Harvey, was probably that of
a victim of the same cause. But it is strange that Miriam, who must have
remained some time in the very midst of it, should have escaped without
a mark, or even any inconvenience."

"Kamaiakan ascribed it to the magic of the Golden Fleece," said Freeman.

"Well," rejoined the other, "he may have been right; but, for my part,
the only magic that I can find in it lies in the fact that it is made of
pure wool, which undoubtedly possesses remarkable sanative properties;
or maybe the fiery soul of Semitzin was powerful enough to repel all
harmful influences. The poor old fellow himself, being clad in cotton,
and with no soul but his own, was destroyed. Let us wrap him in his
blanket, and bid him farewell--and with him, I hope, to all that is
uncanny and abnormal in the lives of you young folks!"

The last rites having been paid to the dead, the party mounted their
horses and rode out of the gorge on to the long levels of the desert.

"Who come yonder?" said Freeman.

"A couple of Mexicans, I think," said the general.

"One of them is a woman," said Meschines.

"They look very weary," remarked Freeman.

Miriam fixed her eyes on the approaching pair for a moment, and then
said, "They are Senor de Mendoza and Grace Parsloe."

And so, indeed, they were; and thus, in this lonely spot, all the
dramatis personae of this history found themselves united.

In answer to the obvious question, how Grace and De Mendoza happened
to be there, it transpired that, left to their own devices, they had
undertaken no less an enterprise than to discover the hidden treasure.
Grace had communicated to the Mexican such bits of information as she
had picked up and such surmises as she had formed, and he had been able
to supplement her knowledge to an extent that seemed to justify them in
attempting the adventure,--not to mention the fact that Don Miguel (such
was the ardor of his sentiment for Grace) would, had she desired it,
have gone with her into a fiery furnace or a den of lions. Grace, who
was ambitious as well as romantic, and who longed for the power and
independence that wealth would give, was all alight with the idea of
capturing the hoard of Montezuma: her social position would be altered
at a stroke, and the world would be at her feet. Whether she would then
have rewarded Don Miguel for his devotion, is possibly open to doubt:
the sudden acquisition of boundless wealth has been known to turn larger