mirez?" he continued, with the keen
air of the tradesman who beholds a sure customer before him and is
determined to drive a sharp bargain.

"What will I give?" repeated Felipe, slowly, relapsing into thought. For
some time he was silent, during which he regarded Juan's features
intently, as if to assure himself of the latter's good faith. Then
suddenly and impetuously he cried: "I'll tell you, Juan Ramon! I'll give
you gold enough to keep you drunk and your mistress clothed in silks and
satins for the rest of your days! Aye, the finest pair of horses in all
Mexico shall draw your carriage, and you shall have money to gamble."

"Then have patience for but a little while longer, Don Felipe Ramirez,"
replied Juan, rubbing the palms of his long, slim hands together, as
though he already felt the magic touch of the gold and heard its musical
clink in his ears.

"I hear that fortune has played you false of late, Juan Ramon," said
Felipe.

"'Tis the very devil, Senor!" answered Juan with an oath.

"Here, take this," continued Felipe, handing him a roll of bank notes
which he drew from his pocket. "You shall have as many men and horses to
assist you in the work as you want," he added.

"Horses I will need, but no men, Don Felipe," replied Juan, jubilant
over the return of fortune. The bargain was better than he had
anticipated.

XXI

Dick Yankton had taken on a new lease of life. He no longer walked--he
flew. Like Hermes of old his feet seemed to have become suddenly endowed
with wings, with the result that his head was coming into dangerous
proximity to the clouds.

"_Dios!_ what had come over Senor Dick, who was on the best of terms
with every man, woman and child and dog in Santa Fe?" So potent was the
draught which he had imbibed, that he appeared to have been stricken
suddenly with blindness and the loss of memory at one and the same
instant. The salutations of his friends and acquaintances who greeted
him when he walked abroad were left unnoticed; his gaze fixed dreamily
on space before him. What had happened? Had he come into possession of a
new mine, or was he engaged in locating one through means of that
psychic sense or inner vision of the seer which he seemed to possess?
Had the real cause of his perturbation been guessed--that a woman's
smile had suddenly opened heaven's gates to him, a ripple of laughter
would have gone the rounds of Santa Fe. The mere suggestion that the
Senor Dick could be se