Some one
will creep into HER heart! No! by God! No! I am Alexander Morton. Yes,
yes! But how, how shall I prove it?--how? Who (CONCHO steps cautiously
forward towards SANDY unobserved) will believe the vagabond, the
outcast--my God!--the crazy drunkard?

Concho (advancing, and laying his hand on SANDY). I will!

Sandy (staggering back amazedly). You!

Concho. Yes,--I, I,--Concho! You know me, Diego, you know me,--Concho,
the major-domo of the Blessed Innocents. Ha! You know me now. Yes, I
have come to save you. I have come to make you strong. So--I have come
to help you strip the Judas that has stepped into your place,--the sham
prodigal that has had the fatted calf and the ring,--ah! ah!

Sandy. You? You do not know me!

Concho. Ah! you think, you think, eh? Listen: Since you left I have
tracked HIM--THE IMPOSTOR, this Judas, this coyote--step by step, until
his tracks crossed yours; and then I sought you out. I know all. I found
a letter you had dropped; that brought me to Poker Flat. Ah, you start!
I have seen those who knew you as Alexander Morton. You see! Ah, I am
wise.

Sandy (aside). It is true. (Aloud.) But (suspiciously) why have you done
this? You, Concho?--you were not my friend.

Concho. No, but HE is my enemy. Ah, you start! Look at me, Alexander
Morton, Sandy, Diego! You knew a man, strong, active, like yourself.
Eh! Look at me now! Look at me, a cripple! Eh! lame and crushed here
(pointing to his leg), broken and crushed here (pointing to his heart),
by him,--the impostor! Listen, Diego. The night I was sent to track you
from the rancho, he--this man--struck me from the wall, dashed me to the
earth, and made MY BODY, broken and bruised, a stepping-stone to leap
the wall into your place, Diego,--into your father's heart,--into my
master's home. They found me dead, they thought,--no, not dead, Diego!
It was sad, they said,--unfortunate. They nursed me; they talked
of money--eh, Diego!--money! They would have pensioned me to hush
scandal--eh! I was a dog, a foreigner, a Greaser! Eh! That is why I am
here. No! I love you not, Diego; you are of his race; but I hate--Mother
of God!--I HATE him!

Sandy (rising to his feet, aside). Good! I begin to feel my courage
return: my nerves are stronger. Courage, Sandy! (Aloud.) Be it
so, Concho: there is my hand! We will help each other,--you to my
birthright, I to your revenge! Hark ye! (SANDY'S manner becomes more
calm and serious.) This impostor is NO crav