kly."

"That will be attended to. Will you, senor, see to it that horse and
provision are made ready for the trail? And you, senora? Soledad in
the wilderness is no good place for a lady. When this matter of the
slaves is arranged, will it please you to ride south, or north? Troops
of the south will be coming this way;--it will be a land of soldiers
and foraging."

"How shall I answer that?" murmured Dona Jocasta miserably. "In the
south Jose Perez may make life a not possible thing for me,--and in
the north I would be a stranger."

"Jose Perez will not make trouble; yet trouble might be made,--at
first," said Rotil avoiding her eyes, and turning again to Kit.
"Senor, by the time Marto gets back from the south, the pack mules
will be here again. Until they are gone from Soledad I trust you in
charge of Senora Perez. She must have a manager, and there is none so
near as you."

"At her service," said Kit promptly, "but this place----"

"Ai, that is it," agreed Rotil. "North is the safer place for women
alone, and you--did you not say that on Granados there were friends?"

"Why, yes, General," replied Kit. "My friend, Captain Pike, is
somewhere near, and the owner of Granados is a lady, and among us
we'll do our best. But it's a hard trip, and I've only one gun."

"You will take your choice of guns, horses, or men," decided Rotil.
"That is your work. Also you will take with you the evidence of Senora
Perez on that matter of the murder. The padre can also come in on
that,--so it will be service all around."

Chappo came to the door to report that all was ready for the trail,
and Rotil stood up, and handed to Dona Jocasta the marriage contract.

"Consider the best way of protecting this until you reach an alcalde
and have a copy made and witnessed," he said warningly. "It protects
your future. The fortunes of war may take all the rest of us, but the
wife of Perez needs the record of our names; see to it!"

She looked up at him as if to speak, but no words came. He gazed
curiously at her bent head, and the slender hands over the papers. In
his life of turmoil and bloodshed he had halted to secure for her the
right to a principality. In setting his face to the east, and the
battle line, he knew the chance was faint that he would ever see her
again, and his smile had in it a touch of self-derision at the
thought,--for after all he was nothing to her!

"So--that is all," he said, turning away. "You come with me a li