ared behind her.

"Myra, Myra!" shouted Don Carlos. "Do not----"

Myra did not hear the rest of his shout. Excitedly she clutched the
arm of the officer of the Guardia Civil.

"Save me! Save me!" she gasped. "That man is El Diablo Cojuelo! Don
Carlos is El Diablo Cojuelo! Do you understand? Don't let him take me
back."

"Yes, senorita," said the officer quickly in English. "I understand.
You alla right now from El Diablo Cojuelo."

"You do not understand," gasped Myra half-frantically, pointing at Don
Carlos, now only a few yards away from her. "That man is El Diablo
Cojuelo. Don Carlos de Ruiz is El Diablo Cojuelo. Arrest him!"

It seemed to her that as she spoke the words denouncing Don Carlos the
whole world went suddenly pitch dark, and she felt herself falling,
falling through space. What actually happened was that she fainted,
and the officer of the Civil Guard was just in time to catch her ere
she fell.

She recovered consciousness to find a swarthy, weather-beaten man
supporting her head and holding a water-bottle to her lips, and to see
many dark eyes regarding her with sympathetic curiosity. Until her
brain cleared she could not realise where she was and what had been
happening, and she felt horribly scared. Then she heard the voice of
Don Carlos and she remembered everything.

"Don't let him take me back!" she cried, sitting up. "I tell you, he
is El Diablo Cojuelo!"

"Alla right, senorita, you secure from El Diablo Cojuelo now," said the
officer.

"Yes, you are safe from El Diablo Cojuelo now, Myra," said Don Carlos,
moving nearer, "and explanations can wait until we get to the Castle."

Myra realised that it would be rather absurd to continue to try to make
the officer, who had but an imperfect knowledge of English, understand
that Don Carlos and El Diablo Cojuelo were one man.

Still feeling faint and shaken, Myra was assisted down the
mountain-side after a little while, and was eventually lifted on to a
mule. The journey to the high road that ran through the heart of the
Sierras was accomplished without untoward incident, and by great good
fortune a motor car, carrying two high officials of the Guardia Civil,
drove up just as the party reached the road. Into the car Myra and Don
Carlos were invited, after some voluble explanations on the part of
their escort, and were speedily conveyed to El Castillo de Ruiz.

"Welcome home, Myra, my wife," whispered Don Carlos, as he step