oops to come from? Barraca must bring all his men by sea. There
were none stationed in those wild mountains.

"Better go and make sure," quoth Philip.

He ascertained the President's intentions as to the next twenty-four
hours, assembled his little body of scouts, saw to their forage and
equipment, took leave of Iris, and hurried off.

When two stout and elderly fellow-countrymen of his climbed the last
mile of the rough valley beneath the Las Flores slope, Philip and his
troop were a league or more beyond the Moxoto's watershed.

Meanwhile, Carmela De Sylva proved that her resolute chin was not
deceptive as a guide to temperament. The Dona Pondillo deemed her a
spirit when she appeared on the veranda, but Carmela's impetuous kiss
soon disabused the worthy dame of her error.

Iris, wondering why the lively chatter of her Brazilian friends was so
suddenly stilled, to be succeeded by a hubbub of excited words as the
older ladies present gathered around the new-comer, asked one of the
Pondillo girls what had happened.

"It is Carmela, the President's daughter," giggled the other. "Mother
says she is engaged to San Benavides. What fun! But where has she
come from? When last I heard of her she was in Paris."

A month of close companionship with people who spoke Portuguese all day
long, and often far into the night, had familiarized Iris with many of
the common phrases. Thus, she gathered one fact as to Carmela, and
more than suspected another. For a reason that every woman will
understand, she felt a subtle thrill of fear. If San Benavides were
really Carmela's accepted lover, then, indeed, Iris had good cause for
foreboding. Though the Brazilian had never directly avowed his
passion, since he knew quite well that she would refuse to listen, she
could not be blind to his infatuation. Only the threat of her dire
displeasure had restrained Hozier from an open quarrel with him. Her
position, difficult enough already, would become intolerable if De
Sylva's daughter became jealous, and she had no doubt whatsoever that
San Benavides would seek to propitiate the woman he loved by callously
telling the woman he had promised to marry that his affections were
bestowed elsewhere.

Her heart sank when she discovered this new maelstrom in her sea of
troubles; but here was Carmela herself speaking to her, and in English:

"So you are Iris Yorke!" the girl was saying. "I have heard so much of
you, yet you are so utt