ting Kit, and the eyes of the priest
rested again on Kit with a most curious searching regard. Evidently
even this little Indian stray of the desert arrived at good fortune
under the friendship of the American stranger,--and it was another
added to the list of enchantings!

"Ah," he murmured meaningly, "then this strange senor also has the
knowing of this Indian gold? Is it truly gold of the earth, or
witches' gold of red clay?" and he went nearer, reaching his hand to
touch it.

"Why all this question when the child offers it for a good Christian
use?" demanded Dona Jocasta. "See, here is a piece of it heavy enough
to weigh down many lumps of clay, and north or south it will prove
welcome ransom. It is a miracle sent by the saints at this time."

"Would the saints send the red gold of El Alisal to a heretic instead
of a son of the church?" he asked. "And this is that gold for which
the padres of Soledad paid with their lives long ago. There was never
such red gold found in Sonora as that, and the church had its own
claim on it;--it is mission gold!"

"No, not now," said Tula, addressing Dona Jocasta,--"truly not now!
They claimed it long ago, but the holding of it was a thing not for
them. Fire came out of the clouds to kill them there, and no one saw
them alive anymore, and no other priest ever found the gold. This much
is found by Miguel, for a dead man's promise!"

"The girl speaks straight, senora," ventured Kit. "I have already told
General Rotil of the promise, but no good will come of much talk over
the quality of gold for that ransom. To carry that message south and
bring back the women is a task for council, but outside these walls,
no tongue must speak of the gold, else there would be no safety for
this maid."

"Yet a priest may ask how an Americano comes far from his home to
guard gold and a maid in Sonora?" retorted Padre Andreas. "Strange
affairs move these days in Altar--guns, ammunition, and the gold of
dead men! In all these things you have a say, senor, yet you are but
young in years, and----"

"Padre," interrupted Dona Jocasta with a note of command, "he was old
enough to save this child from starvation in the desert, and he was
old enough to save me when even you could no longer save me, so why
object because he has guarded wealth, and means to use it in a way of
mercy? Heretic he may be, but he has the trust of Ramon Rotil, and of
me. Also it is forbidden to mention this belt or what it cov