the boat's side, where they come to a
stand. But though they have paused in their steps, they continue to
talk in excited, earnest tones. And so loud, that he can hear every
word they say; though the speakers are invisible to him. The capsized
boat is not so flush with the sand as to prevent him from seeing the
lower part of their legs, from the knees downward. Of these there are
four pairs, two of them in trousers of the ordinary kind; the other two
in _calzoneras_ of velveteen, bordered at the bottoms with black stamped
leather. But, that all four men are Californians, or Spaniards, he can
tell by the language in which they are conversing--Spanish. A lucky
chance that he understands something of this--if not for himself, for
the friends who are dear to him.

The first intelligible speech that reaches his ear is an interrogatory:

"You're sure, Calderon, they'll come this way?"

"Quite sure, De Lara. When I stood by them at the hotel-bar, I heard
the younger of the two tell one of the American officers that their boat
was to meet them at the wooden _muello_--the new pier, as you know. To
reach that they must pass by here; there's no other way. And it can't
be long before they make appearance. They were leaving the hotel at the
time we did, and where else should they go?"

"Not knowing,"--this from the voice of a third individual. "They may
stay to take another _copita_, or half-a-dozen. These Inglese can drink
like fish, and don't seem to feel it."

"The more they drink the better for us," remarks a fourth. "Our work
will be the easier."

"It may not be so easy, Don Manuel," puts in De Lara. "Young as they
are, they're very devils both. Besides, they're well armed, and will
battle like grizzly bears. I tell you, _camarados_, we'll have work to
do before we get back our money."

"But do you intend killing them, De Lara?" asks he who has been called
Calderon.

"Of course. We must, for our own sakes. 'Twould be madness not, even
if we could get the money without it. The older, Crozier, is enormously
rich, I've heard; could afford to buy up all the law there is in San
Francisco. If we let them escape, he'd have the police after us like
hounds upon a trail. Even if they shouldn't recognise us now, they'd be
sure to suspect who it was, and make the place too hot to hold us.
_Caspita_! It's not a question of choice, but a thing of necessity.
_We must kill them_!"

Harry Blew hears the cold-blo