on United States soil, and that night while I was asleep
Taggart tried to knife me. I'd showed Taggart the diamond image one
day while Ezela was asleep in the boat, and he'd got greedy for it.
Ezela screamed when she saw him getting close to me with the knife, and
I woke in time to grab him before he got a chance to get the knife into
me. He finally broke away, leaving all the treasure he'd brought
except a little that he had in his pockets--he'd had a bundle of it
strapped to his belt besides that--and I didn't see him again for four
years.

"I took Ezela up the Pecos to the Connors', where I'd left you, bought
a wagon and horses and a few things--bedding and grub and such
stuff--and lit out for New Mexico. I figured that I had enough of the
kind of friends I'd been keeping, and I didn't want to be ridiculed for
tying up to an Indian girl--white folks don't like to see that. I came
here and took up this land, figuring that I wouldn't be disturbed. I'd
been here four years when Taggart came. I'd sold some of the treasure,
but, for some reason which I've never been able to figure out, I kept
the idol. I think I was afraid to try to sell it on account of the big
diamonds in it.

"I gave Taggart the treasure he'd left behind the night he tried to
knife me, but he wasn't satisfied; he wanted more, wanted me to sell
the Toltec image and split with him. Of course I wouldn't do that
because of the way he'd acted, and he swore to get it some day.

"He took up some land about fifteen miles down the river, and he's
stayed there ever since. I've been afraid to go anywhere with the idol
for fear he'd waylay me and get it. One day while I was away somewhere
he came here and told Ezela about me having the idol. From that time
on I led a life of hell. Ezela turned on me. She said I'd desecrated
the altars of her tribe, and she kept harping to me about it until I
got so I couldn't bear the sight of her.

"I discovered soon after we came here that I had been mistaken in
thinking I had loved her--what I had thought was love was merely
gratitude. My gratitude didn't last, of course, with her hounding me
continually about the idol. Finally I discovered that she and Taggart
were plotting against me. Of course, Taggart was after the image
himself. He didn't care anything about her religious scruples, but he
made her believe he sympathized with her, and made a fool of her. I
tried to kill Taggart the day I found that ou