Dave rose and strolled restlessly about the hotel.  A half-hour passed and Longorio did not reappear; an hour dragged by, and then Dave took occasion to go to his room.  A glance through the open parlor door showed the foreigner in closest conversation with Mrs. Austin.  They were laughing; they were alone; even Dolores was nowhere to be seen.

When Dave returned to his big rocking-chair he found it uncomfortable; he watched the clock anxiously; he chewed several cigars viciously before realizing that he was jealous—­yes, madly, unreasonably jealous.

So!  His divinity was not as unapproachable as he had imagined.  Doubtless Longorio was mad over her, which explained the fellow’s willingness to help her exact reparation from his government.  Fine doings for a respectable married woman!  It was wrong, scandalous, detestable!

After a time Dave rose impatiently.  What had come over him, anyhow?  He must be crazy to torture himself in this fashion.  What went on up-stairs certainly was none of his business, and he had better far amuse himself.  In accordance with this excellent reasoning, he went to a picture-show.  But he could not become interested.  The flat images on the screen failed to divert him, and the only faces he saw were those of Luis Longorio and the lone mistress of Las Palmas.

Had Dave only known the truth, he would have gained a grim comfort from it, for Alaire Austin was not enjoying herself this evening.  Her caller stayed on interminably and she became restive under the flow of his conversation.  For some reason or other Longorio was not the romantic figure he had been; in his citizen’s clothes he was only a dandified Mexican gallant like any number of others.  The color was gone from the picture; this quixotic guerrilla hero, this elegant Ruy Blas, was nothing more than a tall, olive-skinned foreigner whose ardor was distasteful.  Longorio was tiresome.

XIV

JOSE SANCHEZ SWEARS AN OATH

On this same evening a scene of no little significance was taking place at Las Palmas.  Ed Austin was entertaining callers, and these were none other than Tad Lewis and Adolfo Urbina.

The progress of events during the last few days had shaped this conference, for, as Dave had forecast during his conversation with Judge Ellsworth, the local prosecuting attorney saw in the Guzman cattle case an opportunity to distinguish himself, and was taking action accordingly.  He had gathered considerable evidence against Urbina, and was exerting himself to the utmost for an indictment.  He had openly declared that the testimony of Ricardo Guzman and his other witnesses would convict the suspect, and the fact that his politics were opposed to Ed Austin’s complicated matters still further.  It was the unwelcome news of all this which had brought Tad Lewis and his Mexican helper to Las Palmas under cover of darkness.  Having gone over the circumstances in detail, Lewis concluded: