“I’m glad, Dick, with all my heart.  I wondered at the changed look you wear.  Why, boy, you’ve got a different front....Call the lady in, and you bet I’ll look her over right.  I can see better now.”

“Eat your breakfast.  There’s plenty of time to dazzle you afterward.”

Thorne fell to upon his breakfast and made it vanish with magic speed.  Meanwhile Dick told him something of a ranger’s life along the border.

“You needn’t waste your breath,” said Thorne.  “I guess I can see.  Belding and those rangers have made you the real thing—­the real Western goods....What I want to know is all about the girl.”

“Well, Laddy swears she’s got your girl roped in the corral for looks.”

“That’s not possible.  I’ll have to talk to Laddy....But she must be a wonder, or Dick Gale would never have fallen for her....Isn’t it great, Dick?  I’m here!  Mercedes is well—­safe!  You’ve got a girl!  Oh!....But say, I haven’t a dollar to my name.  I had a lot of money, Dick, and those robbers stole it, my watch—­everything.  Damn that little black Greaser!  He got Mercedes’s letters.  I wish you could have seen him trying to read them.  He’s simply nutty over her, Dick.  I could have borne the loss of money and valuables—­but those beautiful, wonderful letters—­they’re gone!”

“Cheer up.  You have the girl.  Belding will make you a proposition presently.  The future smiles, old friend.  If this rebel business was only ended!”

“Dick, you’re going to be my savior twice over....Well, now, listen to me.”  His gay excitement changed to earnest gravity.  “I want to marry Mercedes at once.  Is there a padre here?”

“Yes.  But are you wise in letting any Mexican, even a priest, know Mercedes is hidden in Forlorn River?”

“It couldn’t be kept much longer.”

Gale was compelled to acknowledge the truth of this statement.

“I’ll marry her first, then I’ll face my problem.  Fetch the padre, Dick.  And ask our kind friends to be witnesses at the ceremony.”

Much to Gale’s surprise neither Belding nor Ladd objected to the idea of bringing a padre into the household, and thereby making known to at least one Mexican the whereabouts of Mercedes Castaneda.  Belding’s caution was wearing out in wrath at the persistent unsettled condition of the border, and Ladd grew only the cooler and more silent as possibilities of trouble multiplied.

Gale fetched the padre, a little, weazened, timid man who was old and without interest or penetration.  Apparently he married Mercedes and Thorne as he told his beads or mumbled a prayer.  It was Mrs. Belding who kept the occasion from being a merry one, and she insisted on not exciting Thorne.  Gale marked her unusual pallor and the singular depth and sweetness of her voice.

“Mother, what’s the use of making a funeral out of a marriage?” protested Belding.  “A chance for some fun doesn’t often come to Forlorn River.  You’re a fine doctor.  Can’t you see the girl is what Thorne needed?  He’ll be well to-morrow, don’t mistake me.”