saddled by dexterous hands. Once on his back, I soon
passed the eighty miles between me and the Rio Grande, which I swam on
my horse the next morning within an hour after sunrise.

CHAPTER XXII

SUNSET

Of my exile of over two years in Mexico, little need be said. By easy
stages, I reached the haciendas on the Rio San Juan where we had
received the cows in the summer of '77. The reception extended me was
all one could ask, but cooled when it appeared that my errand was one
of refuge and not of business. I concealed my offense, and was given
employment as corporal _segundo_ over a squad of vaqueros. But while
the hacienda to which I was attached was larger than Las Palomas, with
greater holdings in live-stock, yet my life there was one of penal
servitude. I strove to blot out past memories in the innocent pleasures
of my associates, mingling in all the social festivities, dancing with
the dark-eyed senoritas and gambling at every _fiesta_. Yet in the midst
of the dissipation, there was ever present to my mind the thought of
a girl, likewise living a life of loneliness at the mouth of the San
Miguel.

During my banishment, but twice did any word or message reach me from
the Nueces valley. Within a few months after my locating on the Rio San
Juan, Enrique Lopez, a trusted vaquero from Las Palomas, came to the
hacienda, apparently seeking employment. Recognizing me at a glance, at
the first opportunity he slipped me a letter unsigned and in an unknown
hand. After reading it I breathed easier, for both Hunter and Oxenford
had recovered, the former having been shot through the upper lobe of a
lung, while the latter had sustained three wounds, one of which resulted
in the loss of an arm. The judge had reserved his decision until the
recovery of both men was assured, but before the final adjournment of
court, refused the decree. I had had misgivings that this would be the
result, and the message warned me to remain away, as the stage company
was still offering a reward for my arrest. Enrique loitered around the
camp several days, and on being refused employment, made inquiry for a
ranch in the south and rode away in the darkness of evening. But we had
had several little chats together, in which the rascal delivered
many oral messages, one of which he swore by all the saints had been
intrusted to him by my own sweetheart while visiting at the ranch. But
Enrique was capable of enriching any oral message, and I was com