an.

Good blood ran in the veins of Nina Micheltorena. It is not in the
province of this story to tell how it was that a favourite in the best
circles of Monterey came to be living in a Mexican camp in the Sierras.
Suffice it to say that her fall from grace had been rapid, though her
dissolute career had in no way diminished her beauty. Indeed, her
features were well-nigh perfect, her skin transparently clear, if dark,
and her form was suppleness itself as she danced. And that she was the
undisputed belle of the evening was made apparent by the number of men
who watched her with eyes that marvelled at her grace when dancing, and
surrounded her whenever she stopped, each pleading with her to accept
him as a partner.

Almost every colour of the rainbow had a place in her costume for
the occasion: The bodice was of light blue silk; the skirt orange;
encircling her small waist was a green sash; while her jet-black hair
was fastened with a crimson ribbon. Diamonds flashed from the earrings
in her ears as well as from the rings on her fingers. All in all, it was
scarcely to be wondered at that her charms stirred to the very depths
the fierce passion of the desperate characters about her.

That Ramerrez dreaded the interview which he had determined to have with
his confederate can easily be understood by anyone who has ever tried to
sever his relations with an enamoured woman. In fact the outlaw dreaded
it so much that he decided to postpone it as long as he could. And so,
after sauntering aimlessly about the room, and coming, unexpectedly,
across a woman of his acquaintance, he began to converse with her,
supposing, all the time, that Nina Micheltorena was too occupied with
the worshippers at her shrine to perceive that he was in the dance-hall.
But it was decidedly a case of the wish being father to the thought: Not
a movement had he made since he entered that she was not cognisant of it
and, although she hated to acknowledge it to herself, deep down in her
heart she was conscious that he was not as thoroughly under the sway of
her dark eyes as she would have wished. Something had happened in the
last few weeks that had brought about a change in him, but just what it
was she was unable to determine. There were moments when she saw plainly
that he was much more occupied with his daring plans than he was with
thoughts of her. So far, it was true, there had been no evidences on his
part of any hesitation in confiding his sche