, the two
got along swimmingly. Each of them found a continued pleasure in delving
into the other's unexplored mental recesses. They drifted into one of
those quick, spontaneous likings that are rare between man and man. Some
subtle quality of affection bubbled up like a spring in the hearts of
each for the other. Young Hardman could perhaps have explained what lay
at the roots of it, but O'Connor admitted that he was "buffaloed" when
he attempted an analysis of his unusual feeling.

From El Paso a leisurely run on the Mexican Central Pacific took them to
Chihuahua, a quaint old city something about the size of El Paso. Both
Bucky and his friend were familiar with the manners of the country, so
that they felt at home among the narrow adobe streets, the lounging,
good-natured peons, and the imitation Moorish architecture. They found
rooms at a quiet, inconspicuous hotel, and began making their plans for
an immediate departure in the event that they succeeded in their object.

At a distance it had seemed an easy thing to plan the escape of David
Henderson and to accomplish it by craft, but a sight of the heavy stone
walls that encircled the prison and of the numerous armed guards who
paced to and fro on the walls, put a more chilling aspect on their
chances.

"It isn't a very gay outlook," Bucky admitted cheerfully to his
companion, "but I expect we can pull it off somehow. If these Mexican
officials weren't slower than molasses in January it might have been
better to wait and have him released by process of law on account of
Hardman's confession. But it would take them two or three years to come
to a decision. They sure do hate to turn loose a gringo when they have
got the hog-tie on him. Like as not they would decide against him at the
last, then. Course I've got the law machinery grinding, too, but I'm not
banking on it real heavy. We'll get him out first any old way, then get
the government to O. K. the thing."

"How were you thinking of proceeding?"

"I expect it's time to let you in on the ground floor, son. I reckon you
happen to know that down in these Spanish countries there's usually a
revolution hatching. There s two parties among the aristocrats, those
for the government and those ferninst. The 'ins' stand pat, but the
'outs' have always got a revolution up their sleeves. Now, there's
mostly a white man mixed up in the affair. They have to have him to run
it and to shoot afterward when the government wins