and his men had
drawn together at the first alarm; Longorio's Mexicans had gathered
about their leader. The entire situation had changed in a moment, and
the Ranger captain was in control of it.

Soon Dave Law and Blaze Jones came up over the river-bank; they paused,
stricken with surprise at finding a score of people where they had
expected no more than four.

Blaze was the first to speak. "What the hell?" he cried. He peered
near-sightedly from one to the other; then his huge bulk shook with
laughter: "Say, do my glasses magnify, or is this an Odd-Fellows
meetin'?"

"Dad! Oh, Dad!" Paloma scurried to him and flung herself into his arms.

"Lord of mercy, kid!" the father exclaimed. "Why, you'd ought to be
home and abed, long ago. You'll catch your death of cold. Is that gun
loaded."

Dave Law was even more amazed than his companion. His first glimpse of
the waiting figures had warned him that something had gone wrong, and,
therefore, he did not stop to ask himself how Tad Lewis and Longorio
could have learned of this affair, or what could have brought Alaire
and Ed Austin to the scene. Recovering from his first surprise, he took
a position beside his superior officer.

Captain Evans did not seem at all troubled by the disparity in numbers.
One Ranger, or two at the most, had always been sufficient to quell a
Texan disturbance; now that there were three of them, he felt equal to
an invasion of Mexican soil, if necessary. In consequence he relaxed
his watchful vigilance, and to Dave he drawled:

"We've got most of the leading citizens of the county, and I reckon
somebody in the outfit will be able to identify Guzman."

"There's no trouble about that, sir. We found him. Pedro and Raoul can
make sure." The sons of Ricardo Guzman stepped forward promptly, and
Law waved them toward the boat landing, where the two helpers were
waiting with Ricardo's remains.

Despite the Ranger captain's easy assumption of command, the strain of
the situation had not subsided, and Longorio drew swift attention to
himself when he said:

"It is fortunate that I chanced to learn of this matter. You have done
me a great service, Senor Law, for I came to Romero purposely to
examine into the death of this unfortunate man. But I could learn
nothing; nobody knew anything whatever about the matter, and so I
became convinced that it amounted to little. Now--behold! I discover
that I was deceived. Or--perhaps there still may be a mistake."