y anger, and, taking out of my pocket a flint,
a steel, and, a bit of _yesca,_ struck fire and leisurely lighted my
cigarette. Throwing myself back on the bed, as my employer repeated
his demand, I replied, "Ask Anita." The girl understood, and, nothing
abashed, told the story in her native tongue, continually referring to
me as _pobre Tomas_. When her disconnected narrative was concluded,
Uncle Lance turned on me, saying:--

"And this is the result of all our plans. You went into Oakville, did
you? Tom, you haven't, got as much sense as a candy frog. Walked right
into a trap with your head up and sassy. That's right--don't you listen
to any one. Didn't I tell you that stage people would stick by each
other like thieves? And you forgot all my warnings and deliberately"--

"Hold on," I interrupted. "You must recollect that the horses had had a
fifty-mile forced ride, were jaded, and on the point of collapse. With
the down stage refusing to carry us, and the girl on the point of
hysteria, where else could I go?"

"Go to jail if necessary. Go anywhere but the place you went. The horses
were jaded on a fifty-mile ride, were they? Either one of them was good
for a hundred without unsaddling, and you know it. Haven't I told you
that this ranch would raise horses when we were all dead and gone?
Suppose you had killed a couple of horses? What would that have been,
compared to your sneaking into the ranch this way, like a whipped cur
with your tail between your legs? Now, the countryside will laugh at us
both."

"The country may laugh," I answered, "but I'll not be here to hear it.
Enrique has gone after my horse, and as soon as he gets in I'm leaving
you for good."

"You'll do nothing of the kind. You think you're all shot to pieces,
don't you? Well, you'll stay right here until all your wounds heal.
I've taken all these degrees myself, and have lived to laugh at them
afterward. And I have had lessons that I hope you'll never have to
learn. When I found out that my third wife had known a gambler before
she married me, I found out what the Bible means by rottenness of the
bones with which it says an evil woman uncrowns her husband. I'll tell
you about it some day. But you've not been scarred in this little
side-play. You're not even powder burnt. Why, in less than a month
you'll be just as happy again as if you had good sense."

Miss Jean now interrupted. "Clear right out of here," she said to her
brother and the rest. "Y