e two tall cowboys who were standing, he looked straight into their
lean, bronzed faces. He spared a full moment for that keen cool gaze
before he spoke.

"I'm not drunk. I'm throwing a bluff, and I mean to start a rough
house. I'm going to rush that damned bandit Rojas. It's to save a
girl--to give her lover, who is my friend, a chance to escape with her.
When I start a row my friend will try to slip out with her. Every door
and window is watched. I've got to raise hell to draw the guards
in.... Well, you're my countrymen. We're in Mexico. A beautiful
girl's honor and life are at stake. Now, gentlemen, watch me!"

One cowboy's eyes narrowed, blinking a little, and his lean jaw
dropped; the other's hard face rippled with a fleeting smile.

Gale backed away, and his pulse leaped when he saw the two cowboys, as
if with one purpose, slowly stride after him. Then Gale swerved,
staggering along, brushed against the tables, kicked over the empty
chairs. He passed Rojas and his gang, and out of the tail of his eye
saw that the bandit was watching him, waving his hands and talking
fiercely. The hum of the many voices grew louder, and when Dick
lurched against a table, overturning it and spilling glasses into the
laps of several Mexicans, there arose a shrill cry. He had succeeded in
attracting attention; almost every face turned his way. One of the
insulted men, a little tawny fellow, leaped up to confront Gale, and in
a frenzy screamed a volley of Spanish, of which Gale distinguished
"Gringo!" The Mexican stamped and made a threatening move with his
right hand. Dick swung his leg and with a swift side kick knocked the
fellows feet from under him, whirling him down with a thud.

The action was performed so suddenly, so adroitly, it made the Mexican
such a weakling, so like a tumbled tenpin, that the shrill jabbering
hushed. Gale knew this to be the significant moment.

Wheeling, he rushed at Rojas. It was his old line-breaking plunge.
Neither Rojas nor his men had time to move. The black-skinned bandit's
face turned a dirty white; his jaw dropped; he would have shrieked if
Gale had not hit him. The blow swept him backward against his men.
Then Gale's heavy body, swiftly following with the momentum of that
rush, struck the little group of rebels. They went down with table and
chairs in a sliding crash.

Gale carried by his plunge, went with them. Like a cat he landed on
top. As he rose his powerful ha