AL ELLIPSIS~} in the law, in
politics."

Ramon jerked his head impatiently and flushed a little, but reflection
checked his irritation. Hatred of restraint, love of personal liberty, the
animal courage that scorns to calculate consequences were his by heritage.
But he knew that Cortez spoke the truth.

"All right Antonio," he said with dignity. "I'll be careful."

The next day he got a letter which emphasized the value of his henchman's
warning and made Ramon really thoughtful. It was from MacDougall, and made
him another offer for his land. It had a preamble to the effect that land
values were falling, money was "tight," and therefore Ramon would do well
to sell now, before a further drop in prices. It made him an offer of ten
thousand dollars less than MacDougall had offered before.

Ramon knew that the talk about falling values was largely bluff, that
MacDougall had heard of his losses and of his loose and idle life, and
thought that he could now buy the lands at his own price. The gringo had
confidently waited for the Mexican to make a fool of himself. Ramon
resolved hotly that he would do no such thing. He had no idea of selling.
He would be more careful with his money, and next summer he would go back
to Arriba County, renew his campaign against MacDougall and buy some land
with the money he could get for timber and wool. He replied very curtly to
MacDougall that his lands were not for sale.

After that he stayed away from poker games for a while. This was made
easier by a new interest which had entered his life in the person of a
waitress at the Eldorado Lunch room. The girls at this lunch room had long
borne a bad reputation. Even in the days before the big hotel had been
built, when the railroad company maintained merely a little red frame
building there, known as the Eating House, these waitresses had been a
mainstay of local bachelordom. Their successors were still referred to by
their natural enemies, the respectable ladies of the town, as "those awful
eating house girls"; while the advent of a new "hash-slinger" was always a
matter of considerable interest among the unmarried exquisites who
fore-gathered at the White Camel. In this way Ramon quickly heard of the
new waitress. She was reputed to be both prettier and less approachable
than most of her kind. Sidney Felberg had made a preliminary
reconnaissance and a pessimistic report.

"Nothing doing," he said. "She's got a husband somewhere and a notion