. It was the name of one of her
beloved heroes. She had written his youthful romance; she had described
the picturesque fervour of his wooing, the pomp of his wedding; of all
those heroes he had been the best beloved, the most splendid. And she
met him,--a broken-down old drunkard, in the dusty gloom of an old
maniac's wooden "palace," in the fashionable quarter of a city which had
never heard his name.

"O God!" she said. "O God!" and she was glad that she had burned her
manuscripts. She took the dollar from her pocket and gave it to him.

He accepted it eagerly. "God bless you, senorita!" he said. "And you can
always hear of me at the Yosemite Saloon, Castroville."

He passed out, neglecting to shut the door behind him, but Magdalena did
not notice the unaccustomed rift of light. She sank into a chair against
the wall and wept heavily. They were the last tears she shed over her
fallen idols. When the wave had broken, she reflected that she was glad
to know of the distress of her people; it should be her lifework to help
them. When she came to her own she would buy them each a little ranch
and see that they passed the rest of their lives in comfort.

She leaned forward and listened intently. Loud mutterings proceeded from
her father's room. She wondered if there was a policeman in the street.
She and her mother were very unprotected. The only man in the house
besides her father was the Chinaman, and Chinamen are as indifferent to
the lives of others as to their own. Don Roberto had ordered the
telephone and messenger call removed years ago. The sounds rose to a
higher register. Magdalena, straining her ears, heard, delivered in
rapid defiant tones, the familiar national cry, "Hip-hip-hooray!"

She went over softly, and put her ear to the thick door. The tones of
the old man's voice were broken, as if by muscular exertion, and
accompanied by a curious bumping. Magdalena understood in a moment. He
was striding up and down the room, waving the American flag, and
shouting, "Hip-hip-hooray! Hip-hip-_hooray_! hoo_ray_! hoo_ray_!
hoo_ray_!"

She ran down the hall to summon Ah Kee and send him for a doctor, but
before she reached the bell she heard the front door close, and turned
swiftly. A man had entered.

She went forward in some indignation. So deep was the gloom of the hall
that she could distinguish nothing beyond the facts that the intruder
was tall and slight, and that he wore a light suit of clothes. When she