was smiling; the other was trembling.

The eyes of Kid Wolf met the fear-stricken eyes of the other. They
stood close together. Each had looked at his bean. The sick man's
face had gone even whiter.

"I'll trade yo' beans," offered the Texan.

"Mine's--black!" gasped the other.

"I know," The Kid whispered in reply. "Trade with me!"

"It means that yuh give yore life for mine," was the agonized answer.
"I can't let yuh do that."

"Believe me or not, but I have a plan," urged the Texan in a low tone.
"And it might work. Hurry."

The color returned to the sick youth's face as the beans were
cautiously exchanged. Then Kid Wolf turned to the soldiers and
displayed a black bean.

"Guess I'm the unlucky one." He smiled whimsically. He turned to the
sick boy for a final handshake. "Good luck," he whispered, "and if my
plans fail, adios forever."

"Come!" ordered a Spanish soldier.

Waving his hand in farewell, Kid Wolf stepped out to meet the doom that
had been prepared for him.

CHAPTER IV

SURPRISES

At the prison door, Kid Wolf was met by a squad of ten soldiers. It
was the firing squad. The Texan fell in step with them and was marched
around the building to the bullet-scarred wall. Kid Wolf faced the
rising sun. Was he now seeing it for the last time?

If he was afraid, he made no sign. His expression was unruffled and
calm. He was smiling a little, and his arms, as he folded them on his
breast, did not tremble in the slightest.

The officer who was to have charge of the execution had not yet
appeared on the scene, and the soldiers waited with their rifle stocks
trailing in the sand.

Then there was a quick bustle. The officer sauntered around the corner
of the building, his bright uniform making a gay sight in the early
sun. He was a captain--the captain whom Kid Wolf had humiliated the
afternoon before! The eyes of the Spanish officer, when they fell upon
his victim, widened with surprise which at once gave way to exultation.

"Ah, it is my amigo--the senor of the two guns!" he cried.

It was his day of revenge! The captain could not conceal his joy at
this chance to square things with his enemy for good and all. He did
not try to. His laugh was sneering and amused.

"And to think it will be me--Captain Hermosillo--who will say the word
to fire!" He turned to his soldiers in high good humor and waved his
sword. "At twenty paces," he ordered. "We shall soon see how b