f position where Spanish
is the official if not the common tongue.

His host retired, without words, and Bell came out later to find him
sipping moodily at a drink, waiting for him. He wiped his forehead.

"Be seated, Senor," he said heavily, "until the ladies join us."

He wiped his forehead again and watched somberly while Bell poured out a
drink.

"Isabella...." He seemed to find it difficult to speak. "She has told me
a little, but there has been no time for more than a little: I do not
wish to have her tell me too much. She does not understand. She was
educated in North America, where customs are different. She demands that
I assist you and the senorita--it is the senorita?"

Bell stiffened. In all Spanish America the conventions are strict. For a
man and woman to travel together, even perforce and for a short
distance, automatically damns the woman.

"Go on," said Bell grimly.

His host was very pale indeed.

"She demands that I assist you and the senorita to escape the police and
the government. Provided that you do not tell me who you are, I will
attempt it. But--"

"I wonder," said Bell quietly, "if you have ever seen red spots dancing
before your eyes."

His host went utterly livid.

* * * * *

Zuloaga looked down at his hands, as if expecting unguessable things of
them. And then he shrugged, and said harshly:

"I have, Senor. So you see that Isabella, who does not know, is asking
me to risk, not only my life, but her honor."

Bell said nothing for a moment. He was a little pale.

"And your honor?" he asked quietly.

The pallor on the face of the Senor Jaime Zuloaga was horrible. He tried
to speak, and could not. He stood up, and managed to say:

"So much I will risk, because you have been my guest. Until to-morrow
morning you are safe, unless the Senor Francia has his spies within my
own house. I--I will attempt, even to procure a boat. But--"

Something made Bell turn. The major-domo was moving quickly out of
sight. Like a flash Bell was upon him, and like a flash a knife came
out.

Bell's host gasped. The fact that his servant had spied was more than
obvious, and he had spoke treason against The Master. He leaned against
the table, sick and trembling and mumbling of despair, while there were
crashes in the room into which Bell had plunged, while bodies thrashed
about on the floor, and while stertorous breathing grew less, and
stopped....

Bell came b