rned to her brother.

"What does this mean?" she asked. "What are we waiting for?"

"We are going to the Hacienda of Senor Palacio," MacWilliams said, in
answer to the officer. "The driver thinks that this is the road, but I
say we should have taken the one to the right."

"No, this is the road to Senor Palacio's plantation," the officer
answered, "but you cannot leave the city without a pass signed by
General Mendoza. That is the order we received this morning. Have you
such a pass?"

"Certainly not," Clay answered, warmly. "This is the carriage of an
American, the president of the mines. His daughters are inside and on
their way to visit the residence of Senor Palacio. They are
foreigners--Americans. We are all foreigners, and we have a perfect
right to leave the city when we choose. You can only stop us when we
enter it."

The officer looked uncertainly from Clay to Hope and up at the driver
on the box. His eyes fell upon the heavy brass mountings of the
harness. They bore the arms of Olancho. He wheeled sharply and called
to his men inside the post-house, and they stepped out from the veranda
and spread themselves leisurely across the road.

"Ride him down, Clay," Langham muttered, in a whisper. The officer did
not understand the words, but he saw Clay gather the reins tighter in
his hands and he stepped back quickly to the safety of the porch, and
from that ground of vantage smiled pleasantly.

"Pardon," he said, "there is no need for blows when one is rich enough
to pay. A little something for myself and a drink for my brave
fellows, and you can go where you please."

"Damned brigands," growled Langham, savagely.

"Not at all," Clay answered. "He is an officer and a gentleman. I
have no money with me," he said, in Spanish, addressing the officer,
"but between caballeros a word of honor is sufficient. I shall be
returning this way to-morrow morning, and I will bring a few hundred
sols from Senor Palacio for you and your men; but if we are followed
you will get nothing, and you must have forgotten in the mean time that
you have seen us pass."

There was a murmur inside the carriage, and Hope's face disappeared
from between the curtains to reappear again almost immediately. She
beckoned to the officer with her hand, and the men saw that she held
between her thumb and little finger a diamond ring of size and
brilliancy. She moved it so that it flashed in the light of the guard
lantern a