ds and corrals all
in good order, he instantly resolved to get possession of them by fair
means or foul.

"There will be three hundred dollars' worth of wheat in July, Senor, you
can see for yourself; and a house so good as that, you cannot build for
less than one hundred dollars. What will you give me for them?"

"I suppose I can have them without paying you for them, if I choose,"
said the man, insolently.

"No, Senor," replied Alessandro.

"What's to hinder, then, I'd like to know!" in a brutal sneer. "You
haven't got any rights here, whatever, according to law."

"I shall hinder, Senor," replied Alessandro. "I shall burn down the
sheds and corrals, tear down the house; and before a blade of the wheat
is reaped, I will burn that." Still in the same calm tone.

"What'll you take?" said the man, sullenly.

"Two hundred dollars," replied Alessandro.

"Well, leave your plough and wagon, and I'll give it to you," said the
man; "and a big fool I am, too. Well laughed at, I'll be, do you know
it, for buying out an Indian!"

"The wagon, Senor, cost me one hundred and thirty dollars in San Diego.
You cannot buy one so good for less. I will not sell it. I need it to
take away my things in. The plough you may have. That is worth twenty."

"I'll do it," said the man; and pulling out a heavy buckskin pouch, he
counted out into Alessandro's hand two hundred dollars in gold.

"Is that all right?" he said, as he put down the last piece.

"That is the sum I said, Senor," replied Alessandro. "Tomorrow, at noon,
you can come into the house."

"Where will you go?" asked the man, again slightly touched by
Alessandro's manner. "Why don't you stay round here? I expect you could
get work enough; there are a lot of farmers coming in here; they'll want
hands."

A fierce torrent of words sprang to Alessandro's lips, but he choked
them back. "I do not know where I shall go, but I will not stay here,"
he said; and that ended the interview.

"I don't know as I blame him a mite for feeling that way," thought the
man from the States, as he walked slowly back to his pile of lumber. "I
expect I should feel just so myself."

Almost before Alessandro had finished this tale, he began to move
about the room, taking down, folding up, opening and shutting lids; his
restlessness was terrible to see. "By sunrise, I would like to be off,"
he said. "It is like death, to be in the house which is no longer ours."
Ramona had spoken no words si