aggressor
from the tale of the two who lived to tell of the horribly sharp
action with him. Morning, noon, and night she had heard nothing but
the fight at Calabasas discussed by the men that rode in and out of
the Gap--and in connection with it, de Spain's unexplained flight
and disappearance. Those that knew the real story of the conspiracy
to kill him did not talk much, after the disastrous outcome, of
that part of the affair. But Nan's common sense whispered to her,
whatever might be said about de Spain's starting the fight, that
one man locked in a room with four enemies, all dangerous in an
affray, was not likely to begin a fight unless forced to--none, at
least, but a madman would do so. She had heard stories, too, of de
Spain's drinking and quarrelling, but none that told them had ever
seen him under the influence of drink or had had a quarrel with him
except Gale and Sassoon--and these two were extremely quarrelsome.

Unhappy and irresolute, Nan, when she got home, was glad of an excuse
to ride to Calabasas for a packet of dressings coming by stage from
Sleepy Cat for Gale, who lay wounded at Satt Morgan's; and, eating a
hasty luncheon, she ordered her horse and set out.

Should she tell her Uncle Duke of finding de Spain? Whenever she decided
that she must, something in the recollection of de Spain's condition
unsettled her resolution. Tales enough of his bloodthirstiness, his
merciless efficiency, his ever-ready craft and consummate duplicity
were familiar to her--most of them made so within the last three
days--for no one in her circle any longer professed to underrate the
demonstrated resourcefulness of the man.

Yet only a few of these stories appealed to Nan's innate convictions
of truth and justice. She lived among men who were, for the most part,
not truthful or dependable even in small things--how could they be
relied on to tell the truth about de Spain's motives and conduct? As
to his deadly skill with arms, no stories were needed to confirm this,
even though she herself had once overcome him in a contest. The
evidence of this mastery had now a fatal pre-eminence among the
tragedies of the Spanish Sinks. Where he lay he could, if he meditated
revenge on her people, murder any of them, almost at will. To spare
his life imperilled to this extent theirs--but surely he lay not far
from death by exhaustion. Weighed against all she had ever listened
to concerning his deceit was the evidence of her own s