sleeping-draught. Margarita was disposed of. If she
had not been, Ramona would never have got away, for Margarita would have
known that she had been out of the house for two hours, and would have
watched to see what it meant.

Ramona came in through the court-yard; she dared not go by the veranda,
sure that Felipe and his mother were sitting there still, for it was not
late.

As she entered her room, she heard them talking. She closed one of her
windows, to let them know she was there. Then she knelt at the Madonna's
feet, and in an inaudible whisper told her all she was going to do, and
prayed that she would watch over her and Alessandro, and show them where
to go.

"I know she will! I am sure she will!" whispered Ramona to herself as
she rose from her knees.

Then she threw herself on her bed, to wait till the Senora and Felipe
should be asleep. Her brain was alert, clear. She knew exactly what she
wished to do. She had thought that all out, more than two weeks ago,
when she was looking for Alessandro hour by hour.

Early in the summer Alessandro had given to her, as curiosities, two
of the large nets which the Indian women use for carrying all sorts of
burdens. They are woven out of the fibres of a flax-like plant, and
are strong as iron. The meshes being large, they are very light; are
gathered at each end, and fastened to a band which goes around the
forehead. In these can be carried on the back, with comparative ease,
heavier loads than could be lifted in any other way. Until Ramona
recollected these, she had been perplexed to know how she should carry
the things which she had made up her mind it would be right for her to
take,--only a few; simply necessaries; one stuff gown and her shawls;
the new altar-cloth, and two changes of clothes; that would not be a
great deal; she had a right to so much, she thought, now that she
had seen the jewels in the Senora's keeping. "I will tell Father
Salvierderra exactly what I took," she thought, "and ask him if it was
too much." She did not like to think that all these clothes she must
take had been paid for with the Senora Moreno's money.

And Alessandro's violin. Whatever else she left, that must go. What
would life be to Alessandro without a violin! And if they went to Los
Angeles, he might earn money by playing at dances. Already Ramona had
devised several ways by which they could both earn money.

There must be also food for the journey. And it must be good food