e altered. He looked back at Wilson with
friendly interest--with no suspicion of the important part he had
already played in his life.

"This--this man searches for gold?" he asked.

"Yes--for the great treasure of which so many speak."

There was the very slightest tightening of the lips, the merest trace
of a frown between the brows.

"He is unwise; the treasure of the Gilded God is well guarded. Yes,
even from him."

A big purple butterfly circled through the sunshine and fluttered a
moment above the spilled wine upon the table; then it vanished into
the dark. The Priest watched it and then glanced up.

"The maid--what part does she play?"

"She is under some strange spell the man has cast over her, I think,
for she has been led to believe the wildest sort of a yarn--a tale
that her father, long missing, is somewhere about these mountains."

"Her father--missing?" repeated the Priest, his face clouding
uneasily.

"The girl loved him as a comrade as well as a father. The two were
alone and very much together. He was a captain, and some fifteen years
ago disappeared. It was thought that he sailed for some port along the
western coast, but he never came back. In time the report came that he
was dead, though this was never proven."

The Priest rubbed a brown skinny hand over his eyes.

"But the maid did not believe the rumor?" he asked.

"No--she did not believe."

Wilson did not dare tell him of the crystal gazing for fear that the
Priest might jump to the conclusion that it was this power Sorez was
using and so would associate the girl too closely with the treasure
hunt. Yet he wished to tell him enough to protect the girl from any
scheme of vengeance this man might be planning against Sorez himself.

"She is very immature," explained Wilson, "and so believed the older
man easily."

"And you?"

"We have come in search of her--to take her back."

"But does she wish to return?"

"If I can make her see----"

"It is difficult to make a woman see sometimes. It is possible that
she was led to come to Bogova in search of her father--but that would
not bring her over the mountains. There are other things--like all
women she is fond of gold and jewels?"

"That may be," answered Wilson, with heat. "But if you knew her, you
would understand that no such motive would lead her to venture so much
and endure so much. Nothing could blind her eyes to common sense but
such a motive as this which drove her on."