_jacal_. Somebody might get hurt that oughtn't to."

"Remain with your Tonia; no one will find you here."

The Kid looked keenly into the shadows up and down the arroyo and
toward the dim lights of the Mexican village.

"I'll see how it looks later on," was his decision.

At midnight a horseman rode into the rangers' camp, blazing his way by
noisy "halloes" to indicate a pacific mission. Sandridge and one or
two others turned out to investigate the row. The rider announced
himself to be Domingo Sales, from the Lone Wolf Crossing. he bore a
letter for Senor Sandridge. Old Luisa, the _lavendera_, had persuaded
him to bring it, he said, her son Gregorio being too ill of a fever to
ride.

Sandridge lighted the camp lantern and read the letter. These were its
words:

_Dear One_: He has come. Hardly had you ridden away when he came
out of the pear. When he first talked he said he would stay three
days or more. Then as it grew later he was like a wolf or a fox,
and walked about without rest, looking and listening. Soon he said
he must leave before daylight when it is dark and stillest. And
then he seemed to suspect that I be not true to him. He looked at
me so strange that I am frightened. I swear to him that I love
him, his own Tonia. Last of all he said I must prove to him I am
true. He thinks that even now men are waiting to kill him as he
rides from my house. To escape he says he will dress in my
clothes, my red skirt and the blue waist I wear and the brown
mantilla over the head, and thus ride away. But before that he
says that I must put on his clothes, his _pantalones_ and _camisa_
[83] and hat, and ride away on his horse from the _jacal_ as far
as the big road beyond the crossing and back again. This before he
goes, so he can tell if I am true and if men are hidden to shoot
him. It is a terrible thing. An hour before daybreak this is to be.
Come, my dear one, and kill this man and take me for your Tonia. Do
not try to take hold of him alive, but kill him quickly. Knowing
all, you should do that. You must come long before the time and hide
yourself in the little shed near the _jacal_ where the wagon and
saddles are kept. It is dark in there. He will wear my red skirt
and blue waist and brown mantilla. I send you a hundred kisses.
Come surely and shoot quickly and straight.

[FOOTNOTE 83: pantalones and camisa--(Spanish) trouser