he firm pursing of his lips spoke of a determination arrived at. He
gazed down at the recumbent figure upon the ground. There was something
in his gaze which made the girl lower her eyes and look far out down the
valley.

"This brother of yours--he was tall and thin?"

The girl nodded.

"Am I right in my recollection of him when I say that he was possessed
of a dark, dark face, lantern jaws, thin--and high, prominent
cheek-bones?"

"That's so."

She faced him inquiringly as she answered his eager questions.

"Ah!"

He quickly turned again in the direction of the noisy water-fowl. Their
rollicking gambols sounded joyously on the brooding atmosphere of the
place. The wintry chill in the air was fast ousting the balmy breath of
spring. It was a warning of the lateness of the hour.

"Now listen to me," he went on presently, turning again from the
contemplation of his weird surroundings. "I lost all that was left to me
from the wreck of my little ranch this afternoon--no, not to Lablache,"
as the girl was about to pronounce the hated name, "but," with a wintry
smile, "to another friend of yours, Pedro Mancha. I also discovered,
this afternoon, the source of Lablache's phenomenal--luck. He has
systematically robbed both your uncle and myself--" He broke off with a
bitter laugh.

"My God!"

The girl had sprung to her feet in her agitation. And a rage
indescribable flamed into her face. The fury there expressed appalled
him, and he stood for a moment waiting for it to abate. What terrible
depths had he delved into? The hidden fires of a passionate nature are
more easily kept under than checked in their blasting career when once
the restraining will power is removed. For an instant it seemed that she
must choke. Then she hurled her feelings into one brief, hissing
sentence.

"Lablache--I hate him!"

And the man realized that he must continue his story.

"Yes, we lost our money not fairly, but by--cheating. I am ruined, and
your uncle--" Bill shrugged.

"My uncle--God help him!"

"I do not know the full extent of his losses, Jacky--except that they
have probably trebled mine."

"But I know to what extent the hound has robbed him," Jacky answered in
a tone of such bitter hatred as to cause her companion to glance
uneasily at the passionate young face before him. "I know, only too
well. And right thoroughly has Lablache done his work. Say, Bill, do you
know that that skunk holds mortgages on our ranch for two