arette, Mr. Gordon, as you once
did."

"Not a bit of use. I wired to Santa Fe by Steve to have that paper--the
original of it--put on record this afternoon. By this time I expect
you're the princess of the Rio Chama all right."

She still hesitated, the tide of feeling running full in her heart. It
was all very well for this casual youth to make her a present of a half
million acres of land in this debonair way, but she could not persuade
herself to accept so munificent a gift.

"I don't know--I'll have to think--if you are the legal owner----"

"You're welching," he told her amiably. "I make a legal deed of
conveyance because we are all agreed that my title isn't morally good.
We're not a bunch of pettifoggers. All of us are aiming to get at what's
right in settling this thing. You know what is right. So do I. So does
Mr. Pesquiera. Enough said. All we have to do then is to act according
to the best we know. Looks simple to me."

"Maybe it wouldn't look so simple if you were at the other end of the
bargain, Mr. Gordon. To give is more blessed than to receive, you know."

"Sure. I understand that. I get the glory and do all the grand-standing.
But you'll have to stand for it, I reckon."

"I'm going to think it over. Then I'll let you know what I can do." She
looked at him sharply, a new angle of the situation coming home to her.
"You meant to do this from the first, Mr. Gordon."

"Not quite from the first. After you had taken me to your ranch and I
had seen how things stood between you and the folks in the valley I did.
You've smoked me, ma'am. I'm a born grand-stander." He laughed in
amusement at himself. "I wanted to be it, the hero of the piece, the
white-haired boy. But that wasn't the way it panned out. I was elected
villain most unanimous, and came mighty near being put out of business a
few times before I could make the public _sabe_ I was only play acting.
Funny how things work out. Right at the last when I've got the spotlight
all trained for me to star and the music playing soft and low, Don
Manuel here jumps in and takes the stage from me by rescuing the villain
from a fiery furnace. I don't get any show," he complained whimsically.

Valencia smiled. "The action of the play has all revolved around you,
anyhow. That ought to satisfy you. Without you there wouldn't have been
any entertainment at all."

"I've had plenty of fun for my money. I'm not making any complaint at
all. When a pretender invades