three menacing figures he did not quail, but remained
intently gazing upon the newcomer. Then his mouth opened, and he drawled
lazily:

"Wa'al, ef it ain't Squire Blandford, of North Liberty, Connecticut, I'm
a treed coon. Squire Blandford, how DO you do?"

The stranger drew back in undisguised amazement; the two men glanced
hurriedly at each other; Ezekiel alone remained cool, smiling,
imperturbable, and triumphant.

"Who are YOU, sir? I do not know you," demanded the newcomer, roughly.

"Like ez not," said Corwin dryly, "it's a matter o' four year sense I
lived in your house. Even Dick Demorest--you knew Dick?--didn't know me;
but I reckon that Mrs. Blandford as used to be--"

"That's enough," said Blandford--for it was he--suddenly mastering both
himself and Corwin by a supreme emphasis of will and gesture. "Wait!"
Then turning to the two others who were discreetly regarding the
blank adobe wall before them, he said: "Excuse me for a few minutes,
gentlemen. There is no hurry now. I will see you later;" and with an
imperative wave of his hand motioned Ezekiel to precede him into the
passage, and followed him.

He did not speak until they entered the stage office, when, passing
through it, he said peremptorily: "Follow me." The few loungers, who
seemed to recognize him, made way for him with a singular deference that
impressed Ezekiel, already dominated by his manner. The first perception
in his mind was that Blandford had in some strange way succeeded to
Demorest's former imperious character. There was no trace left of the
old, gentle subjection to Joan's prim precision. Ezekiel followed him
out of the office as unresistingly as he had followed Demorest into the
stables on that eventful night. They passed down the narrow street until
Blandford suddenly stopped short and turned into the crumbling doorway
of one of the low adobe buildings and entered an apartment. It seemed
to be the ordinary living-room of the house, made more domestic by
the presence of a silk counterpaned bed in one corner, a prie Dieu and
crucifix, and one or two articles of bedchamber furniture. A woman
was sitting in deshabille by the window; a man was smoking on a lounge
against the wall. Blandford, in the same peremptory manner, addressed
a command in Spanish to the inmates, who immediately abandoned the
apartment to the seeming trespasser.

Motioning his companion to a seat on the lounge just vacated, Blandford
folded his arms and stood