reat a lady, anyhow.

[FOOTNOTE 81: muy caballero--(Spanish) very much a gentleman]

Considering this extremely courteous idiosyncrasy of the Kid and
the pride he took in it, one can perceive that the solution of the
problem that was presented to him by what he saw and heard from his
hiding-place in the pear that afternoon (at least as to one of the
actors) must have been obscured by difficulties. And yet one could not
think of the Kid overlooking little matters of that kind.

At the end of the short twilight they gathered around a supper of
_frijoles_, goat steaks, canned peaches, and coffee, by the light of a
lantern in the _jacal_. Afterward, the ancestor, his flock corralled,
smoked a cigarette and became a mummy in a grey blanket. Tonia washed
the few dishes while the Kid dried them with the flour-sacking towel.
Her eyes shone; she chatted volubly of the inconsequent happenings of
her small world since the Kid's last visit; it was as all his other
home-comings had been.

Then outside Tonia swung in a grass hammock with her guitar and sang
sad _canciones de amor_ [82].

[FOOTNOTE 82: canciones de amor--(Spanish) love songs]

"Do you love me just the same, old girl?" asked the Kid, hunting for
his cigarette papers.

"Always the same, little one," said Tonia, her dark eyes lingering
upon him.

"I must go over to Fink's," said the Kid, rising, "for some tobacco. I
thought I had another sack in my coat. I'll be back in a quarter of an
hour."

"Hasten," said Tonia, "and tell me--how long shall I call you my own
this time? Will you be gone again to-morrow, leaving me to grieve, or
will you be longer with your Tonia?"

"Oh, I might stay two or three days this trip," said the Kid, yawning.
"I've been on the dodge for a month, and I'd like to rest up."

He was gone half an hour for his tobacco. When he returned Tonia was
still lying in the hammock.

"It's funny," said the Kid, "how I feel. I feel like there was
somebody lying behind every bush and tree waiting to shoot me. I never
had mullygrubs like them before. Maybe it's one of them presumptions.
I've got half a notion to light out in the morning before day. The
Guadalupe country is burning up about that old Dutchman I plugged down
there."

"You are not afraid--no one could make my brave little one fear."

"Well, I haven't been usually regarded as a jack-rabbit when it comes
to scrapping; but I don't want a posse smoking me out when I'm in your