d, that about her! Tell me more, Laddy. You
promised. I'm dying to know. I never hear anything in this awful
place. Didn't you say the Senorita had a sweetheart?"

"Shore I did."

"And he's a cavalryman?"

"Yes."

"Is he the young man who came with you?"

"Nope. That fellow's the one who saved the girl from Rojas."

"Ah! Where is he, Laddy?"

"He's in there asleep."

"Is he hurt?"

"I reckon not. He walked about fifteen miles."

"Is he--nice, Laddy?"

"Shore."

"What is he like?"

"Well, I'm not long acquainted, never saw him by day, but I was some
tolerable took with him. An' Jim here, Jim says the young man can have
his gun an' his hoss."

"Wonderful! Laddy, what on earth did this stranger do to win you
cowboys in just one night?"

"I'll shore have to tell you. Me an' Jim were watchin' a game of cards
in the Del Sol saloon in Casita. That's across the line. We had
acquaintances--four fellows from the Cross Bar outfit, where we worked
a while back. This Del Sol is a billiard hall, saloon, restaurant, an'
the like. An' it was full of Greasers. Some of Camp's rebels were
there drinkin' an' playin' games. Then pretty soon in come Rojas with
some of his outfit. They were packin' guns an' kept to themselves off
to one side. I didn't give them a second look till Jim said he reckoned
there was somethin' in the wind. Then, careless-like, I began to peek
at Rojas. They call Rojas the 'dandy rebel,' an' he shore looked the
part. It made me sick to see him in all that lace an' glitter, knowin'
him to be the cutthroat robber he is. It's no oncommon sight to see
excited Greasers. They're all crazy. But this bandit was shore some
agitated. He kept his men in a tight bunch round a table. He talked
an' waved his hands. He was actually shakin'. His eyes had a wild
glare. Now I figgered that trouble was brewin', most likely for the
little Casita garrison. People seemed to think Campo an' Rojas would
join forces to oust the federals. Jim thought Rojas's excitement was
at the hatchin' of some plot. Anyway, we didn't join no card games,
an' without pretendin' to, we was some watchful.

"A little while afterward I seen a fellow standin' in the restaurant
door. He was a young American dressed in corduroys and boots, like a
prospector. You know it's no onusual fact to see prospectors in these
parts. What made me think twice about this one was how big he seemed,
how he filled up that door. He