it
appeared that the old Californian sought the answer to a riddle not
even remotely connected with the mystifying savagery of non-domestic
felines.

Suddenly he slapped his thigh. "Got it," he informed the payroll he
had been trying to add for half an hour. "Got it! She does love him.
Her explanation of her action is good but not good enough for me.
Medal of Honor man! Rats. She could loan him the money to pay her
father, on condition that her father should never know the source of
the aid, but if they reduced their association to a business basis he
would have to decide between the ranch and her. She knows how he loves
this seat of his ancestors--she fears for the decision. And if he
decided for the ranch there would be no reasonable excuse for the
Parker family to stick around, would there? There would not. So he is
not to be lost sight of for a year. Yes, of course that's it.
Methinks the lady did protest too much. God bless her. I wonder what
he thinks of her. One can never tell. It might be just her luck to
fail to make a hit with him. Oh, Lord, if that happened I'd shoot him,
I would for a fact. Guess I'll drop in at the ranch some day next week
and pump the young idiot. . . . No, I'll not. My business is building
dams and bridges and concrete highways . . . well, I might take a
chance and sound him out . . . still, what thanks would I get . . . no,
I'll be shot if I will . . . oh, to the devil with thanks. If he don't
like it he can lump it. . . ."

"What makes the wild cat wild, boys,
Oh, what makes the wild cat wild?"

CHAPTER XXVI

It was fully two weeks before Miguel returned to the ranch from the
little hospital at El Toro. During that period the willows had already
started to sprout on the last abiding place of Kano Ugichi, the pain
had left the Farrel head and the Farrel attorney had had Andre
Loustalot up in the Superior Court, where he had won a drawn verdict.
The cash in bank was proved to have been deposited there by Loustalot
personally; it had been subject to his personal check, and was
accordingly adjudged to be his personal property and ordered turned
over to Miguel Farrel in partial liquidation of the ancient judgment
which Farrel held against the Basque. A preponderance of testimony,
however (Don Nicolas Sandoval swore it was all perjured and paid for)
indicated that but one quarter of the sheep found on the Rancho Palomar
belonged to Loustalot, the remainder