ng suicide until after I see you hanged."

"Which will be never, _Senor_ Gordon," replied Pablo rapidly in Spanish.
"You will never leave here alive except on terms laid down by us."

"Interesting if true--but not true, I think," commented Dick pleasantly.
"You have made a mistake, my friends, and you will have to pay for it."

"If we have made a mistake it can yet be remedied, _Senor_" retorted
Pablo quietly. "We have but to make an end of you and behold! all is
well again."

"Afraid not, my enthusiastic young friend. Too many in the secret.
Someone will squeal, and the rest of you--particularly you two
ringleaders--will be hanged by the neck. It takes only ordinary
intelligence to know that. Therefore I am quite safe, even though I have
a confounded headache and a rising fever." Gordon added with cheerful
solicitude: "I do hope I'm not going to get sick on your hands. It's
rather a habit of mine, you know. But, really, you can't blame me this
time."

A danger signal flared in the eyes of the young Mexican. "Better not,
_Senor_. You will here have no young and charming nurse to wait upon
you."

"Meaning Mrs. Corbett?" asked the prisoner, smiling up impudently.

"Whose heart your soft words can steal away from him to whom it
belongs," continued Pablo furiously.

"Sho, I reckon Corbett----"

"_Mil diablos!_"

A devil of jealousy was burning out of the black eyes that blazed into
those of the American. It was no longer possible for Dick to miss the
menace and its meaning. The Mexican was speaking of Juanita. He believed
that his prisoner had been making love to the girl and his heart was
black with hate because of it.

Gordon looked at him steadily, then summed up with three derisive words.
"You damn fool!"

Something in the way he said them shook Pablo's conviction. Was it
possible after all that his jealousy had been useless? Juanita had told
him that all through his delirium this man had raved of Miss Valdes.
Perhaps---- But, no, had he not with his own eyes seen the man bantering
Juanita while the color came and went in her wild rose cheeks? Had he
not seen him lean on her shoulder as he hobbled out to the porch, just
as a lover might on that of his sweetheart?

With an oath Pablo turned sullenly away. He knew he was no match for
this man at any point. Yet he was a leader among his own people because
of the force in him.

Gordon slept little during the night. He had been so badly beaten that
outrage