will Tia Teresa say?" she asked, laughingly, as she glanced over
her shoulder.

"I think Tia Teresa knew all about my love long ago," replied Dick.
"Yes, both she and Pierre Luzon, too."

"Then you have been wearing your heart on your sleeve."

"Or we have been surrounded by very observant people. But, I say, Merle,
this reminds me of a thing I had quite forgotten for the moment." His
face fell. "There is one great barrier that stands between us."

"What do you mean? You are surely too strong and purposeful a man to
care for barriers."

"I never knew until the other day that you are so very rich."

"Rich!" laughed Merle. "Who ever told you such a foolish thing? While
of course I have never felt poverty, don't you know that I am absolutely
dependent upon Mrs. Darlington's kindness and generosity to me, her
adopted daughter?"

A smile of understanding broke over Dick's face.

"You tell me that? I am so delighted," he exclaimed.

"You surely know my story well enough," continued Merle, "not to have
mistaken me for an heiress. I lost both father and mother when I was
a baby. Mrs. Darlington took me to her heart, and no mother could have
been dearer and sweeter than she, no sister kinder and more loving than
Grace. But I am proud to think they have loved me for my own sake, not
for any wealth I might have owned."

"Then there is no barrier," cried Dick, as once again he drew her to
him. "Unless my poverty is a barrier," he added. "But won't I work hard
all my life to give you every comfort you can desire!"

"Well, we'll have a good start at all events," said Merle, with a merry
little upglance.

"How's that?"

"The ten-thousand-dollar prize for the best plans. Have you forgotten
about that already?"

"But it is not won yet."

"Oh, I have the firm presentiment that you are going to win, Dick, dear.
I am sure of it--sure!" she repeated in a tone of conviction.

Her face was aglow and Dick caught the spirit of her enthusiasm.

"Then I'm sure, too. And, by jove, won't we have one grand honeymoon
trip, dearest?"




CHAPTER XXVIII--The Prize Winner

|DICK WILLOUGHBY'S sensational escape from La Siesta had added another
thrill to the mystery surrounding the murder of Marshall Thurston. But
as week succeeded week without further incident, the affair gradually
faded away as a topic of conversation. All the talk now was about the
coming of the new town. The fever of speculation was in the air.

"Say, boys," remarked Jack Rover one evening to his two cronies at the
store, "I'm sure getting crazy about the new town. I've got a thousand
bones of my own savings besides the money from old Pierre Luzon, and I'm
going to invest every dangnation cent of it in town lots on opening day.
You bet I'll be there mighty early in the morning when the sale starts."

"I'm sorta locoed myself," said Baker, "about them lots in the new
town. Guess I'll grab off a few good corners. I look for an early
rise--prices'll go up like blazes,' I'm 'lowin'."

Buck Ashley snorted contemptuously. "Say, you fellers are two dippy
ones. That new town talk is a lot o' hot air, d'you hear? Jest the
agitatin' work of them pesky town boomers. Won't 'mount to nothin'."

Jack Rover started a defence, but was quickly motioned to silence by
old Tom Baker, who, after clearing his throat, pushed his hat back and
glared at Buck Ashley.

"Buck," said he, "you're a thick-headed fool. The openin' of that town
will amount to one hell of a sight, don't you fergit it. Why, that Los
Angeles syndicate cuss who's a-runnin' the machine is sharper than a
razor blade. Just think for one little puny moment," Tom Baker went
on, enthusiastically, "of that printed notice being in every blamed
newspaper in the whole country--yes, and on the other side of the
Atlantic pond--offerin' ten thousand dollars for the best plans for an
ideal city. Gosh all hemlock, they do say as how the mails were just
chuck full of answers--architect fellers as well as them as ain't
architects, a-tryin' to get their hooks on that ten-thousand-dollar
prize. It was a mighty smart business notion, I'm a-tellin' you, and has
boomed the town to beat the band."

"But," inquired Buck Ashley, in a sarcastic way, "who is confounded fool
enough to buy lots in such a wild-cat scheme, no matter how much they
advertise it? That's what I'm askin'."

"I will, for one," said Jack Rover. "As I said before, I'm going to put
in my last dollar."

"As for me," chimed in Tom Baker, "I will lay my money on this 'ere
proposed new town bein' the biggest town in the whole dangnation State
of California outside of sea-board towns."

Just then through the gathering darkness a lone horseman rode up to the
store, dismounted and came hurriedly in. It was none other than Chester
Munson, flushed and excited, as he sang out a good-natured salute:
"Hallo, boys. I have news for you."

As he spoke he pulled a Bakersfield daily paper from his pocket. "The
new town!" he fairly shouted. "All about it, right on the front
page, pictures and all. And it is Dick Willoughby who wins the
ten-thousand-dollar prize!"

"That's great news, sure," cried Jack.

"It's a mighty pity Dick ain't here to celebrate," growled the sheriff.

"What's to be the name of the town?" asked Buck Ashley, in a
disbelieving tone.

"Tejon, after the old fort here," replied Munson, as he pointed to the
featured article with its big-type headlines and started to cull a few
sentences.

"It says that the new city of Tejon, right here in the heart of a rich
horticultural valley, is bound to be one of the top-notch towns of
California. And the opening day is going to be immense. Next Tuesday
is the date fixed. Maps and plans of the new town will be ready for
distribution from the land company's office, corner Main Street and
Broadway, at nine o'clock Monday morning. Let me see," he went on,
looking up from the paper, "this is Wednesday. Mighty few days to wait,
boys. You just ought to see the excitement in Bakersfield."

"Well, I say there ain't no such town," snapped Buck Ashley, "nor no
such a company's office buildin', 'cause I was down there day before
yesterday myself, right where them surveyin' fellers have been foolin'
'round for weeks, peekin' through spy-glasses at each other and
measurin' off so many feet this way and so many feet that way, like a
bunch o' kids playin' some game. No, siree, there's nothin' but long
rows of white stakes driv in the ground. Looks to me as if they was
a-gettin' ready to build a lot of henhouses. Of course the railroad's
there, and the only thing changed that I could see was a lot of
side-tracks they've put in."

"Well, things have been humming the last two days," laughed Munson.
"This afternoon I found all the side-tracks filled with trains of
lumber, carload after carload, and not less than two or three hundred
workmen, all as busy as nailers. Looked to me as if a three-ring circus
were getting ready for a big show. They are already running up electric
light poles and stringing the wires. Some of the men are unloading cars,
some stacking up lumber, others are putting up tents, and the entire
business reminded me of a hive of extremely busy bees. Go down and look
for yourself, Buck, and you'll be convinced at last that the new town
has arrived."

The old storekeeper had come from behind the counter, and stood leaning
against a stack of boxes.

"I've been here for more'n a quarter of a century, boys," he said, in
a tone of seriousness that approached to sadness, "and this old store
seems like home to me. I'm some fighter and I'm some stayer. But, hell,
I reckon I know when I'm licked. I guess this new town puts a crimp in
me and my business, and--"

"Honk-honk; honk-honk"--it was the distant warning of an automobile that
interrupted Buck's speech, and drew all four present to the doorway.
There was the glare of twin headlights on the southern road.

"Some of the Los Angeles buyers, most likely," suggested the sheriff.

And so the travellers proved to be. The automobile halted at the
store, but only one of the party of four or five descended.. He was a
bright-faced, clean-shaven man, of dapper build and faultlessly attired.
In his hand was a bunch of papers.

"Mr. Buck Ashley?" he inquired.

"I'm your man," replied Buck, stepping from the doorway.

"Well, we can't stop tonight. But we wanted to say 'how-do.' I represent
the Los Angeles Trust Syndicate, and these documents just arrived
yesterday from Washington, D. C."

"Can't be for me, then," replied Buck, hesitating to take the proffered
papers.

"But they are," replied the stranger with a laugh. "Oh, we haven't
forgotten the interests of the old identities. We've had your name in
mind all the time, and this is a removal order from the Government to
change your postoffice over to the new town of Tejon."

Buck was speechless as his fingers closed on the documents.

"We'll hope to see you over on Tuesday morning, Mr. Ashley, so that you
can secure a good site for your new store. Now I must be going. We have
got to be in Bakersfield by eleven o'clock."

"Honk-honk," and the automobile was gone.

"Hell, Buck, have you lost your tongue?" cried Tom Baker, slipping the
storekeeper on the shoulder. "Don't you see what it all means? You're
goin' to shift camp, old man; you're goin' into the new town."

"Gosh 'lmighty!" murmured Buck, at last recovering the power of
articulation. "I think the first thing to do is to lubricate."

"A taste from the mystery keg," suggested the sheriff, as they all
crowded back into the store.

"The mystery keg? What's that?" asked Munson.

Buck laid his hand on a small barrel at the end of the counter.

"We call it the mystery keg," he replied, "because we just found it
yesterday mornin' settin' at my back door. It has come to us sorta like
manna from heaven."

"And tastes like manna, too," interjected Baker.

"It means free drinks for all this pertic'lar bunch," continued Buck,
"for there is no question as to where the keg came from. Look at the
date on the top--1853. This 'ere barrel came out of Joaquin Murietta's
wine cellar."

"You don't say?" exclaimed Munson, pressing forward eagerly to examine
the little brass-hooped keg, looking bright and sound despite its
antiquity.

"This whisky is sixty years old at least," Buck went on, turning the tap
and filling a small pitcher.

"Tastes like it might be a hundred years older," remarked the sheriff.
"Mellow as fresh drawn milk."

Buck handed Munson a pony glass of the rare old beverage.

"By jove, it is fine," said the lieutenant, judicially smacking his
lips.

"Just makes my internals feel as soft and roly-poly as a ripe
pomegranate," murmured Tom, as he set down his empty glass and rubbed
his belt-line in a complacent way.

"Well, we'll fill up again, boys," cried Buck. "Here's to dear old
Pierre Luzon, for it was sure him who sent us the mystery keg."

"And to Dick Willoughby who won the prize," cried Jack Rover.

"And to our host," added Munson in a courtly way. "To Buck Ashley, boys,
the postmaster of the new city of Tejon."

"Hip, hip, hurrah!"--all four voices shouted the triple toast as the
upraised glasses clinked merrily.

Buck resumed his former position, with his back against the cracker
boxes.

"As I was sayin', boys, when that automobile interrupted us, I know when
I'm licked. But I know, too, that the fightin' blood is still left in
me, and I was a-goin' to remark that this new town sure 'nuff looks a
winner. I've got plenty of lumber right in my back yard, and tomorrer
mornin' I begin to have the scantlin's cut, for, by jingoes, I'll be the
chap who will build the first buildin' in the new town."

"Bully for you," cried Munson.

"I say what I mean," continued Buck, his face aglow with enthusiasm,
"and on Tuesday mornin' I'll buy the first town lot if I have to stand
in line for forty-eight hours to get it."

"Life in the old dog yet," laughed Jack Rover. "It's wonderful the
effect of Pierre Luzon's brew," smiled the sheriff. "I think we'll just
have four more spoonfuls, Buck, of that distilled nectar of sunshine.
Success to the new store, old man!"




CHAPTER XXIX---The Rendezvous

|SUMMER had come and gone and it was now the early days of October. The
mystery of Dick Willoughby's disappearance had remained unsolved, yet it
was on his plans that the new city of Tejon had been laid out, and, like
the fabled palace in the Arabian Nights' tale, had sprung into being
with such rapidity that men rubbed their eyes to satisfy themselves
whether the transformation scene were an actuality or the baseless
fabric of a dream. Within three months of the opening day auction of
lots Tejon was a thriving, hustling centre of population, with whole
avenues of beautiful homes, several blocks of stores on the main street,
schoolhouse and other public buildings well on the way to completion.

Electricity had helped to the accomplishment of the miracle, for it had
been only necessary to tap the great power cables running across the old
rancho from the Kern River canyon to secure the supplies of "juice" both
for lighting and traction purposes. So there was already an interurban
tramway service connecting with the county seat, Bakersfield, while at
night the new town was a blaze of electricity. All around country homes
were going up, and ten and twenty acre holdings were being planted to
fruit trees or ploughed for alfalfa.

Ben Thurston still clung to the ranch house, although it was definitely
understood now between him and the new owners that Thanksgiving Day was
to be the extreme limit of his occupancy. The hue and cry after Dick
Willoughby had in a measure subsided, but, if the authorities
had relaxed their efforts, Thurston still sought relentlessly and
indefatigably for the man accused of the slaying of his son.

One night at a lonely road-house on the outskirts of Bakersfield, the
sleuth, Leach Sharkey, was in close and secret conference with a bent
and bowed old man. This was none other than Pierre Luzon, although his
physical condition seemed to have greatly changed and he answered now to
the name of José.

The two men had met a few days before on the range; Pierre had spoken of
the scant living he was making from a herd of goats he pastured on the
mountains, and in the course of conversation had thrown out a hint for
information as to the amount of the reward that Mr. Thurston would be
willing to pay if Dick Willoughby were handed over to him. Sharkey had
eagerly followed the lead thus given. Hence this midnight meeting in the
road-house parlor for the discussion of terms and conditions over the
bottle of whisky that helps so efficaciously to dispel distrust and
unloosen tongues.

More than an hour had been spent in skirmishing preliminaries, but now
Leach Sharkey was congratulating himself that he had got his man fixed
just right. He was running over the final arrangements so as to make
sure that everything was clearly understood.

"Then Mr. Thurston and myself are to come to Comanche Point. You will
take us from there to the place where we'll find Willoughby. That's the
understanding, José?"

Pierre nodded in acquiescence.

"And you will bring wiz you ze reward of five tousand dollars--not gold
or silver, remember, but treasury bills, for I am not strong enough now
to carry a very heavy weight. Zen when you have paid me ze money, I will
lead you to Mr. Willoughby."

"All right. I'm going to trust you and take my chances. But bear in
mind that you don't get away with the cash until I have actually put the
handcuffs on the man I'm after."

"Oh, I will not run away, Mr. Sharkey."

"By God, if you try any monkey tricks on me, I'll shoot you in your
tracks. Make no mistake about that, José. And it will be hands up first
to prove to me you have no gun."

"As I have promised," replied Pierre with some dignity, "I shall come
unarmed. But remember, Mr. Thurston and you must be alone. If zere are
any ozers I will not show myself--I will give no sign."

"Don't worry about that. We'll be alone. I need no other protection than
the two guns I always carry." As he spoke, the sleuth slipped a hand to
one of his hip pockets, and with a grim smile, laid a vicious-looking
revolver on the table.

Luzon evinced no disquietude; he merely smiled.

"Mr. Sharkey he is ze famous man wiz ze two guns. I would take no risk
wiz him. But I wish to win ze reward."

"Well, then, the reward is yours if you play the game straight. Thurston
and I will be there, and you will be there unarmed. The hour?"

"Four o'clock. I will watch you come to Comanche Point all alone along
ze road."

"You're certainly a cautious old duck," laughed Sharkey. "However,
that's all right. Four o'clock, then. And you said Tuesday next week,
didn't you?"

"Yes, Tuesday."

Sharkey glanced at a big advertisement calendar on the wall.

"That will be the eleventh of the month. Then I think everything is
understood. Now I want to be off. I can just catch the last car to
Tejon. Shake. You can finish that drop of whisky by yourself, old man."

They shook hands and Sharkey was gone.

The other waited for a few moments, cautiously and cunningly listening
to the retreating footsteps. Then he sprang erect, transformed in an
instant into a hale and vigorous man. Into his eyes there leapt a flash
of joy, in his heart was a song of triumph.

"So the villain Ben Thurston will be there at Comanche Point on the very
anniversary of the night, just thirty years ago, when he committed that
foul crime--at the very spot where the poor little Senorita Rosetta and
her unborn babe perished at his hands. Glory be to God! At last the hour
of vengeance comes!"




CHAPTER XXX--Don Manuel Appears

|A GOODLY little sack of water-worn nuggets of gold had been washed
out of the subterranean stream by Pierre Luzon and Dick Willoughby. The
captive had found in the work both an exciting pastime and the ease
of mind that comes from the thought that his time was being spent to
profitable account. So week after week he had toiled on cheerfully,
setting for himself each day a full day's task. In this way also,
although the want of sunshine had paled his cheeks, he had maintained
his health by the regular physical exercise.

But as the appointed date of his release drew near, Dick's mining
enthusiasm suffered an eclipse. The gold no longer tempted him,
the eight-hour day became a burden to his soul, his whole being was
possessed with feverish restlessness. He was not only filled with eager
excitement at the thought of again folding Merle in his arms, but he was
fired with curiosity to know what events were happening outside
which would enable him to step forth a free man, exculpated from all
connection with the crime of which he had been suspected, restored to an
honorable place among his fellow men.

But Pierre remained obstinately deaf to all hints for information.

"I can say nozing," was his invariable reply. Then, to divert Dick's
mind, he would challenge him at chess, a game in which they had proved
to be pretty equally matched, or he would produce the latest batch of
newspapers.

The young fellow had read with great delight the announcement that his
plans for the ideal city had been awarded the prize of ten thousand
dollars. Still more welcome had been the warmly congratulatory note
received from Merle at the hands of Pierre; for this letter, while it
made no reference to the point, virtually sealed the pact between the
two lovers that the money would provide for a glorious honeymoon trip to
Europe. Dick had sent instructions to Munson to notify the Los Angeles
syndicate in his name that the reward was to remain to the credit of
the winner until he would come personally to Tejon to claim it, probably
about the middle of October.

It wanted now only two days of the fateful date, the eleventh of that
month. Dick had already gathered together his personal belongings ready
for removal. He was pacing the grotto, when his eye chanced to fall upon
the sack of gold.

"I forgot about that, Pierre, old fellow," he remarked. "We have to
divide this spoil."

"No," replied Pierre, with quiet determination, "it is all yours, Mr.
Willoughby, honestly earned, too. I have no need for any of ze gold. I
have all ze money I can ever spend during ze rest of my life."

No amount of argument could shake the old Frenchman's resolution.

"Then what is to be done with the sack? By jove, I'll share it with our
Hidden Treasure Syndicate. By the way, where is Jack Rover now, Pierre?"

"He is living in Buck Ashley's old store. Buck, you know, is ze
postmaster at Tejon, and has a splendid store in ze new city. But Jack
Rover, he just hang about ze old place."

"Well, Pierre, I've got a plan. You say it will not be until Tuesday
afternoon that I leave these quarters?"

"Zat is so, and I am sorry you must still wear ze blindfold, but it will
be for ze last time now."

"Oh, I'm not kicking about that. I know the conditions under which I
came here. But it will be evening when we get clear of the hills, and I
won't have any particular place to go to. Next morning it will be best
for me to ride right over to Bakersfield, to surrender myself and
secure my formal discharge. When, did you say, am I to get the necessary
documents for all this?"

"Before you depart from ze cave."

"Well, everything will fit in fine. Tomorrow you have kindly promised
to take out my things. Just carry the nuggets along with you also, and
leave everything in Jack's charge. But tell him that nothing must be
opened or disturbed until I arrive. I'm going to give Jack Rover the
surprise of his life when he sees that gold. The sack is too heavy
to handle, but I guess we can make it into several packages. Jack was
always crazy to find Guadalupe's sand-bar."

"So were lots of ozers," grinned Pierre. "But they have never found it
yet. Even you will not be able to find it again when you are led out of
zese hills wearing ze blindfold."

"I am fully aware of that, old man," laughed Dick in reply. "I suppose
I couldn't discover the place again in a hundred years. But Jack's eyes
will fairly pop when he sees that bunch of gold marbles. He will be
mighty pleased to show the nuggets around to some of the boys who have
laughed over his enthusiasm, always declaring that Guadalupe's gold
simply came from some old-timer's sack of dust that had been part of
Joaquin Murietta's plunder."

"Oh, no. All ze bandits get out much gold from ze riffle in zose
days--Don Manuel himself had plenty."

"Well, Pierre, you just pack all my belongings to Buck Ashley's old
store. And you tell Jack Rover to expect me about six o'clock the night
after tomorrow--that's Tuesday. And I wish Munson to be there, too--I'll
want him to accompany me to Bakersfield."

"If you write a leetle note to ze lieutenant," suggested Pierre, "I will
see zat it reaches his hands. But you must say very leetle--just a few
words. For nozing must be told to anyone outside until you are free."

"All right, Pierre. Here goes." And Dick seated himself at the writing
table. In a very few moments he had completed his task.

"See," he said, returning to Pierre's side. "I wish you to know exactly
what I have written--just a hurried scrawl." And he read aloud while the
old Frenchman's eyes rested on the paper:

"On Tuesday night next, about six o'clock, meet me at Buck Ashley's
old store. I shall want you to ride over to Bakersfield with me next
morning, where my acquittal is assured. Give Merle the glad news. Yours,
Dick."

"Guess that's all right?" he added, as he folded the note and placed it
in an envelope on which he had already inscribed the name of Lieutenant
Munson.

Pierre had signified his approval with a nod, and now he carefully
bestowed the letter in the pocket of his shirt.

"He will get ze letter--he will surely be zere."

"Then you say I cannot write to Merle--Miss Farnsworth, I mean?"

"I have ze strictest orders," replied Pierre. "Nozing must be told just
yet. Bah! It is only two days more."

"Two mighty long days for me, old sport," said Dick, half in jest and
half in sober earnest, as he sat down and began cutting at a plug of
tobacco.

Most of next day Willoughby was alone. But at the regular dinner hour
Pierre appeared, and announced that he had safely packed the valise and
the gold in four bags to the old store, and Jack Rover had been apprised
of Dick's coming on the following night.

"He knew what was in ze sacks," laughed Pierre. "Zey were so very heavy,
oh my! But I told him I would come back and shoot him like a jack-rabbit
if he opened zem before you came."

"Guess it needed an old bandit like you to scare Jack Rover," replied
Dick, jocularly. But he was very happy--everything was going along
well--only another four-and-twenty hours now and his captivity would be
at an end.

That night Dick could hardly sleep a wink, and next morning he was too
restless and impatient for his approaching liberation to keep within the
confines of the little grotto. In the darkness of the big central cavern
he walked up and down, casting occasional glances at the distant glow of
the log fire where, as he could see, both the aged squaw and the white
wolf were on vigilant and ceaseless guard.

Suddenly his steps were arrested. With great surprise he gazed toward
the log fire. There, with Guadalupe and the white wolf, stood the figure
of a strange man, cloaked and wearing a big sombrero. All their shapes
were outlined against the ruddy glow, and the monstrous beast was
actually fawning at the newcomer's feet. A moment later the stranger,
with a parting wave of his hand to Guadalupe, advanced toward the spot
where Dick was standing. Close by was an oil lantern set in a socket of
the rock wall to mark the entrance to the inner grotto.

For a minute the approaching figure had been swallowed up in the
darkness, but now came the sound of his footsteps crunching on the sandy
floor, and a few seconds later he appeared in the flickering radiance.
Dick Willoughby had already made his inference as to the identity of the
newcomer--he had been so often told that no living man but the bandit
chief, Don Manuel, could pass the white wolf with impunity.

But the name Dick pronounced was quite a different one.

"Senor Ricardo Robles--it is you--_you?_"

"It is I," replied the Spaniard, quietly, as he extended his hand.

"Then you are--Don Manuel--the--"

Dick faltered and paused.

"Yes, I am Don Manuel de Valencia, the outlaw, the bandit of Tehachapi,
the White Wolf, as he is commonly called. Come within, my friend. I have
matters of importance to communicate." And the visitor led the way
with an ease that showed his perfect familiarity with every opening and
turning in the great subterranean series of chambers.

"I cannot remain with you very long," said Mr. Robles, when they were
seated in the inner grotto, "for I have a number of things to attend to
during the few hours that still remain at my disposal."

"I must not ask questions," remarked Dick, although his words belied the
questioning look in his eyes.

"Oh, although I speak in confidence," Mr. Robles replied, "having
learned to trust you, I shall make no secret of my contemplated
movements. Tonight I hope to settle my last score"--he paused, then
corrected himself--"my last piece of business in California. If all goes
well, within twenty-four hours I shall be on the high seas. Never
mind my exact route, but my final destination is Spain, the land of my
fathers. There, perhaps, you and I may meet again."

"I hope so. I have come to be deeply interested in you, Mr. Robles."

"And I in you, young man, all the more because you are now engaged
to one I hold very dear. Since her birth, Merle Farnsworth has been
a--little protégée of mine." Again he had hesitated, and his voice had
vibrated from emotion. But he was smiling now as he went on: "I have
watched with sympathetic interest and approval the progress of your love
affair."

"Through your spy-glass on the tower?" laughed Dick.

"Well, partly in that way, perhaps," replied Mr. Robles, with eyebrows
humorously upraised. "You have had my quiet support from beginning to
end, and now that you have won the young lady's heart, you have my most
sincere congratulations. May you have long years together, and every
happiness."

He had clasped Dick's hand, and placed his disengaged hand
affectionately on the young man's shoulder.

"You are really very kind," said Dick, cordially responding to the hand
clasp.

"Because I have counted you worthy of your great good fortune in winning
such a girl as Merle. And I have taken much the same liking to your
friend, Chester Munson. Have you heard the news:

"No, but I can guess it."

"Yes, he and Grace Darlington are engaged. And to them I give my
heartiest blessing just as I have given it to you and Merle. For Grace,
like her adopted sister, has been always very dear to me. I have loved
them both very dearly indeed all through their young lives."

"And both are devoted to you, as I happen to know," affirmed Dick with
warm conviction.

"I believe it," replied Mr. Robles. His hand sought an inner pocket and
drew forth a legal-looking document. "I came here not only to bid you
good-bye, but more important still to place this in your possession."

"My release?" exclaimed Dick eagerly, as his fingers closed on the
paper.

"Well, not exactly--but it will lead to that, never fear. It is an
affidavit which has been properly sworn to before a San Francisco notary
public. It briefly sets out my confession. It was I, Don Manuel de
Valencia, who killed Marshall Thurston, or at least was responsible for
his killing."

As he spoke the words, the outlaw drew himself proudly erect. Dick was
too overwhelmed with amazement to reply.

"The young ruffian was shot partly because he deserved his fate for
insulting Merle, partly because, as you cannot but know, Don Manuel, the
White Wolf, had sworn a vendetta against the whole Thurston brood."

"Then Ben Thurston--is he dead, too?" gasped the listener.

"Not yet," was the grim reply. Then he paused and changed his tone.

"But I want to speak not another word about this. What happens to Ben
Thurston is nothing of your concern--must be nothing of your concern.
For this document here frees you from all legal entanglements, and I
have no wish that you should by any chance become enmeshed again. So we
dismiss Ben Thurston from our talk and from our minds. When you lodge
this paper with the authorities at Bakersfield, it will be a matter only
of a few formalities to secure dismissal of the charge against you. For
I even put it on sworn record that your jail delivery that night was
against your will."

"I have forgotten to thank you for that same delivery. I never dreamed
you were my liberator, Mr. Robles."

"Because that night I was Don Manuel de Valencia. But at present I
am Ricardo Robles, and in that capacity it is for me to thank you for
having so chivalrously protected our dear Merle from the necessity of
associating her name in any way with the death of that worthless young
scoundrel. I appreciate the cheerful manner in which you have, for her
sake, and let me add, for my sake, too, borne your long imprisonment
here."

"I've been mighty comfortable," laughed Dick, with a glance around
his luxurious quarters. "And Pierre Luzon has been a treasure--a good
comrade all the time."

"Ah, yes, Pierre," exclaimed the outlaw, musingly. "Pierre is a very
good fellow. He has been faithful to me for thirty long years."

"And where does he go after tonight?" asked Dick. "He cannot stay here,
all alone except for Guadalupe."

"Everything is arranged. Guadalupe is accustomed to live alone. But
tonight Pierre accompanies me on my long journey."

"So we may all meet again?"

"Yes, we may all meet again," responded Robles, slowly and gravely,
"far, far away from the Tehachapi mountains. But now I must go," he went
on in a brisk tone, "for I have to make some final preparations. You
have the affidavit; see that you do not lose it on your ride down the
mountains."

"You just bet I won't," replied Dick, as he held tightly to the precious
document with both hands.

"Pierre will come for you here early in the afternoon. Be prepared to go
with him then. As for myself, Willoughby, there is for the present only
one word more to be spoken. Adios!" Again they clasped hands, and a
moment later Don Manuel was gone.




CHAPTER XXXI--Shadows of the Past

|IN a little summer-house at the edge of the rose garden of La Siesta,
Tia Teresa was seated all alone. She was awaiting the coming of Mr.
Robles to a rendezvous which he had arranged by a confidential message
sent on the previous evening. It wanted some time yet of the appointed
hour, but in her state of deep emotion and repressed excitement she had
gladly sought the solitude of this secluded corner. Deep in thought, her
mind was divided between the faraway past and the near-impending future.

Each recurring year this day to her had always been a sad and tragic
anniversary. In the early hours of the morning she had been to the old
Mexican cemetery on the hillside, and had bedecked with flowers the
grave marked by the marble cross bearing the single word "Hermana,"
also the graves close by of the parents of Don Manuel and Rosetta, the
children she had nursed and tended and fondled from infancy to early
manhood and womanhood, through twenty years of unalloyed happiness until
the gringo had come, the ancestral acres had been filched away, and
dishonor and death been brought to the slumbrously peaceful home.

And from that slumbrous peace what a sudden and terrible change! On this
day thirty years ago poor little Rosetta had been found done to death
beneath the precipice at Comanche Point. No less done to death by the
shock and shame of the pitiful story thus revealed, the aged parents of
the beautiful young girl were, within a few days, sleeping their long
last sleep by her side in the churchyard on the hill. A whole family
blighted and withered as by the blast of some death-laden sirocco.

Then had followed the years of terror during which Don Manuel, the White
Wolf, the dreaded outlaw, had wreaked his vengeance on the whole race
of gringos. She had never seen him all through that time, although at
intervals money had reached her by Pierre Luzon's trusted hand, enabling
her to maintain herself in the little Mexican village near the old fort
of Tejon. At last had come the fight when the band of outlaws had been
finally dispersed, Pierre Luzon wounded and dragged away to serve the
rest of his days in prison, Don Manuel vanished like a wraith in the
mist, gone where no man could tell.

But through the years that succeeded, Tia Teresa had known that he
lived--had known in her heart of hearts that he would live until the
vendetta he had sworn against Ben Thurston would be accomplished. The
remittances that arrived from time to time, first from Spain, then
from England, needed no signature to show that they were from her young
master of former years and that he still held his faithful old nurse in
affectionate remembrance. And at last had come the crowning surprise of
all.

Tia Teresa had been bidden to come to Los Angeles by a letter which bore
a strange signature, but the handwriting of which she had immediately
recognized. And there, in a fine home beneath the foothills that skirt
the city to the north, she had found Don Manuel again, much older in
manner than by lapse of years--quiet, reserved, tinged with a sadness
of which she knew the cause, but happy withal, for he was married to a
beautiful English girl and had a little baby daughter. And as nurse to
this child Tia Teresa, to her great joy, was promptly installed.

Thus again she had become the trusted servant in Don Manuel's home,
the only one around him possessing his full confidence and knowing the
secret story of his past. For, amid these changed surroundings, his
name was Ricardo Robles, his standing that of a Spaniard or Mexican of
wealth, of scholarly tastes, and devoted to the seclusion of his home
with its spacious surrounding gardens.

Their next door neighbors were an English family named Darlington, Mrs.
Darlington and Mrs. Robles having been life-long friends. And here, too,
was another tiny child in the home, likewise a daughter.

Seated in the summer-house, Tia Teresa was going over in her mind the
whole chain of happenings--the new era that had dawned and had brought
the hope of restored and abiding happiness for Don Manuel. But it had
been fated not so to be. Within a year his young wife had died, his
child was motherless, he himself, if not alone in the world, was
broken-hearted. For a spell he had fits of brooding, then all of a
sudden he had sold the home that could only henceforth be for him a
place of saddening memories.

His daughter Merle, taking her English mother's maiden name of
Farnsworth, was transferred to the loving care of Mrs. Darlington. Thus
had it come about that Grace Darlington and Merle Farnsworth had been
brought up as sisters, with Tia Teresa their nurse, and in later years
their devoted attendant.

Ricardo Robles had resolved to travel, but Tia Teresa had quickly
divined that the vendetta was again in his heart. For no other reason
could he have decided on masking the paternity of his infant daughter
by giving her the maternal name. And from Tia Teresa Don Manuel had
no secret to conceal. "Yes." He had sworn he would hunt Ben Thurston
through Europe, and it was to protect the future life of his child from
any association with future consequences of the blood feud that he had
handed her over to his friends under their solemn promise that, as Merle
grew up, she should never know anything more than that both her parents
had died.

So once again Don Manuel had gone his way and disappeared. Some years
later the Darlington home had been transferred to England, where Mr.
Darlington had fallen heir to some ancestral estates. Again, after a
lapse of years, another change had occurred--Mr. Darlington dying,
and Mrs. Darlington being left a widow in the big, now gloomy, English
country-house, with Grace and Merle approaching young womanhood, and
all of them, Tia Teresa included, longing again for the sunshine of
California.

Intermittently during those years in England, Ricardo Robles had visited
his friends, but the secret about his real relationship to Merle had
always been preserved. Both daughters in the home had been brought up
alike to regard him simply as a dear and valued friend, whose comings
brought much happiness to their lives in the shape of gifts which
preserved fond memories during his prolonged spells of absence.

And while the little family was still plunged in deep sorrow for the
death of Mr. Darlington, Mr. Robles had reappeared as the messenger
of great joy. For he brought the news that the beautiful rancho of
La Siesta, lying in mid-California, among the foothills of the Tejon
Valley, had been purchased for the express purpose that the widow and
children should make it their future place of abode. In this way had
come about the return to the land which each and all already loved best
and regarded as truly "home."

"Five years ago!" murmured Tia Teresa pensively. And they had been all
so happy here, the young girls growing up with every accomplishment
money and the best governesses could bestow, Don Manuel not far away
watching the progress and developing beauty of his daughter, always
hovering near for acts of helpful kindness.

Five years of placid enjoyment, of unbroken tranquility, till all of a
sudden the old enemy had returned and all the rankling wounds of the old
vendetta had been reopened!

In the Spanish soul of Tia Teresa there was bitter hate still, and
fierce joy even now that the hour of retribution was approaching--that
at last after all those years her little Rosetta would be avenged.
Yet time had had some mellowing influences, for in her musings now she
experienced a vague sense of uneasiness for possible consequences that
in former times had never for a moment been tolerated. The true spirit
of the vendetta had always been in her very blood--strike when you can,
without thought of what may happen next.

But now she was thinking of coming happenings--of sorrow perhaps for
Merle, of the undoubted danger for Don Manuel himself.

And while thus she conned the chances, her head bent in deep meditation,
her eyes half closed, Ricardo Robles, approaching with noiseless step,
stood by her side and laid an affectionate hand upon her shoulder.

"I have come, Tia Teresa," he said simply, as he sat down at the edge of
the little rustic table.




CHAPTER XXXII--Forebodings

|FOR this last hour, Don Manuel," she said, placing a hand on his, "I
have been going over all the long story of the past, from the days when
you were a little boy and Rosetta was suckled at my bosom. Why should I
not have loved her?" asked the old duenna almost fiercely. "Why should
I not love her still?" she added, in a lower tone, as she bowed her head
and covered her eyes with her disengaged hand. "There is love that can
never die, Don Manuel."

"Nor should we wish it otherwise," he said gently, caressing the hand
extended toward him. "And this very night our undying love for dear
little Rosetta will be proved--tonight at last she will be avenged."

With a start Tia Teresa sat erect.

"Then it is all arranged?" she asked breathlessly.

"Yes, all finally arranged," was his quiet rejoinder. "We meet this
evening on Comanche Point--the place where I have always vowed he should
answer for his crime. And you remember what day this is?"

"I remember--can I ever forget?--the very day we found her dead beneath
the cliff."

"The very day, Tia Teresa. So my vengeance will be complete. Before now
I could have shot him a dozen times. But he would never have known that
his death was by my hand. Tonight, however, he will know. And he will
realize that the vendetta is the law of God--an eye for an eye, a tooth
for a tooth; his life, so precious to himself, for hers so dear to us in
the happy old-time days."

"But you, Don Manuel?" she asked fearfully.

"It does not matter much about me," he answered. "But all the same I
have come to speak a little in regard to myself. Tonight Ben Thurston
assuredly will die, and should I perish with him, the story of the
vendetta cannot fail to be revived and the identity of the recluse,
Ricardo Robles, with Don Manuel, the outlaw, will be established. This
will come as a great shock to all my dear friends at La Siesta--to
Mrs. Darlington as well as to Grace and Merle. But this counts for
little--the name of Don Manuel is just as honorable a name as that of
Robles. And you can tell them further that all the loot I ever took from
the gringos lies today untouched in Joaquin Murietta's cave. I sullied
my hands with none of it. I was made rich by the sale of, my ancestral
estates in Spain. And that wealth the law cannot confiscate, for I have
been only its trustee during all those years. Everything I possess has
been vested from the first in the names of Merle Farnsworth and Grace
Darlington."

"Grace as well?" murmured Tia Teresa, enquiringly.

"Certainly, for I love both the girls dearly; there is ample to divide
between them, and by ranking them together I guard Merle from the
thought that I was anything more to her than to Grace. To both alike I
was just a deeply attached friend." He paused a moment, then regarded
Tia Teresa fixedly. "For my little girl must never know that her father
was an outlaw, with a price on his head; yes, with blood on his hands,
if it is only the blood of the worthless Thurston breed."

"That is no stain--it is an honor--it is a duty that you owed,"
exclaimed the duenna with fervency, her hands clenched against her bosom
as she spoke.

"You understand--we understand the vendetta, you and I, Tia Teresa. But
the Americanos do not understand. And I have brought up my little girl
as an American, for her own happiness I long ago realized. So she would
never understand. When she comes to know that her old friend Ricardo
Robles was Don Manuel de Valencia as well, she will breathe a gentle
prayer of rest for his soul. But she will not be distressed by the
knowledge that her father was the bandit and outlaw--she will not have
to face the cruel world with that stigma attached to her name. For
that I have contrived, for that I have suffered the dumb agony of
childlessness all these years."

"And that, in God's name," exclaimed Tia Teresa, "is part of the price
Ben Thurston, thrice accursed, has to pay."

"And tonight will pay," responded Don Manuel, determinedly. "But I speak
of all this just to put you on your guard. It will be necessary for me
to say something to Mrs. Darlington as well. I have brought for her the
papers that will establish the rights of Merle and Grace to all I leave
behind." As he spoke he touched his coat where the shape of a packet in
an inner pocket showed.

"Your will?"

"No. As I have explained, I require no will. The property is theirs
already. And I do not need to tell you, my dear Tia Teresa, my beloved
friend, that you, too, have not been forgotten." As he spoke he raised
her hand and pressed it reverently to his lips.

"Don't speak like that, Don Manuel," she protested.

"I know that all I owe to you can never be repaid," he continued,
humbly, gratefully--"the devoted life-service for me and for Rosetta and
our beloved parents as well."

Again he kissed her hand, and this time she accepted the seal of his
high-souled and chivalrous regard. There were tears in her eyes now.

"But, Don Manuel, you need not die tonight. Death for him--that is
right. But why for you?"

"Perhaps not for me--most certainly," he replied with a little,
reassuring smile. "Oh, do not imagine that I deliberately court death
for tonight. On the contrary, I have all my plans carefully laid. An
automobile is ready for the road, and I have a yacht waiting for me at
a quiet spot on the coast, and if all is well, by tomorrow's dawn Pierre
and I will be on the ocean. No one around here except at La Siesta will
miss Ricardo Robles, and if the name of Don Manuel is associated with
the death of Ben Thurston, only once more will the White Wolf have
strangely disappeared just as he used to do in the old times."

He was laughing, not loudly, but just with carefree, almost joyous
triumph, as he rose to say good-bye.

"Then, Tia Teresa, if events work out just as I have planned, we may
all meet again, somewhere, somehow--I cannot say more at present. For
I shall be happy to see my little girl happy in her married love, and
later on I shall close my eyes contentedly when I can feel assured that
nothing from the past will ever emerge to spoil her life or bring to her
distress of mind."

Tia Teresa, too, had arisen.

"God grant it may be so," she fervently exclaimed. "But somehow my mind
misgives me. Today I am softened as I have never been before. Even for
the sake of our dear Rosetta in Heaven I feel inclined to plead with you
to let Thurston go his way and the vendetta be forgotten." And she clung
to his arm imploringly.

"Never!" cried Don Manuel, putting her gently but resolutely aside.
"That can never be, Tia Teresa. You know it. A vow sworn over my wronged
and murdered sister's grave, over the graves of my parents as well, must
be fulfilled. To break it at the very moment when it is in my power to
give it fulfillment would be the act of a coward--a sacrilege that could
never be atoned. No more words like that. I must not even listen."

She was sobbing as she dropped back into her chair. Her silence was the
confession that she was powerless to argue against the unwritten law of
the vendetta.

"So I kiss you good-bye for the present, Tia Teresa." He suited the
action to the word, and, stooping, saluted her first on one cheek, then
on the other. "Be your old brave and resolute self again. Where shall I
find Mrs. Darlington?"

"Alone in her boudoir. This is her day for correspondence," replied the
duenna, resolutely striving to repress her tears.

"Then I'll leave you here. Let your best wishes go with me."

Almost lightly he touched her hand and was gone, disappearing among the
roses.

Tia Teresa bowed her head across her folded arms. She was thinking not
of the past now, but solely of the future.

"How would it all end?"




CHAPTER XXXIII--Old Friends

|AM glad to find you alone," spoke Mr. Robles, as he advanced into the
subdued light of Mrs. Darlington's boudoir.

She was seated at her escritoire. Around her were letters lying open
for answer, others sealed and ready for the mail, also sundry books of
account which indicated that the chatelaine of La Siesta was a business
woman who paid attention to the running of her household and the
management of her estate.

"Always so pleased to see you," she replied, as she rose to give her
visitor welcome.

"Pray, keep your seat, Mrs. Darlington. You form an attractive
picture--the lady who is not too much of a lady to neglect her
correspondence and her business affairs. And it is about some business
matters that I have come to talk with you this evening."

She smiled pleasedly over the compliment paid in the old-fashioned
courtly style of the true Spanish grandee. She herself always suggested
the old-time, old-world lady of fashion--one belonging to the old lace
and sweet lavender era that has so nearly passed away.

"Business matters?" echoed Mrs. Darlington. "That sounds quite serious.
We have had no cause to talk business for years and years. La Siesta has
certainly justified its name."

"But even the most pleasant siesta must in time come to an end," he
replied with a grave smile. "There are things in this world that must be
accomplished--calls of duty that interfere sadly with continuous repose.
I am leaving tonight on a journey--perhaps a long journey," he added
slowly and thoughtfully.

"Oh, going abroad? The wanderlust again? That's too bad. We shall all
miss you so much." She spoke the words with real concern in her tone and
in her eyes.

"Not exactly the wanderlust," he responded. "But there is a certain task
I must perform. And it takes me away--far away from your delightful La
Siesta."

"And for a long time?"

"That will be decided by events. I shall write you a long letter when
once I am on the ocean. Meanwhile there are certain documents I wish to
leave in your charge, my good kind friend."

He drew the packet from the breast pocket of his coat. "They are
important papers, and I wish them to be locked in your safe."

"Under seal, I see," she remarked, indicating the big circle of wax that
closed the cover.

"Yes, sealed with my signet," he answered, touching the ring on his
finger. "But all the same I wish you to know the nature of their
contents. That is why I have sought this little private talk."

Silently she settled herself to listen, and he went on:

"You are aware that many years ago I sold out all my interests in
Spain--lands and flocks and mines. Well, except for the money I used in
building and furnishing my home, I invested the whole amount so realized
in British Government bonds. But not in my own name. They stand in the
names of Merle Farnsworth and Grace Darlington."

Mrs. Darlington showed some surprise.

"Merle, of course. But why Grace, Mr. Robles? I need not tell you that
she is already well provided for."

"That I fully understand. But I preferred it so. To me both children
were very dear, and have always continued to be very dear. There was
more than a sufficiency to divide. I wished them to share my patrimony,
even though the one might have a greater claim on me than the other. But
it was precisely, to guard against such a thought occurring to the mind
of any outsider that I have treated Merle and Grace exactly alike. The
secret that Merle is my daughter is known only to you and Tia Teresa and
me, and, as I have always wished, it must be kept from Merle herself and
from all others--now, more than ever," he added after a little pause.

"I have never sought to pry into this mystery," replied Mrs. Darlington.
"You had valid reasons for it, I well understood. But I was glad for the
wee baby's sake to take her to my heart--the child of the dearest friend
of my girlhood days. And it was nice, too, for her to have her mother's
maiden name--Merle Farnsworth. So, from the very first, I loved her just
as much as my own baby, Grace."

"That I know," said Robles, gratefully touching her hand. "I can never
adequately thank you for the mother love you have so generously bestowed
on my child. And I have always been grateful, too, for the chivalrous
manner in which you have never sought to have me explain my actions in
this matter--my virtual separation from the daughter whom, while
hiding our relationship, I have loved all through her young life with
passionate devotion."

Mr. Robles was deeply moved. He bowed his head and covered his eyes with
his hand. In sympathy, Mrs. Darlington also was greatly affected.

"You have been the best of fathers to Merle," she said in a trembling
voice, "even though Merle little dreams of what she really means to your
life. But oh, Mr. Robles, how often have I not pitied you when I have
seen you restraining in her presence the natural impulses of your
heart!"

"It was my duty," he replied, regaining his composure by stern
self-command and sitting erect again. "My bounden duty to her," he
added, resolutely. "So, as you have so kindly done before, we shall
leave that subject alone. You call it a mystery. Be it so. Just let
it abide a mystery to the end. Now, Mrs. Darlington," he went on in a
changed tone, "please lock up these papers. If I ever want them again I
shall come to you. But if anything should happen to me, the seal is to
be broken. You are my trustee. But there is no troublesome will to
prove and execute. As I have already indicated, all the property I die
possessed of, all the property that is inalienably and rightfully mine,
including my home on the hill--everything is already apportioned between
Merle and Grace, and stands in their names by a deed that dates back
almost to their days of infancy."

"It is unheard-of generosity," protested Mrs. Darlington. "I mean so far
as Grace is concerned."

"Not another word, I beg of you. I have already given valid reasons
besides those of affection and gratitude. Now, Mrs. Darlington, let me
see you lock up these documents, and my mind will be at rest."

Without further speech she took the packet of papers from his hand,
crossed the room, and, standing before a safe inset into the wall and
already open, deposited the papers in a little drawer. Then she swung
back the safe door, and the click of the combination as she turned the
knob told that her visitor's wishes had been fully complied with. Slowly
she returned to her seat at the desk.

"Thank you," said Mr. Robles, pressing her hand.

"Then I am not to ask why you are leaving us tonight?" enquired Mrs.
Darlington.

"Please not. I just came to you, as I have many times done before, to
speak the little word--_Adios_. And it has always been spoken brightly
between us, my dear friend. For have I not returned again and again like
the proverbial bad penny?" he continued with a smile.

"And so it will be yet again, I hope," she replied. "Bad pennies of your
kind, Mr. Robles, are better than minted gold. And you must think of the
young people. Engagements should not be too long. Everything is settled
so far as Dick and Merle are concerned--with your full approval?"

"With my fullest approval, and to my great joy and peace of mind."

"Well, and you know, too, that it is just the same old story as regards
Chester Munson and my little girl."

"Munson has so informed me. He wanted my congratulations on his good
fortune. Chester Munson is certainly a fine fellow, and Grace could have
made no better choice for the bestowal of her love. Again I am filled
with happiness at the turn events have taken."

"But if there are to be wedding bells for four, their peal will not be
so joyous if you are absent, my dear Mr. Robles."

"I shall try to be present," he replied, with a little wistful smile.
"Who knows? Wouldn't it be fine if the wedding bells were to ring in
Spain?"

"No, no, my friend. You forget that all four are young Americans.
The honeymoons in Spain, if you like. But the weddings in California,
please."

"So be it," he answered. "Then if I cannot get back for the wedding
bells, we may have a family reunion during the honeymoons." He laughed
almost gaily as he rose. "Now, where are our young Americans? I wish to
say good-bye to them, too."

"Where Dick Willoughby is, I cannot say. But he is safe--you still
assure me of his safety, Mr. Robles?"

"Assuredly. And I have good news for our dear Merle. Tomorrow Willoughby
will be free, with every suspicion removed from his name."

"Oh, that will be glad tidings indeed for Merle--for both the girls."

"Then let us take the news to them. Where shall we find them?"

"As usual, I fancy, in their favorite cosy corner. And Mr. Munson is
here, too. He is to have luncheon with us. He said you had given him a
day off from his onerous library duties."

"Quite correct. I told him I would meet him here, for I have a message
for him as well. Come then, let us join the young people."

Again, like the courtly hidalgo, he presented a hand to his hostess and
led her from the room.




CHAPTER XXXIV--Heart Searchings

|AS Mrs. Darlington had anticipated, the trio of young Americans were
discovered in the cosy corner. Grace and Munson were engaged in a
tête-à-tête that was obviously very delightful to themselves, while
Merle at a discreet distance was busily engaged in watering the pot
plants and flowers. She was the first to sound a note of warning.

"Here comes mother, and Mr. Robles, also, I do declare."

The young lovers started a little apart, and Grace in a moment was
demurely busy over a bit of sewing that had been resting undisturbed in
her lap during the previous half hour.

Merle advanced toward Mr. Robles.

"This is delightful," she exclaimed, as she warmly shook hands. "You
will stay to luncheon, of course."

"No, my dear. This is to be only a brief visit, I am sorry to say."

Grace had also come forward, and he saluted her in his usual quiet,
kindly manner. But for Munson he had a word of sly banter.

"Better than drilling a squad or cataloguing musty old books," he
remarked, bestowing a significant side glance in Grace's direction.

"Infinitely better," replied the ex-soldier and amateur librarian, with
frank and unabashed satisfaction.

Mr. Robles took a seat close to Merle.

"I came to bring you two pieces of news," he said, taking her hand,
yet addressing his words to all the company. "First and foremost, by
tomorrow the charge against Dick Willoughby will be withdrawn, and he
will be a free man."

"Oh, that is good news indeed," cried Merle, fairly hugging its bearer.

"Then they have at last discovered the murderer of young Thurston?"
enquired Munson in a tone of eager satisfaction.

"Yes, or rather he has discovered himself, I believe. Oh, you need
not ask me for the name. It will only be made public when Willoughby
formally claims his liberty."

"I am so thankful," murmured Grace. "But of course Dick's complete
exoneration was bound to come."

"And I am the bearer of a special message to you, Mr. Munson. I have
not read it. But it was given to me as the one most likely to get it
promptly into your hands."

Speaking thus, he passed over to Munson the hasty scrawl that Dick had
written in the cavern and entrusted to Pierre Luzon for delivery.

Munson ripped open the envelope, first scanned the contents, then read
aloud:

"On Tuesday night next, about six o'clock, meet me at Buck Ashley's
old store. I shall want you to ride over to Bakersfield with me next
morning, where my acquittal is assured. Give Merle the glad news. Yours,
Dick."

"That I have already been privileged to do," said Mr. Robles, as he
smiled down on the young girl by his side. Their eyes met, and a look of
grave earnestness came into Merle's.

"And the second item of news, Mr. Robles?" she asked, in a low tone. "I
hope it is also gladsome tidings."

"Oh, it is of comparative unimportance," he answered. "Simply that I am
going away on a long journey, and may not see all you happy young people
again for quite awhile."

Merle's face fell. "I am so sorry," she murmured, a note of real feeling
in the softly-spoken words.

"As you grow older you will realize that the world is full of partings,
Merle," he answered.

"But why should there be partings among us?" she protested. "Now that
Dick is free, there is not a shadow on all our happiness. And we do so
wish you to share it, Mr. Robles. It will not be just the same if you
are gone."

"It is very kind of you to think like that."

"That's just how we all think," interjected Grace. "But when duty calls,
one must needs answer," replied Robles. "Right there is an end to all
argument."

"And where are you going this time, Mr. Robles?" enquired Merle.

"On a long journey--as far as Europe, I hope. But my plans are not
quite certain, except that I start tonight. However, I shall be in
correspondence with Mrs. Darlington, and I trust that when you young
people come to make that contemplated foreign tour, your footsteps
will be turned in my direction. Meanwhile you have, all of you, as you
already know, my warmest congratulations and heartiest good wishes."

As he spoke, Mr. Robles rose. His manner indicated that he wished no
further questioning. After a comprehensive glance around, he advanced,
first of all, to Munson and extended his hand.

"Mr. Munson, you will receive a letter tomorrow that contains an offer
for you to continue your work in my library, which I hope will prove
acceptable, at least for the present. Grace, my dear, I take the liberty
of an old friend." And he kissed her brow. "With your mother I
already have had a good long talk," he continued, as he pressed Mrs.
Darlington's hand and looked into her eyes. "And now, Merle, dear, I am
going to ask you to gather me some roses in your garden. I want them for
a particular purpose, and, as you know, there are no roses like those of
La Siesta."

Merle was standing eager and happy to do his bidding--privileged to have
the chance of conferring such a little service on her dear old friend,
her friend from the earliest childhood days of her remembrance. With
impulsive good-nature, Grace was ready to help as well. But a quiet look
from her mother restrained her, and Merle and Mr. Robles passed from the
verandah, hand in hand.

For nearly an hour they wandered among the rose bushes, picking the
choicest blooms, talking a little on many things, silent at times, but
both happy in each other's companionship. At last Mr. Robles looked at
his watch. The hour of parting had come.

Merle had deftly tied the roses in a bunch, and now she placed them in
his hands.

"A bouquet from me--from your little friend Merle," she murmured, with a
wistful attempt at a smile.

"From my dear little friend, Merle," he replied, gravely repeating her
words as he looked down into her upraised face. It was a beautiful
face, in its fresh youthfulness, its eager joy of living, the sublime
unconsciousness of self that reveals the spotless soul. For an instant
their eyes met.

During that brief spell Robles' whole being trembled. His arms moved as
if to enfold the sweet girl to his breast. But with a mighty effort he
controlled himself, and he simply kissed her on the brow, just as he had
done to Grace in the cosy corner.

"God bless you, Merle, my dear," he murmured as he turned away with a
final wave of his hand.

In a moment he was gone from her view. But the girl's gaze remained
fixed--still directed down the avenue of trees along which the figure
of her life-long friend had disappeared. There was a look of dazed
wonderment in her eyes.

"Oh, can it be so--could it be so?" she faltered, as she raised a hand
to hold back the tears.

An hour later Robles was in the little Mexican churchyard, scattering
the rose blooms gathered by his daughter Merle on the graves of the dead
relatives whose names she would never know as such. Already there were
the flowers that Tia Teresa had that morning brought--a garland of white
arum lilies around the cross that marked the sleeping place of Rosetta,
wreaths of rich red carnations on the tombstone inscribed with the
father's and the mother's names.

And now on the turf beneath the memorials Don Manuel, with lingering
fingers, dropped the roses here and there, as if to rest with their
beauty and their fragrance on the forms of his beloved dead. The last
bloom fluttered to the ground. Then, standing erect, hands upraised, no
words uttered, but with the unspoken words none the less reverberating
through his very soul, he vowed once again the vendetta which he had
sworn on the identical spot thirty long years before.

When he turned to leave the tiny hamlet of the dead, a wonderful
transformation had come over his countenance. The placid calm was gone;
the fierce fire of implacable hatred and unswervable resolve burned in
his eyes. He had bidden adieu to all the softer things in this life. His
sole concern now was with the enemy whom he had marked down for death
that night.




CHAPTER XXXV--At Comanche Point

|BEN THURSTON, during the afternoon, seated in his big armchair, had
first nodded over a newspaper and then dropped off to sleep. He was
awakened by a touch on the shoulder--rudely awakened, for he jumped to
his feet, and in a dazed way glared at the disturber.

"Excuse me," apologized Leach Sharkey, "but I want to remind you that
this is the afternoon when we are to meet that old Portugee I told you
about."

"I need no reminder," was the gruff reply. "I am ready to start when you
are. By the way, what's the fellow's name?"

"José, he said. He claims to know every nook and corner in the range.
Has lived in the mountains for many years; keeps goats and bees, and
shoots a mountain lion occasionally, earning the bounty as well as
getting the skin."

"Shoots," echoed Thurston, somewhat nervously.

"Oh, that was in his younger days mostly, I fancy. Today he is a
tottering old man who couldn't hold a rifle straight if he tried. But
he's well acquainted with the mountains, that's the main thing. He tells
me he has known where Dick Willoughby is hiding since the very day after
he broke jail."

"Then why didn't he come to me?"

"Because he knew nothing about the reward. But at our very first chance
meeting among the hills I very soon made five thousand dollars look
mighty good to him. By gad, you should have seen his eyes pop and his
hands tremble."

"It is a fortune for such a man."

"That's what got him. He has been supplying Willoughby with goats'
milk, but is paid only two bits a quart. So he grabbed at my bait like
a hungry coyote. You have the money ready, I suppose? Treasury
bills--that's what he stipulated for, because he's too frail to hump a
sack of gold around."

"The money is in that wallet on my desk. You had better carry it."

Sharkey stepped across the room and shoved a fat leather wallet into the
breast pocket of his coat.

"So frail, is he?" Thurston went on, musingly. "Well, I needn't take a
gun."

Sharkey smiled. He knew Ben Thurston's timidity in even handling a
revolver, and the man's abject reliance on his armed bodyguard.

"Not the slightest necessity," assented the sleuth. "I've always got
my brace of bulldogs ready;" and the professional gunman, touching
the broad leather belt to which his holsters were attached, grinned
complacently.

"And no danger to be feared from Willoughby himself, you said?"

"None whatever. In fact, he don't have a gun, José declares. So he only
sneaks out after dark for a constitutional. The old fellow will take us
to the spot where we can grab him by the neck."

"That sounds like business," replied Thurston, rubbing his hands. "And
shoot him down, Sharkey, if he runs."

"He won't give us the slip this time--you can bet dollars to doughnuts
on that. But of course he's got to have the chance of hands-up before
I fire. Killing is killing, and I prefer the handcuffs. There is really
less trouble in the long run."

"Well, perhaps I, too, would prefer to see him hanged," murmured
Thurston, with gloating satisfaction. "But don't forget that we must get
him this afternoon, dead or alive. I'm sick of this life of watching and
waiting."

"The end's in sight at last."

"Then we'll go back East--after I have had my revenge. It will be
sweeter to me after all the trouble we've encountered. And by God, we'll
drag that Farnsworth girl, too, through the mire. Hell to all of them!
I've never had anyone but enemies around me here."

While speaking, Thurston reached for his overcoat thrown across the back
of a chair.

"All right, we'll start," said Sharkey. "I'll go and get the horses
ready."

It was about half past three o'clock when the riders reached the base of
the mountain barrier not far from the entrance to Tejon Pass.

"We've got to make it on foot now," remarked Sharkey, as he swung
himself from the saddle. "I'll tether the horses to this manzanita."
Thurston dismounted, and while his companion led the animals under the
trees, he gazed aloft at the precipice beetling in front of them.

"Damn it, I wish you had chosen any other place than Comanche Point," he
exclaimed irritably.

"We had to come to the spot where we can find our man," replied Sharkey
complacently. "It is on the ridge above that Willoughby has his place of
hiding. Come along, we have a good stiff climb before us."

He led the way up the first slope of the winding trail and Ben Thurston
followed, reluctantly now, half doubting the wisdom of his having left
his home for such an adventure.

Meanwhile there had been two other riders on the range that afternoon,
mounted on little hill ponies. The one man was blindfolded; the other
rode in advance and guided the second pony by a leading rein. It had
been the usual experience to which Dick Willoughby had now become
accustomed--hour after hour along winding, maze-like trails. At last the
call had come to dismount, and the bandage had been removed from Dick's
eyes. He saw that he was in a little box-like nook in the mountains.

"You will remain here," said Pierre Luzon, "until I whistle for you--you
know my signal. Zen you will lead ze ponies along zis path. When
you come to me, I will put you on ze road for home, and we will say
good-bye."

"I suppose I may smoke," laughed Dick, philosophically. The day of
surprises had left him dulled to any further wonderment.

"Sure, smoke," replied Pierre. "But remember ze forest regulations," he
added with a chuckle, "and do not set ze brush on fire."

"Oh, I'm no green tenderfoot," laughed

Willoughby, as he drew his briar-root from his pocket. "And it's quite a
balmy afternoon for October."

He sat down and propped his back against a moss-grown rock.

"You must not stir from here," continued Pierre. "Remember I have to
find you again."

"Guess I've learned to obey orders. I'm quite comfortable where I am."
And Dick started contentedly smoking.

Pierre, following the little path to which he had drawn Dick's
attention, pushed through the brushwood and disappeared.

Just ten minutes later Pierre Luzon stood on Comanche Point and gazed
down the trail leading up from the pass below.

"Zey are coming, zey are coming!" he exclaimed eagerly to himself, with
finger outpointed in the direction of the two climbers on foot half
way up the ascent. Then he slipped back into the shadow of a clump of
stunted pines that grew close to the cliff.

Fifteen minutes or so passed. Then the heads of Ben Thurston and Leach
Sharkey showed above the final steep ascent that led directly on to the
projecting spur known as Comanche Point. Thurston was breathing hard
after the difficult climb.

"Here we are at last," remarked Sharkey cheerfully, as he glanced
around.

Even as he spoke, a tottering figure came forth from among the pines. A
few minutes before, Pierre Luzon had been erect and vigorous and nimble
on his feet, but now he seemed to be indeed a frail and bowed old man.

"I have come," he said, as he approached the figures on the cliff.

"Hands up, then," cried the sleuth, half laughing. "You remember, I said
I would search you for a gun."

"I have no gun," Pierre answered, as he halted and elevated his arms.

Sharkey advanced and, without taking the trouble to draw either of his
own weapons, ran his fingers with the quick touch of experience over the
old man's clothes.

"I knew you were on the square, José," said the bodyguard, quickly
satisfied. "Well, I've brought the mazuma."

He drew from his pocket the fat wallet, opening it for a moment to
display the wads of greenbacks. Then he put it back again.

"Now where is our man?"

"He is down here, just a little distance," replied Pierre, in a cautious
whisper. "I am not strong enough to hold him. But you come. Ze boss, he
can remain here for ze present."

Ben Thurston had turned away and was looking down into the valley.

"We'll be back in a short time," called out Sharkey.

But Thurston, if he had heard, made no reply.

"Now show the way, old fellow," continued the sleuth, addressing his
guide.

A moment later Ben Thurston was alone.

Alone on Comanche Point--gazing over the broad sweep of lands that
had been his princely heritage, but which he had now lost forever! The
valley lay beneath him, bathed in the mellow evening sunshine. But his
eyes were riveted on a single spot. And what a transformation scene
for the erstwhile cattle king--this new city with its checkerboard of
streets and all around it new homes amid plots of young fruit trees and
meadows of alfalfa!

The whole picture was one of fascinating beauty--the city itself the
finishing touch that gave it human interest. But in Ben Thurston's soul
there was nothing but bitterness and disgust. He had kept on complaining
that he had been unscrupulously plundered by the Los Angeles syndicate,
and with the realization now of what enterprise and enlightened progress
could achieve, he began to feel that he had been mercilessly stripped
of what was rightfully his. Greed and envy and vain regrets were all
commingled in his surge of envenomed thoughts. But avarice predominated.

"Good God, to think I parted with the rancho at a beggarly acreage
price, when I might have been selling town lots today. There will be a
dozen other towns springing up to follow this one."

In his agony he groaned aloud and covered his eyes with his hands to
shut out the hateful sight.

Just at that moment the sound of a twig crackling underfoot smote his
ear. He turned round; into his face stole an ashen look of terror as he
watched an approaching figure wrapped in a Spanish cloak and crowned by
a broad-brimmed sombrero. His haggard eyes asked: "Is it man or ghost?"
He would have screamed aloud, but found himself voiceless from fear.

At last the figure stood before him with proudly folded arms.

"The White Wolf!" gasped Thurston, in a faint whisper.

"Yes, Don Manuel de Valencia--the White Wolf, as you choose to call him.
And now at last, Ben Thurston, we meet face to face, and alone--after
thirty long years, and without a woman's tears this time to save you!"

Ben Thurston sank to the ground, a huddled heap, trembling in every
limb.




CHAPTER XXXVI---Outwitted

|PIERRE LUZON led Leach Sharkey along the trail. Beyond Comanche Point
it dipped again owing to the contour of the mountain, then at a distance
of about fifty yards, took a sharp turn round an abrupt face of rock.

"Where the hell are you taking me?" asked the sleuth, as they approached
this bend.

"Only a little further," replied the guide, in a feeble quavering voice
as he glanced over his shoulder.

The men were only a few paces apart. In the shadow cast by the cliff,
Pierre's pallid face with its stubbly white beard looked like that of a
veritable ancient, and his bent form and tottering steps completed the
picture. The sleuth smiled at his momentary discomposure.

Around the turn, however, Pierre grabbed at a revolver lying ready to
his hand on a ledge of rock, and when Sharkey followed, it was to find
a hale and stalwart man, erect, alert, with the flash of conscious power
in his eyes.

"Hands up!" cried Pierre, in a voice of stern command. Leach Sharkey was
standing three short steps away and was looking now into the muzzle of
a big automatic pistol. Over his countenance there stole a sickly smile.
But he knew the rules of the game too well to attempt any resistance.
His hands went slowly above his head until both arms were fully
extended.

"You've got the drop on me all right, José," he murmured, in
self-apology.

"Face the rock," came the next curt order--the very tone was reminiscent
of old bandit days.

Sharkey obeyed in silence, and in a trice both his guns were withdrawn
from their holsters and flung among the brushwood.

"You go ahead now," said Pierre, stepping aside to let the other pass.
"You can drop your hands, but if you cry out or attempt to run, zen you
are one dead man."

The discomfited sleuth meekly complied, although there was now a black
scowl on his face as he stepped on ahead. In all his professional
career, Leach Sharkey had never before fallen so ignominiously into a
trap like this.

Not a word was spoken while a distance of some two hundred yards was
being traversed. Then Pierre called out the one word: "Halt!"

Sharkey did not dare even to look round. He stood still as a piece of
statuary.

"You sit on zat stone over zere," continued Pierre, "and do not rise
until I give you permission. Now we will proceed to business."

Sharkey sat down as ordered.

"Hell, you can have your five thousand dollars right enough," he said,
pulling the wallet from his pocket.

"No, my friend. I did not bring you here to rob you. I am out on parole,
and I never break my word. I am Pierre Luzon!" He spoke the name with
triumphant pride.

"Good God!" exclaimed Sharkey, in dumfounded surprise. "You belonged to
the White Wolf's gang?"

"I belong now to ze gang. Ze White Wolf is alive!"

Leach Sharkey had looked sick before, but a ghastly grey pallor came
into his face now.

"Then he has got hold of Ben Thurston--at last?" he faltered.

"Yes, at last," replied Pierre, with a grim smile of joy. "Don Manuel
and Ben Thurston are alone on Comanche Point just now. Zey will settle
old scores--zat is zeir affair. Now, I attend to my affair."

Sharkey looked up enquiringly, but said no more.

"Leach Sharkey," continued the old Frenchman, "you are one strong
man. You will now take ze handcuffs from your pocket--I know you carry
zem--and drop zem over your shoulder. Zere, zat is right. I am glad you
obey wizout giving me any further trouble. Now, you will hold out your
hands, behind your back--you know exactly how."

Yes, Leach Sharkey knew exactly how. And he also knew what the business
end of a big revolver meant, with the forefinger of a daring bandit like
Pierre Luzon on the trigger. He was handcuffed and helpless right enough
in very short order. For the first time in his life the man who had so
often slipped the bracelets on others, found the bracelets around his
own wrists.

"Next I want ze key of ze handcuffs," Pierre resumed. "Which pocket,
please?"

Sharkey, with a downward thrust of his chin, indicated the waistcoat
pocket.

"Zank you," said Pierre, as he thrust in his fingers and produced the
key. "Now, we will throw zis zing away"--as he spoke it went whizzing
through the air--"and when you get home to ze rancho, ze blacksmith zere
will set you free."

"Oh, I'm going home, am I?" said the sleuth, considerably reassured.

"Yes, Pierre Luzon no longer rob or kill or break ze law. He keep his
word of honor always. And I promised to bring Dick Willoughby to you
tonight. Now I shall be true to zat promise, too."

And through his teeth he blew a shrill whistle.

At the sound Dick Willoughby started up, and shook the ashes from his
pipe. Following Pierre's instructions, he led the two ponies along the
little trail through the chaparral. Within five minutes he emerged on a
broader trail, right at the spot where the Frenchman was standing.

"Hello, Pierre!" Then Dick's eyes fell on Leach Sharkey, and at the very
first glance he saw the shackled hands. "But what's the meaning of all
this?" he asked in bewildered surprise.

"It means zat you will take zis man down ze mountains. He came to arrest
you, but you can tell him now zat you are one free man. You can show him
ze paper which proves it was not you, but Don Manuel, who is responsible
for ze death of young Thurston."

"Great Caesar!" muttered the sleuth, "I thought that from the first, but
the old fool would not listen to me."

"Mr. Sharkey," said Dick, "you and I have no quarrel. What Pierre
says is true--I have a sworn affidavit in my pocket, fixing the
responsibility for that unhappy affair where it belongs."

"I believe you, Mr. Willoughby," replied the sleuth. "I'm glad you
are innocent, but I was only doing my duty in trying to arrest the man
charged with the crime."

"I understand all that. I bear you no ill will."

"And I'd shake hands if it were not for these damned bracelets,"
continued Sharkey.

"Pierre, there is no need of handcuffs," said Dick, turning to the
Frenchman. "Set him free. We will go peaceably home together."

"No, no," replied Pierre, determinedly. "Leach Sharkey, he is one giant
in strength. He will go home as he is. Besides, I have trown ze key
away." And he laughed aloud.

Sharkey nodded in helpless admission of his sorry plight.

"Too bad," murmured Dick.

"And now," continued Pierre, "zere is no time to be lost. We will help
zis man onto your pony, and you will ride my pony and hold ze leading
rein."

"But he can't ride with his hands behind his back like that," objected
Dick.

"Oh, yes, he can," grinned Pierre. "Ze good horseman ride wid his knees,
and most of ze road you can be by his side and hold him on. And it is ze
only way, for ze key, as I have said, is gone."

"I suppose we've got to accept the situation," said Dick, with a glance
at Sharkey's lugubrious countenance. The man of strength was obviously
crestfallen at his almost ridiculous plight of powerlessness.

Pierre resumed his instructions. "You will not go back to Comanche
Point, but will take ze mule trail down into ze valley. You know it, Mr.
Willoughby--it is about one mile furzer on."

"I know it," replied Dick.

"You will leave Mr. Sharkey at the rancho and zen ride to ze place where
your friends are waiting for you. Now, zat is all. I must go. We have
already said our _adios_, my dear young friend." Dick grasped the
proffered hand and warmly pressed it.

"Good-bye, Pierre. I can never thank you enough for all you have done
for me. Good-bye." Leach Sharkey was assisted into the saddle, and the
horsemen started on their way.

"Good-bye," shouted back Dick Willoughby, yet once again.

"_Adios!_"

And as the two figures disappeared around a bend, the Frenchman uttered
a deep sigh. "A splendid young fellow! I wonder shall we ever meet
again!"--this was the thought in his mind as for just a moment he stood
in an attitude of deep dejection.

Then swinging around, he started back at a run for Comanche Point.




CHAPTER XXXVII--The Dawn of Comprehension

|ALL through the afternoon at La Siesta, Merle was in a meditative mood.
After luncheon Mrs. Darlington had returned to her letter-writing and
her book-keeping. Munson and Grace had departed for a walk through the
pine woods, after vain but not too strenuous endeavors to get Merle to
accompany them. Left to her own resources she had retired to the drawing
room, had tried to interest herself at the piano, but after a little
while had given up the attempt; and, coiled in a big chair, had
surrendered herself to a "big think," as she mentally termed it.

In that momentary searching of the eyes between her and Mr. Robles
just before their parting in the rose garden, there had come a flash of
revelation to her soul. She had divined a yearning in his gaze that was
surely more than the affection of an old and devoted friend. There was
passionate tenderness that belied the gentle yet almost perfunctory kiss
on the brow that he had finally bestowed at parting. Nor had she failed
to notice the restraint which the strong man had imposed upon himself.
And strangely enough, her own momentary impulse had been to throw her
arms around his neck and kiss him, just as a fond daughter might have
kissed a father at such an emotional moment--on the eve of a long
journey, the whither unrevealed, the return all so uncertain.

She recalled, too, their previous conversation while she was gathering
the roses--his words of kindly wisdom, his little bits of advice that
now seemed to be weighted by more than mere friendly interest in her
future happiness. Then her mind traveled back slowly, step by step, all
the way to childhood days--a long vista marked by his comings and
his goings, his prolonged absences, his unexpected but always welcome
reappearances, his numberless acts of thoughtful kindness. Once she had
been seriously ill, when a little girl, and the memory of that illness
had ever been the memory of his face hovering over her cot, night and
day, till the crisis had been passed and she had been on the way to
assured convalescence.

There had always been an air of mystery about Mr. Robles, but she had
never sought to penetrate it, instinctively recognizing that there had
been some great sorrow in his life, and almost unconsciously accepting
the affectionate regard he had lavished on Grace and herself as some
sort of consolation for him in his loneliness. She knew that Grace
was only her sister in name, but none the less Grace was to her a real
sister, just as Mrs. Darlington was a real mother--the only mother she
had ever known. Weaving together now the threads of memory, she became
conscious of the mystery in her own life. There was assuredly some
fuller story than the story she had been told in the past and had always
tacitly accepted--that her parents had been neighbors and dear friends
of Mrs. Darlington in the long ago, and when they had died, the baby
girl left behind had been bequeathed to her motherly care.

At this stage in her ruminations Merle sat bolt upright in her chair.
The shadows of evening were beginning to close around her, but the dawn
of revelation was in her heart.

Would Mrs. Darlington still be alone in her boudoir? Merle answered the
unspoken thought by stealing from the room.

Yes, Mrs. Darlington was at her writing table, lighted now by candles
on each side which, covered by little red shades, only dimly illuminated
the apartment. Merle flitted in without her coming being observed.

Mrs. Darlington was no longer writing--her elbows were resting on the
table and both hands were covering her eyes in an attitude of deep
thought, perhaps of sleep, as Merle for a moment imagined when she had
noiselessly gained her side.

"Mother dear," she said softly, laying a hand on her shoulder.

"You here, my child?" exclaimed Mrs. Darlington. There was no trace of
slumber in her eyes.

"Yes, and I want to have a little talk with you--all alone," said
Merle, as she dropped into a chair, the very chair which Mr. Robles had
previously occupied.

The look of vague sadness and anxiety in Mrs. Darlington's face
deepened.

"What about, dear?" she asked.

Merle's mind had been made up, and she came to the issue with
point-blank abruptness.

"Is Mr. Robles my father?"

The startled look on the other's face was almost in itself an admission
of the truth--Mrs. Darlington had been caught off her guard. But she
made a desperate attempt to parry the question.

"What makes you fancy such a thing?" she faltered.

"Because there is certainty in my heart," replied

Merle bravely. "It came to me first when he bade me good-bye in the
garden. And now I see it in your face."

The young girl dropped on her knees, and, an arm around her mother's
waist, gazed up imploringly.

Eyes met eyes. Falsehood was impossible in either case. Mrs. Darlington
stooped and folded the kneeling girl in a fond embrace. Both were
weeping now. No word had been spoken, but Merle knew that she had
correctly divined.

It was a few minutes before there was sufficient self-control for the
conversation to be resumed. But then, Merle still kneeling by her side,
Mrs. Darlington spoke:

"I had promised to keep this secret, dear," she began, fondling the
girl's tresses. "But you have gained your knowledge apart from me, so
I cannot be held to have betrayed my trust. Yes, Mr. Robles is your
father--your loving and devoted father. Your real name is his--Merle
Robles you should always have been called."

"And why not?" asked Merle. "Oh, I am proud and overjoyed to think of
him as my father."

"Because he has some important reason to have the world think otherwise.
I know you will believe me, dear Merle, when I say I do not know that
reason. He is too grand and honorable a man for me to have ever pressed
for an explanation. I just accepted you as a gift from his hands--his
child and the child of my girlhood chum, named Merle, as you know, like
yourself."

"So, if I have solved one mystery, there is still another mystery
beyond," murmured Merle.

She rose, seated herself, and remained silent for a moment, her hands
locked across her knees, her brows knit in thought.

"But why distress your heart over unknown things?" said Mrs. Darlington.
"As you have learned by your today's experience, mysteries solve
themselves in due time."

"Yes," replied Merle, "but somehow I feel that this is the due time that
I should know everything--for my dear father's sake," she added, "not
for my own. Oh, mother, you should have seen his face of anguish just
before he parted from me this afternoon. It was revealed to me only
for an instant. But now I feel sure that something terrible is going to
happen--to him."

She was sobbing again, as she flung her arms impulsively around Mrs.
Darlington's neck and sat in her lap, just as if once again she had
become a little child.

"Oh, mother mine--I shall always call you mother mine, for you have been
a dear, sweet, kind mother to me ever since I can remember. But don't
you see that today I have also found a father whom I deeply love?
Nothing must happen to him."

"Why should anything happen to him?"

"I do not know. Where is Tia Teresa?"

The question came with startling suddenness as Merle started up with
another ray of illumination in her mind.

"I haven't seen her since morning," replied Mrs. Darlington.

"Nor have I," said Merle, standing erect, wiping away the traces of her
tears, and with a few pats adjusting her rumpled hair. "That is very
strange."

"No. I happen to know that this day, the eleventh of October, is always
a sad anniversary for Tia Teresa--the death of some dear friend who
lies buried in the little Mexican cemetery on the hill. She has always
refused to tell me the story. But early this morning she went, as usual,
to place flowers upon the grave."

"Flowers--for a grave!" exclaimed Merle. She was thinking of the roses
she had gathered that afternoon for Mr. Robles--for her father--because
he specially wanted the most beautiful blooms. But she did not give her
thought to Mrs. Darlington.

"It is all so strange," continued Merle. Then her air of decisiveness
returned. "I'll go and see if Tia Teresa is in her room."

Mrs. Darlington was gravely perturbed at this persistency. Oh, if only
the mysteries of the past could be left alone, the joys of the present
accepted for themselves! Probing into trouble cannot but lead to further
trouble--that, for her, had been the secret of contentment. But she was
powerless to intervene. Merle had already departed on her mission of
enquiry.




CHAPTER XXXVIII--Exit Leach Sharkey

|THE ponies were jogging down the trail, Leach Sharkey uncomfortably
lurching in his saddle when some sudden bend or dip was encountered,
Dick Willoughby good-humoredly holding him on when such emergencies
rendered the service advisable if an ignominious fall were to be
avoided. There was a song of joy in Dick's heart--liberty was at hand;
he was riding down from the hills to join his loved one again. But there
was sullen brooding in the soul of the outwitted sleuth--growing more
sullen with every mile traversed, with every kindness rendered, with the
very realization of his own ridiculous predicament and the contrast of
his companion's light-hearted happiness.

At last they reached the foot of the trail, leading on to the road that
crossed the plain. At the distance of a few miles the Rancho San Antonio
showed amid its clustering shade and orchard trees.

"Let us dismount for a bit," suggested Sharkey. "I feel all in--dead
beat and tired."

"But how will I get you on to your horse again?" replied Dick, a trifle
dubiously.

"Oh, we'll manage that. Please help me down." Dick sprang to the ground,
dropped the reins over his pony's head, and soon had Leach Sharkey on
_terra firma_.

"You're no light weight to handle," he laughed. "By the way, Sharkey, I
forgot to ask: Where's your boss this afternoon?"

Sharkey eyed Dick curiously.

"You don't know?"

"Why should I know? It's quite a time since I met the gentleman."

"You are aware who Pierre Luzon is?"

"Certainly. Pierre has come to be quite a friend of mine. He's a good
fellow all right." There was a moment's pause. Dick was rolling a
cigarette, Sharkey furtively watching every expression on his face.

"Well, the Frenchie played me a dirty trick when he threw that key
away," remarked the sleuth, rattling, the handcuffs behind his back.

"I guess Pierre was resolved to take no chances," replied Dick, grinning
through the tobacco smoke as he surveyed the helpless bodyguard. "He
only needed a pair of hobbles to complete the job."

A muttered curse came from Sharkey's lips--but this was an aside. For
Dick he had an insinuating smile.

"You might get these blamed handcuffs off all right, Willoughby. Look
at that big boulder there. If I set my hands across it, you might hammer
through the chain. Or if you have a pistol, that might do the trick."

"No, I've got no pistol," Dick replied.

He did not notice the gleam of satisfaction in Sharkey's eyes--the
wolfish smile at the corners of his wolf-like teeth. At the moment he
was looking around for a convenient stone that might serve as a hammer.

"But I think I might break that chain all right with this," he went on,
as he stooped and picked up a heavy, sharp-edged fragment of granite
from the rock-strewn ground. "Come along, then. Set your wrists just
here. At least, we can try."

The trial succeeded--the slender steel strain stretched across the
boulder soon yielded to the succession of battering blows.

Sharkey flung his great big brawny arms aloft. He was still wearing the
bracelets, but his hands were free.

"Feels better, don't it?" said Dick, with a sympathetic smile.

"A damned sight better," roared the sleuth, as he turned quickly round.
"Now, young man, you are my prisoner. I arrest you for jail-breaking.
There's my star. I don't say hands up, for I know you haven't a gun."

As he spoke, Sharkey opened his coat so that the official badge might be
displayed.

Dick in his amazement stepped back, just one pace. Sharkey advanced, his
high hands outstretched.

"Make no trouble, now. You know I am only doing my duty."

"Duty be hanged," cried Dick, as with a swift uppercut he caught
his would-be captor on the jaw. Sharkey staggered, and Dick, with a
right-arm swing, banged him on the temple, bowling him over like a
ninepin.

Sharkey was soon on his hands and knees; then dazed and tottering, he
got onto his feet again. But Dick was watchfully waiting, and with sharp
jabs, right and left, sent him down once more. The sleuth lay motionless
now.

Like a flash Dick grabbed the riata hanging from the saddle-horn of his
pony, and without a moment's loss of time had its coils around the arms
and chest of the prostrate man, roping him like a thrown steer with all
the skill of the trained cowboy. In a brief minute the knots were tied,
and with the final clove-hitch the fallen Samson was turned over on his
back. Sharkey's eyes opened, glaring dully at his conqueror.

"You contemptible hound!" exclaimed Dick, as he tossed the loose end of
the lariat from him. "By God, I've seen a few low-down things done in
my lifetime, but this is certainly the limit. I suppose you would have
betrayed me for the sake of the reward, even though you know now for
certain that I was wrongfully arrested at the start. You damned Judas!
You deserve to be hanged like a horse-thief, Leach Sharkey--that's about
your proper finish."

And Dick in his righteous indignation glanced around as if in search of
a convenient tree for the operation.

"I'll give no further trouble," mumbled Sharkey.

"It will be my particular care that you don't," replied Dick. "Get
up, you hulking brute." And grabbing the coils of the riata, he fairly
lifted Sharkey to his feet.

"Now, I wouldn't shame the pony by putting you on his back again. Follow
me."

Picking up the free end of the rope, and gathering the leading rein of
Sharkey's horse into the same hand, Willoughby vaulted into his saddle.

"Come along," he called out, turning round as the riata came taut. And
thus, a dozen paces behind, the sleuth, discomfited again a second
time that day, and humiliated worse than ever, followed perforce in his
victor's trail.

Perhaps half a mile of the open road was thus traversed, Dick speaking
not another word, but looking round occasionally and giving an energetic
yank at the rope whenever there was evidence of laggard steps. Sharkey
stumbled along, his chin buried in his breast, his eyes half-closed to
conceal their dumb, vicious glare of concentrated but impotent fury.

They had now reached a gate; Dick dismounted and threw it open, pointing
the way for Sharkey to take.

"It's about five miles to the rancho," he said. "I don't know how you'll
get through the other gates, but I reckon you can crawl under them, like
the snake you've proved yourself to be. Now, off you go," and with
the words he looped the loose end of the riata around the victim's
shoulders. "That's a better necktie than you deserve, Leach Sharkey.
If it was any one but myself, you would be helped to a start by a few
vigorous kicks behind."

The sleuth shambled through the gateway, with shamed, averted face. With
a click the gate was closed. For just a few minutes Dick watched the
figure moving away through the now gathering dusk. Then he laid a hand
on his saddle-horn.

"I hope it's the last I'll see of that animal," he murmured to himself,
as he sprang lightly into the saddle. And at a canter he started along
the road, the led pony, after a few heel-kicks as if in joy at being
relieved of its burden, soon dropping into the swinging stride.




CHAPTER XXXIX--The Fight on the Cliff

|FOR a few moments Don Manuel contemplated the cowering figure of Ben
Thurston in contemptuous silence. His end was accomplished; his enemy
was in his power; like the cat with the mouse just a few inches from its
paw, he could strike at any moment. He spoke now with measured calm.

"Do you remember what day this is? The eleventh of October."

He paused for a reply. Thurston's lips were parted but remained dumb.
Don Manuel resumed:

"Thirty years ago this very night--here at this very spot, you brutally
killed my poor little sister, Rosetta."

Thurston shrank back. His lips moved, but no sound came.

"Oh, attempt no denial," continued Don Manuel, for the moment clenching
a menacing fist over him. "You cannot forget the tell-tale button which
you snatched from my hand to hide the proof. Nor have I forgotten the
lash of your quirt that drew blood from my cheek"--and he wiped his face
with the tips of his fingers as if to rub away the memory of the deadly
insult--"the very day on which I buried my dear father and mother," he
added, in a voice vibrant with emotion.

He bowed his head; there was another brief period of silence. Then he
recovered himself and went on:

"The deaths of my beloved parents are just as much on your head, Ben
Thurston, as the death of the guileless, innocent, young girl whom you
betrayed, and then with coward hands pushed over this cliff, mangling
her body on the rocks below. My vengeance has been slow in coming, but
after all, I am glad of the delay. For all through these years you have
not only suffered the agony of constant fear, but I have lived to see
you landless, bereft of the broad rich acres which belonged to my father
and were never rightfully yours."

"That's not so--my claim was established in the law courts." Thurston
managed to articulate the words. The sound of his voice seemed to
restore some little measure of courage, for he sat up, and leaning an
elbow on a rock, adjusted himself in a more comfortable position. But
he did not seek to gain his feet--the bandit's figure still towered over
him.

"Law courts--your American law courts!" exclaimed Don Manuel, with
ineffable scorn. "You know you bribed the judge who gave the decision.
Dare you deny it?"

Thurston ventured no denial--his dropped jaw proclaimed his
consciousness of guilt.

"Nothing was too base for you," Don Manuel proceeded. "You robbed,
despoiled, destroyed my home. But now at last your hour has come.
I have waited patiently for this hour. On many an occasion, Ben
Thurston, I could have shot you dead from a distance. But I have
waited--waited--waited for the time when you would know that it was I,
the White Wolf, who was sending you to your doom just as I have already
sent your ruffian son to his."

"So it was really you--who murdered my boy?" stammered Thurston.

"Don't call it murder--it was righteous retribution for both him and
you. Oh, I can tell you something tonight, for a secret does not pass
from a dead man's lips."

The victim so confidently doomed, shuddered. Don Manuel continued:

"Merle Farnsworth is my daughter; your vile and debauched son dared to
insult her, and so he died--rightly died. Yes, at my hands--I take full
responsibility. And I am glad to tell you this before you follow him out
of the world. Tonight, Ben Thurston, you go over this cliff--you die the
death you gave to my sister."

As he spoke, Don Manuel cast loose his Spanish cloak, and dropped both
it and his sombrero to the ground.

Thurston at last staggered to his feet.

"So get ready now to fight for your life," Don Manuel resumed, folding
his arms across his breast as he surveyed his victim.

"But I am unarmed," cried Thurston, pointing to the revolver at the
other's belt. His outstretched hand trembled, his voice was a terrified
shriek.

"Then I, too, shall be unarmed," replied Don Manuel, as he unbuckled his
belt and tossed it lightly from him. "Come along, then--it is man to
man with naked hands." His tone now was one of concentrated passion and
hate, and he advanced with arms extended for an enfolding embrace.

Now did Ben Thurston realize that his only chance for life lay in his
superior weight, possibly his superior strength. At the thought, craven
fear changed of a sudden to the courage of desperation, and like a wild
cat he leaped at the throat of his adversary.

Then began a terrible struggle--two strong men writhing in each other's
grip like savage beasts. Soon their clothes were torn, their bodies
begrimed with sweat and mud, their faces and naked arms bespattered
with blood, for Ben Thurston's nose had been broken in one of the first
falls. Thurston, besides his extra pounds, had also the advantage of
being younger by a few years. But Don Manuel was in better physical
condition and his muscles were like bands of steel. So it was pretty
much of a level match in this grim fight to the death.

[Illustration: 0305]

As they tugged at each other, as each attempted to bear the other down
or trip and throw him, as at times, each tried in their locked embrace
to crush in his adversary's ribs and squeeze the last breath out of his
body, as they milled round and round, swayed and fell and rolled over
and then for a moment regained a kneeling or an upright position--both
men realized that it was the one who could last the longest with whom
the mastery would rest.

Pierre Luzon, running up the trail, came to the edge of the open space
where the desperate contest was in progress. But the onlooker did
not attempt to interfere--he had had his orders; he just crouched and
watched the swaying, writhing figures.

For an hour or more the fight proceeded, at times fast and furious,
with breathing spells to follow, during which grips were tenaciously
maintained. Points of advantage alternated now to the one side, now
to the other, but after each succeeding tussle both combatants were
exhausted without victory being pronounced for either. Every vestige
of clothing above the belt line had long since been torn away, and they
were sweating like lathered horses.

The milling and wrestling had gradually grown weaker, and it was clear
now that the final test of endurance could not be much longer delayed.
Yet again Don Manuel renewed the attack, and had forced Thurston to his
knees, when the latter by a supreme effort raised himself again, and
then by sheer weight pressed his opponent back a pace or two. But just
at this moment Thurston's strength seemed to give out, for he dropped
down sideways, dragging his enemy after him.

Then Pierre Luzon saw the object of the manoeuvre. Thurston had gained
the spot where Don Manuel's discarded pistol belt was lying, and now he
was reaching out with a disengaged hand to grab the gun.

The Frenchman darted forward.

"Keep out of this," cried Don Manuel, peremptorily, although he was
breathing hard.

"Look out! Your gun!" screamed Pierre, as he seized Thurston's wrist in
a vice-like grip.

Just an instant too late, however, for Thurston's fingers had already
closed round the weapon and it went off with a bang.

Pierre dropped to his knees. It was he who had received the
bullet--through one of his lungs. But he had wrested the pistol from
the treacherous villain's grasp and now it fell, still smoking, to the
ground.

The wounded man coughed a great mouthful of crimson blood on to the slab
of rock. Then he recovered himself and raised his head. Thurston and
Don Manuel, even in their weakened state, were fighting more desperately
than ever, blinded by hate to every sense of danger, and Pierre was just
in time to see them slip on some loosened stones and then, still locked
in the death clench, go rolling over the edge of the precipice.

"_Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu!_" murmured the Frenchman. He staggered to his feet
and without waiting turned and started down the steep trail, stumbling
like a drunken man.

At the foot of the zig-zag pathway he gazed helplessly around. He would
have pushed his way through the brushwood to seek his beloved chief.
Dead! He must be dead. No one could have dropped that sheer three
hundred feet onto the cruel jagged rocks below and live. Yet, who knows?
A tree might have broken the fall--Don Manuel might still be alive.

Pierre, however, was incapable of further effort. His limbs trembled
beneath him, and again he was spitting blood.

All of a sudden he spied the two horses tethered under the manzanita
tree. He tottered toward them, untied the first one he reached, and with
difficulty pulled himself up into the saddle.

To reach Dick Willoughby and get help--that was the thought in the
reeling brain of Pierre Luzon as with a final effort, leaning forward
over the saddle, he turned his steed in the direction of Buck Ashley's
old store, and urged it to a canter.




CHAPTER XL--Revelation

|MERLE paused at the foot of the stairway leading up to one of the
towers where Tia Teresa had her room. She deliberated for a moment,
consulted the tiny watch on her wrist, then turned to retrace her
footsteps.

"There will be plenty of time," she murmured to herself. "I shall be
best able to manage Tia Teresa when I know still more than I do now."
She repaired to her own room and put on her automobile cloak, cap, and
veil. Without telling anyone of her plan, she left the house, went to
the garage, selected a runabout that was specially her own, and was soon
speeding along the highway in the direction of the cluster of hills amid
which the little Mexican cemetery was nestled.

She had been there just once before, several years ago, and she knew
that her machine would have no difficulty in ascending the trail. Within
less than an hour, indeed, she was at her destination.

In the grey evening twilight the place looked very dismal and desolate.
The tiny adobe chapel in one corner was falling into ruins because of
disuse and neglect. A tall rank growth of weeds overran most of the
graves. But there were two that showed marks of loving attention, and
toward these Merle advanced. Here she found the fresh wreaths around the
headstones, and her own roses scattered on the turf.

"Hermana"--she read the single word on the white marble cross adorned
with spotless arum lilies. "Sister," Merle murmured, translating the
word.

Then she turned to the big gravestone close at hand, and moved the
wreaths of red carnations so that she might read the words inscribed.
From these she soon knew that this was the family burial place of the de
Valencias--that here rested the former owners of the San Antonio Rancho,
the beloved parents of two children, Manuel and Rosetta.

"Manuel,"

"Rosetta"--she repeated the names. The latter awakened no memory,
but when she filled out the former to "Don Manuel de Valencia," she
instantly recalled the old-time bandit of whom she had heard many a
tale.

"The White Wolf," she murmured eagerly.

"Yes, yes. His father once owned the rancho, and that was the cause of
the deadly feud--the Vendetta of the Hills. But I thought all that was
forgotten. Yet here are the beautiful fresh flowers."

Seating herself on a flat monument near by, Merle pondered, piecing
things together. "Sister"--the cross must mark the grave of the girl
Rosetta, and have been erected by her brother, Don Manuel. Then whose
hand had strewn the roses? Mr. Robles! In a flash she knew that Mr.
Robles was Don Manuel.

And her father, too! The further thought came with such suddenness,
with such absolute conviction of certainty, that for a moment she felt
appalled. Her father the notorious robber chief, the desperado on whose
head a price had been set, the outlaw who had defied the whole state
of California to arrest him. Somehow she felt no shame--Don Manuel de
Valencia had been a sort of heroic knight-errant in all the stories she
had heard--his hand only against the rich, his heart always for the poor
and oppressed, his attitude toward the intrusive gringos quite justified
by the sharp practice whereby he had been robbed of his patrimonial
acres. It was this very story of wrong which had been one of the reasons
that had from the first predisposed the household at La Siesta to
despise the Thurston family at the Rancho San Antonio.

Then from thinking of Don Manuel, Merle's mind passed to Ricardo
Robles--the courteous, dignified, generous, lovable man she had known
all her life, the very man whom she had rejoiced that day to call her
own father. Don Manuel could be judged only by this standard, and her
heart went out again to Mr. Robles, whatever the name which he had
formerly worn.

The shadows were closing around her, the night air bit sharply, and
Merle arose. Two or three of the rose blooms had fallen beyond the lines
of white stones that marked the graves. Merle advanced, and picking
these up gently, placed them on the breasts of the sleeping dead. Her
own kith and kin! Now she realized how she came to have brown eyes and
raven tresses--the blood of Spain was in her veins. With this thought
throbbing in her heart, she left the cemetery and hurried away for home.

Tia Teresa was the only Roman Catholic at La Siesta, a devout member
of the faith of her fathers and of her childhood days with which no
one around her had ever sought to interfere. Her room was her private
chapel, a curtained recess at one end being fitted up with a crucifix, a
small altar, and a _prie-dieu_.

Here Tia Teresa was kneeling and praying, the only light in the
apartment coming from the altar candles, when Merle softly tiptoed
in, still wearing her automobile cloak. She hesitated to advance, and
momentarily turned to withdraw. But Tia Teresa had seen her, and by a
gesture had bidden her to remain. For a few moments the old duenna's
lips continued to move, then she told another bead on her rosary, arose
from her knees, crossed herself devoutly, and with a final prostration
before the crucifix, terminated her devotional exercises.

"What brought you here, my child?" she asked, approaching Merle.

"Why are you engaged in prayer tonight?" asked Merle, answering question
with question.

"You know I often pray," replied Tia Teresa. "You have seen me many,
many times."

"Yes, but not at this hour, when you are always with my mother."

"She will be wondering where I am. I had better go to her now."

"No," rejoined Merle. "I wish to speak to you. Come here, Tia Teresa;
sit down by my side, and treat me once again as the little girl of the
long ago whom you used to pet and fondle."

"That's very easily done," responded Tia Teresa, with a pleased smile,
seating herself on the low sofa close to Merle. "Come to my heart, my
darling, as in the long ago."

And the duenna drew the girl to her loving, protecting bosom. She
noticed now that Merle was trembling under the influence of some deep
emotion.

"What is wrong with you, my dear?" she asked anxiously.

"I have learned many things today, Tia Teresa," replied Merle, taking
her old nurse's hands and softly stroking them. "First, that Mr. Robles
is my father"--the duenna started, but Merle went quietly on--"and that
he is really Don Manuel de Valencia, the famous outlaw."

"Whoever told you that?" fairly gasped Tia Teresa.

"No one. I found everything out for myself. After I had looked into Mr.
Robles' eyes at our parting this afternoon, I knew the truth. It was
impossible for mother to deny it, but it is not she who has told me
anything. I have just returned from the little Mexican cemetery on the
hillside where Mr. Robles, my father, had taken the flowers for which he
asked me."

"And you saw his flowers--and my flowers, too?" faltered the duenna,
realizing now how Merle had gleaned her knowledge.

"Yes; I inferred that the wreaths were yours, and of course I knew that
the scattered roses were from my father. He is Don Manuel. But I want
you to tell me a little about Rosetta." It was Merle now who put her
arms around Tia Teresa and drew her affectionately to her.

"You have always loved me, you know, my dear," the girl went on
coaxingly. "Now I understand why you were so deeply attached to Mr.
Robles, for you told me once that you had nursed Don Manuel. And that is
why I have been, perhaps, just a little closer to you than Grace"--the
pressure of Tia Teresa's arms told that Merle had correctly
divined--"because I was of the blood of your old master. But why has
there been all this secrecy toward me?"

"Don Manuel's name could not be revealed--he had been outlawed."

"And Rosetta--tell me about Rosetta?"

"She was the real cause of the feud between Mr. Thurston and Don
Manuel."

The duenna had spoken the words before she had realized how much they
told. With unfaltering intuition Merle guessed their meaning.

"You mean to tell me that Thurston wronged Rosetta--betrayed her?"

Tia Teresa nodded assent--she was too deeply agitated to speak another
word.

"And this day--the eleventh of October--the day when you decorate her
grave?" enquired Merle, in a tone and with a look that compelled an
answer.

"Is the day she was found dead on the rocks below Comanche Point,"
replied Tia Teresa.

At the same moment the duenna started to her feet. A wonderful and
terrible transition came over her usually placid countenance. Her eyes
fairly blazed with mingled fury and hatred. Her fists were clenched by
her side. Her whole frame trembled.

"Murdered by Ben Thurston!" she added, the words hissing like hot lava
from her lips.

"Murdered?" cried Merle, incredulously. She too, had risen.

"Yes, pushed over the cliff by his coward hands. His torn coat, one of
the buttons between her dead fingers, proclaimed his guilt before God
and man. But there was no justice in the land in those days--the
days when the gringos broke up our Spanish homes. Now you know
everything--that was the real reason of the Vendetta of the Hills."

Tia Teresa was calm again--it was Merle who was deeply agitated, too
deeply agitated for a moment to speak.

The duenna went on triumphantly. "But the vendetta once sworn will
always be fulfilled. Tonight at Comanche Point--"

Then she stopped short, as she saw the look of terror and horror on
Merle's pale face.

"Tonight?" queried the young girl tremulously. "They meet tonight? Then
that is where Mr. Robles is going--that is why he bade us all that sad
good-bye? My father, oh, my dear father!" And dropping down again on the
sofa, she burst into a passion of weeping.

Tia Teresa sought to soothe her. But Merle was not to be comforted.
Yet while she sobbed she was thinking, for suddenly she rose again and
dashed away her tears.

"At what hour tonight?" she asked.

"I do not know," answered the duenna.

"Then he is in danger--perhaps at this very moment he is in danger. Don
Manuel's life--my father's life is worth a hundred lives of such a man
as Ben Thurston. Quick, quick, Teresa. Get your mantilla and cloak. My
runabout is in readiness. There, let me help you."

Merle was speaking with swift insistence.

"Where are you going?" whispered Tia Teresa, as the girl's fingers were
buttoning her cloak.

"To Comanche Point. We may not be too late to save him."

A minute later the two women had stolen down the narrow stairway of the
tower and were speeding through the gathering darkness of the night.




CHAPTER XLI--Beneath the Precipice

|WILLOUGHBY had found his friends Munson and Jack Rover at Buck Ashley's
old store, eagerly awaiting his coming, with a fine supper sizzling on
the cook stove, prepared in Jack's finest professional cowboy style.

"We've got to feed you up a bit, I reckon," grinned Jack, as he slipped
the Gargantuan slab of beef-steak from the griller on to the big hot
dish waiting for its reception.

"And some potatoes, too," he went on, "not forgetting the fried onions
that beat all your newfangled sauces to a frazzle."

Dick was nothing loth to fall to. He had been too excited to do more
than taste the midday meal that Pierre Luzon had prepared for him in the
cavern. It had been a long hard day, and now he was hungry as a wolf.
In ordinary circumstances he had no objection to fried onions, but,
with delicate regard for possible contingencies, he left to the others a
monopoly over this item in the bill-of-fare.

There were so many things to talk about that it was a difficult matter
to know where to begin. But at the close of the meal Jack Rover solved
the question by sweeping the supper things from the table, and emptying
thereon the contents of one of the bags of gold.

"Good old Guadalupe!" exclaimed the delighted cowboy, as he patted the
nuggets with a loving hand. "I always told you that the ancient squaw
had a real gold mine. I guess we'll be able to stake out our claims
tomorrow, eh, Dick, my boy?"

"I'm afraid not," smiled Willoughby. "The fact is that, although I
helped to wash out that gold, I have not the faintest idea where the
riffle is up among the hills."

Jack's face fell. There was a moment of disappointed silence, and just
then there came the sound of a faint tapping at the outer door.

"What's that?" asked Munson. The faces of all three showed that they had
heard simultaneously.

Dick rose, crossed over, and threw the door wide open.

"My God, who's this?" he asked, as he stooped over the figure lying
prone across the steps. "Pierre, Pierre!" he added, as he turned over
the face. "It's Pierre Luzon, boys, and desperately wounded!"

The others were pressed together in the doorway.

"Looks as if he had crawled here on his hands and knees," remarked
Munson.

"There's his horse out among the chaparral," exclaimed Jack, pointing to
the shadowy form of the animal from which the wounded man had obviously
tumbled.

"Stand clear," cried Dick, gathering up Pierre in his arms. "He has
fainted, but is still alive."

And Dick, carrying the senseless form, passed into the bedroom beyond
the living room, and there laid poor old Pierre on the very cot which
he had occupied once before--on the eventful night when Tom Baker had
brought the paroled convict from San Quentin.

A few drops of whisky brought the wounded man back to consciousness.
Dick leaned over him and caught the faintly whispered words. Piérre was
speaking in the French of his childhood days.

"He is dead--he is dead! At last Rosetta is avenged!"

Dick motioned his companions to silence. He bent down close to the dying
bandit.

"Who is dead, Pierre? Ben Thurston?"

"Yes, yes. Ben Thurston. Glory be to God! Don Manuel is avenged!"

"And how did you come to be shot, Pierre? Where is Don Manuel?"

"Dead--dead, too!" The wounded man this time cried out the words and
struggled to sit up. His eyes opened wide, and fastened themselves on
Dick. His voice again dropped to a whisper; he was speaking lucidly now.
"But perhaps he lives. Who knows? Go and save him, Dick--Don Manuel--go,
go."

Exhausted, Pierre sank back on the pillow. His eyes closed. The death
rattle was in his throat. "Where is he--where shall I find Don Manuel?"
Dick uttered the words close to Pierre's ear. He alone caught the faint
answer. Pierre Luzon was dead.

"He's gone, Chester," said Dick, standing erect. Munson stooped, put his
ear to Pierre's breast, then pressed apart one pair of the eyelids.

"Yes, it's all over," he said solemnly, as he folded the coverlet over
the already marble-like face.

In stricken silence the three men passed to the outer room, shutting the
door softly behind them.

"What's happened?" asked Jack Rover, "I couldn't catch his bloomin'
lingo."

"Something terrible. There has evidently been a fight to the death on
Comanche Point between Ben Thurston and Don Manuel. Looks as if both of
them had gone over the cliff in the struggle."

"Gee!" muttered the cowboy.

Dick remained just a moment in deep thought. His plan of action was
promptly decided on.

"Munson, old man, you saddle my pony, and ride to Tejon for help. Jack,
you remain here with the body."

"And with the nuggets," remarked the cowboy drily.

Dick paid no heed to the interruption. He continued:

"I'll take the horse outside, and ride back to Comanche Point. That's
the best we can do, and the main thing is to do it quickly. Pass me that
flask of whisky--it may come in handy. I'm off now, boys. You'll find me
at the cliff. Bring a doctor, Ches. So long!"

The moon had now risen, and while Dick was galloping toward Comanche
Point from the one direction, the runabout, with Merle at the wheel and
Tia Teresa by her side, was speeding from the other end of the valley
toward the same destination. The horseman was the first to arrive.

Willoughby had no need to search long beneath the precipice. A loud,
continuous cry of lamentation guided him to the spot. There, wailing
over the corpse of Don Manuel, was the old Indian squaw, Guadalupe. Even
in death the two bodies were locked in each other's embrace, and Dick
noted with horror that Ben Thurston's teeth were buried in the flesh of
his enemy's shoulder. Guadalupe was in the act of trying to separate the
dead men when Dick intervened.

Great heavens, what a withered, aged face was raised toward his own!
It was the first time he had ever seen Guadalupe unveiled and at close
quarters. Her cheeks were wrinkled into a hundred folds; her eyes were
sunken in deep cavernous hollows. When he touched her, she rose and,
jabbering furiously for all the world like an angry ape, reviled him
with curses, her meaning unmistakable, although she spoke in some
strange Indian tongue.

Just then Dick caught the distant chug-chug of the automobile. He looked
up the valley, wondering who might be passing at that hour of night.
This was not the main highway; nobody ever came to Comanche Point after
dark. Some intervening spur of the foothills dulled the sound; all was
still and silent.

He became conscious that Guadalupe's fury had spent itself, and turned
round. The squaw was gone. His eyes searched the scrub; at one place he
saw the twigs bending, and he even fancied he could detect the outline
of the white wolf gliding away through the brushwood. But that was all.

Again the sound of the automobile smote his ears; louder now, and only a
few hundred yards away he beheld the headlights sweeping toward the spot
where he stood. He resolved to intercept the vehicle and stepped across
the belt of chaparral that intervened between him and the roadway.
Gaining the thoroughfare, he called aloud and the machine slowed down.

But what was his utter amazement when Merle jumped' from the runabout.
To her there could be no more surprises on this night of surprises.

"Dick," she exclaimed, as she accepted his embrace almost as a matter of
course.

"How do you come to be here, Merle, my darling?" he asked, holding her
in his arms.

"Something terrible is going to happen. I have come to try to prevent
it. Have you seen Don Manuel?"

"Don Manuel!" He repeated the name in great surprise.

"Mr. Robles is Don Manuel," she gasped by way of explanation.

"I am aware. He told me so today."

"Well, where is he now? And his enemy, Mr. Thurston?"

Dick still had an arm on her shoulder. She was gazing up into his face,
her voice trembling with emotion as she breathlessly plied him with her
questions.

"You have come too late, dearest," Willoughby gently replied.

"Dead!" she exclaimed.

"Both are dead. They fought and rolled over the precipice. I have just
found their bodies lying in the chaparral back there."

Merle leaned forward, sobbing on his breast.

"Take me to him, take me to him," she cried.

"No, Merle, my dear. It is better not. You must go home. Tia Teresa,"
he added, addressing the duenna who had drawn near, "she must go home.
Munson has gone to Tejon for help. There will be people arriving here
very soon now."

"He is really dead--Don Manuel?" asked Tia Teresa in a voice of awed
sadness.

"There can be nothing but the one answer," replied Dick. "Don Manuel has
passed on."

"Take me to him," moaned Merle.

"No, no, Merle. This is no sight for you."

"But, Dick, Dick, don't you know one other thing?" she pleaded, raising
her tearful eyes.

"What other thing?"

"Don Manuel--was my father--my dear, dear father."

Again Willoughby was overwhelmed with amazement.

"Your father?" he murmured.

"Yes, I only came to know it today. So, Dick, dear, even though he is
dead, let me kiss him now, let me kneel by his side and tell him that I
loved him, and will always love and revere his memory. Let me watch by
him until the others come."

Dick drew the sobbing girl close to him. His eyes sought those of Tia
Teresa. He shook his head, telling the duenna in an unmistakable way
that Merle must be taken home--that she must not be shocked by the
gruesome spectacle hidden in the chaparral.

Even as their eyes met, the faint throb of an automobile was heard, and
glancing across the plain Dick saw the far-away headlights twinkling
like twin stars. With a gesture he directed Tia Teresa's attention to
the coming help.

"I shall watch by our beloved dead one," said the duenna. "My place is
by his side. Come, dearie," she went on, placing an arm around Merle's
waist. "Mr. Willoughby will drive you back to La Siesta, and I shall
see that your father's body is taken to his home. There we shall pay all
honor to the dead."

Together they led Merle, unresisting now, to the runabout. Dick got in
beside her, and took the wheel.

"They will be here very soon now," he said to Tia Teresa. "Mr. Munson
will give you all the help you require. I'll look after Merle." He
backed the machine, turned, and the little red light swept up the
roadway into the distance. From across the valley the headlights of
a big automobile were now glaring like flashing suns in the soft
moonlight.

It was the hands of Tia Teresa that separated the bodies. That of Ben
Thurston she flung from her as if it had been carrion for the buzzards
and coyotes. Then she knelt down and stroked with loving hand the brow
of Don Manuel. On the dead face was a look of ineffable calm.

"Manuel, my Manuel, the little child I nursed! My beautiful, brave
Manuel!"

Thus lamenting, she awaited the coming of Munson and his friends.




CHAPTER XLII--Wedding Bells

|A FULL year had passed, and the good people of Tejon had at last
ceased to speak daily about Dick Willoughby's exciting adventures, Ben
Thurston's inglorious death, and the romantic and now indubitable ending
of the famous outlaw, Don Manuel.

Both the victims of the desperate fight on Comanche Point had been laid
to rest--Don Manuel, in the little Mission churchyard above the hill,
side by side with the beloved sister of his youthful days, whose
betrayal and death he had at last avenged, although at the cost of his
own life; Ben Thurston, in the modern cemetery beside his son, the poor
weak youth in whom the once sturdy family of pioneers had sunk to final
decadency. Pierre Luzon, the brave and chivalrous old Frenchman, slept
near the grave of the chief he had served so loyally, and, according to
the old-time bandit code of ethics, so nobly and so well. In the God's
acres where all feuds pass to oblivion there was perfect peace.

Sing Ling had unobtrusively departed for China, a wealthy man, as the
bank manager at Bakersfield could have told, no doubt destined to become
a leading magnate in the Flowery Land. Guadalupe was never seen again;
the aged squaw had probably died in her secret cave. The white wolf,
too, had perished; a cowboy riding the range had been attracted by some
buzzards flying and circling round and round far up on the mountain
side, and on making his way to the indicated spot, had found the
animal's carcass picked almost to the bones. The old days were forever
gone.

But in the beautiful city of Tejon a glorious era of happiness was in
progress. Christmas-tide had come round again, and had been made gay
with a tournament of roses, and then with the dawning of the New Year
had followed a round of festivities in honor of the double wedding
of Dick Willoughby and Merle Farnsworth, Chester Munson and Grace
Darlington.

In no place was there more sincere and hilarious rejoicing than in the
back parlor of Buck Ashley's fine new store, where the mystery keg,
sacredly reserved for this great occasion, was once more on tap and the
postmaster, assisted by Tom Baker and Jack Rover, dispensed hospitality
to a few chosen friends. But all good things come to an end, and it was
with a regretful sigh that the sheriff squeezed out the last few drops
from the tilted keg and sipped for the last time "the blessed nectar"
that had served to keep green the memory of "dear old Pierre."

The marriage ceremonies had been performed in a fine little church that
sheltered all denominations in the new town, and amidst a shower of rice
and old shoes the happy couples had departed for the wedding breakfast
at La Siesta.

To Merle the day was one of blissful joy, but of tender regrets as well.
During the quiet afternoon hours she and Dick had conversed about their
dear old friend, Mr. Robles--the gallant and chivalrous Don Manuel--the
beloved father whose identity as such was known only to their own two
selves besides Mrs. Darlington and Tia Teresa.

And now the hour of departure on the honeymoon trail had come. The
idea of a trip to Europe had been abandoned for the present. The young
couples were going up among the Canadian Rockies, by divergent routes
which would meet a little later on, and all were full of enthusiasm at
the thought of seeing the mighty mountains in their wintry grandeur.

Mrs. Darlington accompanied the young people to the railway station,
but Tia Teresa was too deeply affected to trust herself away from home.
Merle had kissed her a tender good-bye in the apartment in the tower,
and, despite the joyful promise that they would soon meet again, had
left the old duenna in prayerful tears before her little altar.

At last they were pulling out from the depot, where the church crowd
of the morning had reassembled in full force, with fresh supplies of
good-luck munitions.

[Illustration: 0371]

Thus, like a disbanding company of players, the actors in this tale of
California, pass into history. The olden days of bandits are no more,
while the hatred of the gringo is only a tradition. The broad acres of
the San Antonio Rancho no longer lie comparatively fallow in Nature's
pasture, but are tilled by the thrifty plowman as he labors afield with
fullest confidence of a bountiful reward. Meanwhile, the mountains
that look down upon the beauteous valley guard their secret well. But
searching eyes will yet, undoubtedly, sometime, somewhere, rediscover
the mysterious cavern with its hoarded millions of loot, stored by the
rapacious hands of Joaquin Murietta, the White Wolf, and their brigand
bands, its lake of oil from which outlaws fed their lamps, and its
subterranean river from whose shallow riffles Guadalupe, and Dick
Willoughby also, gathered a wealth of golden spoil.

THE END









End of Project Gutenberg's A Vendetta of the Hills, by Willis George Emerson