urpose. It was a commonplace cabin, set against
a hill rock-hewn and rugged, with a queer, double-pointed top like twin
steeples tumbled by an earthquake; or like two "sheep herders'
monuments" built painstakingly by giants. The lower slope of the hill
was grassy, with scattered live oaks and here and there a huge bowlder.
It was one of these live oaks, the biggest of them all, with
wide-spreading branches drooping almost to the ground, that Cliff
pointed out as an excellent concealment for an airplane.

"Run it under there, and who would ever suspect? Mateo is there
already with his woman and the kiddies. Has it ever occurred to you,
old man, how thoroughly disarming a woman and kiddies are in any
enterprise that requires secrecy?"

"Can't say it has. It has occurred to me that kids are the limit for
blabbing things. And women--"

"Not these," Cliff smiled serenely. "These are trained kiddies. They
do their blabbing at home, you'll find. They're better than dogs, to
give warning of strangers prowling about."

He must have meant during the day they were better than dogs. They
drove up to the cabin, swung around the end and turned under a live oak
whose branches scraped the car's top, while four dogs circled the
machine, barking and growling. Still no kiddies appeared, but their
father came out of a back door and drove the dogs back. He was
low-browed, swart and silent, with a heavy black mustache and a mop of
hair to match. Cliff left the car and walked away with him, speaking
in an undertone what Johnny knew to be Spanish. The low-browed one
interpolated an occasional "Si, si, senor!" and gesticulated much.

"All right, Johnny, this is Mateo, who will look after us at this
end--providing there's nothing to hinder our using this as
headquarters. How about that flat, out in front? Is it big enough for
a flying field, do you think? You might walk over it and take a look."

Stiffly, Johnny climbed down and walked obediently out across the open
flat. It was fairly smooth, though Mateo's kids might well be set
gathering rocks. The hills encircled it, green where the rocks were
not piled too ruggedly. He inspected the great oak which Cliff had
pointed out as a hiding place for the plane. Truly it was a wonder of
an oak tree. Its trunk was gnarled and big as a hogshead, and it
leaned away from the steep slope behind it so that its southern
branches almost touched the ground. These stretched farther