d himself for breakfast. But without result. If he had
gained possession of the idol his face did not betray him. But once
during the meal she looked up unexpectedly, to see him looking at her
with amused, speculative eyes. Then she knew he was gloating over her.

With an appearance of grave concern, and not a little well-simulated
excitement, she approached him during the morning where he was working
at the corral fence. She was determined to discover the truth.

"I have some bad news for you," she said.

"Shucks," he returned, with a grin that almost disarmed her; "you don't
say!"

"Yes," she continued. "When your father left his other papers with me
he also left a diagram of a place in the timber clump where the idol is
hidden. Some time yesterday the diagram was stolen."

"You don't say?" he said.

His voice had not been convincing enough; there had been a note of
mockery in it, and she knew he was guilty of the theft.

She looked at him fairly. "You took it," she accused.

"I didn't take it," he denied, returning her gaze. "But I've got it.
What are you goin' to do about it?"

"Nothing," she replied. "But do you think that was a gentleman's
action--to enter my room, to search it--even for something that
belonged to you?"

"No gentleman took it," he grinned; "therefore it couldn't have been
me. I told you I had it; I didn't take it."

"Who did, then?"

"Do you know Telza?"

"Telza?"

"Toltec," he said; "a Toltec from Yucatan. He got it yesterday--last
night--while you was gassin' to your friend, Neal Taggart."

She started, recollection filling her eyes. "A Toltec!" she said in an
awed voice. "I have heard that they are fanatics where their religion
is concerned; your father told me that his--that woman--Ezela--told
him. She said that the tribe would never give up the search for the
idol. He laughed at her; he laughed at me when he told me about it."
She drew a deep breath. "And so one of them has come," she said. "I
thought I heard a noise upstairs last night," she added. "It must have
been then."

"An'," he jeered, "you was so busy about that time that you couldn't go
to investigate. That's how you guarded it--how you filled your trust."

She gazed fixedly at him and his gaze dropped. "You are determined to
continue your insults," she said coldly.

He reddened. "I reckon you deserve them," he said sneeringly.
"Taggart's makin' a fool of you. I heard him palaverin' to y