He
turned at the sound of wheels; and the man in the buggy saw that it was
Manuel Pesquiera.

The Spaniard started when he recognized the other, and his eyes grew
bright. He moved forward to assist the young woman in alighting; but, in
spite of his bad knee, the Coloradoan was out of the rig and before him.

"_Buenos, amigo_" she nodded to Don Manuel, lightly releasing the hand
of Muir.

"_Buenos, senorita_" returned that young man. "I behold you are already
acquaint' with Mr. Richard Gordon, whose arrival is to me very
unexpect'."

She seemed to grow tall before her guest's eyes; to stand in a kind of
proud splendor that had eclipsed her girlish slimness. The dark eyes
under the thick lashes looked long and searchingly at him.

"Mr. Richard Gordon? I understand this gentleman's name to be Muir," she
made voice gently.

Dick laughed with a touch of shame. Now once in his life he wished he
could prove an alibi. For, under the calm judgment of that steady gaze,
the thing he had done seemed scarce defensible.

"Don Manuel has it right, _senorita_. Gordon is my name; Muir, too, for
that matter. Richard Muir Gordon is what I was christened."

The underlying red of her cheeks had fled and left them clear olive. One
might have thought the scornful eyes had absorbed all the fire of her
face.

"So you have lied to me, sir?"

"Let me lay the facts before you, first. That's a hard word,
_senorita_."

"You gave your name to me as Muir, You imposed yourself on my
hospitality under false pretenses. You are only a spy, come to my house
to mole for evidence against me."

"No--no!" he cried sharply. "You will remember that I did not want to
come. I foresaw that it might be awkward, but I did not foresee this."

"That you would be found out before you had won your end? I believe you,
sir," she retorted contemptuously.

"I see I'm condemned before I'm heard."

"Will any explanation alter the facts? Are you not a liar and a cheat?
You gave me a false name to spy out the land."

"Am I the only one that gave a wrong name?" he asked.

"That is different," she flamed. "You had made a mistake and, half in
sport, I encouraged you in it. But you seem to have found out my real
name since. Yet you still accepted what I had to offer, under a false
name, under false pretenses. You questioned me about the grants. You
have lived a lie from first to last."

"It ain't as bad as you say, ma'am. Don Manuel had told me it wasn't
sa