been among those put aside--always she
would hate Tahn-te,--"The other one is the man of the feast. He has
danced where other men fall dead in the dance. He does not fall
dead--not anything makes him dead! He holds snakes like other men hold
rabbits." (She was watching warily the faces of her listeners and saw
them shrink in distaste)--her own face grew keen and bright with
cunning. "It is true--like this he takes the snake"--she held a wand
of willow about her neck, and then held it in both hands above her
head--"like this--and calls it 'brother of the sands.' He calls eagles
down from the clouds to him--other birds, too"--and her eyes took on a
look of fear--"and in dark nights--no--I can not say more words! It
is bad medicine to say words of witches while witches are yet alive."

"He was taught by the padres to be Christian:--yet turns back to the
false gods, and--is a sorcerer?" demanded Maestro Diego. "You have
your work plainly cut out for you, Eminence!" and he turned to Padre
Vicente--"A leader who has been granted the light, yet seeks darkness,
is but a burning brand for the pit!"

"But"--suggested the lad Chico--who spoke but rarely in the face of
the company, "is there not white magic as well as the magic of the
darkness? Did not the saints of the church deal openly in the white
magic of their god? This pretty woman plainly has only hate--or
fear--of the sorcerer. Does the dame strike any of you as being so
saintly as to be above guile?"

The men laughed at that, and Don Ruy clapped him on the shoulder.

"Well reasoned, Chico--and frankly said! We will see the sorcerer at
his work before we pass judgement. But the lady will love you
little!"

"The less ill luck to me for that!"--retorted the lad. "Her eyes are
all for Juan Gonzalvo--and for your Excellency!"

"I am sworn for my soul's sake to the troth of a silken scarf and a
mad woman somewhere in Mexico," decided Don Ruy whimsically. "If I am
to live a celibate,--as our good padre imposes, it is well to cheat
myself with a lady love across the border,--even though she gave me no
favors beyond a poet's verse and a battered head."

"A lady--beat you?" queried Chico in amazement looking at the strong
figure of Don Ruy--"and though mad, you give to her--faithfulness?"

"A faithfulness enforced, lad!" and his patron chuckled at the
amaze in the eyes of the youth. "Since this crusade allows us no
dames for company it is an ill one among us cannot cheat h