"Call your men, quick," he cried in a
voice that sent the soldier leaping back into the night.

Alaire was clinging to Dave, merely clutching him the tighter when he
tried to unclasp her hold. Her movement into the shelter of his rival's
arms infuriated Longorio, who uttered an exclamation and fumbled
uncertainly with his holster. But his fingers were clumsy. He could not
take his eyes from the pair, and he seemed upon the point of rushing
forward to tear them apart.

"Don't touch her! Don't--" he began, cursing in a high-pitched voice.
"God! What a reckoning!" Then he stamped his feet, he wrung his hands,
he called shrilly at the top of his voice: "Lieutenant! Ho, Pancho! You
fellows! Quickly!" Under the stress of his excitement the feminine side
of his character betrayed itself.

Alaire felt her newly made husband gather himself for a spring; he was
muttering to her to release him; he was trying to push her aside, but
she held fast with the strength of desperation.

"You can't harm us," she declared, flinging her words defiantly at the
Mexican. "You dare not. You are too late. Father O'Malley has just
married us."

Longorio uttered a peculiar, wordless cry of dismay; his mouth fell
open; his arms dropped; he went limp all over, paralyzed momentarily by
surprise and horror; his eyes protruded; he swayed as if his sight had
blurred.

"I said I'd never marry you," she rushed on, vibrantly. "This is the
man I love--the only man. Yes, and I've learned the truth about you. I
know who killed Mr. Austin."

Longorio did a very unexpected thing then; slowly, unconsciously, as if
the movement were the result of a half-forgotten training, he crossed
himself.

But now from the hall at his back came the pounding of boot-heels, and
a half dozen panting troopers tumbled through the door. He waved them
back and out into the hall again.

Father O'Malley, who had been trying to make himself heard, stepped in
front of the general and said, solemnly: "Take care what you do,
Longorio. I have married these people, and you can't undo what I have
done. We are American citizens. The laws of civilization protect us."

The Mexican fought for his voice, then stammered: "You are my priest; I
brought you here. I offered to marry her. Now--you force me to damn my
soul." Turning his eyes wildly upon Alaire, he shouted: "Too late, eh?
You say I am too late! It seems that I am barely in time."

Dave added his words to the others: "You ar