to extend some
protection over her; and it would be a magnanimous revenge if he could
even offer it to Miss Keene.

"I see you don't swear anybody to secrecy," he said, with a laugh;
"shall I speak to Crosby, or will you?"

"Not yet; he'll only see something to laugh at. And Banks and Martinez
would quarrel at once, and go back on each other. No; my idea is to let
some outsider do for Todos Santos what Perkins did for Quinquinambo. Do
you take?"

His long, thin, dyspeptic face lit up with a certain small political
cunning and shrewdness that struck Brace with a half-respect.

"I say, Winslow; you'd have made a first-class caucus leader in San
Francisco."

Winslow smiled complacently. "There's something better to play on here
than ward politics," he replied. "There's a material here that--like
the mine and the soil--ain't half developed. I reckon I can show Banks
something that beats lobbying and log-rolling for contracts. I've let
you into this thing to show you a sample of my prospecting. Keep it to
yourself if you want it to pay. Dat's me, George! Good-by! I'll be out
to the office to-morrow!"

He turned back towards his brother politicians with an expression
of satisfied conceit that Brace for a moment envied. The latter even
lingered on the veranda, as if he would have asked Winslow another
question; but, looking at his watch, he suddenly recollected himself,
and, mounting his horse, cantered down towards the plaza.

The hour of siesta was not yet over, and the streets were still
deserted--probably the reason why the politicians of Todos Santos had
chosen that hour for their half secret meeting. At the corner of the
plaza he dismounted and led his horse to the public hitching-post--gnawn
and nibbled by the teeth of generations of mustangs--and turned into the
narrow lane flanked by the walls of the Alcalde's garden. Halfway
down he stopped before a slight breach in the upper part of the adobe
barrier, and looked cautiously around. The long, shadowed vista of the
lane was unobstructed by any moving figure as far as the yellow light of
the empty square beyond. With a quick leap he gained the top of the wall
and disappeared on the other aide.

CHAPTER III.

INTERNATIONAL COURTESIES.

The garden over whose wall Brace had mysteriously vanished was
apparently as deserted as the lane and plaza without. But its
solitude was one of graceful shadow and restful loveliness. A tropical
luxuriance, that had