pers relating to this grant of
land."

For several minutes Stiger was silent. At last he lifted his eyes.

"Are you goin' to give me dat drink?" he asked, falling back into his
Indian accent.

"Yes,--if you'll promise to tell me about the papers."

"I--I will."

Pompey was at once sent for a pitcher of fresh water, and when it
arrived Hank Stiger grabbed it with both hands and drained it dry.
Nectar could not have tasted sweeter to him.

"Now what did you do with the papers?" Amos Radbury asked, after Stiger
had given a long sigh of satisfaction.

"I--I lost 'em."

Instantly Amos Radbury's face flushed, and he sprang to his feet.

"Stiger, you are falsifying! I do not believe you!" he exclaimed.

"It's de truf."

"It is not. You have either hidden the papers or else given them to
somebody."

At this the half-breed shrugged his shoulders again.

"You cannot deceive me longer," went on the settler. "By and by you
will want food and more water. You shall have neither."

"Goin' ter starve me to death?"

"It will be your own fault. I am now treating you with more kindness
than you deserve. Many a man would have strung you up to the nearest
tree for your misdeeds."

At this Hank Stiger winced, for he knew only too well that Mr. Radbury
spoke the truth. He felt that he could not go too far or he might get
into deeper trouble.

"I'll tell yer all," he said at last. "But give me somethin' to eat
first."

"Not a mouthful until you have told your story. Then you can have all
the food and water you wish, and we'll try to make you as comfortable
as we can."

This was the straw which broke the camel's back, so far as Hank Stiger
was concerned, and with much hesitation he told his story, which in
substance was as follows:

About six months before, he had fallen in with a man of mixed American
and Spanish blood named Carlos Martine, who was anxious to obtain
possession of a large grant of land on the Guadalupe from the Radbury
claim northward.

Carlos Martine was in league with a number of Mexican officials, and
had obtained ownership of a large portion of the land without much
difficulty. But the best of the land, that fronting the river, belonged
to Amos Radbury, and this Martine could not obtain, although he tried
to do so through a certain John Morgan. Morgan had asked Mr. Radbury to
sell several times, but had been refused.

Carlos Martine had had a hold on Hank Stiger, and during the Indian
raid ha