oth."

"I know; I told Jack we'd have to keep away from town or the mine for
a while. He wanted to go right back and finish up the fight!" Dade
grinned at the absurdity. "I sat down hard on that proposition."
Not that phrase, exactly, did he use. One may be pardoned a free
translation, since, though he spoke in excellent Spanish, he did not
twist his sentences like a native, and he was not averse to making
use of certain idioms quite as striking in their way as our own
Americanisms.

Don Andres rolled a cigarette and smoked it thoughtfully. "You were
wise. Also, I bear in mind your statement that you could not long be
content to remain my guest. Terribly independent and energetic are
you Americanos." He smoked through another pause, while Dade's puzzled
glance dwelt secretly upon his face and tried to read what lay in his
mind. It seemed to him that the don was working his way carefully up
to a polite hint that the visit might be agreeably terminated; and his
uneasy thoughts went to the girl. Did her father resent--

"My majordomo," the don continued, just in time to hold back Dade's
hasty assurance that they would leave immediately, "my majordomo does
not please me. Many faults might I name, sufficient to make plain my
need for another." A longer wait, as if time were indeed infinite, and
he owned it all. "Also I might name reasons for my choice of another,
who is yourself, Senor Hunter. Perhaps in you I recognize simply
the qualities which I desire my majordomo to possess. Perhaps also
I desire that some prejudiced countrymen of mine shall be taught a
lesson and made to see that not all Americanos are unworthy. However
that may be, I shall be truly glad if you will accept. The salary we
will arrange as pleases you, and your friend will, I hope, remain in
whatever capacity you may desire. Further, when your government has
given some legal assurance that my land is mine," he smiled wrily at
the necessity for such assurance, "as much land as you Americanos call
a 'section,' choose it where you will--except that it shall not take
my house or my cultivated land--shall be yours for the taking."

"But--"

"Not so much the offer of a position would I have you consider it,"
interrupted the other with the first hint of haste he had shown, "as
a favor that I would ask. Times are changing, and we natives are
high-chested and must learn to make room for others who are coming
amongst us. To speak praises to the face of a frie