stily leaving his bed.

"There, comfort yourself, Padre," replied Rosendo, a sneer curling his
lips. "Your friend is safe--for the present. He and his negro rascals
fled before sunrise."

"And which direction did they take?"

"Why do you ask? Would you go to them? _Bueno_, then across the lake,
toward the Juncal. Don Mario stocked their boat last night, while you
kept me out on the shales. _Buen arreglo, no?_"

"Yes, Rosendo," replied Jose gladly, "an excellent arrangement to keep
you from dipping your hands in his foul blood. Why, man! is your
vision so short? Have you no thought of Carmen and her future?"

"But--_Dios_! he has spread the report that he is her father!
_Caramba!_ For that I would tear him apart! He robbed me of one child;
and now--_Caramba_! Why did you let him go?--why did you, Padre?"

Rosendo paced the floor like a caged lion, while great tears rolled
down his black cheeks.

"But, Rosendo, if you had killed him--what then? Imprisonment for you,
suffering for us all, and the complete wreck of our hopes. Is it worth
it?"

"_Na_, Padre, but I would have escaped to Guamoco, to the gold I have
discovered. There no one would have found me. And you would have kept
me supplied; and I would have given you the gold I washed to care for
her--"

The man sank into a chair and buried his head in his hands.
"_Caramba!_" he moaned. "But he will return when I am gone--and the
Church is back of him, and they will come and steal her away--"

How childish, and yet how great he was in his wonderful love, thought
Jose. He pitied him from the bottom of his heart; he loved him
immeasurably; yet he knew the old man's judgment was unsound in this
case.

"Come, Rosendo," he said gently, laying a hand upon the bent head.
"This is a time when expediency bids us suffer an evil to remain for a
little while, that a much greater good may follow."

He hesitated. Then--"You do not think Diego is her father?"

"A thousand devils, no!" shouted Rosendo, springing up. "He the father
of that angel-child? _Cielo!_ His brats would be serpents! But I am
losing time--" He turned to the door.

"Rosendo!" cried the priest in fresh alarm. "Where are you going? What
are you--"

"I am going after Diego! Juan and Lazaro go with me! Before sundown
that devil's carcass will be buzzard meat!"

Jose threw himself in front of Rosendo.

"Rosendo, think of Carmen! Would you kill her, too? If you kill Diego
nothing can save her from W