tfff 
 
 OF CALIF. LIBRARY. LOS ANGELES
 
 Miss Moccasins * * * * -f 
 * * * -f by Marah Ellis Ryan 
 
 Chicago and New York *** 
 Rand, McNally & Company 
 
 4*
 
 Copyright, 1904, by Rand, McNally & Co.
 
 To 
 A. R M. 
 
 The only "Anchor " I ever knew, 
 
 and to 
 
 my dear friends, 
 her children. 
 
 Los Angeles, California* 
 February i
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 THE PASSING OF FELIPE. 
 
 Two men faced each other aggressively across 
 the table in a little adobe high up in the hills. For 
 over an hour the hot argument had raged, and the 
 settlement was not yet. 
 
 The sun was already sinking, and a last depart- 
 ing ray flashed for a space through the open door 
 and touched the narrow brown face of the younger 
 man, gleaming on his white teeth, his full lips so 
 exceedingly red, and his glancing, restless eyes 
 the eyes of a trapped creature at bay. 
 
 His slender brown fingers rolled and tapped 
 the cigarette on which the fire was long since dead. 
 His last attempt at bravado against the dogged 
 resolve of the other man had been an utter fail- 
 ure ; and he reverted to a side issue with a sneer- 
 ing flash of simulated rage. 
 
 " Bah! Do you think I have no eyes to see? > 
 that I am all a fool ? It is for the woman that you 
 stir up this hell about the money; it is for the 
 woman that you 
 
 " It certainly is," interrupted the other man,
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 whose face was in the shadow, and whose man- 
 ner was as cool as that of the first speaker was 
 nervous. He rose and pushed back his chair with 
 a movement of decision. " I've listened to your 
 explanations and I've waited for your promises 
 to pan out, Felipe, and they are just about what 
 I expected when you made this appointment no 
 good ! You've cut a wide swath for the past year, 
 but this is reckoning day! Affairs are too much 
 tangled now to be kept from your wife a day 
 longer. I am going straight to her from here and 
 tell her the whole thing you should do it but you 
 are too much of a shirk; and some one has to ! 
 For the woman? Yes! Not only for one 
 woman but two ! " 
 
 ' To hell with them both and you along with 
 them ! " screamed Felipe, with the shrill fury of 
 his Mexican mother in his voice. " You had first 
 chance with them both; why did you not take 
 them then? You track me down now because I, 
 Felipe Darrett, took them from you ! You want 
 the name of another man, while you make the 
 game your own ; you 
 
 But the other man's fingers had him by the 
 throat. 
 
 'You thankless dog!" he muttered. 'You 
 foul-mouthed cur! Ah! would you? none of 
 that!" 
 
 For a revolver gleamed in the hand of Felipe, 
 
 8
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 and the two figures swayed back and forth in the 
 little room, Felipe snarling like a trapped chap- 
 paral cat, showing his white teeth and distorted 
 lips not red now, but white with rage at his own 
 impotence. The other man was struggling only 
 to secure the gun, but Felipe to use it. 
 
 Then in a flash it was all over the gleam of 
 fire the deafening report in the isolated adobe 
 dwelling and the hands of Felipe slipped limp 
 from the coveted weapon, and clutched for an 
 instant at his breast where the cartridge had torn 
 its ugly path. Swaying blindly forward, he 
 caught at the table and thence fell headlong to the 
 floor. 
 
 " Carmenita ! " he gasped, as his head went 
 back in a nasty, spasmodic way. 
 
 The victor dropped the revolver beside the 
 still form on the floor, and mechanically lifted 
 his own hand and looked at it; yes, it had 
 grasped the gun when the shot was fired, but the 
 fingers of Felipe had also been clinging to it. 
 Who could say which of them had touched the 
 trigger? He did not know, and his victim 
 would never bear witness in earthly courts again! 
 
 There was little pity or regret on his face as he 
 stared moodily at the still figure, only a sort of 
 blank, puzzled horror; and after a little he drew 
 forward a chair and sat there, his eyes still on the 
 dead face, while he leaned forward, his chin on
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 his hands, and endeavored to weigh the conse- 
 quences involved. 
 
 His mental arraignment of his own responsi- 
 bility was clear, logical and not encouraging! 
 An accident? Yes, of course it was an accident. 
 With twelve sane men on a jury, and a sane judge 
 on the bench, and a level headed Public Opinion 
 to approve their decisions yes, with that sort 
 of a combination the " accident " theory would 
 be accepted. But the man staring at the figure on 
 the floor realized that seldom very seldom did 
 fate arrange such a spectacle for the eyes of man. 
 Could he hope that this would be one of the 
 times? 
 
 For the man on the floor had his friends, the 
 master of one of the finest estates in the country 
 was bound to have friends of some sort! Then 
 his young and pretty wife! widow now! 
 would not her situation appeal to the chivalry of 
 a land ever ready to respond to beauty in distress? 
 especially if Beauty was possessed of generous 
 rent rolls? 
 
 He doubted not the rent rolls had dwindled 
 more than she guessed during the brief year the 
 clever trickster there had held the reins of manage- 
 ment; she had been little more than the bank for a 
 gambler, the vain, indolent, romantic, fool! 
 
 Back of her fair face arose a vision of Don 
 Felipe's own relatives on the mother's side, indo- 
 
 10
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 lent, grasping, gambling Mexicans of all ages and 
 states of penury, living on the crumbs let fall 
 from the table of their " most dear Felipe I " 
 
 The man grinned for an instant as he pictured 
 the righteous wrath of those worthies. The loss 
 of their dear Felipe would be a blow at their own 
 stomachs, and he could fancy their emotional 
 appeals for the life blood of the it was an ugly 
 word, but was the only word he spoke aloud 
 murderer ! 
 
 He must have been intent there a long time, 
 for as his voice sounded out through the open 
 door, his horse, tied without, whinnied invitingly. 
 
 That aroused him. He must go ! A half mile 
 away the roads forked, one leading to the county 
 seat ten miles away, and the other to the dead 
 man's hacienda a half hour's ride across the 
 range. Which would he choose, the authorities, 
 or the woman herself? 
 
 Mechanically he picked up his hat, but noticed 
 beside it a pretty carved comb. In the struggle 
 one of the men had stepped on it a corner was 
 broken off. 
 
 Not on the head of Felipe's wife had those 
 amber headings gleamed! The face of the man 
 for the first time grew dark and pitiful. Two 
 smoke-black eyes seemed to gaze at him in mute 
 reproach and desolation from under the mantilla 
 of the owner of the comb too fine a mantilla, 
 
 ii
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 and too rare a trinket for a laborer of the vine- 
 yards or the rancheria garden. 
 
 Poor little devil ! Her brief glimpse of para- 
 dise had been stolen from her, and now he had 
 helped unlock the gates of her hell ! What would 
 become of her? 
 
 Her fate appeared to him to be the only 
 humanly appealing thing connected with the man 
 on the floor, who had given his last breath to her 
 name instead of to his wife, the only question 
 except that of dollars and cents to be adjusted in 
 case of his death. 
 
 And this had been their trysting place, this 
 old, forgotten dwelling among the vines ! Others 
 would come here now, men and women with 
 anxious eyes, some of whom had guessed or 
 even knew poor Carmenita's madness. He 
 thrust the comb in his pocket; the least he could 
 do was to save her from being mixed up with 
 this! 
 
 He made a silent survey of the little adobe, to 
 remove any other visible traces of her visits there. 
 In one corner he saw tools of the vineyard, the 
 only sign that the workmen ever came this way. 
 
 The place smelled close and musty, as if it had 
 long been closed. It had evidently been opened 
 by Felipe expressly for the interview he had him- 
 self suggested should be held here instead of at 
 the hacienda. The windows were barred on the 
 
 12
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 inside. If left open when a light was in the room, 
 it would be seen across the entire valley. Felipe 
 had opened only the door, which faced the hill, 
 clever Felipe ! 
 
 Two chairs had been overturned in the strug- 
 gle. The man righted them and stepped over the 
 dead man to close the drawer of the table beside 
 which the corpse lay. 
 
 Felipe had stood there at the table as he entered, 
 and had closed the drawer quickly, as though 
 taken unawares. In falling, he had caught at the 
 handle and the contents lay exposed. 
 
 A revolver, the mate to the one on the floor 
 beside him, a box of cartridges, just opened, the 
 man counted them, examined both revolvers, and 
 grunted comprehendingly. 
 
 Obviously Felipe had been preparing himself 
 for a visitor, and had scarcely completed his 
 arrangements for entertainment when the visitor 
 arrived. With only time to pocket one of the 
 revolvers, he had thrust the other evidences of his 
 preparation where they would be safe until needed. 
 
 At sight of them the man smiled, and the inde- 
 cision vanished from his face. 
 
 "Who could have thought it? The pretty 
 little snake! " he murmured softly as he looked at 
 the man on the floor. 
 
 He left the drawer open, its contents undis- 
 turbed, and walked out through the open door. 
 
 13
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " Humph ! my good friend Felipe ! " he contin- 
 ued, in the same softly confidential tone, as he 
 mounted his horse and rode away in the red glow 
 blending into orange along the horizon, for the 
 sun had wheeled down beyond the Pacific. 
 
 14
 
 II 
 
 THE RETURNING CALIFORNIAN. 
 
 The night express rushing over the foothills to 
 make up an hour lost in crossing the range, sud- 
 denly came to a halt with a jar and a quiver, 
 causing timid folk enjoying their breakfast during 
 the " last call for the dining car! " to give vent 
 to their fears in the various ways used by people 
 in a mixed assembly threatened with annihilation. 
 
 "Freight wreck ahead! parted rails! no one 
 hurt!" was the reassuring cry of the attaches. 
 " Our train will be delayed until road is cleared," 
 they added later. " How long? oh, six or eight 
 hours." 
 
 There were tourists aboard of the catapult 
 type, the sort to go in a canter through the 
 Grand Canon. And to lose six hours from their 
 "personally conducted" sight-seeing! There 
 was an outcry, a hunt for the conductor, and a 
 volley of protests when they found him. 
 
 " No help for it, ladies very sorry of course 
 glad to do anything we can to make you com- 
 fortable. Telegrams? Yes, Tyler Junction is 
 only a mile down the track. No, no hotel, only 
 a junction of the south branch to the mines and 
 the stage route from Timber Line." 
 
 15
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 Then he turned to the one lady in the car who 
 was traveling alone, who had listened but made 
 no comments, and who had been up and dressed 
 at dawn to watch the sun lighting the Sierras. 
 
 "Can I telegraph any message for you?" he 
 inquired. " Your friends may be anxious " 
 
 " No, I think not," said the girl, smiling a little. 
 " You are very kind, but no one will be hysterical 
 over my delay. I am a surprise party." Then, 
 glancing quizzically at the exclaiming, protesting 
 tourists " Haven't you trouble enough without 
 looking for more? " she asked. 
 
 A humorous twinkle shone in the conductor's 
 eyes as he met her frank glance. The comradery 
 of the American spirit was abroad in the land, 
 lightening his day's work ! 
 
 "Will it be an eight hours' wait?" she con- 
 tinued. He glanced at the others before replying. 
 
 " More than that. There is a landslide on the 
 south branch, and there has been a collision. The 
 wrecker for this division is over there. The late 
 rains made the trouble. At the best, we shall 
 have to wait most of the day. So, if there is any- 
 thing I can do for you " 
 
 But there was not. She returned to her enjoy- 
 ment of the picture, spread in faintest tints of 
 early spring to the far south. Palest of greens in 
 the distant ranges, olive tints close against the 
 black of the pines, and, high to the north, misty 
 
 16
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 peaks, where the snow lay like a white cloud 
 against the clear sky. She was drinking it in with 
 parted lips and eager eyes, as if she had entered 
 some longed-for land of dreams. 
 
 " If only there was a hotel at that junction! " 
 lamented one of the " personally conducted " 
 " then we might see something! " 
 
 ' Yes, it would be very jolly if we could get a 
 carriage and look around," conceded another. 
 ' This is perfectly horrid ! " Then she turned to 
 the girl with a conciliating smile a sort of appeal 
 to a partner in distress. " Can you imagine any- 
 thing worse? " 
 
 " Several things," retorted the girl. " You 
 might have made the trip by way of Panama, 
 you know, and been tied on donkeys' backs to cross 
 the ranges, like they used to do before the days 
 of railroads. You might have eaten tortillas and 
 frigolles instead of your dining-car breakfast, and, 
 altogether, you might have had a charming time, 
 if you had lived to tell of it ! " 
 
 The woman addressed laughed with her com- 
 panions, yet looked dubious. 
 
 ' Did they actually tie women ladies on 
 donkeys? " 
 
 'They actually did; and if a donkey slipped 
 the trail, it was worse for the rider than a freight 
 car blocking the road. My father crossed in the 
 '50*8 that way." 
 
 17
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 "Oh are you a a native?" queried the 
 other. " I rather fancied you of the East." 
 
 " What have I done to deserve that? " 
 
 "Done deserve?" repeated the woman, 
 mildly puzzled at the little ironic smile. u Oh, 
 I don't know exactly. Or of the South? When 
 I first heard you speak to the porter, I thought 
 you suggested the South, your voice, you 
 know !" 
 
 " If I am of a South, it is this South," said the 
 girl, with a sweeping gesture to the lands spread 
 to the far hills, " the most beautiful South in all 
 the world." She laughed and blushed a little at 
 her over-enthusiasm. " Of course," she conceded, 
 " it's a bore for you to have to wait, but I would 
 cheerfully camp at the junction for a week, or 
 walk barefoot to the sea, just to feel California 
 soil under my feet again ! " 
 
 " How strange," decided the woman, contem- 
 plating the enthusiast. " Now, I can't fancy 
 myself feeling like that about Pennsylvania or 
 New Hampshire, can any of you? " 
 
 None of them could, and after a few equally 
 congenial exchanges of remarks, the tourists filed 
 out of the car to view the overturned freight, and 
 that task accomplished, they sauntered idly to the 
 junction. 
 
 The Californian was ahead of them and was 
 already making .some purchases of Indian bead 
 
 18
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 work from the agent, who had quite a little 
 museum of baskets and trinkets in his office. He 
 had spread out the finest for her admiration and 
 received a good day's wages on the profit from 
 the beaded belt, a pair of moccasins, and a string 
 of really fine turquoise. 
 
 " I should like to put them on this minute! " 
 she confided to the conductor, who was an amused 
 witness to the bargaining. " My foot is on my 
 native heath, and my name's McGregor. I want 
 to celebrate and I simply can't do much in that 
 line with the complaints of those tourists in my 
 ears, they spoil the music for me. I hear you 
 have a lot of colonists coming in now; is that a 
 fair type? " 
 
 " Pretty much," was the amused reply. 
 
 The girl shrugged her fine shoulders and walked 
 over to a map of the region that hung between 
 the windows. The moccasins and beads were in 
 her hand and the belt she had thrown over her 
 shoulder. Many eyes turned to watch her. She 
 was by far the most distinctive woman of the 
 train or rather girl, for she looked scarcely 
 eighteen. 
 
 Her plain corduroy of brown and the soft hat 
 to match, had nothing of the masculine touch, so 
 often suggested by such material. The jacket 
 covered a waist of creamy silk, with a soft collar 
 turned down over the brown tie. A tiny pin an 
 
 19
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 anchor set in rubies held the knot of silk and 
 was the only touch of color in her costume. 
 
 Her hair had escaped from the braids and 
 curled loosely around her neck and ears. Her eyes 
 were gray and chameleon-like in their swift 
 changes, almost blue-green in repose, almost black 
 when her enthusiasm enlarged the pupils until 
 they fairly filled the iris; but changeful as they 
 were in color, they were very keen in their regard, 
 detecting most things within their radius. And 
 the beautifully curved mouth told many delightful 
 things without speech. 
 
 " Eight hours," she mused, looking at the map; 
 u perhaps more ! That means reaching Olivette 
 at dark, an eight or ten-mile carriage drive after 
 that, and no one to meet me ! I hope Phil's wife 
 is not a prim housekeeper, or one of those 
 creatures of ironclad rules. One never can tell 
 what a woman is by the letters she writes! But 
 if she is like that, she will begin by hating me for 
 swooping down on them, unannounced, and at 
 bed-time! Hence, Anchor Darrett, the necessity 
 of prompt and sensible decision : Telegram or no 
 telegram ? " 
 
 A little woman with faded blue eyes, and a 
 green veil swathed around her black hat, who was 
 moving away from the map, halted as she noticed 
 the girl's examination of the crossed and 
 re-crossed maze of lines and dots. " Excuse me, 
 
 20
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 please," she ventured after a brief hesitation, " but 
 are you going on the stage? " 
 
 " Stage? No. I'm wreck-bound and I'm wait- 
 ing on this train." 
 
 " Oh, I didn't know. I saw you looking at 
 that part of the country," she continued, mildly 
 apologetic. " I was hoping there would be some 
 lady on the stage besides myself. I'm going to 
 Hermosa Dam." 
 
 " Hermosa, Hermosa Dam?" echoed the girl. 
 " Why, that is " 
 
 " It is just about here," said the other, using her 
 umbrella for a pointer. " I am too short-sighted 
 to be sure, and that map is hung for tall folks; 
 but I think it is about there." 
 
 " So it is," assented the girl, after a closer 
 examination, " but but I never supposed it could 
 be reached by stage from here." 
 
 " They say it was the only way to reach it 
 before the railroad sent a branch through here, 
 and even now the railroad has to make a big circle 
 to catch the valley freight, while the stage road 
 goes straight across." 
 
 " You are sure it goes to Hermosa, the place 
 near Olivette station? " queried the girl, delighted, 
 yet doubtful. 
 
 " Yes, that's the place. But the dam, the new 
 dam, is full ten miles from the railroad. There 
 is some talk about a branch road striking across 
 
 21
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 from here, but it won't be yet awhile. There is 
 quite a settlement at the new dam now, extra men 
 to finish the work before the snow comes down; 
 but I don't know " 
 
 "Snow here?" 
 
 " Melted. From the mountains." 
 
 "Oh!" Then, after a speculative pause, 
 " What time does the stage reach the settlement? " 
 
 " About dark, when it's on time. I've been 
 waiting here over two hours. They say it is late 
 on account of the rains; they make the roads 
 heavy." 
 
 " But if the train was on time, could you not 
 go more quickly by way of Olivette? " 
 
 " Carriage hire from Olivette to the dam costs 
 more than the stage rate from here," stated the 
 little woman promptly. ' You see it saves the 
 entire car fare, if a person has time for the stage 
 and don't object to the dusty ride." 
 
 " Dusty? There is not a speck of dust to-day; 
 the rains have settled that and it is glorious ! Time 
 for the stage? Wouldn't you reach there just as 
 soon to-day as by waiting for the train? " 
 
 "Oh, yes; sooner to-day, and cheaper, too." 
 
 ' Then there will be one woman besides your- 
 self on that stage," said the girl, with sudden 
 decision. "What! stay here among those 
 croakers for a whole day, when I can be riding 
 across the hills? Not any! Think of riding 
 
 22
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 across those hills, as Dad used to do ! " she added, 
 under her breath, with a sigh of utter delight. 
 " Oh" turning to the amazed little woman, 
 " I am so glad I met you! so glad you told mel 
 I would not have missed going that way for any- 
 thing!" 
 
 Her informant evidently did not see cause for 
 so much enthusiasm; a parlor-car journey was a 
 thing greatly to be desired in her eyes. 
 
 " I ain't used to stage travel myself, we called 
 them mostly hacks back East, where I came from," 
 she replied. " And I can't honestly say that I 
 prefer a stage to a railroad, but " 
 
 " But," said the girl impulsively, " you have 
 not been hungering for the sight of a California 
 hill for years and years, as I have ! You have not 
 dreamed, waking and sleeping, of one garden 
 beside an orange grove, as I have. It makes all 
 the difference imaginable!" 
 
 "Oh!" with a little accent of surprise and 
 kindly curiosity, " then you are not a newcomer, 
 like us? You are coming back? " 
 
 ' That's it ! I'm coming back to a little rancho 
 beside a little river, where the dearest brother in 
 the world has had the roses pruned and the gar- 
 den planted every year in the hope that before the 
 leaves fell I might get back. Dear old Phil," 
 breathed the girl, with happiness in her voice and 
 a mist in her darkening eyes. 
 
 23
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " You've been away a long time? " 
 
 " An age ! Ten years ! With grand aunts, 
 who adopted me when my father died. Oh, they 
 were good as gold. There were three of them, 
 and folks called them the Ogden girls until the 
 youngest was seventy. That sort, you know! and 
 I did care for them dearly ! but I never could 
 see why why why they stayed their lives out 
 in that black land. Aunt Louisa was the last. 
 She died only six weeks ago. And here I am! 
 No more three-month summers for the rest of my 
 natural life, and no six-foot snow drifts closer to 
 me than those peaks ! " 
 
 "Ogden? 1 ' said the other, ruminatively, 
 there was a family of Ogdens lived near neighbors 
 to us, back in Ohio. He was a doctor. My name 
 is Watson, and I came out here to live with my 
 brother, over in Kern county. But the place was 
 not quite not quite all I thought it would be 
 so I well, I declare, Miss Ogden, there comes 
 the stage at last ! " 
 
 The girl stared a little at the name given her. 
 
 " Oh, I did not mean that I " she began, and 
 then remembered the traveling impediments. 
 " But I must see about my traps. I'll be in the 
 stage with you ! " she added, nodding brightly as 
 she left her new-found traveling companion and 
 hurried in quest of satchel and wraps. 
 
 The tourists streamed out onto the platform to 
 
 24
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 view that much-exploited California institution, 
 the old-fashioned, four-horse stage coach, and the 
 girl followed them and assailed the driver as he 
 was exchanging mail-bags with the agent. 
 
 His practiced glance took in the trim perfec- 
 tion of her traveling dress, the general air of unob- 
 trusive affluence: she belonged to the private car 
 rather than the stage coach, he concluded. 
 
 "Alone, Miss?" 
 
 " All alone." 
 
 " Hermosa, which Hermosa? " 
 
 " Which why " and the girl looked her 
 blank dismay, " is there more than one? " 
 
 " There is the Hermosa rancho, the Hacienda, 
 you know. Then there is the old Hermosa dam, 
 the one built by the mission folks, the old padres. 
 Only a few Mexicans live at that corner of the 
 place. We change horses there. And the new 
 Hermosa dam is about four mile beyond." He 
 had looked at her questioningly as he enumerated 
 each point, but she did not indicate which of the 
 three she intended to visit. Accordingly, he 
 added, "The Hacienda is not on the road; it is 
 four miles across from the new Hermosa dam." 
 
 " And we will reach it when? " 
 
 "Well it will be dark at the best, to-night; 
 we are a little behind time." 
 
 " Is there any sort of hotel at the new dam, at 
 the settlement there ? " 
 
 25
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 He shook his head, good naturedly, but not 
 encouragingly. 
 
 " Well, there must be some house where they 
 would keep a stranger for a night; they would 
 not turn me out in January, would they? " 
 
 The driver smiled, as he glanced at her. " I 
 don't reckon you'd find any one doing that along 
 this road any month in the year," he remarked. 
 And she laughed frankly. 
 
 " You make me realize that I am really and 
 truly in the Calif ornias," she said, as she counted 
 out the coach fare. 
 
 "Any baggage, Miss?" 
 
 " Not a thing; it is all resting in San Francisco. 
 I meant to come that way, but changed my mind 
 at St. Louis. I shall have to telegraph about that, 
 if I have time." 
 
 " Five minutes ! Dinner at Berkley rancho." 
 
 The telegraph operator was busy, and after a 
 moment's thought, she remarked that to-morrow 
 would do there was no real hurry. And turning 
 to look for Miss Watson of the green veil, a name 
 spoken beside her caught her attention, and the 
 contemptuous tone in which it was uttered caused 
 her to gasp in amazement or anger, as she halted 
 abruptly and regarded with darkening eyes two 
 men who had alighted from the stage. 
 
 ' Yes," the older man was saying, " Felipe 
 Darrett's another case of the same sort! Had 
 
 26
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 some good, clean blood in him too, but the 
 Greaser strain drowned it! He's neither fish, 
 flesh, nor fowl, and as slippery as they make them. 
 There's some talk of him selling out, bag and bag- 
 gage. Well, the sooner the Darrett name is 
 wiped off the Hermosa valley, the better it will 
 be for the valley." 
 
 " Why," said the other man, in a conciliating 
 manner, " I've always heard that the old man 
 Darrett " 
 
 " Oh, yes," and the speaker seated himself on 
 a barrel, his back to the girl, and lowered his tone 
 a trifle, because of some people passing in front. 
 Neither of the speakers noticed the rigid figure of 
 the girl, whose face was turned from them, facing 
 the hills, but who was listening with parted lips 
 and clenched fingers. ' Yes, I knew him well, 
 John Darrett, and a squarer man never lived, 
 square clear through, else he never would have 
 married that Mexican woman. No man would 
 have needed to, but Darrett was easy and did not 
 know that. After she died he married a white 
 woman, one of the best ones ever came over the 
 range. All dead now but this handsome duck, 
 Felipe, and a girl, a half-sister, somewhere in the 
 East." 
 
 u Well, he must be clever." 
 
 "Clever! That's it! The tricky cleverness 
 of the half-breed. But his head is not level 
 
 27
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 enough to keep what he wins. He's got Her- 
 mosa affairs tangled up in hard knots already." 
 
 " I thought Mac Leighton was managing the 
 Hermosa. Seems to me I heard once he was to 
 marry the heiress." 
 
 " Darrett spoiled that, blew down here from 
 Frisco and eloped with the girl. Yes, she was 
 really a sort of ward of Leighton's. The old man 
 left the rancho and the girl in Mac's charge, you 
 know. But he handed it over to her, of course, 
 when she married. No one seemed to know 
 whether he was broke up over it, or glad to get 
 out of it! He left for Mexico anyway, and that 
 was a year ago. Things have gone crooked with 
 the Hermosa since then. He is needed there and 
 needed badly." 
 
 "Who looks after his place? He had good 
 property joining the old dam when I left." 
 
 The older man said that Mac Leighton owned 
 it yet, but he had not heard who was running it, 
 neither did he suppose that it was Galbraith, as 
 usual. He added, however, with a degree of cer- 
 tainty, that it was sure to be a " reliable," for 
 Leighton was one of the fellows who always had 
 luck. 
 
 The girl, who had been listening all the while, 
 sank down on a crate of bee boxes for some foot- 
 hill apiary as the men arose and walked across 
 the platform. All the brightness and glow was 
 
 28
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 gone from her face. Her eyes were still 
 turned toward the hills, but the varied greens 
 were veiled in mist for her. The Indian trinkets 
 slipped unheeded beside her. 
 
 "Dad! Dad!" she whispered, as if conjur- 
 ing something to cling to, " Dad! " 
 
 " The stage is ready, Miss Ogden," said the 
 little woman beside her. At first she made no sign 
 of hearing her and the woman touched her on the 
 shoulder. Then she arose and followed, bitterly, 
 and whether through accident or deliberately, she 
 made no attempt to correct the stranger's mis- 
 take in her name, as she had been moved to do 
 a few moments before. 
 
 The station agent followed with the neglected 
 belt and moccasins, as she entered the stage. She 
 took them with quiet thanks, and sank back in 
 the seat to face the two men whose conversation 
 had taken away all of her anticipated joy in the 
 ride over the hills. And this was her home- 
 coming !
 
 Ill 
 
 IN THE FOOTHILLS. 
 
 With a flourish of whip and lines, the driver 
 swung his four-in-hand with commendable pride 
 around the circle of the little hill, and gave the 
 tourists a satisfying picture of the old days. 
 
 That was the California they had expected to 
 see, the California they had read of! Only one 
 item was missing, and they all felt cheated in con- 
 sequence: not a gun was in sight, not a cartridge 
 belt, not even a little silver-mounted revolver 
 peeping from a holster; the driver and passengers 
 all looked as safe and tame, as Massachusetts! 
 
 u All but the stunning girl with the mocca- 
 sins," agreed one of the men. " She looked like 
 a California dream come true." 
 
 Miss Watson clung desperately to the seat and 
 strap as the coach rocked and rolled on its way. 
 Occasionally she cast appealing and deprecating 
 glances at the others. 
 
 " I n-never im-agined it would be so rough 
 as th-this ! " she quavered, as a particularly 
 rocky section was reached. 
 
 " I will change places with you, if you prefer 
 this side," said the girl. 
 
 " N-no thank you, Miss Ogden. I d-don't 
 
 30
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 know that I do. If we should go over that preci- 
 pice, I don't think there'd be much difference as 
 to which side I had been on." 
 
 The girl smiled and the older man chuckled, 
 indulgently. 
 
 " Not the slightest danger, I assure you, Ma- 
 dame," he said kindly. ' There, we are over the 
 rough bit. You are evidently a stranger to stage- 
 coach rides." 
 
 " I'm a stranger to the whole country," she 
 replied, and settled back with a sigh of relief as 
 the wheels rolled smoothly over a level stretch of 
 ground. " I'm from Ohio, and we have no such 
 gullies or acres of rocks on end there ! " 
 
 " Nor such January sunshine," said the girl, 
 with a gesture toward the uplands, where shim- 
 mering rays alternated with flying clouds in a way 
 most suggestive of April. 
 
 ' Yes, it's fine for you folks that see it that 
 way," agreed the woman from Ohio, " but I main- 
 tain that it is not seasonable. I've been over at 
 my brother's place in Kern County, and* I declare 
 I was fairly sick of the endless sunshine and gar- 
 den making in the fall. I never could get into 
 the way of it. I'm going now to take the place 
 of a teacher that's sick at Hermosa Dam." 
 
 ' Why, I directed a teacher there yesterday," 
 said the younger man; and then, as he noticed 
 her change of expression her utter disappoint-
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 ment he added, awkwardly, '' Of course she may 
 not suit." 
 
 " More than likely she will," said Miss Wat- 
 son, who could control her words better than her 
 facial expression. Then with a weary sort of smile 
 she added, "That's my sort of luck! I came 
 west to take care of my brother's family, but he 
 was married again before I got here. Married," 
 she added with a little sigh, " to a hustling sort of 
 woman, who doesn't need anybody's help ! It 
 was she who planned that teacher's place for me. 
 It would be a sort of introduction to the school 
 boards out here, she said. She's a fine manager." 
 
 The latter part of her communication was 
 addressed to the girl, who seemed suddenly to 
 appreciate the whole insignificant tragedy of the 
 gray, faded-out life. Her sort of luck! Ever 
 too late, always the one unnecessary addition ! A 
 life so gray the sunshine could not gild it. And 
 yet with it all she possessed a sturdy sort of phil- 
 osophy of work; she never expected more than 
 second best, and was content if only she could 
 gain that ! 
 
 The little white teeth set hard, and a steely 
 look came into the gray eyes. Was she, with all 
 her strength and advantages, to succumb to the 
 first rough wind of chance, when this little faded 
 life faced its gales with a smile, and came out of 
 the storms with energy to try again? 
 
 32
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 u She is heroic and perhaps no one has ever 
 guessed it," thought the girl, contemplating the 
 wearer of the green veil in a new light. " And 
 I they have always vaunted my personal brav- 
 ery all of them; yet I have collapsed and gone 
 under at the first capful of wind! Little gray 
 life, you've taught me the day's lesson." 
 
 But her buoyant spirits were quelled despite 
 her philosophy. She no longer had the desire 
 to share her joy and her dreams of joy with the 
 chance traveling acquaintance. The others in the 
 coach fell easily into conversation concerning the 
 country, its picturesque past and its equally golden 
 future. But the girl who had confessed it the 
 ideal land of her dreams remained apart, and 
 kept her gaze on the varied sunlit pictures they 
 were passing. 
 
 Once she awakened from her over self-absorp- 
 tion to say kindly to the little school teacher: 
 " You must give me your address in Hermosa. 
 In case you find the position filled, I might be 
 able to help you to another." 
 
 " Oh, you're real kind," fluttered Miss Wat- 
 son. " Do you will you be living there? " 
 
 The girl was conscious that there was an abrupt 
 lull in the conversation of the men opposite, and 
 framed her reply accordingly. 
 
 " Not exactly in Hermosa settlement, but I 
 
 33
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 ^expect to find some friends between there and 
 'Olivette." 
 
 " I didn't expect you lived there, for you said 
 your brother's rancho was near the river. There 
 are nothing but creeks around Hermosa." 
 
 Then she fished around in a satchel she was 
 carrying and found a card with an address written 
 'on it. , 
 
 " That's where I'm to board, if I stay there," 
 she said. " And if we get in late I suppose it is 
 as good a place as you can find, too. He's some 
 sort of overseer. The most of the ditch diggers 
 and such like live below the dam. This place is 
 American, anyway. I'm willing to take my 
 chances with the most of folks, but I do draw the 
 line at a Mexican table or a Mexican bed. If you 
 ever could see the babies and pigs and puppies 
 rolling together on the dirt floor, well, they're 
 just impossible! " 
 
 " Yet their ancestors were lords of the land, 
 not so long ago, 1 ' remarked the girl. " At least 
 the Spanish were, and made the life here an ideal 
 bit of Arcady." 
 
 " Maybe they did," agreed the Ohio woman, 
 who lacked the imagination to see beyond the 
 present actualities of pigs and babies; " maybe 
 they did, but I never saw any of that kind." 
 
 The girl again turned her attention to the 
 green stretch of the ranges, dotted with great 
 
 34
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 bands of sheep or cattle, and with great grain- 
 fields springing into life with the winter rains, 
 to the timber belts marking the water courses, and 
 thence high up the hills, to where the pines were 
 as a dark girdle beneath the snowy breasts of the 
 Sierras. 
 
 The land she had loved and longed for! of 
 which she had been so proud! the land she 
 would ever see with the eyes of the spirit instead 
 of retaining photographs of its mud floors, where 
 the Mexican children played. 
 
 She had childish memories of an adobe where 
 peppers were festooned like strung jewels from 
 the eaves ; of one immense rose tree covering every 
 vestige of the dwelling except the door-way; of 
 heliotrope thickets in which she would hide, half 
 smothered with sweetness; a great garden of color 
 and fragrance for which she had longed through 
 all those bleak winters on the Atlantic Coast. 
 
 Pigs on the earthen floors? Maybe. Poverty 
 among the ne'er-do-well? No doubt, for that is 
 found everywhere. But there never was here the 
 cold, shivering poverty of the far East, of that she 
 was sure. All her memories of it had been of 
 warmth and fragrance and music, a harmony 
 she had come back to seek. 
 
 Her eyes closed, and the men lowered their 
 voices, thinking she slept. An occasional ques* 
 tion from the school teacher made the conversa- 
 
 35
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 tion general. The younger man had moved over 
 into the Santa Clara valley a year before, but 
 retained some herds up in the hills, and was 
 making a trip back to see about selling them. He 
 was to leave the stage at old Hermosa Dam and 
 go horseback to the rancho where he was to stop. 
 The older man had an interest in some mining 
 ventures to the south, and had been down looking 
 over the country. He was now going on to the 
 end of the stage line, ten miles beyond the Her- 
 mosa. 
 
 He had been in the country since '57 and was 
 a storehouse of reminiscences, some of them tragic, 
 others comic, all of them interesting. 
 
 The girl, apparently sleeping, listened to his 
 graphic recitals of the history of the land, and 
 pictured her father in that so far-away life. She 
 tried to see the land and the people as he had seen 
 them when the Americans were yet few and each 
 rancheria held an ever ready extra horse or a well 
 filled purse for the chance traveler who rested 
 within its walls. Ah, the beautiful life of the 
 people, who were too wise to waste life in the 
 making of money! 
 
 " And that," concluded the historian as a finale 
 to an interesting recital of local interest, " that's 
 how the old Hermosa reservoir was built; a thou- 
 sand Indians, they say, besides the Mexicans and 
 the Spanish guard. The stone work alone is won- 
 
 36
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 derful, considering that the workmen were 
 untrained and had never known what work was, 
 wonderful ! " 
 
 " The padres made slaves of them ; wasn't that 
 about it?" 
 
 " I reckon. Their work shows a tremendous 
 lot of power, yet there is no record of the work- 
 man getting anything but his clothes and rations." 
 
 " I always heard," ventured the school teacher, 
 " that the most distinguishing trait of an Indian 
 was that no earthly power could make him work." 
 
 " Then the padres assailed them with a power 
 either heavenly or infernal," stated the old man, 
 " for they certainly did work in this country. I 
 guess the priests first scared them into it; told 
 them they'd all go straight to hell if they didn't, 
 and showed them lurid pictures of the torments 
 there. Oh, they use the same tactics with other 
 folks than Indians, and it has won all along the 
 line." 
 
 Miss Watson gasped a little; she was not cer- 
 tain that the interesting old times were not almost 
 blasphemous. But the story teller was jovially 
 unconscious of her shock, and, after a moment's 
 thought, he continued: 
 
 "But they were wonderful men, those same old 
 Mexican or Spanish priests. No group of equal 
 mentality ever put foot on American territory, no 
 matter what country they sailed from. And it 
 
 37
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 wasn't all hard labor and slavery they enforced, 
 not by a long sight. They had their feast days 
 and junketings and barbecues on all sorts of occa- 
 sions. Why, when the water was turned into the 
 flumes from this same old Hermosa Dam there 
 was a festival of a week, so the older Mexicans 
 and Indians tell, a celebration in the church, high 
 jinks generally, and the blessing of the water as 
 it reached each station in its twenty-mile run. 1 ' 
 
 " Queer folks, they were," commented the other 
 man. " We Americans get as much work done, 
 but dispense with that sort of fandangoes." 
 
 ' Yes, we do," assented the old-timer, slowly. 
 '* We do. Yet it always seems to me that their 
 sort of habits and customs belong by right to this 
 land. You younger men may not feel it, but the 
 stamp of the Spaniard is indelible here to the older 
 folks. The land will never belong to the Ameri- 
 can as it did to the padres never. The Ameri- 
 cans and the other foreign element make money 
 here of course, but they are so many blots on the 
 landscape. The fact that I am one of the blots 
 doesn't affect my vision any." 
 
 The girl listening felt herself liking the speaker. 
 He pictured her ideal California before the 
 coming of the colonists, and the incongruities. 
 He spoke with sympathy and conviction: but his 
 conviction had also been very apparent when he 
 
 38
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 discoursed of the Barretts on the platform of the 
 junction, and that memory hardened her heart. 
 
 It was two o'clock when the stage reached 
 Berkley's rancho and the steaming horses were led 
 away, while Mrs. Berkley, with the help of two 
 Chinamen, served the long-waiting dinner. 
 
 It was a space for relaxation and usually the 
 further opportunity for acquaintanceship between 
 the outside and inside passengers. But while the 
 rest chatted and exchanged information of a local 
 nature mainly in reference to the late rains and 
 their disastrous floods the girl walked alone 
 through the rancho garden, responsive to the warm 
 tingle of springtime in the blood, the soft kiss of 
 the wind on her cheek, and the springing green of 
 daffodils at her feet. A yellow jasmine was put- 
 ting out its first venture in color, where it was 
 trained over the south wall, and hyacinths were 
 thrusting upward their faintly tinted spikes of 
 pink. 
 
 From the porch came whiffs of tobacco smoke 
 and voices. The old-timers were discoursing of 
 the freshets and the havoc they created, boiling 
 caldrons in some of the canons, and two bridges 
 put out of business by them. The driver con- 
 fessed that he never felt dead sure about any of 
 the bridges except the one at the old Hermosa. 
 
 " That's all right, you bet," he remarked. " I 
 wish I was as sure of the Darrett dam at the new 
 
 39
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 works. That thing was started wrong in the first 
 place ; never even went down to hard rock. Leigh- 
 ton saw it was no good when he started in to run 
 the Hermosa. He stopped it right there and 
 prosecuted the contractors. But Darrett well, 
 he's only tinkering it up enough to boom the place 
 for sale. He don't care a Continental if it sweeps 
 the Hermosa valley the day after the deed is 
 made. It's mighty shaky and a few rains like that 
 of last week's " 
 
 " I would not be so uneasy about the rains as 
 about the snows up there," said Berkley, with a 
 motion of his pipe towards the mountains. 
 u Notice the mud in the creeks; that's not from 
 rains. It's the hot sun on that snow for the past 
 three days too hot for the season. Well, the 
 new Hermosa drains the south side of that range, 
 a bad combination ! If I had business along that 
 valley, I'd keep as clear of the water courses as 
 the business would let me." 
 
 4 You're a nice Job's comforter," remarked 
 the driver, " considering that I have to follow 
 that canon for three miles every other day or quit 
 the road. Damn Darrett and his tinkered reser- 
 voir! " 
 
 ' That's the sort of blessings will follow the 
 turning on of the water in the new Hermosa," 
 remarked the older man, turning to his companion 
 
 40
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 of the stage. " Not exactly an improvement on 
 the fandangoes of the padres, is it? " 
 
 " Hardly. And you all appear to be of one 
 mind about Darrett. Where is he from?" 
 
 " Oh, a pretty fellow, out of a picture book! " 
 said the driver, sarcastically, as he moved off to 
 meet the fresh horses that were being led from the 
 stable. 
 
 " A fancy sort of caballero, you know, Don 
 Felipe Darrett ; one of those slim, black devils, all 
 eyes and guitar songs. Always did seem to me 
 like he ought to wear a cloak and hat with a 
 feather in it. But some fool women like that sort 
 of cattle, and he got the richest girl in the coun- 
 try. Won in a walk, too ! " 
 
 " He's from over by the river," said Berkley. 
 " Had a little pocket rancho over there some- 
 where. Had it left to him, I guess. I heard he 
 lost it lately in some deal." 
 
 " I remember that place," said the older man. 
 " One of the prettiest I've ever seen. John Dar- 
 rett took a leaf from the padre's books, built an 
 adobe over there, sunk a well, and lived for a few 
 years like Adam in Eden. He had sailed the 
 world around and settled at last in what he con- 
 sidered the garden spot of the earth. I remember 
 he called it ' Treasure Trove.' After his wife 
 died, he only lasted a few years, and now you say 
 this young cub has got rid of the place? As you 
 
 41
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 say, it was a sort of pocket rancho no great 
 amount of land but it was a beauty! " 
 
 " So is Hermosa," remarked Berkley. " But 
 he will get rid of that, too, unless some one stops 
 him." 
 
 " Gambler? " asked the stranger. 
 
 " Worse ; he's a fool speculator, who relies on 
 what he calls his own judgment; though he does 
 gamble, too." 
 
 " But it is his wife owns Hermosa, old Gon- 
 zales' daughter," stated the old-timer; " he has no 
 title to that." 
 
 "But he owns the woman," retorted Berkley. 1 
 ' That seems Darrett's strong point, to deal with 
 women, when possible, instead of men. I did 
 hear that little l Treasure Trove ' rancho, near 
 Santa Barbara, was partly owned by a half-sister 
 of his in the East, but I guess she has taken Don 
 Felipe's measure, and keeps her distance. Any- 
 way, he managed the deal just as he will man- 
 age Hermosa, if he is not stopped." 
 
 11 Can't his wife put on the brakes? " 
 
 " In Frisco most of the time. This section is 
 too slow for her. She needs a brakeman her- 
 self." 
 
 " Mac Leigh ton could and would put a spoke 
 in their wheels if he was here," said the old-timer. 
 " I don't know of any one else that could. Old 
 
 42
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 Gonzales left him a lot of power, and the time 
 limit has not expired." 
 
 " Leigh ton got back from Mexico to-day, and 
 had breakfast here," remarked Berkley. ' Joe 
 Galbraith had met him with horses at the junction, 
 and he was rushing across at a double quick. Joe's 
 been running his rancho for him." 
 
 " I told you he'd have a reliable," said the old- 
 timer, " and Felipe Darrett had better crow small 
 for a while, if Leighton has struck the Hermosa 
 valley; for Leighton has the luck! " 
 
 The girl in the garden heard no more, for the 
 horses were being hitched to the stage. In a few 
 moments she would have to join the idly gossip- 
 ing crowd and listen for four six hours to the 
 voices echoing and agreeing in the curses heaped 
 on one name. 
 
 Not a word of dissent had been uttered in his 
 
 defense. The opinion appeared to be unanimous; 
 
 the name of Darrett was one not only hated but 
 
 despised. She had the courage to fight hate and 
 
 it under foot, but contempt! 
 
 For one moment she had a wild desire to let 
 the stage go without her, to keep away from that 
 one regularly recurring topic. No one expected 
 her; for a day, even a week, she could stay here 
 by this p-arden and prepare herself to face the 
 new conditions. No one would know. The peo- 
 ple might call her Miss Ogden, as the school 
 
 43
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 teacher had done, and she need not correct them* 
 for she would probably never travel that road 
 again. It was a lovely place, and here in the 
 garden 
 
 But as she looked about her her eyes filled with 
 tears. The garden ! All her California dreams had 
 centered around a garden, one in which a rose tree 
 grew much as this one by the wall, one in which 
 color and fragrance ran riot. And ever among the 
 poppies and roses she had gone hand-in-hand with 
 the slender boy, whose eyes were of black velvet 
 in their softness, whose words were softest Span- 
 ish, and who accepted her baby worship with the 
 caresses of conscious superiority. She was his lit- 
 tle slave to fetch and carry, content if he patted 
 her hair or kissed her cheek, and wildly happy 
 during the hours when they could evade the coffee- 
 colored Luigo or her nurse, Dolores, and sally 
 forth on quests of adventure without the orange 
 grove or even up the hill where the vineyard 
 was. 
 
 " All ready, Miss," called Mrs. Berkley from 
 the porch. ' The gentlemen have walked ahead, 
 but the stage is waiting." 
 
 The girl dashed the mist from her lashes and 
 ran up the steps. 
 
 " It's a long, rough ride to Hermosa," contin- 
 ued the woman, amiably, " but the sooner it's 
 over, the sooner you can rest." 
 
 44
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 the sooner it is over." And the next 
 she had her old seat in the corner and the 
 horses had lunged forward for their pull up the 
 hill. 
 
 She and Miss Watson had the inside to them- 
 selves. 
 
 " You look pale and sort of sick," said the lit- 
 tle woman. " Aren't you well? " 
 
 '" I suppose I'm getting tired; I've been travel- 
 ing for a week." 
 
 " My ! I took it in easy stages when I came 
 out from Ohio. I seemed to have either friends 
 or relatives scattered all along." 
 
 " I have neither," said the girl, as she sank 
 back in the corner with closed eyes. A little later 
 she straightened up and unlaced her tan boots. 
 
 " They were all right back East," she 
 remarked, " but they seem choking me now, too 
 high and warm." 
 
 " Why don't you put on the Indian shoes for 
 the rest of the ride? It is warm to-day, and you 
 look tired out all at once. Your skirt is plenty 
 long enough to hide them from the men when you 
 are sitting down." 
 
 The girl made a gesture of disdain. 
 ' The men ! I'd festoon myself with bead- 
 work, for all I'd care for them. Gossiping old 
 women ! " 
 
 In a trice the tan boots were tied in a bundle 
 
 45
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 by their own laces and thrust under the seat, and 
 the gay moccasins with their trimming of crimson 
 and green were on her feet. 
 
 Then with a little reckless laugh she un- 
 buckled the brown leather belt and fastened the 
 Indian girdle in its place. While the necklace of 
 turquoise was tied around her neck by its red cot- 
 ton strings. 
 
 " A little incongruous, perhaps," she conceded, 
 " but the old man is right; we really are a discord 
 in the land of the Mission fathers, and a trifle 
 more or less makes no difference. He is right. 
 It was not for our sort they built great viaducts 
 and planted vineyards. I wonder their ghosts 
 don't walk and uproot trees or tumble down rocks 
 on our highways." 
 
 Miss Watson looked her disapproval of any 
 such retaliation on their part. 
 
 " Oh, I hardly think they would do that, even 
 if they could, though they did make slaves of the 
 Indians." Then, after a little pause, she added, re- 
 flectively, " I am not especially alarmed about 
 rocks or trees, but those men did make me nervous 
 about the Hermosa dam. They say that that man 
 Darrett had the workmen's cabins put up below 
 it instead of above it. Of course, 1 know nothing 
 about such construction, but " 
 
 " Neither do I," interrupted the girl, " nor 
 
 46
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 want to ! I was glad the men walked ahead, that 
 we might be free of the subject." 
 
 " It did seem to interest them a lot," acknowl- 
 edged Miss Watson. " You see the Gonzales 
 family, so far as money goes, and it goes a long 
 ways, were the big folks of this section, and 
 when this Darrett got the daughter, it made a 
 sort of sensation, I guess. And the new dam, 
 yes, I heard some talk of that over in Kern 
 County, but " 
 
 " Oh," breathed the girl between her teeth, as 
 she turned her face to the cushion. 
 
 " Sure you're not sick? " queried the school 
 teacher, looking at her kindly. " No? Well, Fm 
 glad to hear it, for you do look pale. There ! 
 we've caught up with the men at last. And there 
 is one comfort we can take to ourselves: all the 
 ideas concerning that dam won't affect the stone- 
 work of it a mite. And none of us will die till 
 our time comes! " 
 
 The girl stubbornly kept her face to the win- 
 dow as the men climbed in, panting and amiable. 
 They had spoiled the beauty of her day for her, 
 and she did not mean to give them the benefit of 
 the light of her countenance. 
 
 Her heart leaped up as they passed a group of 
 horsemen, who swung their sombreros and called 
 a greeting to the driver as the coach passed. How 
 
 47
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 fine and strong and free they looked! That was 
 her California. 
 
 Once a solitary rider loped far across a rolling 
 hill and out of sight in a belt of timber. Her eyes 
 followed him enviously; that was the life she had 
 come back for : To ride care free over the ranges ! 
 to stay out alone under the stars, if she chose! 
 to get away from the discords and conversations 
 of the crowded places! And all she had gained 
 was a space in a crowded stage, where she had 
 to be careful that her feet did not preempt the 
 space of her neighbor, and where she feigned sleep 
 to avoid converse, and shrank from hearing her 
 own name mentioned. 
 
 At old Hermosa, where Pedro, the uncombed, 
 kept the stables, the horses were changed and bad 
 news awaited them. 
 
 The bridge at Quartz Creek, two miles ahead, 
 had gone down. The stage would have to make a 
 detour to reach the settlement. The driver used 
 some reckless language and advised the ladies to 
 stay over with Pedro's wife, Maria. In the old 
 days the dwelling there had been a favorite road- 
 house, but the accommodations had dwindled 
 until the stable was the only remnant living up to 
 its former reputation. 
 
 Miss Watson decided she would just about as 
 soon go to the bottom of Quartz Creek, while the 
 girl watched one of the passengers, who secured 
 
 48
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 a horse from Pedro and went loping away alone 
 across the range. 
 
 " He is one of the Hermosa foremen, lives this 
 side of the dam," said the driver in reply to her 
 questions. " It's only five miles across there to 
 the settlement, but wheels will have to go a full 
 dozen to reach it to-night," he added, ruefully. 
 
 " You mean it is only five miles across there to 
 Hermosa ? " 
 
 " We are on Hermosa ground now; it is a sort 
 of a triangle and this is one of the corners. Over 
 there " and he pointed with his whip " is the 
 Hacienda, as they call it here, the homestead, you 
 know. Most of this section is Mexican and every- 
 body uses old style names. How far? Oh, about 
 four miles. The settlement is more to the right. 
 Yes," in reply to another query, " in the saddle 
 it would be straight riding, no trick at all. But 
 there is a bluff wheels can't go over, and I've got 
 to go the circle. If you ladies can stay over here 
 to-night, the other coach will take you on in the 
 morning. I should advise it, for there is no telling 
 what we may meet up in the gulch of Quartz 
 Creek." 
 
 "Thanks yes, I'll stop," said the girl, step- 
 ping from the stage, too elated at being free to 
 remember the bizarre Indian trappings, in such 
 striking contrast to her trim traveling costume. 
 
 "And you, Miss?" 
 
 49
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 "Oh I couldn't indeed, I couldn't!" pro- 
 tested Miss Watson, a vision of babies, pigs and 
 puppies, heightened by the smiling presence of the 
 corsetless Maria in the doorway, arising in her 
 mind at the thought of the Mexican menage. 
 "I couldn't eat a bite, you know; I'm sure I 
 couldn't. So " 
 
 " All right," and the crack of the whip cut her 
 sentence short; the rest of her reasons were 
 drowned in the clatter of hoofs and wheels. 
 
 But a moment later she thrust her head out of 
 the carriage window and waved her hands fran- 
 tically. 
 
 " Your shoes ! " she screamed, above the racket 
 and rumble. " Make him stop till you get your 
 satchel and your shoes! " 
 
 " Keep them for me ! " called the girl, who was 
 laughing at Miss Watson's dismay and her hyster- 
 ical attempt to find the shoes under the seat and 
 make herself heard at the same time. But a turn 
 in the road carried the travelers from sight, and 
 left their late companion alone by the roadside, 
 conscious of the amazed stares of Pedro and the 
 stable boy. The motherly Maria meanwhile hov- 
 ered between a smile of welcome and a frown of 
 consternation at this apparition of the strange Se- 
 norita who had elected to honor their roof, and 
 who wore the Indian shoes and laughed like a 
 
 50
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 child when the bend in the road hid the stage- 
 coach. 
 
 She felt so free again, so much her very own 
 self! And she stretched out her arms with a 
 great sigh of relief as she turned smilingly to the 
 amazed Pedro. 
 
 It was a curious colloquy they hem there in the 
 open road. Pedro protesting, almost prostrating 
 himself in his desire to impress her with the fact 
 that his house was hers, his family at her disposal,' 
 he, himself, Pedro Lorde, at her feet; but j 
 
 And the Sefiorita, between her childish memories 
 of Spanish and the Mexican's musical English,! 
 finally made him comprehend that she would accept' 
 of the hospitality of the Lorde establishment to the 
 extent of a cup of coffee if it was made quickly; 
 and after that a saddle, some sort, any sort of 
 a saddle, and a horse, or even a mule, if nothing 
 better offered, that the Sefiorita might please her- 
 self by riding in the cool of the evening across the 
 range to Hermosa. 
 
 In vain he protested that the horses of the 
 stagecoach were tired were not his to hire were 
 never used to feel any but the weight of the work 
 harness on their backs. Maria was smiling at her 
 husband's futile excuses, for the Senorita followed 
 him to the stable, insisting, arguing, and laugh- 
 ing. 
 
 It was true that at first glance through the sta-
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 ble door only the work horses could be seen; but 
 one gleam of a yellow mane, tossed impetuously in 
 a far stall, made the girl clap her hands in laugh- 
 ing triumph. 
 
 " Ah ha ! You have it, the saddle horse 
 there ! Yet you would see me walk so far, so far 
 in the night?" 
 
 " But the Senor Leighton, if he should come 
 and his horse be not there for the saddle? Ay 
 yi ! if it should not be ! " And a gesture of Pe- 
 dro's expressive hands suggested nothing less than 
 the instant annihilation of all concerned. 
 
 Leighton ! Only one other name had she heard 
 so often that day! 
 
 Leighton ! The man who controlled the people 
 as he chose, the man whom good luck followed ! 
 Leighton, who retained some sort of tenure on 
 the estate of Hermosa, and who would make mas- 
 ter and mistress of it listen to his dictation ! The 
 luck of this fine Senor Leighton whom she detest- 
 ed already! She would let him see she had some 
 luck of her own! 
 
 " The Senor Leighton would not refuse the 
 horse to a lady who visits the Hermosa, is it not 
 so?" she demanded of the open eyed Maria. 
 " Could a California gentleman refuse so slight a 
 favor?" 
 
 There were further protests, followed by further 
 arguments, and the final one was a coin pressed
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 in Maria's hand really the key of speech to her. 
 For at once there was a torrent of expostulation 
 in rapid Spanish for Pedro to bear up under, and 
 energetic denunciation of his frantic appeals to the 
 saints to defend him from the wrath to come if 
 El Diablo was not safe back in the stable when the 
 owner or the Senor Braith would stop for him two 
 hours hence. And when the argument reached 
 that stage the Senorita found a second coin in the 
 little brown bag at her belt, and Pedro succumbed. 
 
 She got the horse and an old Mexican side-sad- 
 dle from which many little leather tassels and 
 knotted buckskin strings dangled. 
 
 The girl's eyes glowed dark with excitement. 
 After all, the ending of her day was to be perfect ! 
 To ride alone in the dark across the ranges; to go 
 her own gait and choose her own way what joy 
 there was in the prospect! 
 
 All the discords of the day were put aside. Of 
 course they would thrust themselves forward 
 again, and she would have to meet them just as 
 she would have to meet the owner of the horse 
 some day. But just now, this beautiful first night 
 in California, she would choose her trail far from 
 unpleasant thoughts! 
 
 So she recklessly decided while she drank the 
 really good cup of coffee prepared by Maria and 
 listened to the warning expostulations of Pedro 
 
 53
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 and his assistant as they fastened the heavily 
 flapped old saddle to El Diablo's unwilling back. 
 
 " A demon of a horse, Senorita, a demon out of 
 hell, as you see ! " he gasped, as he led the im- 
 patient animal into the yard. " Sandro has the 
 bite from his teeth, and I have almost the kick from 
 his foot. But he carry you, Senorita, sure! He 
 carry you si you keep on his back! " 
 
 For one moment the girl hesitated as she saw 
 what a really superb animal it was she had dared 
 to confiscate. Only in pictures had she seen such 
 a tawny coppery coat and such a silken mane and 
 tail of silver. Memory brought to her a canvas 
 in some Eastern gallery of art, a Moorish group 
 in all the glow of Oriental contrast, with such a 
 horse decked with jeweled trappings in the center 
 of the picture. Some queen viewed some conquest 
 from its back, while the horse looked more royal 
 than the crowned woman. And the one led out for 
 her use by Pedro looked like twin brother to the 
 beauty of the picture. 
 
 With all her heart she envied the owner of the 
 superb creature, yet for that one instant she hesi- 
 tated. 
 
 " I think si you ride him, you so ver quick 
 no?" ventured Maria from the door where she 
 had fled as the prancing, impatient animal whirled 
 and protested at it unusual garnishings. 
 
 "And if the owner should come?" said the 
 
 54
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 girl, with belated compunction. Had it been an 
 ugly beast, she would have felt no qualm. 
 
 " I been think like that," stated Pedro, philo- 
 sophical Pedro, now, with a coin safe in his pocket! 
 " I been think maybe how Sefior Leigh ton make 
 the big damn row si I no give El Diablo to the 
 Senorita si she ask. Me, I no am to blame si the 
 stage no make the safe trip at all! That Creek 
 canon ver bad place. I maybe help save the soul 
 from hell si I no send the Senorita by the stage. 
 When Sefior Leighton, he know all that, he no 
 make the big row at all, not when he see the 
 Senorita ! " 
 
 The girl had been patting the neck of the horse, 
 smoothing the silvery mane, making friends with 
 him as she could, and giving little heed to Pedro's 
 conviction that he possibly had kept her a little 
 longer from the hades of the good Christian. 
 
 " Tell me the way," she said, slipping her hand 
 caressingly along the creature's neck until she 
 grasped the bridle. 
 
 " That beast, he know the way El Diablo," 
 said Pedro easily. He waved his hand across an 
 open stretch of land where a faint cattle path was 
 discernible for a few rods and then disappeared 
 entirely. " It no is a road, but he go straight to 
 find the slide by the creek two mile, then you 
 have good road, ver good. Little houses there 
 
 55
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 many; big Hacienda over hill by vineyard no 
 get dark yet at all. You see ! " 
 
 She saw, and the next instant was in the saddle, 
 striving under difficulties to adjust herself while 
 El Diablo indulged in little cat jumps sideways 
 as protests against the one-sided burden and the 
 unaccustomed skirts. 
 
 Twice around the yard he indulged in this ver- 
 itable devil's dance, while Pedro swore and Maria 
 appealed to the Virgin, and the strange Senorita 
 laughed, her eyes glowing with excitement. 
 
 Twice she let him have his own pleasure in his 
 protest, which would have seemed vicious except 
 for its beauty. But when the circle brought him 
 again opposite the open gate and the praying 
 Maria, she turned him with a quick firm hand 
 toward the road and the range beyond. 
 
 " Now," she said, with a little lift of the bridle, 
 a little touch of the moccasined heel; and then El 
 Diablo, the beautiful, shot forward like a rocket. 
 A moment later, the wind was whistling through 
 the silky mane, and the girl felt her heart beat in 
 harmony with the flying hoofs. 
 
 At last, at last she was having her longed for 
 California home-coming!
 
 IV 
 
 A RIDE WITH EL DIABLO. 
 
 Something of her own elation communicated 
 itself to the horse after his first wondering spurt. 
 He settled into an easy, contented gait, and ran 
 for pure joy, while the girl laughed aloud, and 
 bestowed upon him caressings and cajolings. The 
 odor of the springing grass was in their nostrils, 
 for the dews of the growing dusk diffused fra- 
 grance. 
 
 The sun had gone down, and the sky had faded 
 from glowing crimson to the opalescent tints of 
 twilight. Far to the south there was yet a band of 
 yellow along the horizon, and high above and 
 straight ahead shone one star and the golden sickle 
 of the new moon. 
 
 Some verses she had read somewhere came 
 singing in her ears, keeping time to the hoof beats, 
 and she sang them joyously as she rode. 
 
 They had covered two miles, and Diablo had 
 settled into a long swinging lope. The girl had 
 chanted the verses to the swing of his stride, and 
 from that slightly monotonous repetition, she 
 broke into a tilting love song ringing clear and 
 high over the rolling uplands. 
 
 El Diablo pricked up his ears in amazement at 
 
 57
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 this new kind of rider, and then, evidently approv- 
 ing, tossed his beautiful head and forged onward 
 toward the scrubby growth marking the edge of 
 the field and the descent of the creek road below. 
 
 But in the midst of the song his ears suddenly 
 pointed meaningly, and he sent a loud whinny in 
 response to some sound ahead. 
 
 Quickly the girl tightened the grip on the bridle 
 and peered ahead, for he plainly expressed a desire 
 to break into a run. Straight ahead was a decliv- 
 ity, she could not see how deep or how steep, but 
 she could guess at its width, for the opposite wall 
 loomed up against the sky line, a dark chaparral 
 covered bank. 
 
 She brought Diablo, champing and impatient, 
 to a standstill, while she strove to see ahead in 
 the gathering dusk. 
 
 Yes; there was a cattle path standing along 
 the bluff, the " slide " mentioned by Pedro, and 
 beyond she could hear the gurgle of water. Below 
 there somewhere was the road by which she would 
 pass the clustered homes of the workmen, and 
 farther on the show house of the section, the Ha- 
 cienda of Hermosa. 
 
 A sound like the echo of Diablo's hoof-beats 
 came to her for an instant as she halted, but when 
 she listened more intently she could hear only the 
 drumming of her own heart, the deep breathing 
 
 58
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 of the horse, and far up the canon the sound of 
 wind among trees. 
 
 " It's nothing, Diablo," she said, straightening 
 from her scrutiny of the ground ahead; " but you 
 must slow up, old boy, or your shoes will be 
 skates. What's that?" 
 
 From across the ravine mingled sounds came 
 to her, ominous, threatening ! The striking of iron 
 on shelving rock, the crashing of stone loosened 
 and tearing its way down a declivity, the thud as 
 it struck the boles of trees in its course, and the 
 splash as it struck the water below! The almost 
 human scream of a horse and the oath of a man 
 deepened the horror for a moment, and then there 
 was silence, except for the little rustle of the 
 loosened gravel. 
 
 On the brink of the incline she held Diablo, 
 who was quivering with terror of something ! She 
 tried to call, and could not. As her joy had lent 
 him wings, so now did his terror paralyze her so 
 ^effectually that twice she opened her lips to call, 
 tand each time they closed in silence. 
 
 It was not really the half of a minute, but it 
 [seemed hours before the sound of the man's voice 
 fcame to her again, breathless, frenzied, yet with 
 fa note of exhaustion in it. 
 
 " Galbraith ! For Christ's sake, Galbraith, the 
 "dam!" 
 
 The man had seen the horse outlined clearly 
 
 59
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 against the dusk, and had appealed to the sup- 
 posed rider. 
 
 ' Wait," called the girl, as Diablo plunged 
 downward in the dusk. 
 
 "A woman! My God! Go back! Go back, 
 I tell you ! " 
 
 " I guess not," she retorted, and the rest of his 
 warning was drowned by the crash of her own 
 progress down the slope, for El Diablo put his 
 feet together and slid where the incline was too 
 steep for hurried steps. 
 
 They landed on the wagon road below. Close 
 beside it was the creek and on trestles, high above 
 and hugging the opposite wall, was a dark drip- 
 ping flume, stretching into the dusk each way until 
 it suggested an immense snake winding its way 
 along the canon. 
 
 In the road where he had dragged himself 
 through the water, was a man leaning against a 
 huge boulder, and down his cheek a dark stain 
 spread. 
 
 He lurched forward, reaching out a warning 
 hand, and she noticed even in her excitement, that 
 one foot was dragged painfully as he tried to 
 walk. 
 
 " Go back ! I thought it was Galbraith when 
 I called. Nothing can save them now. I tried 
 the short cut, but my horse went down, his leg 
 broken. No use trying ! Get to the high ground 
 
 60
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 quick quick! Don't you understand?" he de- 
 manded roughly, as she stared at him in amaze- 
 ment. " Don't you hear it? " And he pointed up 
 the canon, where she could hear only the swelling 
 sound of wind in the trees, growing louder and 
 louder. " It's the dam ! I tried to warn them " 
 and he made a despairing gesture down stream. 
 " I can't make it now, and they'll go under. Oh 
 my God ! they'll go under ! " 
 
 He was fairly sobbing at his own impotence, and 
 the girl recoiled under the shock of his grief. Yet 
 on the instant she leaned forward and closed her 
 fingers tightly on his shoulder. 
 
 " The dam ! You mean the Darrett dam? Phil 
 Barrett's work! " 
 
 "The Darrett dam? Yes! God! If cursing 
 his soul into hell this night could save the other 
 poor devils! Do you hear it? That water is 
 grinding into bed rock the curse of Darrett's name 
 in this valley! " 
 
 The girl's face could not have been whiter, and 
 she gave a little cry as she wrested the horse free 
 from his restraining hand. 
 
 "We'll see ! " she called grimly. " Make the 
 bluff if you can! I'm going this way! " 
 
 '' It's death to you ! " cried the man, wildly striv- 
 ing to get to her. But she held up her hand and 
 motioned him to the bluff. 
 
 " It's death to them if I don't make it! " she 
 
 61
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 answered, and the next instant El Diablo, frantic 
 with terror, was running like mad as the herald of 
 that roaring, grinding, unseen horror of the Her- 
 mosa canon. 
 
 The man uttered a cry of protest and then 
 " Good-bye God bless you ! " he called. 
 
 But she made no reply. She wanted none of his 
 blessings. He had cursed the Darrett name, and 
 she had listened in silence, as she had listened all 
 day. Words were of no use if what they said was 
 true. But now, now she would show them what 
 a Darrett could do to atone! 
 
 " Oh Dad, Dad ! Come with me ! Come with 
 me ! " she moaned as she leaned low in the saddle. 
 And the trees and rocks and turns in the road sped 
 past them like a dusky panorama of moving things, 
 though her own speed appeared all too slow. 
 " Good horse good horse ! for Dad's sake, for 
 the lives down there for the Darrett name oh, 
 Diablo, hurry hurry hurry ! " 
 
 And El Diablo deserved his name in that race 
 with death, for it was like a devil he ran, and noth- 
 ing more earthly. The girl's hair, from which the 
 hat had flown, was flecked with foam as she leaned 
 low on his neck, and his silvery mane, mingling 
 with her own loosened tresses, streamed and 
 whistled in the wind. In the wild exultation of her 
 intended victory, even the danger was deadened 
 for a time. All the West, the ideal West, of her 
 
 62
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 dreams, was in her heart and her blood as she 
 swept through the death trap of the dark canon. 
 Then a light twinkled ahead another and anoth- 
 er! She had reached the houses of the workmen! 
 Her voice sounded in her own ears strange and 
 high and far off as she screamed to the people 
 where the lights were. 
 
 A door opened and the workmen saw a foam- 
 covered horse dash past, and a girl bent low on 
 his neck who turned brilliant eyes and a white face 
 toward them as she called : " Run ! Run for your 
 lives ! The dam has broken ! " and then vanished 
 around ti.e bend, where other lights twinkled, and 
 her high clear tones cut through the dusk as 
 the message was repeated again and again to the 
 startled listeners who, with prayers, curses and 
 tears, broke for the bluff like stampeding cattle, 
 as that distant rumbling, like imprisoned thunder, 
 followed in the wake of the strange rider. 
 
 A group of men at a blacksmith's shop checked 
 their talk as the flying hoofs came nearer and the 
 scream of a girl sounded in their ears. A few 
 stepped back out of the path of the supposed run- 
 away. One man standing beside his horse, on 
 which a shoe had just been fitted, leaped forward 
 with the instinct of help; but lifting her hand, she 
 motioned him back, and called her warning. 
 
 ' The dam ! The girl is right, hear it ! " And 
 
 63
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 the man who had meant to stop her, swung himself 
 into his saddle. 
 
 " Let the horse go ! Break for the hill with us, 
 Sefior! " called one of the men. " You can't out- 
 run that! " 
 
 "What about the girl?" retorted the other; 
 and his horse gave a mighty leap under the spur, 
 and then two riders, instead of one, dashed ahead 
 of that wall of water sweeping ruin in its way. 
 
 He knew, as the girl did not, that the greatest 
 point of danger was not where the workmen, the 
 wifeless fellows, shantied, close to the bluff, but 
 on ahead where the gulch widened and where the 
 old adobe homes of the Mexicans were, the 
 farmers, the cattle men and the workers of the 
 vineyards. There they lived with their wives and 
 their children in the dwellings, where many of 
 their forefathers had lived long before the new 
 people had come to the land and roiled the waters 
 of the harmless arroya where the women washed 
 the clothes and the children played. 
 
 Behind him the sullen roar was changing its 
 character. Even above the thud of flying hoofs 
 he could hear the crash, crash of snapping timbers 
 as the flume was struck, and the scattering of boul- 
 ders tossed by the flood upon the solid rocks of the 
 canon's wall. Ahead of him he could hear the 
 calls of the girl, she had reached the cabins! 
 
 64
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 She was in time to warn, would he be in time to 
 help? 
 
 Around the bend of the road he dashed, his 
 horse as wild as the human beings in fear of the 
 thunderous enemy gaining, steadily gaining! 
 
 In the light of open doors he could see figures 
 fleeing to the left where the bluff was highest. 
 Some screamed, others were silently active, one 
 laughed wildly as she clutched two children and 
 dragged them to the bluff. 
 
 And in the middle of the road stood El Diablo 
 with a crone-like figure hanging to his bridle 
 screaming in Spanish some plea the girl could not 
 comprehend. But she could comprehend the dan- 
 ger and she leaned forward trying to drag the 
 crazed old creature up behind her, while El Diablo 
 fought for his freedom and showed a plain desire 
 to ride over all obstacles. 
 
 But the old woman refused to be helped, and 
 breaking away, she staggered, screaming, " Back 
 into the little adobe beside the road! " 
 
 The man caught the girl by the arm and pointed 
 ahead and to the left. 
 
 " Quick around that point and to the top of 
 the plateau ; then ride, ride ! You have a half min- 
 ute to make it ! " 
 
 The girl stared at him astounded; until his 
 horse had ranged side by side with hers and his 
 hand had touched her, she had been ignorant of 
 
 65
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 his presence there. She nodded comprehendingly 
 and then turned her eyes toward the old woman, 
 who was running from the door with a tiny bun- 
 dle. 
 
 " Lift her behind me ! " she entreated, turning 
 to the man. " Oh, it is a child do I beg of 
 you do ! " 
 
 " Senor! " screamed the old woman " for the 
 love of God, Senor ! .Carmenita the little 
 mother ! " 
 
 "Carmenita!" 
 
 He swung out of the saddle as he spoke, lifted 
 the child into the girl's outstretched hands, and 
 set the little old woman behind her on El Diablo, 
 who pranced dangerously until the mari spoke to 
 him words of command in Spanish. 
 
 " To your left to your left for your lives! " 
 he shouted, and the horse leaped forward under 
 its triple burden. 
 
 Two steps took him to the door of the dwelling. 
 ,A \vhite faced girl stared at him with wide, black 
 ,'eyes of terror from the low bed in the corner. 
 
 ''Senor Senor Braith have pity," she 
 /moaned, and reached out pleading arms to him. 
 
 As he had taken the babe, so he lifted the 
 
 'mother, wrapped as she was in the patchwork 
 
 quilt. An instant more and he was again in the 
 
 saddle and his powerful animal leaped forward as 
 
 the first adobe was struck by the moving wall of 
 
 66
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 water, rearing its averted head like a serpent trail- 
 ing its path of death between the hills. 
 
 One scream the scream of a woman in mortal 
 terror came back to him as his horse plunged up 
 the steep hill to the left, steep enough and high 
 enough for safety if El Diablo had taken it quick- 
 ly enough, if the girl rider had known the land 
 and had made no detour in the uncertain dark. 
 
 Even as he thought of the chances against her, 
 his own horse was struck. Its hind quarters sank 
 suddenly as if its back had been broken. A shrill 
 cry of agony from the brute, a leap of the rider 
 from the saddle forward and upward, and the 
 next moment both were caught and tossed like 
 straws on the roaring waters.
 
 IN THE TRACK OF THE FLOOD. 
 
 Two hours later, one of the men who had been 
 of the group at the blacksmith's shop, found El 
 Diablo cropping the new grass of the plateau, 
 his satiny coat splashed by the clay colored water 
 of the ravine, his silvery mane and tail silvery 
 no longer. But with the excepting such tarnished 
 glories, he appeared not at all damaged by the 
 enemy he had barely escaped. 
 
 " It was not a spirit then," said the Mexicans, 
 crossing themselves. " It was truly El Diablo a 
 living animal that made the run to save us all! 
 But who rode him? What living woman has ever 
 been on the back of El Diablo? " 
 
 The men who had not seen the flood and its 
 herald did not believe in the strange unknown 
 rider. Where could she have come from? Who 1 
 had ever before seen such a girl in that valley?" 
 
 No one had, that was quite true. And the 
 women gathering their children about them (nor 
 one had been lost in that war of waters) prayed 
 each to her own patron saint. And for that awful 
 night and many a day after, their special guardian" 
 angel was photographed on their mental vision as 
 
 68
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 a creature of blazing eyes, commanding voice, and 
 dark hair streaming on the wind. 
 
 Then a shout was heard down the ravine, and 
 the men who had gathered with the women around 
 a bonfire waiting for the night to pass, seized 
 flaming brands and following the voice, found 
 a man kneeling beside a woman's figure, death- 
 like in its stillness. A smiling infant was bound 
 tightly across her bosom by the Mexican scarf 
 knotted at the back the last act of the little 
 brown old woman who had been lifted behind" the 
 girl on El Diablo. 
 
 A nasty cut under the curls of the forehead had 
 soaked them with blood and the man beside her 
 uttered an exclamation of relief as the light of 
 the torches showed him her face. 
 
 " She is alive it bleeds ! Help me with her 
 some of you ! " 
 
 It was the man who had called a blessing after 
 her in the canon. 
 
 " Senor Leighton ! You have been in the flood ! 
 You have been hurt?" 
 
 " Not much. I dragged myself across some- 
 how. I knew this was the only place she could 
 get out of the canon if she got out alive at all. 
 I started to warn you all, but my horse went down 
 at the cut-off, and she, she took up the work 
 where I laid it down." 
 
 The men carried her to the fire while the man 
 
 69
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 who had found her, with the help of the men, 
 hobbled slowly after. His ankle was dislocated 
 and badly swollen. Under his directions one of 
 the men removed the shoe and pulled the bone into 
 place with rough surgery. 
 
 The girl was unconscious, yet breathing. She 
 was but slightly wet, for only the spray of the 
 flood had touched her. Some missile flung by the 
 torrent had struck her, or the older woman, falling, 
 had dragged her down. But she was there, a 
 living, breathing creature, and no phantasm bred 
 by fear in the minds of the people who gathered 
 about her, wondering, awestruck. 
 
 " It is the manta of old Carolina Alverez," 
 said the women as they undid the scarf, and one 
 of them, who had a babe of her own, took the 
 child and stilled its cries with motherly attention. 
 
 " It is the babe of Carmenita, Carmenita Al- 
 , verez, who could never escape never! She has 
 ' gone down in the flood ! " And the women whis- 
 pered together and crossed themselves, and looked 
 askance at the still figure of the girl by the fire. 
 
 " Her so white, her dress all so fine, a fine 
 Senorita; yet on her feet are shoes like an In- 
 dian. A Senorita who wears moccasins ! " 
 
 " She rode El Diablo, she is perhaps some vis- 
 itor to the Old Mission," ventured another. But 
 the master of the mission rancho heard them and 
 denied it. 
 
 70
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " I can't account for her having the horse. Gal- 
 braith rode him yesterday," he said. " More than 
 likely it is some guest from the Hacienda. If so, 
 we must take her there." 
 
 " Don Mac," said one of the older women 
 hesitatingly, "the Dona Delfina is not at home; 
 only Don Felipe is there with only some men 
 friends." 
 
 " Then she must go to the mission," said Leigh- 
 ton, curtly. ' Tia Perenza will nurse her well 
 take her to my house." 
 
 And so it was that she was. carried in a ham- 
 mock made of coats, slowly, slowly over the range 
 she had crossed so gaily at sunset, carried to the 
 home of the man whom she had disliked without 
 ever having seen him, the man who had " the 
 luck " and whose luck had brought him back to 
 the Hermosa valley when it needed him most. 
 
 He looked at the group of huddling women, 
 shelterless in the open field, and remembered 
 things the sight of the girl had made him forget. 
 
 " At your service, ladies seiiores. It is as 
 near to the old mission as it is to the settlement. 
 There are roofs for all of you and food as well. 
 Mr. Galbraith will see to your comfort." 
 
 "Ay, in Paradise!" cried one of the older 
 women, " the men say he is gone down in the 
 flood!" 
 
 "In the flood! Galbraith!"
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " He followed the Seriorita ; no one ever saw 
 him again." 
 
 "Ay! He is gone! And Carolina Alverez 
 and Carmenita, all gone, sefior, carried down 
 in the flood of the thrice accursed Darrett dam ! " 
 
 " Carmenita and Galbraith ! What a night's 
 work! what a night's work!" 
 
 He sat silent in the firelight, his face covered 
 with his hands, and the people grew still, remem- 
 bering that the friendship of their Don Mac and 
 his overseer had been long and close. They re- 
 spected his silent grief, yet there was no little 
 curiosity in the glances directed toward him in the 
 flickering light of the bonfire. 
 
 For a year this Don Mac had not set foot on 
 this, his own land of the Hermosa, and none of 
 them had forgotten that his wedding day with 
 Dona Delfina Gonzales had been long settled, 
 and that it was her elopement with Senor Darrett 
 had sent him for change of scene, or thought, or 
 work, to some long ignored mines of Mexico. 
 
 It was perhaps because he was so very much 
 American and so very, very little Spanish only 
 a great-grandmother had been of that volatile 
 blood that he had neither fought with his rival, 
 nor drunk himself mad with brandy for a month 
 after the wedding. 
 
 But he had not; he had only laughed and 
 taken his freedom joyously. 
 
 72
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 He had been the first to welcome the elopers 
 home. He had been prompt to adjust the affairs 
 of the Gonzales estate that the young lovers should 
 have only a path of roses to tread. No one had 
 seen anything but content on his strong, almost 
 handsome face, with the dark eyes of his Spanish 
 ancestress, and, where the thick tan did not hide 
 it, the fairer complexion of the many American 
 forbears. 
 
 The people, watching him while waiting for the 
 mission horses and lanterns he had sent after, were 
 glad in their hearts that he had come back. The 
 good God had sent him against their need. But 
 he had gone away smiling and he had come back 
 to them sad and troubled, all the light .gone from 
 his face. To look at him one could believe that 
 the years had been many and long instead of one 
 brief summer and winter. 
 
 When the men and horses arrived, he got the 
 women and children started for the old mission, 
 after which he was helped into the saddle; but 
 instead of accompanying them, he turned to the 
 men. 
 
 " I can't walk, but I can ride with you," he 
 said. " All of you come who can." 
 
 " But where, sefior?" asked one of the Mex- 
 icans. 
 
 ' To cover every rod of land touched by the 
 flood until we find Galbraith." 
 
 73
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " But you, senor with the hurt- 
 
 When I can't sit in the saddle you will have 
 to help me, or I can crawl, as I did to her." 
 
 " But your foot ! The doctor is sent for, he will 
 be at the Mission rancho, senor, and then " 
 
 " Then he can wait and the foot will keep. 
 Joe Galbraith can't have gone under when that 
 girl with the child outrode it ! He is hurt some- 
 where, waiting for me to come, I know it as 
 well as if I saw him! It's no sort of use to tell 
 me anything about it," he continued, as each and 
 all of them strove to assure him how safely he 
 might leave the search to them. " I know you'll 
 all do your work, but I've got mine to do. If it 
 was Mac ^Leighton stranded somewhere in that 
 wreckage, would Joe Galbraith lie back on cush- 
 ions and wait for some one else to make reports? 
 Hardly!" 
 
 The night was dark, the search slow and dreary 
 work, and dawn was breaking over the mother 
 mountains when they found him in a bunch of 
 chaparral wedged against a gnarled tree trunk. 
 Across his breast, clasped in his arm, was the 
 dead body of Carmenita, and both were pinned 
 down by a heavy timber from the shattered flume. 
 
 The Mexicans stared strangely at each other at 
 the sight of the two thus in the light of the gray, 
 dawn. Only yesterday he had quarreled with 
 Senor Barrett for her sake, had uttered threats 
 
 74
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 and oaths that were nasty to hear. And it was 
 for her, for her that he had ridden like a mad- 
 man into danger and arrived too late ! 
 
 Leighton noted their glances and swore softly 
 to himself. 
 
 "Lift the timber easy there, Diego. So! 
 Give her to me yes to me ! " he repeated, in 
 response to their questioning stare. " A sprained 
 ankle doesn't cripple a man all over! Now see 
 to him quick! Lift him out of that! Breath 
 in him? I told you there would be! Who has 
 some whisky? " 
 
 No one had. The last little drop in Diego's 
 flask had been poured between the pale lips of 
 the strange Sefiorita of the moccasins. 
 
 " He is deathly cold," said Leighton, leaning 
 from the saddle to touch his friend's face. 
 " Here, put my coat around him; keep moving 
 now till we get to the rancho. Easy boys, go easy ! 
 That timber was no light weight, but it struck her 
 first, poor Carmenita ! " 
 
 As they went slowly homeward through the 
 fresh faint glow of the coming day, he stared 
 down strangely at the white face and the closed 
 eyes of the dead girl. All her short life he had 
 known her. Once, not so long ago, he remem- 
 bered sending her a string of coral at Christmas 
 and she had run barefooted across the field to the 
 mission rancho to shower her childish thanks on 
 
 75
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 him, the pretty, impulsive, kindly child! And 
 then in ways of stealth some other had brought 
 her corals or their equivalents and Carmenita 
 was no longer a child! A sparkling defiance was 
 hers, which even the oldest friend could not ques- 
 tion. A little tigress she had been, seeking her 
 mate in the chaparral. And now her day was 
 done and it was her old friend who carried her 
 home to rest. 
 
 He only hoped that death had come to her 
 quickly, painlessly, but knowing all, he could 
 scarcely wish her alive again. He felt that even 
 if living, the beauty and sparkle and faith of 
 life had been killed in her; and Carmenita was 
 not a creature for half tones, and twilight tints, 
 but rather a brilliant poppy flaunting its petals for 
 a brief day by the wayside. 
 
 Sometimes in the words of the men ahead, he 
 could hear the oft recurring subject of the other 
 girl, the Senorita of the moccasins. She was the 
 real savior of their awful night. Prayers were 
 said and candles vowed for her as they moved 
 slowly onward with their burden in the dawning. 
 
 Leighton smiled grimly as he heard them. All 
 Galbraith did, all he had tried to do, had dwindled 
 into nothing beside the heroism of the unknown 
 girl who had won the admiration of them all. 
 The mystery of her alone exerted a strong influ- 
 ence upon their varied imaginations, like nothing 
 
 76
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 born of woman-kind had she appeared to them. 
 He saw one of the more devout cross himself 
 when he spoke of her. 
 
 His memory of her did not exactly suggest the 
 angelic. She had seemed a very good running 
 mate for El Diablo as she had stared frowning 
 at him, in the canon, as she had flung aside his 
 detaining hand, as she had flung back some de- 
 fiance at him even while she had plunged ahead 
 of that horror to do his work, the haunting, 
 mocking, daring Senorita, " Senorita of the 
 Moccasins," as the Mexicans had already named 
 her.
 
 VI 
 
 THE OLD MISSION OF HERMOSA. 
 
 The Old Mission of Hermosa was for some 
 reason no longer known by that name since the 
 magnificent Hacienda of Hermosa had been built 
 by the Gonzales across the valley. It was only 
 " Old Mission" now, a series of rambling houses 
 clustered about the half ruined old chapel where 
 the doves perched on the timbers of the old belfry 
 and circled above the palms and old olive trees 
 around the garden. But to the site of the Old 
 Mission dwellings only did the name really be- 
 long. Beautiful it was with its vine covered hills 
 reaching high to the east, its garden hedges of 
 oleander and pomegranate, and beyond all its wide 
 range where the horses were, for so far as busi- 
 ness on the rancho was concerned, that business 
 was horses. Fortunately the old gardens were 
 given up to the colts and there was enough space 
 retained by the vines and orchard to yet suggest 
 something of the old pastoral peace of the place! 
 that was once a sanctuary. 
 
 When Leighton was a mere lad running about 
 in the hot sand with Diego and Pedro and the 
 others, his father or his mother had owned 
 the entire Hermosa tract. He was too small to 
 
 73
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 remember much about the great change by which 
 it was swept out of their possession. Old Califor- 
 nia grants were proven defective. His father ill 
 with his last sickness, his mother heedless and 
 helpless, caring only for the life fading away be- 
 side her, that was the confused picture left on 
 his childish mind. Then he remembered Tia 
 Perenza crying over him as he was being prepared 
 for a long journey, and then long boyish years in 
 Mexico where his mother had gone to the home 
 of a widowed sister. Only a remnant had been 
 left of their once wide possessions. All had been 
 turned into coin by which the boy was given such 
 education as it would allow, while his mother, 
 patient and uncomplaining, vainly tried to enter 
 into the new life with her son. Her eyes and 
 thoughts were turned to the sun-kissed slopes where 
 her love-life had been lived and her son born. 
 
 As he grew older, he comprehended something 
 of her pride and her longing for her native land, 
 and he made wild promises, as youth will, of the 
 fortune he would make when he was a man, and 
 with which he would buy back for her the entire 
 Hermosa. But she had died before his school days 
 were ended, and it was only her picture he brought 
 back, when years later the sudden fancy of a sud- 
 denly rich old Mexican, Manuel Gonzales, 
 prompted him to develop a mine in which for a 
 time all his hopes and dollars were sunk. But 
 
 79
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 after a season of feverish weeks and months, the 
 boyish dreams were in a measure realized. Her- 
 mosa had been divided and had changed owners 
 several times since he played around the fountain 
 in the old patio, but that portion which contained 
 the historic old buildings and the magnificent via- 
 duct, he was able to secure. The balance was 
 purchased by Gonzales, who had come with him 
 for a holiday and who caught the California fever 
 and determined to build a palace under the -old 
 pepper trees, and be a neighbor to the young 
 fellow he coveted as a son. It was not exactly 
 a palace, but it was by far the finest structure in 
 the county, though left incomplete at the time of 
 his death. The management of the estate and the 
 guardianship of his daughter, he had left to Mac 
 Leighton and died content with the assurance that 
 Delfina would marry Mac in good time and that 
 the boy's dream of joining the estates would come 
 true. 
 
 None of the owners of the Old Mission had 
 done aught during those years to perpetuate the 
 growths planted so devoutly by the workers of 
 St. Francis. But, luckily, none of the new people 
 had been of the revolutionary sort; if they had 
 not planted or pruned neither had they uprooted, 
 and the old trees lingered where they would under 
 the easy rule of " Don Mac " and the heedless rule 
 of the Sefior Braith, who had someway belonged 
 
 80
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 to the Mexican days and who was known at the 
 rancho as the very right hand of the owner, trust- 
 ed, drunk or sober, year in and year out. For 
 ten years they had been " partners " in that fash- 
 ion. Leighton had scarcely been twenty-one when 
 they met and Galbraith only a couple of years 
 older. 
 
 But for Galbraith, who was entirely American, 
 or at least had none of the Latin drops in his 
 blood, the Californias had never the same feeling 
 that they had for their Don Mac, whose ances- 
 tors had ridden the ranges before they were even 
 turned by the plow. Galbraith was as " square," 
 as reliable where his word was once given, but his 
 life had been harder; he had cherished fewer il- 
 lusions. He was recklessly outspoken where di- 
 plomacy would have served him better. To be 
 sure, the natives could not really cheat Leighton 
 any more easily out of the calf or the colt, or the 
 day's work; but Leighton would let the Mexican 
 or the Anglo-Saxon depart in peace with the com- 
 fortable feeling that no one had guessed his desire 
 to cheat, while Galbraith would clinch them in 
 the act, curse them soundly and send them away 
 angered and sullen, and promising him a knife 
 some dark night. 
 
 The household, itself, so far as the housekeep- 
 ing went, was under the hawk-like eyes of Esper- 
 enza Moro, whose black handkerchiefed head held 
 
 81
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 memories of days when she was only one of many 
 maidens who came from the adobes to the Mission 
 for teachings temporal and spiritual. Most of 
 these gave place in a few summers to other maid- 
 ens preparing for the same sort of mental ac- 
 tivity, that was required to stew beans, mend 
 clothes, and plant the gardens in season. But 
 Perenza was one of the few who never gave way 
 to make room for a newer face. She was the 
 landmark past which her mates traveled to matri- 
 mony and the lives echoing the lives of their 
 mothers in the squat little cabins. Even the last 
 of the padres had she seen take the trail to the 
 sea. And to the severity of her discipline it was 
 due, no doubt, that the coming of the crippled, 
 the helpless, and the dead of the Quartz creek 
 flood made no special commotion in the rooms of 
 the Old Mission. Everything was in order. A 
 whole village for breakfast only meant the large 
 kettles instead of the small ones. Perenza boast- 
 ed of having filled cups and plates when a hun- 
 dred at a time sat in the refectory. They should 
 see, these young people, how it was done. 
 
 Carmenita lay in the sala. The child was un- 
 hurt, but the doctor shook his head over the 
 wound in the young girl's skull and said little. 
 Leighton's injured ankle did not prevent him from 
 insisting that he and no other should nurse Gal- 
 braith, who was " coming around " with growls 
 
 82
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 and vague mutterings of " Greaser the damned 
 Greaser " and occasionally a reiterated call for 
 " Carmenita ! Carmenita ! Carmenita ! " 
 
 Noticing the questioning light in Dr. Elroy's 
 eyes and the open curiosity of the Mexicans, he 
 got rid of them as quickly as possible. Galbraith 
 was black and blue, two of his ribs were broken, 
 his shoulder cut, a slit sewed up back of his ear; 
 but Leighton treated these things lightly and laid 
 the blame of the patient's boisterousness on the 
 opiate the doctor had given him. 
 
 " That stuff won't quiet Joe," he insisted. " He 
 is naturally quiet, but with a dozen or so beyond 
 his allowance, he acts something like this. He is 
 not delirious. Your powders have only given him 
 a new kind of drunk. Leave him to me and you 
 go and look after Miss Moccasins." 
 
 "Miss ?" 
 
 " Oh, you know, the girl who made the ride, 
 the Senorita they are all saying prayers for. You 
 look after her; I'll attend to Galbraith." 
 
 But his attentions when the door was closed 
 were to inspect Galbraith carefully to decide how 
 he might take hold of him vigorously without spe- 
 cial danger to the injured parts, and then he pro- 
 ceeded deliberately to shake him each time Gal- 
 braith began his cries culminating in calls for Car- 
 menita. 
 
 " It's a puzzle all around," decided Leighton, 
 
 83
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 leaning back in the chair and resting after much 
 exertion. " He never used to care for the girl 
 that I could see, never noticed her more than, or 
 even so much as the other girls of the valley. But 
 he calls me back here on a double quick to help 
 straighten the tangles of Hermosa, and she was 
 one of them. I thought it was the dickering with 
 the water rights woke him up, but perhaps per- 
 haps I am the fool ! " 
 
 He scowled at the flushed unconscious face on 
 the pillow and brought his clenched hand down 
 emphatically on the arm of the chair. 
 
 " It won't do, old man it won't do ! " he mut- 
 tered. "You'll* have enough work to help 
 straighten out affairs here without carrying extra 
 weights, and those loitering Mexicans will do you 
 no good. Sorry to disturb you," he added as the 
 calls began again, " but " 
 
 He interrupted himself by gripping the uncon- 
 scious man by the unhurt arm and shaking him 
 vigorously, but the only result was a wordless 
 yell. 
 
 1 That's better; yell till you raise the tiles, but 
 don't talk," said his nurse. " It's the wrong- time, 
 old man, it's the wrong time." 
 
 After a third vigorous shaking the invalid 
 opened his eyes drowsily, yet with a gleam of 
 recognition in them. 
 
 84
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 "H'lo Mac!" he muttered. "What's up? 
 what's " 
 
 " You are," said Mac promptly. " You've had 
 a drunk on powders or pills and you're just com- 
 ing around. Want some whisky?" 
 
 " I reckon so," was the drowsy response. 
 " What d'ye think I'd call for, a coffin? " 
 
 Leighton smiled grimly. " Now you are nat- 
 ural," he remarked. " I told Dr. Elroy it was 
 only a plain drunk he gave you. He is all right 
 for broken bones, but I can discount him as nurse. 
 Listen to me: You're awake, aren't you? Well, 
 you keep awake long enough to understand just one 
 thing. Listening? " 
 
 Galbraith nodded. 
 
 " You've been calling one name over and 
 over ; stop it ! Keep awake ! Don't swallow 
 any, more dopy stuff, do you hear?" 
 
 " Yes, I reckon." 
 
 " It's Carmenita, you know the little girl 
 who " 
 
 " I know," interrupted Galbraith, aroused by 
 the name. " Carmenita I saved her didn't I 
 Mac? didn't I? " he repeated as the other hesi- 
 tated. 
 
 u Oh yes yes you saved her," affirmed 
 Leighton hurriedly. " Don't you worry about 
 that; but don't talk about her either sleeping or 
 waking. You've been yelling her name, and Dar- 
 
 85
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 rett's too, to beat the band. You cursed him 
 enough yesterday without taking time for it to-day, 
 and if you break loose again I'll just about shake 
 your molars loose." 
 
 Doctor Elroy reached the door in time to hear 
 this threat of the nurse, and remonstrated accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 " That's all right, doctor," returned Leighton 
 easily, " I've shaken him awake and into his senses, 
 and if he falls from grace, I'll have to do it again. 
 I've been in Mexico for a year and he has been 
 backsliding in consequence; his language was be- 
 yond any sort of pardon." 
 
 " I meant him to sleep " began the doctor. 
 
 " And that's what he wouldn't do. Speak up, 
 Braith; tell him whisky always wakes you up in- 
 stead of putting you to sleep, and the opiate did 
 the same." 
 
 " He's right," articulated Galbraith, drowsily. 
 " I'm awake don't bother him. Mac always 
 does my thinking for me when I'm not able." 
 
 " I am gratified that you are coming around 
 so quickly," said the doctor, drawing on his driv- 
 ing gloves. " I'll be back this evening. I'm not 
 just exactly hopeful over the condition of the 
 young lady.'' 
 
 " Carmenita?" asked Galbraith, aroused from 
 his lethargy by the memory of the night before; 
 
 86
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 You told me, Mac, you told me Carmenita 
 
 " Yes, yes," interrupted Leighton with a warn- 
 ing glance at Dr. Elroy, " Carmenita is is safe. 
 It's the other girl he means, the stranger who gave 
 the warning, the girl who rode El Diablo." 
 
 " Good God, yes! " breathed Galbraith, sink- 
 ing back. " Then she was there ! I thought that 
 was a dreamt " 
 
 " You know who she is? " demanded Leighton, 
 " you remember her? " 
 
 " Remember! How could I forget her?" he 
 muttered. " And is she hurt hurt bad? " 
 
 " Not fatally I hope," added the doctor cau- 
 tiously. 
 
 " And I thought she was part of a dream a 
 dream ! " he murmured drowsily. Then his eyes 
 closed, his breathing grew regular and deep, and 
 the doctor watching him nodded approvingly. 
 
 " He will come around all right. I wish I was 
 as sure of the girl. You had better send word to 
 her relatives at once. She has had an ugly wound 
 on her head. Both speech and memory may be a 
 long time coming back if ever they come ! " 
 
 Leighton sat a long time by the door of Gal- 
 braith's room staring across the patio and think- 
 ing of the doctor's parting words. 
 
 That beautiful, daring, defiant creature who 
 
 87
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 might never waken to remembrance, and all 
 through doing his work his! 
 
 Diego Estrada approached from the corrals but 
 halted, hesitating, as he noticed Leighton's pre- 
 occupation. Mac's face was so sombre that one 
 would have fancied him asleep. But at the halt- 
 ing step he looked up. 
 
 " A bad night's work, Diego ! " 
 
 " Ay, Don Mac very bad ! The men have 
 found Carolina Alverez." 
 
 Leighton looked the question he would have 
 asked, and Diego shook his head. 
 
 :< Dead, senor. The men did what they could, 
 but the water had carried her far. It is as well 
 the women do not see her; there is nothing they 
 can do. God's curse on the work of Felipe Dar- 
 rett!" 
 
 ' The curse is working hard enough, but it is 
 working the wrong way, Diego." 
 
 " That is so, senor." Estrada hesitated a mo- 
 ment, and then continued, "I see how you shut 
 the door on the boys who listen, Don Mac, and 
 we all hearing how Senor Braith is as mad in his 
 sleep as he was yesterday in the road when he met 
 with Felipe Darrett and swore how he will kill 
 him, pretty much the same. But senor, you have 
 been a year in Mexico and many things happen 
 and Senor Braith was only saying what many a 
 man thought. We, I was very glad to hear him 
 
 88
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 saying it like that to Felipe Barrett's face, Car- 
 menita God rest her soul! was like a little sis- 
 ter to my children." 
 
 '' Where were you to hear anything? " demand- 
 ed Leighton, frowning. 
 
 " Pepe and Sanchez and me, we going across by 
 the old flume at the big bend, and we hear it all 
 every word. When Senor Braith swore he shoot 
 his damn head off si he is ever again inside the 
 Alverez home, Pete and me we hoping he do it 
 then, but maybe he not having any gun." 
 
 Leighton sat frowning at the paving stones of 
 the outer court and Estrada, perceiving that the 
 subject was unpleasant, changed it instantly. 
 
 " It is for the grave I came to speak with you, 
 serior. Carmenita and the grandmother, they liv- 
 ing all alone no relatives anywhere. The poor 
 board perhaps " 
 
 " No," said Leighton, suddenly alert, " the 
 mother of his child shall rest in the new Hermosa 
 cemetery. Their deaths lay at Barrett's door and 
 the dead shall be buried there." 
 
 " But if Senor Barrett objects or the senora 
 
 " He will not object," returned Leighton. 
 ' These people were killed by the Hermosa mis- 
 management ; why should not Senora Barrett give 
 them grave room ? " 
 
 " That is true," agreed Estrada, " and it is 
 
 89
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 well. If Carmenita had been asked she would 
 have said to take her there, perhaps." 
 
 " Perhaps," said Leighton, briefly. ' You see 
 to it." 
 
 "And Father Key?" 
 
 " Send him to me when he comes." 
 
 " Buena ! " said Estrada, approvingly. " All 
 our people very glad you come back again to take 
 hold." 
 
 He had crossed the patio when Leighton called 
 him back. 
 
 " Was it you spoke of Seiior Braith leaving 
 Diablo at Pedro's yesterday?" 
 
 " Sure] El Diablo was to have the shoes 
 changed, but he acted like a fiend out of hell; 
 and Senor Braith could not wait so long, so he 
 just send him to Pedro's stable till he is coming 
 home again." 
 
 ' Very good. Go you and ask Pedro w r ho took 
 the horse from there." 
 
 ' Why," and Estrada made a gesture down the 
 corridor, " the Senorita." 
 
 ; ' What Senorita? Where did she come 
 from?" 
 
 " Nobody knowing that, Don Mac." 
 
 "Find out!" 
 
 ' The people, nearly all, think the good God 
 he sent her." 
 
 90
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " But he would not have sent her on El Diablo! 
 -See Pedro." 
 
 The day was yet early, and as the refugees 
 from the wrecked valley came out from the bounti- 
 ful breakfast in the refectory, the mothers and 
 fathers came forward to shake hands with the 
 master, who had come back. Some of the older 
 people prayed for a little corner of the Mission, 
 where they could end their days, for the land of 
 the Gonzales was accursed. The younger ones 
 asked for work, and many of the mothers led 
 forward their children that the tawny little tots 
 might know the face of Don Mac, who was shel- 
 tering them and feeding them. 
 
 On every side there was the echo of Estrada's 
 words. They were glad, the old and the young 
 alike, that he was again among them. They were 
 like children in their absolute faith that all would 
 be well in the valley once more. There would be 
 work for all, that the clothes and food might be 
 bought. The ranches would share the life of the 
 old days. The natives would be given first place 
 in the ranges and vineyards, while the thrice 
 accursed foreign emigrant, with his brogue and 
 his strange ways, would be sent back to the rail- 
 road! All would come right when their Don 
 Mac was there to help them ! 
 
 He listened and felt ashamed of the many, 
 many days when he had forgotten them and their
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 needs. He had never realized that he was mpre 
 necessary than others in the Hermosa valley, 
 perhaps the natives never realized it themselves 
 until he had left them for that year, and the sea- 
 son of Barrett's mastery had brought to them a 
 dread of the new and the strange until the name 
 of Don Mac was a part of their prayers. 
 
 Their God and the saints were all very well for 
 the things of the spirit, and the life afar off, but 
 it was the K'/Lig presence of McNeil Leighton 
 upon \vhIJi they depended for managing the 
 mundane affairs of the Hermosa valley. 
 
 Old Perenza came hobbling out to him on the 
 porch, her keen, jealous eyes snapping with satis- 
 faction as the outsiders moved aside, showing her 
 the respect exacted by her from the toilers of the 
 valley. 
 
 ' The Senorita, she asking for the child ; it is all 
 what she talks," she stated briefly. 
 
 Leighton looked from one to the other of the 
 women questioningly. He knew no more than 
 Perenza, whose hands had taken the child; all his 
 thoughts had been for the girl who had ridden 
 his favorite horse and flung back defiance at him. 
 
 But a young woman came forward with a tiny 
 mantilla-wrapped bundle. 
 
 " I took it, senor. My Pablo is old enough 
 to wean, and if this little one could take his 
 place " 
 
 92
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 "You are Anita, Juan's Anita?" said Leigh- 
 ton. ' Very good ! Go with Tia Perenza. Do 
 whatever she tells you." Then he addressed him- 
 self to the latter. "The Senorita speaks, then? 
 The doctor feared she might not. I may see 
 her?" 
 
 " Aye, you can look with the eyes, but you no 
 get her to talk with the sense, maybe not at all. 
 All same, you come along si you like." 
 
 Leighton arose and followed her, glad to escape 
 from the eager thanks of the people, and the old 
 woman made a chuckling sound allied to laughter. 
 She was well pleased to think that he disdained 
 the thanks of the common people. She had a 
 pride in dispensing charity to them, but she liked 
 it to descend upon them as from an eminence. 
 
 The Senorita lay in a closet-like cell of many 
 forgotten padres, the only form of sleeping 
 room known on the Mission rancho. Its one tiny 
 window opened on the garden, and the fragrance 
 of jasmine drifted through the narrow aperture 
 and met Leighton in the doorway. 
 
 The white bandage about the girl's head made 
 more vivid the deep flush of her cheeks. A coarse 
 white gown had replaced the trim traveling dress, 
 and around her throat the string of turquoise 
 shone on its thread of sinew, fastened by the cord 
 of scarlet. 
 
 Beautiful as she had appeared to Leighton in 
 
 93
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 the dusk of the canon, or even in her pallid help- 
 lessness of the early dawn, she had not appealed to 
 him as she did now in her flushed, unconscious love- 
 liness under his own roof. As she turned her head 
 restlessly on Esperenza's finest lace-trimmed pil- 
 low and flung out her arm, bare and white, where 
 the sleeve slipped aside, he felt to blame as he 
 stared at her, a figure in flushed marble carved 
 from the white austerity of a monk's cell. Yet the 
 fascination the picture held for him could no more 
 have been explained than could the leap of his 
 heart when out of her restless silence he heard her 
 voice again, the voice he had followed through 
 the gloom of the night, and which all the horrors 
 of that torrent had failed to drown in his ears. 
 
 "It is a child a little child! " she murmured 
 insistingly. "Give it to me oh please 
 please! " 
 
 Her hands were reached out appealingly, and 
 then fell back weakly beside her, while she whim- 
 pered like a child deprived of a toy. 
 
 "It is all she speaks, sefior not one other 
 thing," stated Perenza. " We I think it maybe 
 is that muchachito so I go for him." 
 
 " A little child," repeated the girl drowsily. 
 
 Leighton hobbled across to the cot and clasped 
 her wrist. 
 
 ''Whose child whose is it?" he asked in an 
 authoritative manner, and the sharp, decisive tones 
 
 94
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 penetrated her dulled consciousness and for a 
 moment the gray eyes opened full upon him and 
 her reply had a slightly surprised tone. 
 
 " Why, the child from the cabin, the last cabin. 
 I wish they would bring him. I am so tired alone 
 so tired I wish " and then her wishes drifted 
 into indistinct murmurs, and fretful unconscious 
 appeals. 
 
 " Put the child, some child beside her," said 
 Leighton. " Give her anything she asks for, any- 
 thing to keep her from fretting or restlessness ! " 
 
 " The doctor he thinking she maybe not talk 
 at all," said the old woman, reassuringly. ' This 
 is not so bad like he think." 
 
 " Perhaps not," said Leighton, as he dragged 
 his injured foot back into the sunshine of the 
 court. " But she did my work, Perenza. The 
 Mission rancho and all it holds is for her service; 
 see that no one forgets it." 
 
 Old Perenza nodded her head and looked at 
 him sharply from under her shaggy brows. He 
 had always been thoughtful of people, had Don 
 Mac, but his special care for the Senorita wakened 
 a brief hope in her old heart. She had wished 
 with all the might that was in her that he would 
 come back from Mexico with some^wife beautiful 
 as the day, richer than a dozen of the Gonzales. 
 Don Mac might laugh and be gay if he chose over 
 the elopement of his fiancee with another man, but 
 
 95
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 in Perenza the slight rankled like a poisoned 
 arrow. Suppose the girl in the cell of the old 
 padres should heal that wound to the pride! To 
 Perenza she was more beautiful than the Gon- 
 zales, and when had he ever looked at the heir of 
 Hermosa as he looked at the Senorita of the moc- 
 casins? 
 
 The old woman took her knitting to the door 
 of the little room and sat in the shade of the wide 
 porch, glancing occasionally to the far end, where 
 Leighton resumed his place at Galbraith's door. 
 Her dreams had ever been of a wife of wealth for 
 him, but after all beauty and youth were better 
 than nothing! 
 
 Diego Estrada returned in a little while, and 
 beside him was the much frightened Pedro, who 
 hastened to assure Don Mac how little he was 
 to blame in the matter of El Diablo ! Maria her- 
 self was witness that it was little else than highway 
 robbery the strange Senorita had been guilty of. 
 That one horse she would have and no other. 
 And he, Pedro Lorde, and also Maria, had been 
 so sure she was a dear friend, or even a relation, 
 she knew Don Mac so well, so very well ! And 
 she had told them he never would want a lady to 
 walk so far as Hermosa ! 
 
 "Which Hermosa?" 
 
 But there Pedro fell back on his saints to wit- 
 ness how little he knew of the Senorita's inten- 
 
 96
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 tions. It might be the Hacienda, it might be the 
 settlement, or it might be even Old Mission, 
 where she now lay. But since Don Mac the 
 saints be thanked! had recovered the ani- 
 mal 
 
 " From where did she come?" 
 
 Here again Pedro was useless. He did, indeed, 
 think it must be from the railroad, but 
 
 "Was she alone?" 
 
 "Sure!" This was the only reply of which 
 Pedro was quite certain. The other lady in the 
 stage had called to her, had implored her, but the 
 Senorita had insisted on stopping alone at Pedro's, 
 and Maria had made the coffee and 
 
 " She came in the stage? " 
 
 " Of course ! " 
 
 " Why did you not tell me that at first? " 
 
 " First ? But, serior, you no asking me that ques- 
 tion ! " 
 
 " Go on, get out. Diego, find the driver; he 
 will know." 
 
 "Mother of God!" cried Pedro; "you no 
 hearing yet about the stage? " 
 
 Leighton turned to Estrada questioningly. 
 
 ' The word just got here, senor," said the latter. 
 ' The stage was caught somewhere after it turned 
 into the canon road and the driver and one horse 
 was found five mile below, no one else." 
 
 ; ' Wait here," said Leighton, after a moment's 
 
 97
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 thought, and then fee made his way along the 
 colonnade to the room of the Seiiorita. The child 
 now lay beside the girl, one of its tiny fingers 
 clasped in hers, while Anita sat on guard beside 
 them, fearing some movement too abrupt for the 
 wee morsel of humanity. The Senorita was sleep- 
 ing quietly and Perenza nodded approval. 
 
 "It is goodl We find a child to sleep beside 
 her si she fret like that some more. This one 
 too young yet for a plaything, too easy to break. 
 Santa Maria, how she ever save him alive like 
 she did?" 
 
 Leighton pointed to the brown dress over the 
 back of a chair and the little leather bag beside it. 
 
 " The pocket ! Give me any papers there." 
 
 Perenza opened the bag cautiously, while Anita 
 looked on with wide-eyed curiosity. The posses- 
 sions of the girl, like the girl herself, were 
 regarded with something like awe by all who had 
 seen her riding ahead of the flood. But even the 
 sharp eyes of Perenza could find little to wonder 
 at in the pockets, a few coins, a few keys on a 
 silver ring, a little hem-stitched handkerchief with 
 an embroidered " A " in the corner, and last, a 
 card with a name, " Miss A- J. Watson," and on 
 the back in pencil was written the address in Her- 
 mosa, where the teacher from Kern County had 
 meant to stop. 
 
 Leighton turned it over, regarding it dubiously.
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 It was a cheap, printed affair and bore little sug- 
 gestion of relationship to the leather bag with its 
 dainty lining and chain of silver, yet it was all he 
 had to go by. 
 
 He copied it carefully and gave the copy to 
 Estrada. 
 
 "Go to this place and ask if any friends or 
 relatives of the young lady reside there. If you 
 find her people, tell them where she is. Under- 
 stand?" 
 
 " Sure ! You want that they come and take the 
 Seiiorita of the moccasins to her own home 
 no?" 
 
 Leighton made an impatient gesture and 
 Estrada departed hastily for his horse, and was 
 directly heard clattering along towards the high- 
 way for Hermosa, while Leighton sank wearily 
 back in his chair at Galbraith's door, and his face 
 dropped forward in his hands as though hurt by 
 the brilliant light on the white stones of the patio. 
 
 1 You want that they come and take the 
 Senorita?" The words of Diego echoed them- 
 selves mockingly in his ears. Did he want? She 
 had taken up his work where he had laid it down. 
 Through all the horror of that night, she was the 
 one star shining clearly through the dusk for him, 
 and he felt suddenly aggressive towards the 
 unknown people who would come by and by, and 
 gather her to themselves and bar him out. 
 
 99
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 Bar him out! He uttered a contemptuous 
 groan at his own folly. What was the girl to 
 him? or what would he hope for in a young life 
 like that? He had come back for work, the work 
 he had shirked a year ago. He had not meant to 
 shirk it, he had meant to do the one generous 
 thing needed to render the daughter of his old 
 friend absolutely happy. He had not legally 
 turned over the management of the estate 
 to her, neither had he legally relinquished 
 the guardianship of her, though he prob- 
 ably would have thoughtlessly done both but 
 for the restraining remembrance of his bonds- 
 men. He had simply let go the reins with the 
 sense of freedom, believing and hoping someway 
 that it would be all right. Delfina's husband 
 would certainly for his own interests help guard 
 Delfina's estate; who could fancy that it could be 
 otherwise ? 
 
 But the " otherwise " was the thing he would 
 have to face now. He counted over the few weeks 
 or months until the daughter of Gonzales, the 
 man who had entrusted him with the care of her, 
 should reach her majority. On that day, though 
 it should sink the Mission rancho and all it con- 
 tained, the estate of Hermosa must be put into 
 her hands as clear of obligations as it was when 
 Gonzales left it in his trust, and until that day 
 
 100
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 oame, there was only one trail of duty for him 
 to follow. 
 
 Perenza, watching him from her end of the 
 gallery, came over and squatted against a pillar 
 beside him. 
 
 " Foot hurt bad, Don Mac? You make moan 
 like Sefior Braith, so I thinking maybe " 
 
 " Don't think, Tia Perenza, and don't mind 
 me. I'm only getting acclimated again and it's 
 harder knocks than usual." 
 
 Perenza nodded her head sagaciously. 
 
 " Si you bringing home a wife, that the best 
 thing could ever happen this rancho, Don Mac. 
 You no liking be all alone all your life no? I 
 hoping," she went on craftily, " you bring home 
 some ver beautiful senora from that Mexico for 
 that yellow hair Gonzales to see." 
 
 "Gonzales?" 
 
 " Um ! " assented Perenza, " I ver glad all the 
 time you no marrying with her. All same, I no 
 like si she say my Don Mac no can si he want." 
 
 Her Don Mac laughed and his sombre thought- 
 fulness vanished. 
 
 ' You're jealous, Perenza, but of the Senora 
 Darrett you must speak with respect." 
 
 " Sure, when people listen ! But I knowing that 
 old man Gonzales, and I seeing that Dutch woman 
 what he marry ugh! Then I see the little fine 
 
 101
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 lady when she riding up that hill each day to make 
 talk with a man what hide sometimes " 
 
 "Perenza!" 
 
 " Si 1 I minding all what happen and that hap- 
 pen more as one dozen times ! Ay de mi ! I glad 
 when you go to Mexico, for she no caring long 
 for that pretty vagamunda ! But si you come 
 home without a wife, I sorry." 
 
 " A sick man is in this room, a dead woman in 
 : the sala, perhaps a dying girl over there, and you 
 ^.waste time to talk of a wedding, a wedding I 
 'shan't catch up with for a long time." 
 
 "Catchup?" 
 
 "My wedding plans are over gone dead! 
 .Funerals are more in my line now." 
 
 " That Senorita ver pretty girl, Don Mac." 
 
 Don Mac frowned impatiently. 
 
 " The year has not left us younger, Tia Per- 
 enza. We talk like children or people whose wits 
 are gone. The Senorita may be beautiful as an 
 angel, but she is not for our world." 
 
 "Not for our world!*' Perenza stumbled to 
 her feet, startled by his sudden intensity. To her 
 his words only meant that the strange Senorita 
 was marked beyond hope for death. 
 
 Leighton touched her arm and pointed to the 
 sky line of the Sierras looming beyond the far 
 ranges. 
 
 " Every day you have lived, you have seen the 
 
 102
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 blue of the mountains, Perenza; have you ever 
 climbed to the top of one? " 
 
 "Holy Mother! Nat" 
 
 " Have you ever circled one to see what was on 
 the other side? " 
 
 ; ' Why I doing so big fool a thing? This is 
 my side. I staying where I belong. That moun- 
 tain, when I was a girl bad Indians coming down, 
 sometimes from other side that mountain. I ver 
 glad the mountain there to keep more bad ones 
 out. The good God making it for a wall maybe. 
 I hearing the Padre saying that with these two 
 ears!" 
 
 ' Yes. v; Well, the wall around your beautiful 
 Sefiorita may have been built by the same agency 
 or the opposite. But the wall is as high and as 
 strong as the Mother Mountains, Perenza, and 
 for me there is no path." 
 
 103
 
 VII 
 
 FELIPE'S FATE. 
 
 The boarding-house keeper at Hermosa sent 
 back word to Leighton that a school teacher, Miss 
 Watson, had engaged board there in case she 
 could get the school. But a teacher was already in 
 charge, pending the recovery of the original peda- 
 gogue from a siege of typhoid. The man of the 
 boarding house further stated that the correspond- 
 ence concerning both the school and the boarding 
 had been conducted by a sister-in-law of Miss 
 Watson, who lived across in Kern County. The 
 letters with addresses had been mislaid, but he 
 would endeavor to find them. 
 
 Leighton read this bald statement which told 
 him so little and that little not pleasant. 
 
 A school teacher! And of the class hoping to 
 be accepted as a substitute, a stop gap ! One 
 whom her relatives had started out to make her 
 own way and find a home as best she could among 
 the not very select class in the straggling village 
 of Hermosa. 
 
 Perenza heard him swear as he folded the let- 
 ter, but she noticed that his expression was any- 
 thing but harsh as he bade her to spare no pains 
 in the care of the Senorita and to demand all the 
 
 104
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 help she required. There was no one else to look 
 after her. 
 
 " Then the relation of the Senorita, he no is 
 coming for her? " 
 
 " It doesn't look likely." 
 
 " Not at all, not any time? " repeated Perenza 
 incredulously, " not at any time when she have 
 save the whole Hermosa valley?" 
 
 " They are people of leather hearts, her people, 
 and they live far away. The Hermosa valley 
 must make up to her for them." 
 
 " Hermosa! " grunted Perenza, not ill pleased. 
 " Humph! that mean just you! " 
 
 " And you," he added. 
 
 " Madre de dios ! how do I count? You taking 
 care me all the same like I was sick like the Seno- 
 rita, or little like the baby! " 
 
 But long after he had left the room Perenza 
 sat knitting and staring at the sleeping girl. She 
 had always thought Don Mac a fit mate for any 
 crowned queen, then why why did he make such 
 talk of a high wall between him and a little school 
 teacher, who 'wore shoes like the Indians? No 
 -path ! Perenza grunted discontentedly, and 
 thought of his handsome face and strong arms; 
 what were they for but to clear paths wherever he 
 wanted to go? 
 
 Was he still thinking of that Gonzales with 
 the yellow frizzle top of hair? She prayed the 
 
 105
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 saints to send the man more than the sense of a 
 mule! 
 
 The sun was dropping far down in the west, 
 and where she sat by the open door she could see 
 the people coming and going in the patio, as they 
 had been doing all day, some only curious, others 
 to offer help, many with hearty welcome to 
 Leighton. 
 
 The latter departed feeling that the year in 
 Mexico had left him more than a year older; he 
 was not the care-free comrade they had known. 
 What had Mexico done to him? 
 
 Some of them plunged into the heart of the 
 Hermosa problems, and despite the many claims 
 on his attention, strove to sound him concerning 
 the Darrett schemes, among which was a " wild- 
 cat " railroad proposition so at variance with the 
 needs of the district that it would bar out a branch 
 road they had all been working for and which was 
 to come in from a different direction. It was 
 only a " boom " affair to fill the pockets of some 
 outside speculators, but in some way they had got 
 Felipe Darrett on their side and were using Her- 
 mosa as a base of operations. Factories and a 
 sanitarium were among the several things 
 projected, and for the latter the water from Old 
 Mission reservoir was to be turned into a different 
 channel. This meant that the lands heretofore 
 receiving the benefits for which it had been con- 
 
 106
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 structed would be left aside from its path, useless 
 for miles along the line, and the troubled ranch- 
 men were in several cases not by any means certain 
 whether they could keep Darrett from trans- 
 ferring the water right, if, as he claimed, the old 
 reservoir did actually belong to the Gonzales 
 tract and not, as had always been supposed, to 
 the Old Mission tract itself. 
 
 Leighton listened to all, and committed him- 
 self to few decided opinions. To Darrett's avowed 
 enemies he had said, " We will see." To Dar- 
 rett's few friends he had stated that very clever 
 promoters had been working the said road deal, 
 and no one was so wise that he might not make 
 mistakes under such pressure. Only when the old 
 Hermosa dam was touched upon did he show a 
 flash of feeling and decision. 
 
 " There will be a new survey made of those 
 lines," he said, " so don't let the water rights 
 worry you. The Gonzales heirs can't give any 
 title to them. Gonzales and I discovered that the 
 last survey was wrong. We made an agreement 
 about it, but let it stand for the time. As some 
 of you were invited to the wedding," he added, 
 smiling, " you will understand why." 
 
 'That's so; if you had married the daughter, 
 Hermosa would have had no dividing line ! " 
 
 " And no broken dam last night," added 
 another. 
 
 107
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " Well, if I was too late for the wedding, I am 
 here in time to protect the water rights and don't 
 worry over the proposed booms and shaky rail- 
 road schemes; they will never get farther than the 
 paper they are planned on. I can assure you the 
 Gonzales tracts will not enter into the deal, at 
 least not at the figures quoted." 
 
 " Oh, it's Darrett's crazy plunging," said one 
 of the younger men. " I've always felt guilty for 
 bringing him into the valley. But he seemed all 
 right in Frisco, or else my drinks were mixed too 
 often for clear sight. Anyway, he took me home 
 one night when I could not find the way, so I 
 thought he was a good fellow, and invited him 
 down. I ought to have been kicked ! " 
 
 " Nonsense ! " said Leighton, easily. " Let me 
 fill your glass. You were not to blame. He was 
 an unusually attractive fellow, you know. It was 
 all just a streak of dumb luck, like most things in 
 life are, whether good, bad or indifferent." 
 
 What he really thought of Felipe Darrett none 
 of them could guess, but they remembered that he 
 was the first to welcome him back to Hermosa, 
 and that he had given his old friends to under- 
 stand that they must do likewise, and that he had 
 established Darrett's social standing in the valley 
 before he had left for Mexico. And now on his 
 return he was almost the only one who had no 
 
 108
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 word of blame for the mistakes which an enemy 
 might have called crimes. 
 
 " But if he is even half a man, won't he show 
 up now ? " demanded one of the ranchmen who 
 had come to offer help. He was speaking to a 
 group at the opposite end of the patio from 
 Leighton, and his words were clearly heard by 
 Perenza, who sat with her endless knitting of linen 
 lace at the Senorita's door. " Will he let Mac 
 Leighton shoulder all this tribe, his employees, 
 mind you! doctor the sick and bury the dead? 
 I'll bet he is double locked in his own room over 
 at the Hacienda, afraid of being mobbed, and 
 shaking like a dose of ague every time the bell 
 rings." 
 
 " Old Luigo says he went away yesterday even- 
 ing," stated one of the more temperate citizens, 
 named Mitchell, " went away and left some newly 
 arrived guests in the house, lawyers who came by 
 his appointment to settle some transfers of outly- 
 ing tracts he was to sell. I guess they held an 
 indignation meeting this morning and started on 
 the back trail. Luigo looked very shaky and 
 scary, but I had to take his word for it that his 
 sefiora was in Frisco, and that Darrett had rid- 
 den away yesterday evening and had not 
 returned." 
 
 "Not returned! ridden away! say " 
 
 The men looked at each other quickly, the 
 
 109
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 same thought had come to each at the words. The 
 path of the flood was many miles long : who could 
 tell what riders had crossed it? 
 
 " That would look like a stroke of dramatic 
 justice," remarked one of the men. " But it is 
 not likely to happen. A man either on foot or on 
 horseback could hear the flood coming in time to 
 climb for high ground. Those people in the stage 
 would have escaped, no doubt, if the clatter of the 
 wheels had not drowned the roar until it was too 
 close. There was- a woman in it, too, a stranger 
 by name of Ogden. Wouldn't have known even 
 her name if Bert Hamilton hadn't chanced to hear 
 it on the stage. His salvation was leaving it at 
 Pedro's." 
 
 " Find the woman yet?" 
 
 " Not at last reports, and the chances are 
 against it, after Quartz Creek reaches North Fork. 
 The water was high, you know, all over, without 
 the extra flood." 
 
 Then there was heard the clattering of shod 
 hoofs on the paving without and across the yard, 
 and into the patio rode an old man, hatless, and 
 with straggling gray locks flying back from an 
 ashen face. 
 
 He halted the panting animal and called 
 hoarsely, gasping, while he shaded his eyes with 
 his hand and peered at the group of men. 
 
 no
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " The Don Mac, the Senor Leighton ! I am 
 come for him, I come for help! " 
 
 'What sort of help do you folks need?" 
 demanded one of the ranchmen. " You people at 
 the Hacienda are out of reach of danger." 
 
 'Justice!" shrilled the old voice, quavering 
 with emotion and fury, " the justice of the good 
 God! the justice of the laws for Don Felipe my 
 Felipe!" 
 
 Leighton heard the commotion and the high 
 shrill tones, where he was seated for the moment 
 by Galbraith's bed, and arising with an effort he 
 reached for his crutch and went quietly as tie could 
 out on the porch, where the men were gathering 
 more closely about the old man, whom he recog- 
 nized as Luigo Castro, half servant, wholly 
 friend, and in some way a distant relative of 
 Felipe Darrett, the one creature who had come 
 with him from his old life into Hermosa. 
 
 He looked inquiringly at the old man, but said 
 nothing. Mitchell, the man who had inquired at 
 the Hacienda for Darrett, strode across the patio 
 and caught the newcomer by the shoulder. 
 
 ; ' What the devil do you mean, any way? " he 
 demanded, a slight shake emphasizing his words. 
 " Speak up ! What sort of justice does your Don 
 Felipe want of the valley? And why doesn't he 
 come for it himself?" 
 
 " He no is coming at all never any more, 
 
 in
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 Sefior Mitchell never any more ! " and the 
 old man broke down in sob, looking much 
 like an old woman shaken by grief, as his 
 long hair fell over his eyes, and the black ker- 
 chief from his head had slipped down about his 
 neck. 
 
 One of the men whistled meaningly. 
 
 " Vamosed, has he? Lit out? " 
 
 " Dead ! The bullet in the heart ! " 
 
 Old Luigo tossed the gray locks from his eyes 
 and fairly hurled the shrill statement at the group. 
 He knew, as did every one, how thoroughly Dar- 
 rett had made himself disliked by the ranchmen, 
 and Luigo's words held almost an accusation as 
 he glared at them. 
 
 " By George! " said Mitchell, slowly, " I take 
 back what I said against him. After all, perhaps, 
 he had too much of his father's blood in him to 
 stand the certainty that he had killed all those 
 people! I didn't think he had that much con- 
 science in him, but if he had, I take off my hat! " 
 
 " No no no!" shrilled the old Mexican 
 instantly. " It is the bad people of the valley 
 the bad people who hate him who jealous 
 who kill him alone in the old adobe in the vine- 
 yard ! Caramba ! Did I but find that man ! " 
 
 The shrill tones of Luigo reached Galbraith, 
 who turned restlessly and muttered disjointed 
 words, but only Leighton heard him call again 
 
 112
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 the forbidden name " Carmenita " ; and reach- 
 ing back, he carefully closed the door. 
 
 " Now, go easy and speak slow," advised 
 Mitchell. " If Barrett is dead, let us hear how it 
 happened. You told me this morning that he had 
 gone away; then you didn't give me quite a 
 straight story eh? " 
 
 Luigo passed his hand over his brow as though 
 dizzy and bewildered and Leighton reached out 
 his hand with a quick, admonishing gesture as the 
 old man swayed in the saddle. 
 
 " Help him, some of you ! Lift him off and 
 bring him here in the shade. Pete, hand us the 
 brandy. Can't you see that the old fellow is done 
 up? Be as as easy as you can with him, poor 
 devil!" 
 
 " His story doesn't seem probable," said Mitch- 
 ell, doubtfully. " He is wild and imagines the 
 murder part of it. The people who have had 
 most reason, the flood refugees, haven't had 
 time." 
 
 " But if he's dead, no matter how, you will 
 have your work cut out for you," said one of the 
 men to Leighton. " I mean straightening the 
 tangles he has made of the Gonzales estate." 
 
 ' Yes, I reckon so," assented Leighton, regard- 
 ing Luigo, who was reviving under the stimulants, 
 and staring about him confusedly. " My guard- 
 
 s 113
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 ianship of the senora does not expire until she is 
 of age." 
 
 " Whew ! I'm glad to hear it ! Old Manuel 
 Gonzales had a level head in spite of his queer 
 ways. You two were great friends ? " 
 
 " Yes, great friends," repeated Leighton, 
 mechanically. 
 
 " Well, you've got a working chance to prove 
 it now. In less than five years she and Darrett 
 wouldn't have a dollar," remarked Mitchell. 
 " You've struck home just in time to save his 
 daughter from what would seem like the poor- 
 house to her, and no one else could do it." 
 
 " No, I reckon not," agreed Leighton in the 
 same thoughtful way. 
 
 And Perenza, who had heard all from where 
 she sat, struck her needles vigorously into the 
 knitting. Don Mac was not, she could see, giving 
 his thoughts to the words he spoke. He was 
 thinking, no doubt, that Dona Delfina was now a 
 widow and that she would again, perhaps, drive 
 her ponies to the Mission rancho and carry him 
 off, as of old, into the Mission hills for the men- 
 enda and perhaps 
 
 But Perenza had no patience to picture the 
 future in the face of such a calamity. She was, 
 perhaps, the only one in the valley, except Luigo, 
 who actually wished with intensity that Felipe 
 Darrett was alive and destined to a ripe old age, 
 
 114
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 that Delfina Gonzales might remain safely bound 
 to him and without freedom to turn her eyes to 
 Don Mac, whom any woman, even a fool, would 
 regret after a year with that handsome mestizo. 
 
 Luigo, recovering speech and breath, was tell- 
 ing with many oaths and prayers and moans how 
 the grand gentlemen from the railroad had come 
 the evening before for the big dinner to which 
 Don Felipe had invited them, the lawyers and all, 
 to sell or buy the land, he did not know which; 
 and how angry they were when Don Felipe failed 
 to meet them, his guests, at all; and how they 
 had all gone away in a very bad humor, only the 
 lawyer, Serior Atterly, waiting all night, and send- 
 ing many telegrams; and how, at last, all the men 
 who could ride were called in and given horses 
 to circle the land till they found him; for no one 
 had seen him on any road anywhere! By the 
 little adobe in the vineyard they had come on his 
 horse, which had evidently been tied there many 
 hours, and in the adobe 
 
 Leighton, sitting in his big lounging chair at 
 Galbraith's door, listened with the others to the 
 halting, pregnant recital. Mitchell had shot one 
 keen glance at him when the lawyers and railroad 
 men were mentioned, a glance he read and under- 
 stood, though he made no sign. With his chin 
 resting on his hand, he was following each inci- 
 dent as Luigo pictured it. And Perenza, who
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 had moved near and stopped beside him, failed 
 to attract his attention until she plucked him by 
 the sleeve and forced his notice. Then he turned 
 his eyes slowly towards her, but did not speak. 
 His glance only gave her permission to do so and 
 she stooped over the arm of the chair close to 
 his ear. 
 
 " The Senorita ! " she whispered in Spanish. 
 " Serior Mitchell saying you now give all your 
 time to the Gonzales ranches to save all the mon- 
 eys for that woman! But Senor Mitchell no 
 knowing all about that Senorita, how she is doing 
 your work and is killed almost ! Si she is sick 
 like that, your time is her time and no belong to 
 any other woman at all, maybe not belong even, 
 to your own self! How you think? " 
 
 116
 
 VIII 
 
 THE INQUEST. 
 
 Coroners' inquests are not nice things, and the 
 one held on the body of Felipe Darrett was 
 strangely and unusually unpleasant for several rea- 
 sons. The evidence, plainly visible to the jury, 
 showed that Darrett, loading his revolvers, had 
 by some accident discharged one of them and that 
 the bullet had penetrated his own heart, produc- 
 ing, according to the medical diagnosis, instant 
 death. 
 
 The verdict was in accordance with the facts 
 found, and all the official work of the case, merely 
 the taking of the testimony of his own household 
 who had seen him ride away, and that of the man 
 who had found the body, was very simple indeed. 
 But every man of the Hermosa valley, who was 
 present, was conscious of many hidden things not 
 brought out by the evidence, and which none of 
 them cared particularly to investigate. 
 
 It was true that the revolvers were identified 
 as Barrett's own, the house was on the Gon- 
 zales estate, and the key to it was found in his 
 pocket. He had unlocked the door to enter. He 
 had tied his horse in the shed under cover instead 
 of in the yard without. He had gone there, delib- 
 
 117
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 erately, for some reason of his own. What that 
 reason was, could not even be conjectured. 
 
 One man, a Mexican, stated that he had seen 
 a woman meet Don Felipe in that garden several 
 weeks ago. But the coroner stated that unless 
 there was evidence that the woman had been there 
 at the time of the tragedy, he could not see how 
 she could be connected with it. However, if it 
 could be proven that it was Mr. Barrett's custom 
 to ride to that particularly isolated house to meet 
 the woman in question, it might be as well to send 
 for her. The coroner was a man from Olivette, 
 ten miles away, and knew nothing of the gossip 
 or factional strife of the district. 
 
 The men looked at each other, and as one of 
 the Mexican workmen was about to speak, 
 Leighton checked him. 
 
 ' The girl and the child are at my home, Mr. 
 Jackson. The girl was drowned in the Her- 
 mosa flood. All of these men know that it would 
 not have been possible for her to be here, and I 
 think most of them would rather not hear her 
 name dragged into this." 
 
 " That's so. Her baby was only a few days 
 old. Likely she died before he did," were some 
 of the comments, and they looked from one to the 
 other with renewed interest. 
 
 " If this is so, and he was indirectly the cause 
 of her death, you know, this very fact may give a 
 
 118
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 clue as to whether there could have been any one 
 with Mr. Darrett at the time of his death any 
 
 friend of the girl's, sweetheart, or relative, 
 r 
 
 " The girl and her grandmother were utterly 
 alone in the world," interrupted Leighton. " Both 
 died in the flood. Most of the men here have 
 known her all her life. Have any one among you 
 ever heard any man's name mentioned as her 
 lover? Any man who would be likely to follow 
 Felipe Darrett for revenge? " 
 
 " That's so ! " stated one of the others. " Only 
 one man's name has ever touched her, and there 
 he is! " And he pointed to the rigid form on the 
 floor. 
 
 " Ah h!" the coroner nodded comprehend- 
 ingly. "And there is a child? " He polished his 
 spectacles thoughtfully for a moment and then 
 continued: 'Well, gentlemen, this gives a new 
 interest to the case, but no light to go by except 
 a choice of conclusions. Did Mr. Darrett acci- 
 dently discharge the weapon causing his death, or 
 did he, while laboring under the horror and 
 remorse of the deaths caused by the flood, and of 
 that one death in particular, the death of the 
 mother of his child, did he, overcome by the 
 horror of the situation, deliberately seek this 
 retired spot, the place of their meetings, and inten- 
 tionally fire the shot causing his own death ? This 
 
 119
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 is the only visible reason yet given for his pres- 
 ence in this particular isolated place." 
 
 " Yes," drawled one of the younger men, " but 
 you would need a more visible reason than that if 
 you had ever known Felipe Darrett. Remorse? 
 Not any! The little girl would have starved to 
 death at the last but for a man I know. And no 
 matter who died, he would keep on living, you 
 bet, as long as people would let him ! " 
 
 ' The man is dead," said Leighton curtly. 
 " Give him the benefit of the doubt." 
 
 " Exactly," assented the coroner. u Individu- 
 ally and privately we can do all that, but officially 
 and publicly we can't advance that theory as a 
 cause of death. Only the seeking of this isolated 
 spot suggests suicide. All the other evidence goes 
 to strengthen the accident theory, and a verdict 
 according to the facts as found." 
 
 Thus it was that the question was decided, and 
 the body of Felipe Darrett was lifted and carried 
 out of the low door, followed by old Luigo, weep- 
 ing no longer, but silent, sullen and suspicious of 
 the Americans, coroner and all ! 
 
 His own idea, repeatedly insisted upon, was 
 that Don Felipe had gone to meet some one, to 
 fight some one, and for that reason had taken 
 the pistols. 
 
 He had been very angry all day and in the 
 afternoon he had sent Luigo for the cartridges. 
 
 1 20
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 When Luigo got back, Don Felipe was walking 
 on the terrace, impatient, while Roderiguez held 
 his horse; but as soon as he detected Luigo, he 
 mounted at once, reached for the cartridges, 
 looked at his watch, and galloped away. That was 
 late in the afternoon. Luigo was sure he rode to 
 meet some one. 
 
 But the coroner and jury had alike weighed 
 Luigo's personal opinions lightly. His black, fer- 
 ret-like eyes had peered at each and every one of 
 them with sour suspicion. To him the inquest 
 was a farce and an insult to Don Felipe. Why 
 should that girl and her brat be flung at the dead 
 man in that manner? Caramba! If a caballero 
 stole an hour with a girl some lucky night, must 
 he feed her and her relations forever? He cursed 
 the American ways and the Americans themselves, 
 and spat upon the memory of their ancestors. 
 
 Leighton had shown him more consideration 
 than the others that was Leighton's way but 
 even he had not secured the justice Luigo had 
 hoped for, and crushed and hopeless, the old man 
 walked his cow pony in the wake of the under- 
 taker's wagon along the road to the Hacienda 
 Hermosa. 
 
 Then a strange thing occurred. As the caval- 
 cade wound slowly down from the vineyard, 
 another procession passed along the road at the 
 foot of the hill; so large a procession indeed 
 
 121
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 that it appeared as if the entire valley had turned 
 out in carriages, on horseback and afoot. Many 
 of the pedestrians were hatless and shoeless, as 
 they had escaped from the flood of the canon; 
 they were the refugees and their friends, following 
 with reverent steps the bodies of Carlotta Alverez 
 and her granddaughter, Carmenita, as they were 
 borne to a resting place within the exclusive 
 grounds of the Gonzales cemetery. The dense- 
 ness of the shrubbery had prevented the two pro- 
 cessions coming in sight of each other until they 
 simultaneously reached the junction of the two 
 roads. 
 
 The men bearing the body of Carmenita 
 scowled meaningly at each other as they realized 
 the situation and quickened their steps to pass the 
 meeting of the ways first; but the undertaker 
 leaped from the wagon and hastened in advance. 
 
 " One minute, my man," he said, seeing the 
 barefooted Mexicans and their burden, " one min- 
 ute, if you please, until we reach the gates of the 
 Hacienda. You must give way for the dead mas- 
 ter of Hermosa ! " 
 
 The old priest stepped from a carriage of the 
 Mission rancho and walked to the head of the 
 column. He was very old and his face paled with 
 excitement as he leaned on a cane and raised the 
 crucifix with a gesture of supreme authority over 
 the black draped bier. 
 
 122
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " Give way, you, to that master's victim ! " he 
 commanded steadily. " Go on, my children, I 
 will wait till all have passed." 
 
 The men of the jury and the witnesses, all who 
 knew the story of those two, stood uncovered 
 until the long procession filed by, and Leighton, 
 dismounting with some difficulty, obeyed a sign 
 from the priest and entered the carriage with the 
 aged man, who was trembling visibly under the 
 nervous strain of the encounter. 
 
 " It is not for us to judge either the living or 
 the dead," he said, sinking back among the cush- 
 ions; "but neither is it well for these, my bare- 
 footed children in the dust, to feel that wealth 
 makes distinction even after death." 
 
 Their carriage was the last. After them, the 
 men of the jury moved their horses into couples 
 and brought up the rear, leaving only the under- 
 taker, the coroner, and Luigo to follow the body 
 of Felipe Darrett, the man who had ruled like a 
 young sultan over their thousands of acres for 
 one brief, calamitous year. 
 
 123
 
 IX 
 
 DONA DELFINA. 
 
 On the terrace of the Hacienda, a carriage had 
 just halted, and a man and woman, stepping from 
 it, stopped at the entrance to the court and stared 
 at the immense procession entering the great gates 
 of the house park. The woman held a lace- 
 trimmed dot of a handkerchief to her eyes, and 
 rested her fingers appealingly on the man's coat 
 sleeve. 
 
 "Isn't it pathetic?" she murmured. "All 
 those poor people! Even when my father died 
 there was no such such demonstration. The 
 poor souls, some of them are barefooted! How 
 devoted of them ! And Felipe, you know, had 
 only been among them for a year." 
 
 ' There certainly does appear to be a great 
 number of people," agreed her companion. 
 "Shall we go in? You can't possibly see them 
 now, Mrs. Barrett. They are likely to be as de- 
 monstrative as they are affectionate and itwould 
 be entirely too exhausting for you. Your own 
 health and nerves must be considered, my dear 
 lady. We had better go in." 
 
 " Just just as you say, Mr. Atterly/* agreed 
 the widow. " I really don't know what I should 
 
 124
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 have done this day without you, your advice and 
 sympathy. To think just to think ! I should 
 have had to drive home in a hired carriage and 
 alone, but for you ! I never shall forget it, 
 never! " 
 
 ' The servants were so distracted " began 
 
 Mr. Atterly. 
 
 " Oh, the servants were not to blame, of course; 
 they have no heads on their shoulders ! But Mac 
 Leighton you tell me is back, and he has always 
 managed affairs here, even the most trifling ! And 
 now, when something really awful has happened, 
 he leaves me to get home any way I can." 
 
 ' They say he was crippled trying to warn the 
 workmen." 
 
 " Crippled! A crippled foot needn't affect his 
 brain ! He always why, where in the world are 
 those people going?" 
 
 They had entered the sala and from one of the 
 deep windows she had caught a glimpse of the 
 procession along the lower drive. They had 
 entered the gates, but instead of approaching the 
 Hacienda, they were moving slowly along the way 
 leading to the far corner of the great park 
 enclosed by Manuel Gonzales as the estate of the 
 dead. 
 
 "Most peculiar!" agreed Mr. Atterly. "It 
 can't be that they mean to " 
 
 " Mean to bury him without even waiting for 
 
 125
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 me to see him ! " sobbed the widow, bewil- 
 dered and indignant. "It is an outrage ! 
 You see how I am ignored, Mr. Atterly! 
 
 You see how I need " But her needs were 
 
 smothered in the handkerchief, while Mr. Atterly 
 stared in perplexity from the sobbing woman to 
 the slowly moving line of people, not half of 
 whom had yet entered the gate. 
 
 A maid was silently removing her mistress's 
 wraps and very chic black hat, at the same time 
 slipping a fresh handkerchief into her limp hand. 
 
 " The seriora will want some tea? I will have 
 it immediately," she said soothingly, and hurried 
 past the staring Mexican servants, who had gath- 
 ered from every corner to watch the arrival of 
 the senora and the lawyer, who had been Don 
 Felipe's most constant companion of late. The 
 Mexicans stared at each other, half frightened as 
 they heard her angry tone and her sobs. 
 
 Never could they remember her coming with- 
 out a party of gay friends. She frankly detested 
 country life and only found it tolerable when she 
 could bring as much of the city as possible with 
 her; and her coming always meant many beds to 
 make and much cooking. For a funeral, of course, 
 all the friends would come, besides all the rela- 
 tives and all the connections of either side of the 
 house. 
 
 Thus it had been decided in the kitchen the 
 
 126
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 night before, and no one had slept a wink since 
 because of the preparations. Every bed in the 
 house was ready for an occupant that minute. 
 The chickens were not only killed, but ready for 
 the roasting pan. Marta, the cook, had a table 
 half across the kitchen heaped with cakes of many 
 kinds, and the custards browning in the pans. The 
 tables were lengthened to their extreme limit in 
 the dining-room, the plates were already laid, and 
 all for the Senora Darrett, who knew nothing of 
 the delicate differences of flavorings, and for the 
 lean lawyer of the railroad who had that morning 
 asked Mother of God! for a cup of boiled 
 ' water, and a dry toast for his breakfast ! 
 
 Marta could not leave the oven and the rest 
 were afraid to return and report that not one soul 
 besides the seriora and the lawyer had come. And 
 they huddled together like frightened sheep in 
 the court, and heard the exclamations and sobs 
 of their sefiora, while the maid, " Mees Ana," 
 swept past them with the scorn she would have 
 given pigs, and went to see personally to the tea. 
 
 " I I really beg of you ! " remonstrated the 
 lawyer, who was conscious of the peering eyes 
 and helpless as to the sobbing woman. " If there 
 is anything I can do anything I " 
 
 " Don't go away. I simply can't be alone ! 
 Send some one to tell them I am here, tell 
 them " 
 
 127
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " Certainly, at once ! Here, you fellow with 
 the sash, run quickly! Tell them that Mrs. Dar- 
 rett orders that they bring the the remains here 
 to the house! Do you hear?" he demanded, as 
 Roderiguez stared at him with wild eyes. ' There 
 is to be no funeral to-day, tell them at once ! " 
 
 The man slouched away a few yards and 
 halted. His comrades, male and female, fell back 
 a few paces, ready to resume their household 
 duties if the stranger should assign them also to 
 new and unwelcome tasks. 
 
 Mr. Atterly's thin face took on an added degree 
 of color. 
 
 "Why do you not go?" he demanded with 
 concentrated wrath. " Do you not understand? " 
 
 " I no going," stated Roderiguez, resting him- 
 self sullenly on the base of a marble urn. " The 
 Padre he no like; he maybe sending my soul to 
 hell, si I stop the dead body after the prayers 
 being said. The senora, she no knowing anything 
 about that she " 
 
 'There!" cried the senora herself, as she 
 heard this opinion through the open window. 
 ' You see why I wanted to sell the horrid place ! 
 No money will pay these pigs to be obedient and 
 respectful ! Ana ! Ana ! My hat ! This is an 
 outrage! an insult! I shall stop that crazy old 
 priest and let him see who is mistress of Her- 
 mosa! " 
 
 128
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 Ana, entering with the tea, had to put it aside 
 and find the hat with its sweeping folds of silken 
 veil, and fasten it quickly on the fluffy blond hair, 
 while Mr. Atterly attempted in vain to dissuade 
 her from going personally to meet the people of 
 the funeral. If one Roderiguez was not to be 
 moved by her wishes, what could one hope from 
 a mob of this kind? 
 
 And Roderiguez, watching her cross the sward 
 leaning on the ever ready arm of the lawyer, first 
 crossed himself and then grinned as he saw them 
 take the short cut across the terrace to head off 
 the funeral train. 
 
 It was farther than it looked, and at the stone 
 wall where the fountain was they must make a 
 detour. Roderiguez, who knew each foot of it, 
 reckoned that they would reach the drive about 
 the time the last carriage passed, and he grinned 
 again at the fancy of how the hot water and toast 
 man would look making the race to the head of 
 the procession to stop it, or else how he would 
 look on foot, with his long legs and black clothes 
 following in the dust ! It would also not be pleas- 
 ant for the senora. But Roderiguez rolled a 
 cigarette, and waited, and did not care much for 
 the senora either. She had been under a roof, 
 safe alongside a good cooked dinner, and Madre 
 de dios! and why not stay where one is well off? 
 
 Mr. Atterly lifted an imperious hand to the first 
 
 129
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 driver who came within hailing distance. But the 
 man only stared and guided his horses carefully 
 that the wheels might not over-reach on the vel- 
 vety green of the park. The episode of the under- 
 taker near the vineyard had been too recent, and 
 the authority of Father Rey too absolute for him 
 to halt now for some stranger. Perhaps the 
 stranger and the woman with the black veil 
 wanted to ride, but he had all the load his horses 
 could pull, and the strangers had good shoes to 
 walk with ! 
 
 The senora gasped with annoyance and clung 
 to the lawyer's arm appealingly. 
 
 "What an outrage an outrage!" she said 
 fiercely. " I they are making me ill. I shall 
 faint! One would think I had no rights to my 
 own husband! Oh, make them stop make them 
 stop!" 
 
 Mr. Atterly did so, but he did it by stepping 
 squarely in front of a carriage team, and catching 
 them by the bits. The senora, still clinging to his 
 arm, stood beside him in the middle of the drive, 
 half sobbing and hysterical. 
 
 "What is this? What is this?" demanded 
 Father Rey from the carriage window. The law- 
 yer held the horses while the driver tugged at the 
 lines and swore in Spanish. 
 
 " It is Mrs. Barrett's orders that this line of 
 people stop where they are and that the body be 
 
 130
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 taken to the Hacienda before burial. The sootier 
 some of you ride ahead and stop the others, the 
 less inconvenience and distress of mind you will 
 cause her." 
 
 "Distress of mind!" was repeated in deeper 
 tones from the priest's carriage. " Let me see this 
 gentleman, father. I can't twist myself across to 
 that window because of my crippled foot. 
 There!" he exclaimed as he finally reached the 
 window, from which the lawyer was visible. 
 " May we ask, sir, who you are and why this 
 order comes from Mrs. Darrett? " 
 
 ' Why it comes ! " cried the widow hysterically. 
 " Mac Leighton, have you no sort of considera- 
 tion left? I supposed you were injured, helpless, 
 and it is you who allow this outrage! I never in 
 the world expected to find you ignoring my rights 
 in this way, allowing these people " 
 
 " Mrs. Darrett, my dear lady ! " said Mr. 
 Atterly, pressing her arm, for her voice had grown 
 shrill in anger and the men on horseback were 
 moving closer and regarding this scene curiously. 
 
 " I will speak. It is an outrage! " Then she 
 waved her hand as in dismissal of both Leighton 
 and the priest. " This gentleman is Mr. Atterly, 
 my business manager in the future! He knows 
 my wishes! I give him full power to enforce 
 them ! " And she was turning away defiantly,
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 when Leighton opened the carriage door and 
 faced her on the drive. 
 
 " Wait a bit, Delfina," he suggested in a kindly, 
 tolerant, yet decided way. " Mr. Atterly may be 
 your manager after my guardianship is over 
 but " 
 
 " Guardianship ! " she ejaculated, " when I'm 
 married ! " 
 
 " But since under your father's will you are not 
 yet of age to act with regard to the management 
 of the estate, you will have to put up with me until 
 then. Father Rey will tell you some other time 
 why Hermosa owes those women grave room; 
 and I owe it to your father to see that Hermosa 
 pays its debts." 
 
 " Grave room ! Those women ! What women ? 
 It is Felipe I want brought home, Felipe I want." 
 
 " Mrs. Darrett," said Mr. Mitchell, whose 
 horse had pressed close to the carriage, " there 
 is some mistake in your mind about all this. 
 Felipe will reach the house before you; that's the 
 undertaker's wagon just going up the grade. This 
 is the funeral of Carolina Alverez and her grand- 
 child, Carmenita, who were killed by the flood of 
 the new Hermosa dam." 
 
 Delfina cast one appalled look towards the soli- 
 tary spring wagon in which the undertaker and 
 coroner were moving leisurely up the drive, fol- 
 lowed by the bent figure of old Luigo on the cow 
 
 132
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 pony. Then her eyes followed incredulously the 
 line of vehicles and horsemen, reaching far around 
 the bend of the drive and out of sight. The 
 funeral of some obscure Mexicans ! 
 
 As a realization of the contrast came to her she 
 gasped for breath, articulated but one intense, 
 withering word, " Outrage! " and then sank back 
 into the arms of Mr. Atterly in a very real faint. 
 
 133
 
 X 
 
 DELFINA AND DON MAC HAVE AN INTERVIEW. 
 
 The days to follow were days of storm and 
 stress to Delfina Darrett. She had stormed indig- 
 nantly at Leighton's interference in her affairs, 
 had sold Hermosa outright to Mr. Atterly's 
 clients and had been furious when Leighton 
 showed the latter that Mrs. Darrett's signature 
 could give him no title. Upon which, Mr. 
 Atterly tried to spell-bind Leighton with visions 
 of what a god-send to posterity their proposed 
 changes would make in the valley. 
 
 Leighton insinuated that he was not particu- 
 larly interested in Atterly's posterity, at which the 
 mistress of Hermosa had declared that Mac 
 Leighton was insulting her friends, and that for 
 her part she meant to leave the country and not 
 put foot in it again until she was legally of age, 
 then she would show Mac Leighton! In fact, 
 she did go. But her beloved Frisco proved a 
 tantalizing place in which to take up one's abode 
 when in full mourning. She wrote daily letters 
 of reproach to Leighton for two weeks and 
 received in reply one note as follows: 
 
 My Dear Delfina :- 
 
 I have much to do at present trying to tie up 
 your estate so that you and Mr. Atterly will have 
 
 134
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 good mental exercise trying to untie it. In fact, 
 I have too much to do to spare time for talking 
 about it, my only excuse for not replying in 
 detail to your questions. Of course, since you are 
 more comfortable among your friends of the city, 
 I would advise you to remain there. 
 
 Yours faithfully, Mac. 
 
 Whereupon, Delfina took the next train for 
 Hermosa. 
 
 And when, after some delay, Leighton respond- 
 ed to her written request carried by Luigo Castro 
 to the Old Mission, he found her walking rest- 
 lessly up and down the sala, where she received 
 him with a petulant smile. 
 
 " You are looking remarkably well, Delfina, 
 but you lack at least two inches for tragedy. 
 Come, sit down and confess how many different 
 kinds of a brute you think me. After that's off 
 your mind you'll feel better." 
 
 Delfina was making a sweeping turn of the 
 sala, dragging much graceful dull black flouncing 
 in her wake. But at Leighton's words she rested 
 herself abruptly with the width of the gorgeous 
 room between them. 
 
 " What has come over you, Mac Leighton?" 
 she demanded. " Mexico has made a different 
 person of you ! " 
 
 ' You should not quarrel with that," he ob- 
 served; " you did not like the old person so well." 
 
 135
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " At least he was not a stubborn sphinx to deal 
 with ; one could argue him out of his crazy notions 
 sometimes! " 
 
 " No no, you couldn't, Delfina," he said, 
 crossing over and drawing a chair beside her. " I 
 was weak and careless and gave in to you often 
 because things did not matter so much then. But 
 now well if I talked until the moon rose, I 
 couldn't tell you all the tangles of the estate and 
 I don't mean to try. It was in good running order 
 a year ago when I left it. I should have held on 
 with a tighter grip than ever when you married, 
 I should have remembered, first, last and all the 
 time, my promise to your father. Well, I didn't! 
 I took a lot of things for granted and left it in 
 your hands! In a short time it goes back into 
 your hands and Mr. Atterly's ! And it must go 
 back in the condition it was when I let go. That 
 is why I can't listen to your arguments or Mr. 
 Atterly's. Roderiguez tells me he is here again? " 
 
 She flashed a sharp glance at him and slipped 
 some rings on and off her fingers before replying. 
 
 " Is it on his account you are so so impossi- 
 ble ? " she inquired. And Leighton smiled. 
 
 " Not exactly. Still, I tell you frankly, Delfina, 
 I wish I could be sure he had a substantial wife 
 at home somewhere." 
 
 " Mac, how dare you ? And poor Felipe " 
 
 Her handkerchief smothered her murmured sen- 
 
 136
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 tences for a moment, and then she turned on him 
 angrily. " You have not one particle of feeling! " 
 
 " Not much," he agreed, " but neither has Mr. 
 Atterly. He is about the cleverest man, Delfina, 
 you have had to deal with. He had Felipe beauti- 
 fully tangled up in financial matters, thinking he 
 could scoop in this place for a song, and he fell 
 very flat when he learned that neither your signa- 
 ture nor Felipe's counted for a penny. In fact 
 your good friend, Mr. Atterly, is very much out 
 of pocket because of his friendship and he is dip- 
 lomatically waiting until the tide turns, that is, 
 until you are of age. He may try to marry you 
 before that to make sure of you; but he will be 
 your devoted cavalier at any rate until you sign 
 away the Hermosa for his promise to pay; and 
 he will make a fortune out of the Hacienda as a 
 sanitarium." 
 
 Delfina, justly indignant, drew her flouncings 
 closer, and glanced past him in disdain. 
 
 ' You were unfeeling before ; now you are in- 
 decent! No one marries under a year! " 
 
 " Oh, yes, they do, Delfina; that is why I am 
 hoping Atterly is a family man." 
 
 "I shouldn't listen to you! I positively 
 shouldn't! One would think that I never had an 
 offer that was not made to my money ! " 
 
 ' Yes, you have had, and you will have more," 
 he remarked, smilingly; " but you won't listen to 
 
 137
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 them, Delfina. It's a matter of temperament. 
 The man with the money eye appeals to you and 
 the man who hasn't it, doesn't that's all ! " 
 
 " Did you come here to insult me?" 
 
 " No, indeed ! I came here because you sent 
 for me. You have not yet told me why." 
 
 " I've forgotten. How can one think with 
 such shocking suggestions in their. ears? I had a 
 dozen things to say to you. But I am utterly 
 wretched and you make me more so, and you 
 know it. Atterly! If you had acted like your 
 natural self that awful day, I should have forgot- 
 ten Atterly' s name by this time ! But you every- 
 body forgot me, but him. He was the only one 
 to sympathize with me in the least ! " 
 
 She was crying by this time and Leighton arose 
 and walked to the window looking out on the 
 wonderful semi-tropical gardens he had helped 
 Gonzales plan. It was not so very long ago and 
 the old man had planned each arbor and each 
 fountain with the thought of Delfina always in his 
 mind. He had worshipped and spoiled her al- 
 ways, the pretty little yellow-haired, petted 
 child! Perhaps Leighton had helped him spoil 
 her in those days; he thought it quite probable, 
 and coming back, he touched her kindly on the 
 shoulder. 
 
 " Look here, Delfina, don't let us quarrel. I've 
 got to do the thing you object to. You'll get 
 
 '38
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 over that when you are older and realize the situ- 
 ation. I know you hate the country, and always 
 did; but you have a town home, you don't have 
 to live here just because you own it. But don't 
 be persuaded to sell it at the figures Felipe con- 
 sidered. The place is a gold mine if rightly man- 
 aged. All those young orchards, only an expense 
 until now, are commencing to bear and by next 
 year they will bring a small fortune in themselves. 
 Gonzales knew what he was doing when he planted 
 them, and the place was the pride of his heart." 
 
 " Oh he had lived in the diggings of Mexico 
 all his life, so of course it was grand to him! " 
 agreed Gonzales' daughter from behind her hand- 
 kerchief. " And the people have treated him dif- 
 ferently : they didn't make him miserable with their 
 spying eyes and their disobedience. They were 
 all set against Felipe and me from the first; we 
 had an awful time with them ! No wonder he 
 tried to sell it and get away; I wanted to go as 
 much as he did! And Mr. Atterly was kind to 
 arrange it, Felipe trusted him, Felipe " 
 
 " All right," said Leighton, " I'll agree that he 
 is a philanthropist of the highest order, if you 
 only don't cry." 
 
 ' You it's on your account the the natives 
 act as they do here," she sobbed. ' They blamed 
 us for your going away! " 
 
 " Oh no, don't you believe it ! " 
 
 139
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " They do ! They fairly hated Felipe ! Luigo 
 is right; some of them did kill him! Oh, you 
 needn't stare as if I was crazy, I know they did. 
 Felipe never, never would have done it himself! 
 And as if I had not enough to bear, that old priest 
 had to tell me about the awful girl you had buried 
 here, that I'll never forgive!" she declared sitting 
 suddenly erect and facing him. 
 
 " Softly, softly, Delfina ! Don't let us go back 
 to that." 
 
 " Luigo says you are taking care of her child; 
 is that true?" 
 
 " I haven't exactly turned infant's nurse yet," 
 he remarked, " but the child is up at the Mission. 
 There are several other children there, some of 
 their mothers, too, waiting till we can build homes 
 to replace those lost in the flood. You did not 
 send for me because you cared to hear about them, 
 did you?" 
 
 He smiled down on her indulgently, but she 
 maintained her severe attitude. 
 
 " If you were at all like your old self, I should 
 not need to send for you, or question you either; 
 but " and she suddenly looked at him direct 
 and disapprovingly " who is the ' Senorita ' who 
 is seen in your gardens these days? Is she an 
 importation from Mexico? You ought to know 
 people are talking." 
 
 140
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 She saw his face change slightly, a flush, a 
 tightening of the jaws. 
 
 " She is a school teacher, a lady injured in 
 the flood," he said at last. " She is not entirely 
 recovered; her relatives have not yet come for 
 her." 
 
 " Oh, then she has relatives? The Mexicans 
 are telling some queer things about her." 
 
 "Queer?" 
 
 ;i Well, that no one knows where she came 
 from, but that she was first seen on your rancho 
 riding your horse, the day you arrived from Mexi- 
 co ! Of course the coincidence was remarked, es- 
 pecially since it occurred in a bachelor's establish- 
 ment." 
 
 She laughed lightly and looked at him with 
 half-closed eyes. 
 
 " Don't get angry, Mac, it's so unusual with 
 you and a bad sign ! Blushing is quite as com- 
 promising," she added with evident relish. " No, 
 the Mexican women have not hurt your reputation 
 any, but I have not heard that any of them were 
 astonishingly handsome ! Your Sefiorita ' Miss 
 Moccasins ' Luigo said she was called is quite 
 electrifying every man who sees her." 
 
 ' Was Luigo electrified? " 
 
 " He was not near enough. He said she was 
 swinging in a hammock with Senor Braith attend- 
 
 141
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 ant. Perenza told Luigo that she was more beau- 
 tiful than a picture of the virgin." 
 
 " Perenza is licensed to exaggerate. She is very 
 much attracted to the young girl, whose name is 
 Watson," he replied briefly, and then changed the 
 subject abruptly. " Delfina, don't let us talk of 
 my home or my affairs; tell me what you can of 
 your own and Felipe's, I mean regarding any out- 
 side obligations you may have incurred during the 
 past year. I don't mean the mortgages you gave 
 jointly for money you used in speculation, I 
 know all about those, I mean personal dealings. 
 I understand you have retained Mr. Atterly to 
 settle Felipe's affairs, but tell me truly, Delfina, 
 had Felipe anything but debts to settle ? " 
 
 " He had a little rancho near Santa Barbara, at 
 least he thought he had it until he tried to sell it. 
 Then he found he would have to receive a release 
 from his half sister before he could give a clear 
 title, for she owned one half." 
 
 " I didn't know he had a sister! " 
 
 " A half sister. Her mother was an eastern 
 woman. The girl has been back there with some 
 old aunts for years. She was silly over the little 
 rancho and wild to come out here, but I suppose 
 Felipe's death will change all that." 
 
 " What became of the rancho ? " 
 
 " Oh, growing up with weeds, I suppose. He 
 was disgusted with it. Then I know he never want- 
 
 142
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 cd her to come out sort of afraid of her, I guess. 
 By her letters he could see she thought him a good 
 deal more perfect than any man could possibly be. 
 She is only a school girl, old maidish as her grand- 
 aunts, I suppose." 
 
 ; ' Why not send for her now that you are 
 alone?" suggested Leighton. "You will need a 
 companion, and if she has no more capital than 
 Felipe, she would perhaps welcome the salary such 
 a position would give." 
 
 " Oh, she's poor enough, I dare say. Felipe 
 couldn't tell me anything about that. The old 
 aunts were no relation to him, you know. But I 
 shan't send for her. I'm blue enough without 
 any strange mourning relatives around. I've 
 never had a word from her since I wrote her of 
 Felipe's death. Queer, isn't it? " 
 
 While they talked, Ana came in with a tea tray 
 and the mail-bag. Then while Delfina busied her- 
 self with the cups and the brew, Leighton un- 
 locked the bag and sorted out the letters from 
 the circulars and printed matter. 
 
 She accepted the little stack of letters and was 
 laying them carelessly aside when the address of 
 the one on top caught her attention. She picked 
 it up with an exclamation of wonder. 
 
 " My own letter returned to me from Anchor 
 Darrett! returned without being opened! why 
 _ w hat " 
 
 H3
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 Leighton looked at the envelope held out to him 
 and pointed to an inscription in the corner. 
 
 "Not returned, forwarded," he said; "for- 
 warded here. Which means that your sister-in- 
 law is somewhere on her way to visit you. An- 
 chor Barrett! A name of character." 
 
 " Her father gave nautical names to everything 
 on the rancho, I believe, and attached some special 
 significance to the girl's name, never meant to 
 sail again or something of that sort. Horrid, 
 horrid name, isn't it?" 
 
 " I rather like it, and I rather like the feeling 
 of the man prompting him to call her that. I've 
 met a few of the older people who knew the father 
 and they have only good words for him." 
 
 " But you won't say that of the son ! " she 
 blazed out resentfully. " I know the other people 
 have hated him and were jealous of him, but 
 you " 
 
 " Tut, tut, Delfina, we never quarreled about 
 him when he was living, don't let us do it now. 
 Tell me what you can about those debts. I can't 
 adjust matters until you do. Delfina, don't make 
 it any more difficult for me; it's harder for me 
 than you perhaps realize." 
 
 Something in his tone caused her to look at 
 him very directly, and she was suddenly aware 
 that he was thinner and had less color than for- 
 merly. That, then, was why he looked changed 
 
 144
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 since his stay in Mexico. Perhaps he had been 
 ill perhaps 
 
 She could not but remember why he had gone to 
 Mexico, had he really cared for her so much 
 after all? Was that the reason his manner was 
 
 so different? Did that explain ? Her face 
 
 flushed as she looked at him and remembered his 
 jollity over her elopement, his wonderful help to 
 Felipe, who had aroused antipathies from the 
 first by his romantic dash and promiscuous love- 
 making, the way in which he had helped them 
 both and then effaced himself for a year ! All this 
 came back to her with a new meaning as he spoke. 
 
 She even fancied him handsomer than of old; 
 he had been so big, so rugged, so direct and abso- 
 lutely non-romantic that he had only appealed to 
 her as a bulwark of strength. Everybody relied 
 upon his help in emergencies, but whom did he 
 rely upon? Or when had he ever needed any- 
 body? Delfina had been very sure he had not 
 needed her, which made more potent the effect 
 of the ardent love songs sung by the more prac- 
 ticed Felipe. 
 
 But if Don Mac had of old spoken to her in 
 this strangely appealing tone and looked at her 
 from such strangely serious dark eyes, well, the his- 
 tory of the Hermosa might have been a very dif- 
 ferent affair! 
 
 " I don't want to make things difficult for you,'* 
 
 10 145
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 she said, twisting her handkerchief into a rope and 
 then carefully smoothing it out again. " I have 
 been simply broken-hearted over over every- 
 thing! and you were the last one to see it or 
 show any sympathy. I have to go to some one 
 in all this trouble, and it's your own fault if I have 
 to turn to strangers after all these years. Of 
 course it makes me irritable." 
 
 " Oh, is that it? " he asked quietly. " Perhaps 
 I have grown careless during these days of rush. 
 Have patience with me and I'll try to make 
 amends." 
 
 ;< Well, I'm glad you came over," she admit- 
 ted. " Every one stays away from the house as 
 if it had the plague. I brought a few people 
 down, but it's too deadly dull, they can't endure it." 
 
 " You'd better leave Luigo and Marta in 
 charge and go back to town." 
 
 " I'm half afraid to trust Luigo Castro with 
 anything. He goes about as if he were in a trance. 
 And do you know he has had all the outlying 
 members of the Castro tribe to a sort of feast 
 here, some sort of a family affair, a gathering of 
 the clan." 
 
 "For what?" 
 
 " To take up the question where the coroner 
 left off and find Felipe's murderer." 
 
 " They are wasting time," said Leighton, after 
 a moment's silence. " Yes, I heard there was a 
 
 146
 
 Miss Mopcasins 
 
 gathering of Felipe's many cousins, but I didn't 
 know it was Luigo's doings." 
 
 " They are a horrid lot and they hang around 
 like a lot of spies. They used to beg from Felipe 
 whenever they could and now they are such an 
 awful nuisance that I am glad to give them money 
 to go away." 
 
 " Don't do it again; leave them to me." 
 
 " They will hate you. Marta says they are 
 down on you already." 
 
 " Since when? It doesn't matter, of course, but 
 I wonder why." 
 
 " It's on account of Galbraith. Then you are 
 both ' Americans,' you know, and they know you 
 would stand by him." 
 
 "Galbraith?" and Leighton's tones were in- 
 credulous " why, Galbraith never bothers them." 
 
 " He threatened Felipe, you know, threatened to 
 shoot him. I guess it was on account of that 
 girl. And I hear Galbraith was drinking that day. 
 Of course he might not have even remembered his 
 own threats the next day! But Luigo has gath- 
 ered up a lot of gossip about it and they drink bad 
 whisky together and talk it over, and Marta says 
 they threaten to make much trouble before they 
 are through." 
 
 " I shall offer every one of them work on the 
 -foundations of the new dam, and it is going down 
 to bed rock this time, Delfina. If they refuse to
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 work, Braith will clear them out of the place; 
 he's able to be around again. So remember, if 
 they come to you for more dollars, you send them 
 to me!" 
 
 " Then they will hate me, too! " she hazarded. 
 But he laughed away her fears, and dextrously ex- 
 cusing himself from her invitation to dinner, he 
 took his departure, leaving the mistress of Her- 
 mosa in a much more tractable frame of mind. 
 And in his inner coat pocket rested the letters and 
 papers belonging to Felipe as well as some notes 
 concerning the little Santa Barbara rancho, 
 " Treasure Trove," and even a couple of letters 
 from the sister found by Delfina among the rest. 
 
 " Of course they are of no business importance," 
 she said, " but you can see by them what sort of 
 a place it used to be. I don't suppose it has any 
 special money value now. Heavens! I hope she 
 isn't coming out here with the expectation of find- 
 ing it fit to live in ! " 
 
 She watched Leighton as he mounted El Diablo 
 and rode away. How strong and handsome he 
 was! 
 
 Felipe had been handsome, too, and she walked 
 to the end of the sala and stood before a life-size 
 portrait of Felipe painted for her in the early 
 weeks of her marriage, when all the glamour of 
 his dark Mexican beauty had blinded her to other 
 types. 
 
 148
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 "He was beautiful!" she thought. "It was 
 his beauty made the people jealous, made the men 
 hate him ! " 
 
 But as she turned away she caught a glimpse 
 of Leighton passing out of the park gates and re- 
 membered hearing him called the handsomest man 
 in the Hermosa valley. But who had ever heard 
 of men being jealous of Leighton's physical ad- 
 vantages? Who ever heard of men hating him 
 because women loved him? And women had 
 loved him no doubt, did love him 
 
 Then she suddenly struck one hand in the other 
 angrily, and shut her teeth with a little click. 
 
 " His Senorita ! I let him have the papers. I 
 told hirn all he wanted to know, and after all, I 
 let him go without learning a single real fact about 
 the girl!"
 
 XI 
 
 GHOSTS. 
 
 Leighton rode past the wrecked dam where the 
 men were already blasting and digging at the new 
 foundation and the workmen greeted him in kind- 
 ly fashion, and nodded to each other meaningly 
 when he had passed. 
 
 ' He comes from the widow. Caramba ! It 
 is not for nothing he working to make richer her 
 rancho! They will marry after all no? " 
 
 " Sure ! He will make all come right in the 
 Hermosa, Don Mac has the luck ! " 
 
 And the man with the luck galloped on to where 
 the new houses for the workmen were building, 
 then across the rise to where the young olive or- 
 chard was being planted; then taking a short cut 
 across the pasture to the road, he passed around 
 the hill where the vineyard of the old adobe joined 
 a field of alfalfa, and at a sound among the thick 
 rows of vines above, he halted Diablo and faced 
 about at sound of hoof beats on the sheltering 
 hill. 
 
 It was Galbraith, and Leighton watched him 
 curiously as he approached, his head bent thought- 
 fully as his horse picked its way along the bluff. 
 
 The attitude of Galbraith and Leighton had 
 
 150
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 been strangely changed since the former had been 
 able to be on his feet. No word had been spoken 
 between them of Leighton's surveillance over him, 
 and muscular admonitions to silence. The names 
 of Barrett or Carmenita had not been spoken by 
 him since his delirium, which convinced Leighton 
 that he was giving the subject extra thought. His 
 silence, someway, put a guard on Leighton's 
 tongue, and for the first time in their friendship 
 of ten years, there was a wall of reserve between 
 the two men a certain barrier neither of them 
 could break down. 
 
 Galbraith's face was not only thoughtful, it 
 was troubled. He was a man slightly older than 
 Leighton and about the same height, good looking 
 in a fair-haired, blue-eyed, square-shouldered way, 
 a hard worker, sometimes a hard drinker, a good 
 friend, and one of the millions who are described 
 as " no one's enemy but his own." 
 
 But his knocking about the world had given him 
 a certain polish that at times made strangers 
 wonder that so fine a fellow could be content for 
 years to look after another man's stock. There 
 was wealth waiting in California, or, indeed, in 
 most lands, for men of his ability. But some one 
 who knew would mention that little crook of the 
 elbow and lift their brows, and all was explained: 
 A fine vessel without a compass drifting fate fully 
 on open seas!
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 It was understood from some words dropped by 
 him in hours of forgetfulness that Leighton had 
 in some way saved him long ago in Mexico from 
 the consequences of some act of his drinking hours, 
 too rash for men of their lax laws. No one, unless 
 it were perhaps Manuel Gonzales, knew what it 
 had been, but all could see the absolute devotion it 
 had won for Leighton. Of course Galbraith was 
 likely to be missing for breakfast sometimes, and 
 Diego would be given charge of the rancho until 
 he came back. His absence might be a matter of 
 several days or several weeks, it was always as 
 long as his money lasted; but thus far he had 
 always come back, though he confessed that in 
 no other one state had he ever before remained 
 more than a year at a time in his life. It was 
 Leighton who brought him back to Hermosa. 
 
 Once he halted in his descent through the vines, 
 and cast a sharp glance at a clump of dense growth 
 on the right; then after a last glance back over 
 the way he had come, he continued slowly down 
 to the level below. 
 
 " Hello! " called Leighton, " aren't you off the 
 trail?" 
 
 Galbraith looked up quickly, startled, alert ! 
 
 * Yes, I am," he confessed. " See anybody 
 pass down here ahead of me? " 
 
 " No," replied Leighton as they ranged their 
 
 152
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 horses alongside and headed towards home. 
 " Who are you trailing? " 
 
 ' The shoe is on the other foot," replied Gal- 
 braith grimly. " I was trying to see who was 
 trailing me." 
 
 " You ! " 
 
 " Oh, some one skulking in the brush on the 
 other side of the hill playing ghost, I think. It 
 is the first time it has occurred in daylight and I 
 took across the hill to head the fellow off some 
 crazy Mexican, I reckon. Did you see Rioz about 
 the fencing? " 
 
 " Yes, he is at the work. Things are moving 
 all right." 
 
 " They ought to," remarked Galbraith drily. 
 " You've been working night and day on the Gon- 
 zales tracts since you could be lifted into a sad- 
 dle." 
 
 " I didn't play square to Gonzales when I 
 dropped it a year ago, Braith. I've got to make 
 it as square as I can to even up as square as I 
 can! You know," he added, " she has come back 
 Delfina?" 
 
 Galbraith's face hardened, and as Leighton 
 glanced at him, he met his comrade's blue eyes; 
 they were hard, half closed, and strangely critical ! 
 An instant and the expression had vanished, leav- 
 ing Leighton half convinced that his own eyes 
 had deceived him. Why, even if Galbraith had 
 
 153
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 chanced to hear the surmises already abroad con- 
 cerning himself and Gonzales' daughter, even 
 then, why should Galbraith care? He was so puz- 
 zled at that swift, keen, quickly veiled glance that 
 he did not notice Galbraith's failure to reply to 
 the remark concerning Delfina. 
 
 Diego took their horses when they reached the 
 corral, and at the same time handed the mail to 
 Galbraith. 
 
 He glanced at it quickly, saw there were letters 
 only for Leighton, and overtook him before he 
 reached the patio. 
 
 " There's a letter from Kern County," he said; 
 " I thought you'd want to read it before you saw 
 her." 
 
 Leighton scrutinized the cheap envelope and the 
 scrawling superscription on the face of it Mr. 
 McNeal Leighton. 
 
 " I never liked my own name so little," he re- 
 marked as he tore off the envelope. Galbraith 
 halted, too, and leaned against the fence. He 
 knew that just beyond there a girl had heard the 
 approach of their horses and that she was waiting 
 for them with the frank, eager impatience of a 
 child, but he knew it was not he for whom she 
 would look first. 
 
 His face was turned towards the garden and 
 away from Leighton, but he turned at the sound 
 of crumpling paper and an oath. 
 
 154
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 "What is it, old man?" 
 
 There was no immediate reply. 
 
 Leighton's eyes were stormy, and his hand 
 clenched on the letter. 
 
 " It's pretty nearly hell, Braith," he said at last 
 and tossed him the letter. " Read it if you can." 
 
 The letter was from Mrs. Harriet Watson of 
 Kern County. It stated that Mr. Watson had re- 
 quested her to answer Mr. Leighton's letter re- 
 garding their unfortunate sister, Anabelle. Mr. 
 Watson was much bothered about the affair as he 
 did not feel able to spend money for the sort of 
 care Mr. Leighton was giving her, and he had to 
 notify Mr. Leighton that her relatives could not 
 be held accountable for expenses. 
 
 They were glad to hear she was recovering so 
 rapidly and if any sort of position could be se- 
 cured for her in Hermosa, Mr. Watson thought 
 she would be better off there where she had found 
 friends. For Anabelle had not seemed to take 
 much to Kern County ways, and as Mr. Watson 
 had a good-sized family of his own to provide for, 
 he really could not afford to look after any one 
 who was able to work at all. Anabelle had been 
 kind of handy with children, and, if Mr. Leighton 
 or his wife could get her a place as child's nurse 
 or teacher, it would be better than nothing, and 
 the writer would be much obliged. Of course, if 
 no such place offered, Anabelle knew she could 
 
 155
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 come back to Kern County, if she wanted, Mr. 
 Watson's home would always have room for his 
 sister, but the thing he could not be accountable 
 for was the doctor bills. So, if Anabelle could get 
 any position to pay for that extra expense, etc., 
 etc. 
 
 Galbraith looked up from the letter, inquiring- 
 
 if- 
 
 " You did not tell them, then, that her memory 
 was gone and " 
 
 " I couldn't do it, Braith, I couldn't bear to 
 put it on paper. I can't bear to speak of it. Then 
 before the letter reached them, her memory might 
 come back. You know that Dr. Elroy said that 
 an operation might not be necessary; that with 
 her returning strength, the memory might come 
 gradually, or that a shock might bring it back in 
 an instant. You see there are so many chances." 
 
 " Yes, I see ! But these people, if she goes 
 back to them ? " 
 
 " Go back ! Good God, do you think I'll let 
 her go back? " 
 
 " N no, I didn't reckon you would. This 
 woman," tapping the letter, " is just the sort to 
 send her own grandmother to the insane depart- 
 ment of the county poor-house if the old lady's 
 mind failed. But there is another side to it, Mac: 
 as soon as this vinegar plant absorbs the fact that 
 this outfit does not contain a Mrs. Leighton " 
 
 156
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 Leighton swore again and frowned an almost 
 ugly smile at the ugly thought. 
 
 " Do you think for one minute I'd let that stand 
 in the way of keeping her? " he demanded. " If 
 a Mrs. Leighton is needed, we'll find one. A few 
 words before Father Rey and some woman who 
 would say ' yes ' ! Or what's the matter with a 
 Mrs. Galbraith ? You've ranged free long enough. 
 Pick out the prettiest of your own girls and marry 
 her, that would make it all right." 
 
 Galbraith uttered a harsh, strained sort of 
 laugh at the idea. 
 
 " So it would, so it would," he agreed, " but 
 it would be sort of playing it low down on the 
 other woman in the case. And it may be, you 
 know, that it is not needed. The Senorita may 
 wake up any day, and then " 
 
 Leighton thrust the letter in his. pocket and 
 straightened up, 
 
 " Let us go in," he said. " She will be waiting 
 for us." 
 
 She was not waiting. She was coming to meet 
 them, smiling, child-like, with roses in her hair 
 and a tall stock of the blue lily which she used as 
 a mimic cane. 
 
 " I have been listening for you forever! " she 
 cried, running to Leighton and clasping him by 
 the hands. ; ' Don Mac, why do you never stay 
 in our own garden? Anita says you ride where 
 
 15.7
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 there is a finer one and that you are at the sefiora's 
 feet. Who is the sefiora ? Is it true that she sent 
 you a letter that smelled like roses? And is it to 
 be at her feet you go away all the time? Anita 
 says you go sometimes and stay more than one 
 hundred nights and days, and Tia Perenza boxed 
 Anita's ears and wished that a blister would come 
 on her tongue." 
 
 " You must not mind Anita ; she was only jest- 
 ing in fun, you know." 
 
 " She cried when Tia Perenza boxed her ears, 
 and that was no fun ! " said the girl with the same 
 child-like directness. " But if you do go away 
 for the hundred nights and days, will you take me 
 with you? " 
 
 " Of course," he agreed. 
 
 " And Jose oh, he laughed to-day and held to 
 my finger and tried to bite it! Will you let me 
 take my baby, Jose? " 
 
 " Certainly. How could we go without Jose ? " 
 
 She clasped her hands about his arm and leaned 
 her head on his shoulder. 
 
 ' Then I don't care how soon we start," she 
 said happily. " Is there a moon to-night? Can 
 we go now ? " 
 
 The two men walked on beside her with grave 
 faces. She had no recollection of ever seeing 
 either of them until she wakened in the Mission 
 rancho and saw Tia Perenza knitting lace in the 
 
 158
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 doorway, and beside her on the bed, a sleeping 
 baby whom they called Jose Alverez. 
 
 Of the flood and all the life before it, she had 
 no recollection whatever. When, little by little, 
 she had grown to ask questions, Perenza was ever 
 at her side to fall in with each childish whim, 
 until Perenza and her much exalted Don Mac were 
 the two engrossing characters in the girl's new 
 world. 
 
 And Perenza grew crafty again during those 
 days when the girl was again on her feet or able 
 to swing in the hammock in the garden. She did 
 not at all approve of the one week when Senor 
 Braith in his convalescence had also closed the gar- 
 den, not at least until she had listened to 
 their long, one-sided talks, when Galbraith 
 had told her over and over again how 
 Don Mac had found her in the flood, how 
 he had cared for the women and children, 
 how he had also dragged him back to life when 
 he was as good as dead. To these recitals Perenza 
 would add in her turn the wonders of Don Mac's 
 boyhood and its various hair-breadth adventures. 
 And to all, the Senorita of the Moccasins (for the 
 title remained her own, despite the newer name of 
 Anabella Watson) , to all she would listen dream- 
 ily, happily, as to a series of romances in which 
 the scenes changed but never the hero. And the 
 whole task of every day to her became merely the 
 
 159
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 waiting for sunset, the steps or the voices of the 
 two in the patio. 
 
 And Perenza hoped much for the day when the 
 doctor would lift that bit of bone pressing on the 
 brain. If the hero was not entirely a fool, he 
 would cease the rides to the Gonzales woman and 
 sit sometimes at home in his own garden! And 
 to that end she would thrust a blossom in the' 
 hair or the hand of the Senorita and bid her go to 
 meet Don Mac when she heard the clatter of his 
 horse on the road. And if by chance he entered 
 the patio without seeing the slender figure and the 
 waiting smile, quick alarm showed in his face and 
 voice: and Perenza chuckled to herself at those 
 times, and gave to herself all credit for his eager 
 intent.
 
 XII 
 
 MAC LEIGHTON MAKES A CONFESSION. 
 
 Yet little by little, as the days passed, the mental 
 horizon of Miss Moccasins widened. She grew to 
 observe and make comparisons. It might be be- 
 cause of her returning strength, and it might be 
 due somewhat to Anita's fondness for gossip; at 
 any rate, a troubled sense of her anomalous posi- 
 tion had taken root in her mind, and her questions 
 grew persistent an^ hard to answer. She must 
 be kept free from troublesome thoughts until Dr. 
 Elroy had quite decided she was strong enough to 
 bear that little operation on which so much de- 
 pended. 
 
 " Give her the position of governess to Jose," 
 suggested Galbraith, when Leighton had called 
 him into council on the subject. " Pay her a sal- 
 ary to cover all expenses, and when she does re- 
 cover entirely, she will not feel under obligations. 
 That will fix it. You've been so wrapped up in 
 the Hermosa affairs that I did not suppose you 
 had time to notice how decidedly the Senorita is 
 on the mend." 
 
 Leighton smiled slightly and smoothing out an 
 ancient map of the county, compared it with some 
 surveys of a later date.
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 ' You're getting almost as cranky as Perenza," 
 he remarked as he carefully dotted portions of 
 the map with a red pencil. " I'm getting things 
 in order to square up all right, but I have to fight 
 against you folks almost as hard as against Del- 
 fina's lawyers." 
 
 Galbraith frowned and, rolling a cigarette, 
 stared comtemplatively at Leighton's profile grown 
 sharper and thinner since his return from Mexico, 
 and at the cheek which had lost its color during 
 the long nights when the lamp had burned through 
 the small hours while he bent over pen and pencil 
 problems such as now littered his table. 
 
 " What place is that? " he asked at last, point- 
 ing with his cigarette to the old survey. " Too 
 near the coast to belong to these tracts." 
 
 " It's a little place called ' Treasure Trove ' 
 down Santa Barbara way. It belonged to Darrett. 
 I'm having it put in order." 
 
 "How many more?" demanded Galbraith 
 ironically. " Can't you gather in a range or two 
 of the Sierras, and level them in time for fall 
 planting? " 
 
 " Oh, this is only a little cottage and a few 
 acres. That's where I was when I ran down to 
 the coast last week. It was only a tangle of briers, 
 but Delfina found an old letter from Felipe's sis- 
 ter describing how it used to look and that's how 
 
 162
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 it is going to look again. The girl is coming out 
 here." 
 
 "His sister! Barrett's!" 
 
 Leighton nodded, much engrossed by the sur- 
 veys before him, but he looked up at Galbraith's 
 smothered imprecations. 
 
 " Hasn't one of the family brought hell enough 
 into this valley?" he demanded. 'You why 
 you're working yourself half to death and spending 
 all of your own money you can get hold of to right 
 his wrongs. Oh, I know! And now, by God, 
 you must feather a soft nest for another of the 
 same breed! " 
 
 "Braith!" 
 
 " I didn't cheep so long as it was the Gonzales 
 affairs you were squaring up. When you came 
 home and took up the work where you had laid 
 it down, for him, well, I hated it like poison, but 
 I kept my tongue between my teeth. I've worked 
 like a horse to help you, and of course I'll keep 
 alongside till the job is finished; but just this once 
 I am rising to state that no damned fool woman 
 is worth it! And now if you are going to ring 
 in a new female to sweat hides and pocketbooks 
 for well you are more different kinds of an 
 idiot than any pipe dream could conjure up ! " 
 
 * You are doing pretty well without the pipe," 
 remarked Leighton. " This extra girl in the Her- 
 
 163
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 mosa isn't going to make much extra work for 
 you." 
 
 "Me? Hell!" commented Galbraith disgust- 
 edly. " It isn't my work I'm growling about; 
 it's the way you're slaving and the things people 
 say of it! " 
 
 " Well, what do they say? " 
 
 " Oh, they all expect to be invited to the wed- 
 ding when the year is out." 
 
 " Leave Delfina out of it! " 
 
 " I can't, and what's more, you can't! Isn't she 
 the foundation of the whole affair? And then," 
 he added, slowly regarding Leighton, " she might 
 not want to be left out." 
 
 Leighton laid down the pencil and looked up. 
 
 " This work has got to be done, Braith," he 
 said quietly. " Do you suppose your protests make 
 it any easier, or that the ideas of the valley are 
 likely to help me ? " 
 
 " Oh, if you put it that way, I'm done, of 
 course," groaned Galbraith. " I knew it was no 
 use trying to fight you out of it, and I did manage 
 to keep quiet until the sister was rung in on you, 
 and her rancho! The sister was the last straw." 
 
 " The fact is," said Leighton, deliberately re- 
 garding him, " that you are nervous and fidgety 
 these days, ever since you got on your feet after 
 the flood. I thought it was the fever, but you've 
 got no fever now." 
 
 164
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " I guess you're right," admitted Galbraith. 
 " I am shaky. I've tried to speak about it, but I 
 couldn't until Mac, what did I say when I was 
 sick that you tried to keep the others from hear- 
 ing?" 
 
 "You don't remember?" 
 
 " I remember you shaking me and saying it 
 was the wrong time to say that and that I must 
 not mention some name, a woman's name ! 
 Every time I opened my eyes you were on guard, 
 Mac. You seemed afraid of what I was saying; 
 not afraid on your own account," he added as 
 Leighton straightened up and looked at him, " no, 
 dazed as I was, I felt it was for me you were on 
 guard, and I lay there shivering with dread of 
 the thing you were shielding me from. I didn't 
 know what it was, and yet though I'm on my feet 
 now, at times the dread, your dread, comes back 
 to me!" 
 
 Still no comment from Leighton; but he was 
 listening, and, apparently, waiting. 
 
 " We work and ride together, Mac," went on 
 Galbraith doggedly, "but we don't talk! You 
 won't, and I can't! What sort of wall did the 
 fever build up, old man? For when I got on 
 my feet the wall was there." 
 
 ' You'll outgrow it," suggested Leighton quiet- 
 ly. " It's only a . i: ttle crook on your mind like 
 that on the Senorita's memory. That row with 
 
 165
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 Darrett about Carmenita stuck in your mind, and 
 trying to save her from the flood, emphasized the 
 fact. At least your tongue stuck to their names, 
 and when you were not calling for her you were 
 cursing him and doing it good and loud! They 
 were both dead. Half the valley seemed aware 
 that you had provisions sent to old Carlotta Al- 
 verez. Yes, I know ! It was all right. What 
 I would have asked you to do if I had known how 
 bad it was with them at the last. But you didn't 
 stop there ! You took an extra glass the day I 
 came home and when you met Darrett on the 
 road, your threat to kill him if he went near her 
 again was heard and repeated. I don't know that 
 he did go to see her, probably not; but he was 
 found dead not long after, and even the best of 
 your friends had to consider how far circumstan- 
 tial evidence could go if it was pushed! I did 
 not want it pushed until I had time to spare for 
 it and I had all I could stagger under just then. 
 That's why I stood guard when you were repeat- 
 ing your threats and half Hermosa with open 
 ears to listen." 
 
 " Um! I didn't know it was so bad as that," 
 said Galbraith, eyeing Leighton thoughtfully. " I 
 see ! " Then he gave a short mirthless laugh. 
 " And that's why the Mexicans are trailing me 
 for they are ! I didn't know why, but it's played 
 the devil with my nerves ! I've got into the daffy. 
 
 166
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 habit of listening to some one following me; sev- 
 eral times I've almost caught him." 
 
 " Any particular ' him'? " 
 
 " No, but I seem to see Barrett's ghost every 
 corner I turn. The place is full of the Castros ! 
 I asked one of them his name yesterday and he said 
 he was ( Felipe's cousin.' Every black and tan of 
 them rested on a pick or shovel to listen ! And if 
 the sister glowers at me like the cousins ! " 
 
 "Well, what will you do?" 
 
 " Oh, strike across the line somewhere. Since 
 the flood went over me I'm losing my nerve. 
 When you get things squared here, I'll cut loose." 
 
 " Wait until my guardianship days are over and 
 I'll go with you." 
 
 Leighton had resumed his inspection of the sur- 
 veys, and spoke quietly, without lifting his head. 
 But Galbraith welcomed the statement with a 
 shout and overturned a chair to grasp his hand. 
 
 " Great Scott! Do you mean it? " he demand- 
 ed exultantly. " Then you are not tying up for 
 life to the Gonzales tracts? Say! I feel as if I 
 had found you again and you had been a long 
 time lost. I had made up my mind you were go- 
 ing to slave all your life for that woman who 
 threw you over once." 
 
 Braith watched Leighton, half expecting an 
 angry retort. But it did not come; he only smiled 
 without lifting his eyes from the surveys. 
 
 167
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " She threw a good many of us over at one time 
 or other," he remarked, " and I'm not sure but you 
 were in the bunch. I seem to be the only one who 
 is trying to prove he is grateful." 
 
 Galbraith swore softly and got up. 
 
 " I never was in the same territory with your 
 * bunch,' " he growled, " and I wish you were clear 
 of it now." 
 
 Leighton made some notes on a sheet of paper 
 and added up a line of figures. 
 
 " I do," persisted Galbraith. " I wish you'd 
 break loose right now. Leave all the work to a 
 lawyer and let us both take a run across to the 
 old mine in Mexico. Look here," he continued 
 eagerly, the idea apparently growing on him as 
 he found words, " only a little of my money is 
 tied up I can get most of it in a day and I've 
 been living like a miser since you left. You say 
 you'll do it and I'll draw every cent any sort of a 
 time you want to start. Sink your own money into 
 the Gonzales tracts if you want to and get a lawyer 
 to help you. Leave your money to talk for you 
 and break loose. The whole Hermosa valley seems 
 haunted lately; I could not go and leave you to 
 face the ghosts alone." 
 
 ; ' The ghosts have not come my way yet," ob- 
 served Leighton. 
 
 Then he folded up the surveys and notes, and 
 
 168
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 leaned back w'th a sigh half weariness, half sat- 
 isfaction. 
 
 " There is the last item of expense figured up," 
 he said, as he placed the papers carefully in the 
 desk; " all the hard work accomplished, not a 
 thing to do now but to hunt for the money to 
 square them." 
 
 "Nothing but," agreed Galbraith ironically; 
 " and that's the easy end is it? " 
 
 ' The very easiest ! After that there is only 
 one, no, two reasons for which I might be held 
 longer." 
 
 "Two? What is the first?" 
 
 ' The Senorita of the Moccasins." 
 
 Galbraith turned to the window staring out 
 across the fields. After a little he said, 
 
 "And the second?" 
 
 " The small Jose Alvarez Darrett." Galbraith 
 whirled angrily at the name, but Leighton made a 
 little gesture signifying that opinions were not to 
 be regarded. 
 
 ' They both go together, Braith. She did my 
 work and paid a big price for it. She adores the 
 child. It's as little as I can do to provide for them 
 together." 
 
 " Oh," remarked the other, with a more tolerant 
 air. " It's all right to do it for her; I'll go halves 
 with you on thai- any day. I thought at first it was 
 
 169
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 like that Darrett girl's rancho; I thought it was 
 done for Darrett." 
 
 " No," said Leighton, briefly. " I am only pay- 
 ing my own debts." 
 
 " I wish you'd let up on all the rest, shelve the 
 work on lawyers and cut loose." 
 
 " Can't! If you go now, you'll have to go 
 alone." 
 
 "The devil!" muttered Galbraith. "You 
 know I won't do that. If you stay to work, I've 
 got to face the music, too, ghosts and all ! " 
 
 Leighton made no reply, but his hand rested on 
 Galbraith's shoulder for a moment as they stood 
 in the doorway and then sauntered together across 
 the patio and towards the corral. 
 
 When they had quite gone, a face appeared at 
 the window ledge. Its owner had crouched close 
 to the wall under the shadow of a flowering shrub. 
 It was a dark Mexican face, and the eager eyes 
 scanned the interior with quick, alert glances for a 
 few moments; then the lithe figure ran crouching- 
 ly under the other windows to the corner of the 
 building, where he stood upright and walked in 
 a careless manner around the end of the porch and 
 into the patio. 
 
 Leighton and Galbraith had halted, talking by 
 the fountain. 
 
 ' Yes," Leighton was saying, " I have now 
 only the line between this and the Gonzales tracts 
 
 170
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 to settle, the water rights depend on that. And 
 if the worst happens and I should have to sell the 
 Mission, the lines must be settled beyond any sort 
 of doubt. But that will only take a few weeks, 
 perhaps only days; the whole thing is clear as 
 glass." 
 
 Just then he noticed the Mexican, one not be- 
 longing to the rancho, leaning against the pillar of 
 the colonnade. He might be only resting, but he 
 looked as if listening. 
 
 "Well?" demanded Leighton, sharply. 
 
 " The Serior Williams sending me from the 
 dam," said the young fellow, slouching forward. 
 " A horse take sick in that dynamite wagon. The 
 load is stop on the road. Si you can send one " 
 
 ' Yes," said Galbraith, interrupting. " Go to 
 Diego Estrada ; he'll give you the horse." Then 
 as the fellow disappeared around the corner he 
 turned to Leighton. 
 
 " There is a specimen," he observed. " Did you 
 notice how he watched me while he talked to 
 you? I never noticed this particular one before, 
 but he is a pattern of the ghost I meant. They 
 seem to slide around every corner and watch me 
 with their snaky black eyes till I'd like to wring 
 their necks ! " 
 
 " Have patience one more month, Braith," said 
 Leighton quietly, " and I'll be free to help you." 
 
 The strange Mexican had only ridden a short 
 
 171
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 distance when he saw old Luigo ahead of him 
 in the road. At sound of the galloping horse the 
 old man had evidently been disconcerted, and his 
 attitude suggested flight; but, as he recognized the 
 rider, his hands flew up in joyous welcome, and he 
 sank to the ground in the shade of an immense 
 thorn tree by the wayside, fairly hugging himself 
 in a spasm of delight, and mumbling prayers. 
 
 " Hi, Tio Luigo ! It is a good day's work, 
 this one ! " cried the younger man, waving his 
 hand. " Mother of God! What have I heard! 
 It is true, all you say about the Americans. He 
 did it ! He is followed by the ghost ! I heard him 
 confess with these two ears ! " 
 
 The old man straightened quickly and sat open- 
 mouthed staring on the ground. 
 
 " They have not taken him till I give the 
 word?" he gasped; " no one doing that! Tell 
 me, is it so? " 
 
 " No," said the young fellow, and Luigo again 
 muttered most voluble thanks to his special saints. 
 "No, it is at Don Mac's own house I. hear it. 
 Don Mac he say he help keep the ghost off Serior 
 Braith if he stay, so I guess he go to stay some 
 more weeks and we catch him! I hear him say 
 how the valley is full of the ghost what looks like 
 Don Felipe ! " 
 
 Luigo suddenly fell to hugging himself again 
 and chuckling. Then he scrambled to his feet with 
 
 172
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 surprising agility and darted to the spreading buck- 
 thorn. 
 
 " The ghost ! " he called contemptuously. 
 " How these American judges care for ten hun- 
 dred ghosts ? Not any at all ! They say to bring 
 solid things! It is good you hear of the ghost, 
 but that no is solid at all, Miguel. It is not," he 
 added, as he scrambled out from the deep shadows 
 of the buckthorn, " it is not like this! " 
 
 He had dragged from the clustering limbs above 
 his head a bundle which he shook out triumphantly 
 before the puzzled Miguel. 
 
 "It is his own ! I found it I ! in the room 
 where he sleeps. All his clothes on the wall! 
 Look! " and he fished in one of the pockets and 
 drew out part of a woman's comb. " Carmenita's ! 
 It was in the adobe. I found the other half beside 
 Felipe. And, see ! Here is a letter in the Amer- 
 ican. You spell Americano?" 
 
 " Me, I learn all that in the school," said 
 Miguel, eyeing the note dubiously, " but it is so 
 long back." 
 
 " Read! " demanded Luigo, unfolding the note 
 nervously. " I know it that paper ! It is so 
 thick, so heavy, all with that mark of the silver 
 palm in the corner, that paper belong to the 
 Hacienda and no place else ! And it is writing to 
 Braith, no?" 
 
 173
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " It is to no name," said Miguel at last. " It 
 is just 'Mi Amigo'." 
 
 "Ah-ha! Amigo! Go on. How you spell 
 it?" 
 
 His old hands were tremulous with eagerness as 
 he shook Miguel's arm to hasten the reading. 
 
 "Mi Amigo: 
 
 " It is not easy to discuss our affairs before your 
 friend, who is an enemy. You and I must not be 
 estranged because of evil things people tell you. 
 Do me the favor to hear my side of the story and 
 meet me at five o'clock at the old adobe in the 
 west vineyard. I can make all settlements clear. 
 It is for us two to talk, not for others to know. 
 That is why I do not say your house or mine ; the 
 adobe is the best. FELIPE." 
 
 " Ai zi ! Felipe Felipe Felipe !" cried the 
 old man dismally, shaking his head and moaning. 
 But a moment later victory superseded the grief 
 in him as he kissed the folded paper and knelt in 
 the dust by the roadside. 
 
 " From Heaven Felipe come back this day to 
 lead me into that room, to shut the eyes of the 
 people, that no one sees when I go and when I 
 come out. My life to God from the day when the 
 Americano dies as my Felipe dies, my life to God 
 and the Mother of God ! " 
 
 174
 
 XIII 
 
 THE SENORITA GOES DRIVING. 
 
 Fate was abroad in the Hermosa that morning. 
 It was a fair, sunny day and the soft breeze car- 
 ried the odor of blossoming orchards. The pink 
 and white petals drifted downward on the Senorita 
 in the garden, where she swung gently back and 
 forwards in the hammock, touching the ground 
 now and then with a gorgeous moccasin a day- 
 old gift from Galbraith and crooning one of 
 Anita's lullabies to small Jose Alverez. 
 
 " You spoil him si you rock him after he is 
 asleep I " said Anita ; " I will take him to the crib." 
 But the girl shook her head. 
 
 " No ! He sleeps but with me, and you are 
 jealous, Anita. You go to your dinner. Jose 
 and I want our garden all to our own selves ! " 
 
 With slight demur Anita joined the other ser- 
 vants and ranchmen in the big refectory. And 
 thus it was that the way through the garden was 
 open to MigueF and others ! 
 
 The Senorita left the hammock and was slowly 
 pacing the long path bordered on both sides by 
 stately white lilies reaching almost to her waist. 
 Their clusters of white buds had not yet unfolded, 
 and the girl in the simple linen gown, bought ready 
 
 175
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 made in Santa Barbara, and a white lace mantilla, 
 the pride of Perenza's heart, looked herself like 
 a folded blossom, a sister to the unawakened lilies. 
 The one incongruous touch was the string of tur- 
 quoise with its scarlet tie, and the very beautifully- 
 made moccasins in which she took the delight of 
 a child. 
 
 Jose had wrinkled up his small face as a direct 
 ray of sunlight sifted through the moving 
 branches, and the Senorita had stepped aside into 
 the deeper shadows when the soft roll of wheels 
 sounded on the drive along the old olive orchard. 
 All the days the Senorita had lived in the garden, 
 no one had driven there. It only ended in a 
 loop by the garden gate and was for company so 
 Anita said and no company had yet come that 
 way. The men came direct from the main road 
 and past the corrals on the other side. 
 
 So the girl stood very still, very close to the 
 bole of a palm near the gate. The wheels were 
 too close for her to retreat unless she ran, and 
 to run would awaken Jose, and the Senorita would 
 have risked much to avoid that. 
 
 She stood still as the tree itself as a very ele- 
 gant phaeton rolled over the grass-grown drive, 
 slowing up perceptibly as it neared the gate. Old 
 Luigo was driving. The Senorita had only seen 
 him at a distance and recognized his wide brimmed 
 hat by the black band around it. Shs remem- 
 
 176
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 bered him as the man who brought the sweet smell- 
 ing notes Perenza hated so. 
 
 But beside him was some one more wonderful 
 than the Seiiorita had yet seen in the Hermosa 
 valley, or was it because of the wonderful way in 
 which her maid had arranged the filmy black hat 
 that the blonde face with its pale hair shone like 
 a jewel set in ebony? 
 
 The carriage fittings, the horses, the harness, 
 were all dead, dead black! A basket of ferns 
 and wild flowers was the only bit of color in the 
 equipage and the woman leaned across the bas- 
 ket to peer more closely into the old garden. 
 
 " Slower, Luigo! If you see any one of them, 
 stop. If not, drive on. You are sure she is in the 
 garden these days? " 
 
 " Sure ! But no one gets near her. She was in 
 the orchard with Anita, yesterday." 
 
 A little laugh sounded from the carriage. 
 
 " So great a treasure should not range so far! " 
 
 The Senorita pressed closely to the palm tree, 
 and then it was that small Jose proved her undo- 
 ing, for unconsciously she clasped him more tightly 
 and, his sleep interrupted, he made vocal protest. 
 
 As the girl realized that she was discovered, she 
 stepped back into the path, patting and rocking the 
 little rebel into slumber again. The carnage 
 halted at the gate only a few paces away, and 
 
 13 177
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 Luigo, at a word from the lady, clambered down 
 on the opposite side and adjusted a loosened strap. 
 
 The Senorita did not notice him. Her eyes 
 were busy with the lady, who smiled, and held out 
 her hand, and spoke in a carefully sweet man- 
 ner. 
 
 " Did my horses waken the child? I am so 
 sorry ! May I see him? " Then as the girl slowly 
 approached and lifted the rebozo, " Oh, how 
 pretty it is ! " she exclaimed. 
 
 " Yes," assented the girl, eagerly. " I think he 
 is as pretty as the flowers. But Don Mac laughs 
 when I say so ! Don't you think he is ? Look 
 at his hands, and his feet, oh, you should see his 
 feet!" 
 
 "Whose child is it?" asked the other; and 
 the girl stroked the babe's hand softly. 
 
 " He is mine all my own always! " she re- 
 plied with much satisfaction. "Don Mac says I 
 shall always keep him, and he is so good Don 
 Mac! What he says is always true. Perenza 
 says he is the whole Hermosa valley and the moun- 
 tains back of them ! " 
 
 " Of course," assented her listener with a queer 
 little smile. "And may I ask your name?" 
 
 l< I am the 'Senorita' ! " she said frankly, " ex- 
 cept when I am Anabella Watson. That is my real 
 name, but no one calls me it." 
 
 " So," said the visitor, rather amused at the 
 
 178
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 girl's frank statements. " This is your child, and 
 you are the Seriorita ? " 
 
 " Senorita Moccasins," she said, lifting her skirt 
 and thrusting forward one bead-covered foot. 
 " Senor Braith calls me ' Miss Moccasins,' but all 
 the Californians call me 'Sefiorita'." 
 
 This time the lady in the carriage did more 
 than smile, she laughed outright. 
 
 " Oh, yes, I've heard of you from Senor Leigh- 
 ton, a school teacher, I think he said." And she 
 laughed outright at the way he had tried to trick 
 her, and had failed! 
 
 Her red lips thinned as she considered how best 
 to prove to him his failure and for once confound 
 the so perfect Don Mac, who always, always said 
 only the truth, and never, never made mistakes as 
 did other men ! 
 
 Her foot was on the step to descend ; she would 
 walk through the garden with his " school 
 teacher " and the school teacher's infant ! She 
 would meet him at his own door; she would 
 
 But a better thought occurred to her and she 
 sank back on the cushions. 
 
 " I am a friend of your Don Mac, and I came 
 to call on business," she said, smiling. " But the 
 day is really too perfect for the indoors. Will 
 you not come for a little drive, Senorita? you 
 and the little one?" she added, engagingly. 
 
 " To drive with you ! Oh, how much I should 
 
 179
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 like ! " And the girl's face flushed happily as 
 a child's at the little attention. " But it would 
 never, never do. Perenza would scold." 
 
 " Nonsense ! Don Mac would not let her scold 
 us just for giving the baby a little ride. We 
 shall be back before she misses you." 
 
 "Jose never did have a carriage ride yet," said 
 the Senorita, wistfully. 
 
 " And I am quite sure it will do him good,'* said 
 her temptress, promptly. 
 
 That settled it. A moment later the Senorita 
 was seated in the carriage and her hostess was 
 gathering up the lines briskly. 
 
 " You will have to borrow a horse from Senor 
 Leighton to ride home, Luigo," she remarked as 
 she turned the team deftly, and the old man sprang 
 out of the way. 
 
 As the white rebozo was caught by the breeze 
 and blown from about the girl's face, the old man 
 uttered an exclamation of amazement and stared 
 after the Senorita and the child with puzzled eyes 
 and incredulous mutterings. Then he opened the 
 garden gate and made his way towards the house. 
 The patio was empty, the servants in the refectory, 
 and all the dwelling open for the inspection of the 
 curious. 
 
 The Senorita opened her eyes in wonder at the 
 speed of the black ponies, and sought the eyes 
 
 180
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 of Jose for approval of their escapade; but Jose 
 had retreated into slumber once more. 
 
 " It almost takes my breath! " she confessed. 
 " To ride so fast as this, does it never frighten 
 you senorita? " 
 
 She added the last hesitatingly, not liking to ask 
 the name of her new-found friend, yet slightly em- 
 barrassed that she did not know it. 
 
 " Senora," corrected the other one. "You are 
 the Senorita of the party." Then she turned her 
 eyes full on the girl with a keener inquiry. 
 
 " How is it you gasp at this little drive after 
 riding El Diablo and making a record? " she de- 
 manded, curtly. 
 
 "I ride El Diablo I?" 
 
 The senora twitched the lines impatiently, was 
 the girl a fool, or was she acting? Her consterna- 
 tion seemed very real. 
 
 " Certainly El Diablo the devil! " And she 
 laughed briefly. " Are you not the heroine of the 
 flood?" 
 
 The girl only stared at her in a perplexed way, 
 a deep wrinkle between her brows. Was she? 
 The question bordered closely on that dreamland 
 of which she caught fleeting, troubled glimpses, 
 but of which the doctor and Don Mac had forbid- 
 den her to think lest it bring back the pain in her 
 head. She had been guarded more carefully than 
 
 181
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 Jose himself, that her every hour might be tran- 
 quil. No one was allowed to approach or question 
 her, and now all in a moment that was all changed. 
 
 The swift flight in the beautiful carriage with 
 Don Mac's friend, to run away and be back before 
 any one could miss her, that was delightful! 
 But the question of the gracious, smiling seriora 
 was different; it made her think and she clasped 
 her hand over her brow and tried hard, hard to 
 remember if such a wonderful thing could have 
 been possible. 
 
 Diablo, whom the boys of the stable avoided! 
 Diablo, who would stand on his hind feet and 
 dance with rage ! Diablo, who could overleap the 
 carriage itself and never touch it ! Diablo, whose 
 approach would fill her with terror ! How, how 
 could it be that she had ever ridden him any time, 
 any where? 
 
 " I have been ill I can't remember much," 
 she said at last. " But I never, never could have 
 ridden Diablo. Of all horses he frightens me the 
 most." 
 
 " And of all men Don Mac? " suggested the 
 senora, with a little malicious glance lost on the 
 girl. 
 
 " Don Mac! How could I be afraid of him? 
 He is he is wonderful ! Perenza tells me of the 
 saints, but I am sure he is greater than they, and 
 I know it is easier to love him ! y ' 
 
 182
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 "Ah!" 
 
 Again the senora looked at her curiously. For 
 reasons connected with a sensual Dutch mother 
 and a Mexican father, whose household at times 
 had suggested a harem, because of those mem- 
 ories and an inherited comprehension of them, the 
 senora believed in the innocence of girlhood only 
 so long as it was guarded. 
 
 And this girl, who had guarded her but Mac 
 Leighton and an old woman who was his alone? 
 And this child in her arms, which she showed with 
 pride and acknowledged with pride as her own ! 
 It was all the most natural thing in the world, of 
 course. In fact, if she had discovered some such 
 episode in Leighton's life a year before, she might 
 not have eloped with Felipe, it was barely pos- 
 sible she might not. But she knew men, and 
 Leighton had been too self-restrained, too sure of 
 himself and of her. He had never aroused her 
 imagination, only her curiosity for a time. 
 
 Of course she took it for granted there was 
 some other woman somewhere, and now that she 
 had found her, she was not troubled by delicacy 
 of feeling as to letting him know she knew it. 
 She meant to take the girl to the Hacienda and 
 detain her till Leighton should come or send for 
 her, she was curious to see which it would be. 
 That would help determine just how much hold 
 the girl had on all too perfect Don Mac ! Would 
 
 183
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 he send a servant? his right hand, Galbraith? Or 
 would he have the assurance to come himself? 
 
 The senora's mother in the same situation would 
 have taken the affair as a great joke, and with 
 loud laughs would have insisted on being god- 
 mother to the child! The mother had been an 
 exuberant, rosy cheeked creature whose mouth had 
 upturned corners to match the jolly upturned nose. 
 There was a strong resemblance between them in 
 some ways, but the daughter was a limited edition. 
 Her mouth had a downward, jealous turn, and a 
 certain curve of malice in the thin red lips. Her 
 instincts were no finer, but they were covered with 
 a more delicate veneer. The daughter wore laces 
 and emeralds while the mother, before the golden 
 American days and her meeting with Gonzales, 
 had worn wooden shoes. 
 
 The biography of a thought ! All the inherited 
 instincts of adventurous forbears in the tropics 
 framed the thought the senora expressed by a 
 single exclamation, ah I 
 
 She had no standard with which to compare a 
 child-like love in the heart of a woman, and no 
 belief that any man would care to foster such an 
 emotion. As child and as girl she had known 
 men, some of them old friends of her mother's, 
 and she knew I 
 
 ' Yes, he certainly is handsome enough to turn 
 any girl's head," she said at last. " Mac is all 
 
 184
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 right. But after all he is only a man, and men 
 have a way of forgetting serioritas." 
 
 " Forgetting oh! " And the little cry of pro- 
 test was fraught with sharp pain as she put out 
 her hand in a pleading, appealing way. ' You 
 cannot mean that, senora, that he could forget 
 me ! It is very terrible to forget. He cannot 
 forget when I shall be always with him, always 
 beside him, always loving him ! " 
 
 " You talk like a simpleton," said the senora 
 with a curt laugh. The utter childishness of the 
 girl irritated and annoyed her. She could not of 
 course be jealous of a senorita who was a mother. 
 As a Mexican woman, she expected episodes of 
 that sort; they would never disturb her in the 
 slightest. The commotion these Californians made 
 over that little peasant, Carmenita, was annoying 
 and senseless to her. But this one was a different 
 type from Carmenita, this one who showed her 
 child with pride and avowed her love unashamed. 
 
 " How can you be always beside him unless 
 you are his wife?" asked the senora as a final 
 shot, regarding the girl keenly. At that question 
 she would surely show shame, perhaps blushes. 
 
 There was neither. The girl looked puzzled for 
 a moment and shook her head. 
 
 " I do not know about that," she said slowly. 
 " But I will be his wife if if " 
 
 " If you ask him and he says yes! " laughed 
 
 185
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 the senora. " And we will all be asked to the 
 wedding when Senor Don McNeal Leighton of 
 Hermosa marries Miss Moccasins of No Man's 
 Land!" 
 
 "Yes!" assented the girl, laughing also. 
 " Let us turn around quickly and go to ask him ! 
 Oh, how good you are. I am so happy that you 
 told me I " 
 
 For the first time the truth dawned upon the 
 senora that this girl was not quite as other peo- 
 ple. A swift fear struck her as she looked in 
 the eager smiling face. Was it an idiot she had 
 picked up at his gate in order that he should be 
 discomfited? 
 
 No thought of Leighton was in her mind now, 
 only a wild desire to meet some one, any one, 
 on the road; a wild dread of sitting alone beside 
 that strange creature with the childish smile and 
 the brain no arrow point of sense could reach. 
 But there was no one in sight. Her own gates 
 were only a short distance around the bend. To 
 reach her own people and reach them quickly was 
 the only thought in her chilled little heart, and 
 with that thought uppermost she reached for the 
 whip. 
 
 The girl laughed as the ponies leaped forward, 
 but an instant later she uttered a cry of alarm 
 and caught the senora's wrist. 
 
 ' We are not going to him ! " she half moaned 
 
 186
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 in dismay. " You are taking me farther away ! 
 Oh, senora, take me back now at once ! I must 
 ask him to marry me before I forget it again. 
 It is so awful to forget ! " 
 
 The senora stared at her with whitened face 
 and tried to wrench her wrist free to lash the 
 galloping ponies. But at the first violent move- 
 ment the girl's eyes glowed darkly. With a sharp 
 cry, she wrenched the rebozo from her head, and, 
 wrapping it about the awakened child, she delib- 
 erately laid him on the soft rug of the carriage 
 between her feet. 
 
 " Now," she said grimly, " we are going back 
 to Don Mac Leighton's to ask him to marry Miss 
 Moccasins of No Man's Land!" 
 
 In vain the senora screamed and clung to the 
 lines. They had reached the gates. The garden- 
 ers were mowing the lawn near the house. If 
 she could only reach them ! could only turn the 
 horses out of the main road ! 
 
 The horses turned of their own accord to the 
 gates that swung open to let them in and swung 
 shut again with a clang as the wheels crossed the 
 spring bar in the drive. 
 
 At the sound the girl turned her head. She 
 saw the gates closed, she was trapped! shut in 
 forever from Don Mac, from the road to the 
 Mission! With a half scream, she darted down 
 
 187
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 on the sefiora like a hawk on a black and yellow 
 oriole. 
 
 The men started to run when they heard the 
 scream of their sefiora. They could see her for 
 a moment swaying in the grasp of the girl and 
 then sink fainting in the bottom of the carriage, 
 while the girl, standing erect, grasped the lines 
 and strove in vain to check the course of the now 
 maddened ponies dashing along the drive. 
 
 A shout from one of the men was disastrous 
 in that it caused her to notice that they were 
 running from different directions, closing in on 
 her as the gates had closed, shutting off forever the 
 way to Don Mac! 
 
 Her face was white with dread of them, and 
 with a last despairing effort she threw all her 
 weight on the lines to check them, to turn them 
 again to the road, out of the reach of those men, 
 those awful men, who were so close now, so awful- 
 ly close! 
 
 The ponies reared, swerved, and the next instant 
 there was a chorus of shouts, a crash and then 
 three men were cutting the traces to free the 
 ponies from the over-turned carriage, and two 
 women were lying very still on the green of the 
 lawn. 
 
 188
 
 XIV 
 
 MISS MOCCASINS REVEALS HER IDENTITY. 
 
 The unconsciousness of the senora was due to 
 fright and to nothing worse was due the hysterical 
 fit she indulged in later. Dr. Elroy arrived with- 
 in an hour to put plaster on the scratch on her 
 chin and to assure her she was as sound as 
 ever, a fact which she did not credit in the least, 
 so assured was she that her nervous system would 
 become a complete wreck as a result of the shock. 
 
 " And that maniac ! oh, her terrible eyes ! Mac 
 Leighton should be prosecuted for allowing her 
 to range at large like that; she is horribly dan- 
 gerous ! " 
 
 " Not at this moment," returned the doctor, 
 carefully folding some filmy powders. " I put her 
 asleep as soon as I came." 
 
 " Oh, you saw her first?" inquired the senora 
 with a slightly injured expression. 
 
 " Couldn't help it," he said briefly. " Your 
 people had laid her in the outer court, and if it 
 had been dark I should have stumbled over her. 
 After dressing the slight injury to her head, I 
 had her laid in the sala. I have also sent for 
 Mr. Leighton. This is a case in which we are 
 both especially interested." 
 
 189
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 "Indeed?" 
 
 " Yes," resumed the doctor, not noticing the 
 Irony in her tone. " A most peculiar case ; not 
 an unbalanced mind, you understand, only an en- 
 tire loss of memory. A lost personality you 
 might say. I am expecting decided results from 
 this accident, for by a strange coincidence, it is 
 the same side of the head which is again in- 
 jured." 
 
 " I suppose her baby was simply killed? " 
 
 " Her " began the doctor; and then, think- 
 ing it best not to enter into the question of the 
 child's parentage with Mrs. Darrett, since it might 
 cause a relapse into the hysterics, he added : " No, 
 he was not even thrown out of the carriage; the 
 rug only turned over him. But the servants were 
 pretty nearly useless with fright; they huddled 
 around him like scared sheep." 
 
 " Luigo is coming," said Ana, the maid, look- 
 ing from the window. " He will manage them. 
 And some one else is riding through the gate 
 two gentlemen." 
 
 The sefiora raised herself on the couch and 
 surveyed the driveway for an instant and then 
 sank among the cushions with a laugh not 
 musical. 
 
 " I wondered if he would come or send a ser- 
 vant," she confessed. " He not only conies, but 
 his shadow, Sefior Braith, rides with him." 
 
 190
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " There is another," announced Ana a little 
 later, pointing to a figure bobbing along in the 
 rear. 
 
 " That I think is Anita, the nurse," decided 
 the doctor. And the sefiora laughed again and 
 asked if she, an uninvited guest, would be al- 
 lowed to attend the reception Miss Moccasins was 
 holding in her sala? 
 
 It was all ridiculous, the " Senorita " and that 
 incongruous baby and those men riding like that 
 for such a creature, a girl in a ready made gray 
 linen thing and those ridiculous moccasins ! It 
 pleased her to dwell on the grotesque things con- 
 nected with the girl who had almost frightened the 
 wits out of her: Mac Leighton should be humbled 
 before he was an hour older! 
 
 And Ana's fingers fairly flew in order that the 
 senora should look her very best in a soft cling- 
 ing home gown with wonderful jet girdle and 
 glimmer of beads. Even the slippers she asked 
 for were beaded to the tips. 
 
 " Beaded shoes are just now the fashion in the 
 Hermosa," she remarked, jestingly. 
 
 Old Luigo was in the sala crouched beside the 
 couch and peering into the sleeping girl's face when 
 Dr. Elroy entered and laid a heavy hand on his 
 shoulder. 
 
 'What are you doing?" he demanded; and 
 
 191
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 Luigo slowly rose to his feet, pointing with 
 trembling hand to the girl. 
 
 "Who who is she?" 
 
 ; ' The young lady from Kern County, who 
 warned the people of the flood. You heard of 
 that?" 
 
 " We had other things to think of here," said 
 the old man, as he slowly moved away from the 
 couch. 
 
 The doctor noted her pulse and looked at his 
 watch with considerable satisfaction. 
 
 " Perfectly normal," he murmured, seating 
 himself with his open watch in his hand, " and 
 time for her to wake up." 
 
 Leighton and Galbraith arrived a moment later 
 and halted at the entrance to the court. 
 
 " I'll be here if I'm wanted. Mrs. Darrett 
 might not like " 
 
 u Nonsense ! Delfina is not of the Castro fac- 
 tion and and we may need you ! " 
 
 Galbraith followed without further comment, 
 and as they entered the sala, Delfina was descend- 
 ing the stairway from the other side. Leighton 
 went directly to the couch, and Galbraith, though 
 he halted farther off, had eyes for no one but the 
 girl lying there. It was not until Mrs. Darrett 
 had crossed half the room that he noted her pres- 
 ence and acknowledged it by a grave bow. 
 
 Leighton and the doctor had their backs to 
 
 192
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 her, and she felt irritated anew that the girl there 
 absorbed all eyes, even those of old Luigo who 
 crouched against the wall as if fascinated. 
 
 "Is she badly injured?" asked Leighton, 
 grasping the doctor's hand. " We were search- 
 ing for her when the message came. Is she " 
 
 " She was stunned by the fall. I can tell you 
 neither what I hope nor what I fear until she 
 wakens." 
 
 " Oh ! She is only sleeping then? I feared 
 
 He sat down, wiping his brow with a 
 
 handkerchief. Dr. Elroy regarded him sharply. 
 
 "Sick yourself, aren't you?" he demanded. 
 "No? Well, I'm not so sure of that. You've 
 been losing weight and color too for a month. 
 Just now you looked decidedly white around the 
 gills. Been riding hard? " 
 
 "Yes," said Galbraith; "that's it." 
 
 "How did it happen?" asked Leighton, who 
 felt the color come into his face at Galbraith's 
 words. For Galbraith was obviously trying to 
 cover his emotion at sight of her death-like face ! 
 " They told us it was an accident in a carriage 
 a carriage ! That seemed so incredible ! " 
 
 " So does this," said Delfina pointing to the 
 little patch of court plaster on her white chin. 
 " After this, Don Mac, you must really tack labels 
 on your maniacs ! I had no idea when she wanted 
 
 '93
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 a carriage ride that she meant to murder me for 
 the use of the ponies." 
 
 "Maniac! Delfina!" 
 
 " A loss of memory was the only trouble until 
 to-day an hour ago! " said Dr. Elroy. u If any 
 tendency towards insanity has developed so recent- 
 ly, the question is, what caused it? A mental 
 shock of any sort?" 
 
 " Please tell us, Delfina, just what happened." 
 
 " She got in my carriage with the baby at your 
 gate. She insisted on driving. I thought her 
 manner strange and objected. Then she fought 
 like a tiger for the lines and when she got them 
 she overturned the carriage. The servants will 
 have to tell you what happened after that." 
 
 As she glanced carelessly at her listeners, she 
 met Galbraith's gaze and felt a flush of anger 
 she dared not show, for she perceived he did not 
 believe her. 
 
 " But, Delfina," persisted Leighton, " we have 
 known her as a gentle, harmless child. What 
 was done or said to change her in the few moments 
 she was with you? " 
 
 " A gentle, harmless child ! " repeated Del- 
 fina, mockingly. " Which one, Don Mac, the 
 mother or the infant? " 
 
 " The mother? " ejaculated Leighton. " That 
 girl! You don't mean " 
 
 She could see that the man was staring at her
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 in curious amazement. It angered her to detect 
 a critical tinge in the doctor's regard. 
 
 " Nonsense ! " she said, shrugging her shoul- 
 ders. " What should I mean? Your proteges and 
 their families are nothing to me, but when bache- 
 lors and girls of this age disdain the conventionali- 
 ties too far, people will talk, you know ! " 
 
 " Appearances have misled you, Mrs. Darrett. 
 You fancied this girl the mother of the child she 
 carried? " 
 
 " She told me it was hers! " 
 
 " As a pet bird would be yours ! " And try 
 as he would Leighton could not keep the anger 
 from his tones. " She had no idea of the false 
 construction to be placed on her claim to it." 
 
 ' That is quite true, Mrs. Darrett, she is too 
 child-like to understand." 
 
 " Oh very well! She has champions at least I 
 I wonder " and she looked at Leighton dar- 
 ingly " if she is too child-like to comprehend 
 marriage? " 
 
 "Marriage?" 
 
 ' Yes. She told me among other things that 
 she meant to marry you. Is that also a mistake, 
 or can we offer congratulations?" 
 
 The men stared at her. Galbraith swore under 
 his breath and did not dare look at Leighton. 
 
 "Oh, Mrs. Darrett!" began the doctor. 
 
 195
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 41 What the girl said in that brief mental aberra- 
 tion should not " 
 
 " Thank you, doctor," said Leighton with stern 
 decision. " But if our little girl recovers if she 
 recovers there must be no further chance for mis- 
 understanding my care of her. The marriage will 
 certainly be a fact if she continues in the same 
 state of mind, and," he added, turning to Del- 
 fina, " I should consider myself a lucky man ! " 
 
 She stared at him in amazement for a moment, 
 and then laughed. 
 
 "A California Quixote! Now, Mac, be rea- 
 sonable! You are certainly not in earnest! You 
 don't mean to turn the Old Mission into a private 
 insane asylum or " 
 
 " Delfina ! Don't ! " he said half in appeal and 
 half in command. " It is not a subject for jest. 
 She was injured doing my work. If she remains 
 helpless, I shall take care of her. If she recovers, 
 I shall just as certainly ask her to be my wife ! " 
 
 His words were emphatic, and so was his move- 
 ment, as he suddenly lifted the hand of the sleep- 
 ing girl and pressed it to his lips. 
 
 Delfina retreated with a little gasp that was 
 half fear, for at his close clasp and decided tones 
 the girl opened her eyes as she had done that first 
 day at the Mission when unresponsive to the 
 others. 
 
 Luigo sank on his knees mumbling frightened 
 
 196
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 prayers. Galbraith alone stood as before with 
 folded arms, back of all the others. In more ways 
 than one he seemed outside of the circle. 
 
 Dr. Elroy bent forward, looking keenly in the 
 girl's face. 
 
 "Well? You are better?" he said cheerily. 
 And she lifted drowsy eyes to his for an instant, 
 eyes even in their drowsiness showing surprise. 
 
 " Why yes," she said at last as she turned her 
 gaze slowly towards the others in the room, and, 
 passing over them lightly, settled it on the man 
 who held her hand. 
 
 " Yes I " She passed her hand confused- 
 ly over her eyes, and then uttered a little cry of 
 comprehension. " Oh ! Did I faint when the 
 wave struck! And were they saved? oh were 
 they?" 
 
 Dr. Elroy turned to the others in triumph. 
 
 " Yes, dear," said Leighton, gently, " you 
 fainted; but it is all right now that you are your- 
 self again." And both his hands clasped hers 
 with grateful fervor. 
 
 " Dear," she repeated in a bewildered way, 
 while the color crept into her cheeks and she re- 
 garded him for a moment with shy wonder, " I 
 must be half asleep yet, for I seem to know you 
 so well, so very well, yet I can't remember." 
 
 " Try ! " he said in the same gentle tone that
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 had yet a command in it. ' When you are quite 
 awake it will all come back to you. 
 
 " Oh yes! It does, it does! " she breathed 
 eagerly. " The ride, the beautiful ride on Diablo, 
 Diablo the magnificent ! And then the water, the 
 terrible roar of the water! And the old woman 
 who screamed ! And" with eyes suddenly turned 
 on Leighton with stony directness " You ! It 
 was you who tried to stop me! It was you who 
 said it was Phil's fault, my Felipe's ! It was you 
 you ! " 
 
 "Your Felipe!" 
 
 Delfina's voice broke in sharply and Leighton 
 half rose from the chair and let the girl's hand 
 fall, only to grasp it again closely, almost roughly. 
 
 " What do you know of Felipe? " he demanded. 
 His voice had lost its gentle tones, it was rough, 
 harsh, compelling! 'This is his home and 
 this is his wife ! " 
 
 " Oh, Delfina ? " said the girl turning interest- 
 edly to the rigid black draped figure. " It's a 
 funny way to come home, isn't it? Where's 
 Phil?" 
 
 Delfina drew back with a frightened gasp. 
 
 ' The Seriorita ! " muttered Luigo, nodding his 
 head. " I knew it! The Senorita I " 
 
 The rest stared at each other, and the old Mexi- 
 can nodded his head and muttered. The girl, 
 
 198
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 hearing his voice, turned her head and smiled a 
 little. 
 
 ' You see I came back to California, Luigo, " 
 she remarked, and then grew suddenly conscious 
 of the strained attitude of the others and the dis- 
 may in the face of the widow. 
 
 : ' What is the matter? " she demanded sharply. 
 ' Why do you look so strangely? Why why do 
 none of you speak to me ? " She raised herself 
 on her elbow, though she winced from a lame 
 shoulder, and swayed a little dizzily. " My hea'd 
 is rather muggy, yet, but I can see you all, and 
 I would like a reply to my question, Where is 
 Phil ? Delfina ! "in sudden terror" That 
 black dress ! Is it is it " 
 
 " It is you who must answer a question first," 
 said Leighton tensely: "What was Felipe to 
 you?" 
 
 " My brother, of course! " she said, staring at 
 him in surprise. 
 
 Delfina uttered a little scream and then began 
 to laugh in an hysterical way. 
 
 Leighton's face could scarcely grow whiter, but 
 it changed its tense, eager expression for a color- 
 less acceptance of facts, and he dropped her hand 
 with a slight cold bow. 
 
 " Then you are? " 
 
 " I am Anchor Darrett of ' Treasure Trove/ 
 
 199
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 she answered briefly. " Now, who are you and 
 where is Phil? " 
 
 In the shock of silence following the girl's 
 words, Dr. Elroy cast a meaning glance at the 
 others, and again it was Galbraith who came to 
 the rescue. 
 
 4 Your brother is away just now Miss Miss 
 Darrett." (Ah! the discarded Miss Moccasins 
 of the days past!) " The fact is you've been un- 
 conscious since the flood, could not even tell your 
 own name. Nobody knew you, and that's why 
 you find all Hermosa sort of tongue-tied when 
 you when you come to us." 
 
 " Oh, is that it?" she said slowly, looking at 
 the speaker in a puzzled way, and then turning 
 her glance on the old Mexican. " But Luigo, 
 Luigo could have told you ! " 
 
 " Luigo did not see you until a few minutes 
 ago," broke in the doctor, eager to distract her 
 attention from her original question. ' You were 
 carried to this gentleman's house from the flood 
 and you have been ill longer than you realize. I 
 am your physician and must forbid further con- 
 versation for to-day. Mrs. Darrett, I think I must 
 prescribe retirement for you both. You have by 
 no means recovered from your over indisposi- 
 tion." 
 
 A* that Delfina came forward. Overwhelmed 
 as she was by the situation, she realized that the 
 
 200
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 only thing to be done was to accept it and follow 
 the lead of Galbraith and the doctor. If the girl 
 was at last sane, Delfina had not the least desire 
 to add any further shock by which a repetition 
 of the carriage scene might be evolved; and 
 Felipe's death must not be spoken of. 
 
 One look at Luigo had convinced her there 
 was no mistake this time in the girl's identity. In 
 the garden of the Old Mission, with her head 
 wreathed in a rebozo and a child in her arms, he 
 had thought his memory and his old eyes had 
 played him false tricks. But once close to her, 
 face to face, he had no further doubts, and Delfina 
 knew and accepted the fact. In the presence of 
 those men who had listened to her ridicule of the 
 girl, it was no easy matter to act as though they 
 already had forgotten it, or to go fonvard and do 
 the only thing to be done. But with a deprecat- 
 ing glance at the doctor, she avoided looking 
 toward Leighton, who had retreated to a window, 
 and squaring her shoulders for the effort, she 
 held out her hand to the girl. 
 
 " We will try to make up for lost time, Anchor," 
 she said with a little smile. " It isn't our fault if 
 you visited our neighbor first. What have you 
 to say for yourself for not writing us you were 
 coming? " 
 
 " Oh, I forget," said the girl on the couch, her 
 eyes studying wistfully the blonde face, and draw- 
 
 201
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 ing Delfina down to the hassock, vacated by Leigh- 
 ton a moment before, she added, " I think it was 
 because I was so eager to get back and I wanted 
 to surprise you ! " 
 
 " I reckon," remarked Galbraith, " that you 
 pretty nearly succeeded." 
 
 Delfina and Dr. Elroy laughed, glad to laugh 
 at anything and relieve the tension they were all 
 conscious of. And the laughter even gave Delfina 
 courage to lean forward and kiss the girl's cheek; 
 until now the greeting given Felipe's sister had 
 lacked the cordiality of their exchanged letters. 
 And Anchor Darrett smiled back at her, with no 
 disquieting memory of their struggle behind the 
 plunging horses, and no consciousness that the 
 rather becoming diffidence of her brother's wife 
 was due in part to terror, terror of herself, harm- 
 less though she looked at the awakening from her 
 weeks of oblivion. 
 
 " Come and shake hands, Luigo," commanded 
 the girl, smiling quizzically at the old man. ' You 
 stare at me as if I were a ghost. Come and see 
 that I am not. Oh," as Luigo looked questioningly 
 at the doctor, " to shake hands won't make me 
 any sicker. Not that I feel sick at all, but my 
 shoulder hurts, and my head a little." 
 
 Luigo came forward, made an antiquated bow: 
 and took the hand she offered. 
 
 " You are welcome in California, Anchor," he 
 
 202
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 said with careful precision, causing Anchor to 
 laugh. 
 
 " But you can't cross your heart and say you 
 are glad," she said. " You were gladder far when 
 they packed me away to school and you had Felipe 
 all to yourself. How I used to torment you! and 
 how you used to threaten me! I forgive you, 
 though. I'd forgive anybody who was devoted 
 to Felipe." The old man had moved back, smil- 
 ing grimly with the others at her quizzical re- 
 minders; but at her final words he stepped close 
 to the couch and clasped her hand in both his own. 
 
 "Mother of God! I am glad you are here, 
 Dona Anchor, glad from the heart! Yes, we 
 forgive each other everything all the time and 
 we both devote to Felipe ! " 
 
 " Luigo," said Dona Delfina warningly, " you 
 will have many days to prove your devotion, but 
 to-day " 
 
 ' Yes, to-day the audience is ended," said Dr. 
 Elroy in a half jesting way. But Luigo under- 
 stood and quietly slipped out of the room. 
 
 Leighton picked up his hat, preparatory to leav- 
 ing, but Delfina, with a, little murmured apology 
 to Anchor, crossed the sala and caught his hand 
 with a fierce little grip. 
 
 " Don't you dare go, Mac Leighton ! " she said 
 hurriedly under her breath, her eyes still on the 
 girl beside whom the doctor had seated himself, 
 
 203
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 testing pulse, temperature, and the strange little 
 wound on the skull, which had acted as a door 
 locking up reason, and again letting it free at a 
 jar. "Don't you dare go!" repeated Delfina. 
 " Feel my hands. I'm shaking with nervousness. 
 Do you think I could sleep in the house alone with 
 her? Not if she were Felipe's sister ten times 
 over! My! Your hands are cold as ice; has 
 she scared you, too? " 
 
 " A little," he confessed trying to smile, and 
 not succeeding very well. " But it's nonsense about 
 your being alone with servants all about you." 
 
 " What good would they do if she took another 
 fractious fit? They would only go to praying. 
 Dr. Elroy can't stay, not at night anyway, and 
 you must." 
 
 " I can't," he said decidedly. " It's no use 
 talking, Delfina. When she was helpless and 
 homeless, the case was different, but now that she 
 is where she belongs, you will have to look after 
 her, I'm out of it." 
 
 "Oh dear!" cried Delfina, sinking helplessly 
 into a seat. " You won't stay even for me? " 
 
 " Can't," he said briefly, thrusting the icy hands 
 she had referred to in his pockets. 
 
 " Nor for her? " And her smile was not un- 
 tinged by malice. 
 
 " Nor for her." 
 
 204
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 ' Yet, an hour ago you would have married 
 her." 
 
 ' To save her from feminine slander, yes." 
 
 " How was I to know? A strange girl in your 
 garden, who said she was going to live with you 
 always, and that she loved you better than the 
 saints, yes, that's what she said," laughed Del- 
 fina with a wary eye on the couch, " so how was 
 I to know? But you hate me for it," she said, 
 sitting suddenly, accusingly erect, " you hate me 
 for thinking what any rational woman would have 
 thought." 
 
 " I don't love you for it," he confessed, " or 
 the other rational women either. I suppose," he 
 added, regarding the doctor and his patient, " I 
 suppose she will be a rational woman, too, when 
 she gets on her feet." 
 
 " The saints grant it," murmured Delfina de- 
 voutly. " But, oh Mac, how how how am I 
 to let her know about Felipe? You can see the 
 doctor wants her kept in ignorance of it as long 
 as possible, and if it had not been for Galbraith, 
 well, he saved the day when the rest of us lost 
 our wits ! " 
 
 Leighton glanced across at Galbraith, who had 
 seated himself in the court just outside the en- 
 trance to the sala, but in full view in case he should 
 be wanted. 
 
 " That's so," he remarked reflectively, " he did; 
 
 205
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 and he always will if he is given a half chance. 
 He would be the best person you could get to re- 
 main here until you are convinced that your new 
 guest is ' rational V 
 
 "But would he do it?" 
 
 " Yes, if you tell him it is for the Senorita." 
 
 " Ah ! " And again Delfina's smile had its little 
 sting of ridicule "both of you!" But she 
 caught his sleeve as he would have turned away. 
 
 " No, you can't go that way," she declared. 
 " You've helped me into this trouble and you must 
 help me out." 
 
 Without reply he walked with her across the 
 sala. 
 
 " Doctor," said Delfina, " I want my sister to 
 meet the man who has been her her guardian 
 since the flood ! It is our neighbor, Mr. Leighton, 
 Anchor. He has been, he is, a friend of Felipe's." 
 
 Anchor Darrett turned almost eagerly at the 
 last words, but faced the man who had held her 
 hand and called her " dear " when she awakened; 
 and a little wrinkle of troubled thought grew be- 
 tween her eyes as she regarded him. ' The doctor 
 says I must not think about the flood, or or any- 
 thing unpleasant just yet, but I've an impression 
 that we almost quarreled that evening in the canon, 
 and I suppose we should have done so if the 
 flood had allowed us." 
 
 ' You have plenty of time now," said Dr. Elroy 
 
 206
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 genially, " but I can't allow any quarrels until you 
 are out of my hospital. After that you can go 
 at each other with little axes, and I'll be umpire ! " 
 
 " Miss Darrett will find me the most peaceable 
 of warriors at her command." 
 
 " And you are Don Mac Leighton," she said 
 slowly, looking from him to Delfina, as the gossip 
 of the stage recurred to her at the mention of the 
 name. This, then, was the man her brother had 
 won a bride from! This was the autocrat of the 
 Hermosa valley! ''It was your horse I coaxed 
 from the Mexican? You are the owner of El 
 Diablo?" 
 
 " I have the pleasure, until you have further 
 use for him." 
 
 " That sounds very nice and very much like 
 California," she said, regarding him more gra- 
 ciously. " I have no remembrance of your guard- 
 ianship, but I did love your El Diablo. He gave 
 me my first real welcome home ! " 
 
 " I am going your way, Leighton," said Dr. 
 Elroy, appearing with his hat and gloves. " No 
 medicine for either of you ladies, but you are both 
 to take a nap. And you in particular, Senorita, 
 are not to talk, even a little bit, until I call this 
 evening about, well, between six and seven. 
 Mrs. Darrett, put a double guard at her door, if 
 necessary, to enforce this command. I depend on 
 
 207
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 you. Now, Leighton, if you and Galbraith are 
 ready " 
 
 "Just a moment, Doctor," said Leighton; " I 
 think Galbraith will remain here." 
 
 " Good, very good ! " said Dr. Elroy approv- 
 ingly. But Delfina was quite certain she heard 
 a subdued oath from Galbraith in the court, and 
 hastened to the rescue. 
 
 " You will stay, won't you ? " she pleaded hur- 
 riedly. "Somebody must! The Mexicans are 
 not fit to trust her with if she should should 
 really need care. As for me, I am almost pros- 
 trated over the whole chaotic muddle. And the 
 fear of what she will do when she hears he is 
 dead, that is the very worst of all to face now! 
 Somebody must watch her, guard her, lie to her 
 if necessary." 
 
 Galbraith looked at Leighton and something in 
 the latter's face decided him more than the words 
 of persuasion. 
 
 "All right: if the Senorita needs me, of 
 course." 
 
 But he avoided Delfina's glance and gave brief 
 heed to her thanks. 
 
 " We all have to suffer for our own sins sooner 
 or later," he observed, " so I'm ready to commence 
 on my account." 
 
 And Luigo, sitting under the oleander beside the 
 
 208
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 weeping Anita, heard him and made mental note 
 of the confession. 
 
 Anita, bewildered, almost afraid to return home 
 to Perenza, sat listening to the wonderful dis- 
 covery that their beloved Senorita of the Mocca- 
 sins was as one dead to the life of the people of 
 the Mission. Even Don Mac she did not remem- 
 ber! How, then, could she recall Perenza, whose 
 rebozo she wore? or Anita? or even Jose ever 
 again? 
 
 And as Anita heard, she wept above the sleeping 
 Jose and hated the man who told her, but could 
 not doubt him, especially when Don Mac came out 
 looking very strange and troubled and told her 
 to take Jose home. The Senorita would remain 
 with Sefiora Darrett. 
 
 "But how she go to sleep without Jose?" 
 pleaded Anita. " Always he lay beside her a lit- 
 tle while. Luigo he saying she forget us all. But 
 si she once get a look at her Jose ! I am so sure, 
 Don Mac, she no forgetting him ! " 
 
 Don Mac did not reply at once. His face was 
 turned from Anita, and he was pulling on his 
 riding gloves and smoothing them with unusual 
 and elaborate care. When they became a blurred 
 and indistinct vision for a moment, he dashed the 
 back of one of them across his eyes, and pulled 
 his hat low because of the glare of the spring- 
 time sun. 
 
 209
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " It is no use, Anita, girl. Take Jose home, 
 and comfort Perenza. The Senorita Darrett does 
 not remember any of us." 
 
 And it was quite true, for as Galbraith gave his 
 arm to Anchor Darrett, and they followed Del- 
 fina's maid along the corridor, they passed a win- 
 dow at which the girl halted. 
 
 "Is your Don Mac Leighton married?" she 
 demanded. ' There is a woman on a horse and he 
 is putting a baby in her arms. How funny he 
 looks ! A man is so awkward with a baby. But 
 is he married? " 
 
 " No," said Galbraith, hoping her tones would 
 not reach through the open window to the entrance 
 below, hoping that they might not look up and 
 see the laughing girl there watching them. 
 
 But they did. Both heard her voice, but only 
 Anita lifted her eyes, and at sight of their Senor- 
 ita, very pale still from the accident, but smiling 
 at them, she uttered a little imploring cry and 
 held up the baby. Leighton caught her arm, said 
 a few hurried commanding words in Spanish, and 
 turned the head of her horse so that it moved out 
 of the range of the Senorita's vision. 
 
 Then only did he glance up, lifting his hat. A 
 moment later the girl leaned forward eagerly as 
 Ei Diablo came in view and she saw the man she 
 had expected to hate ride away on the horse she 
 loved. 
 
 210
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " That woman was crying," she said, turning to 
 Galbraith. " Did you not see her ? Who is she ? " 
 
 " The child's nurse," said her guide and guard, 
 as they turned from the window to the room where 
 Delfina and the maid waited for her. " Don Mac 
 is his guardian ; they live at his house ! " 
 
 ' That's funny, too," commented the girl. " He 
 is not old, yet he seems to take care of everybody. 
 But why did she lift up the child to us like that? " 
 
 " It was to me," said Galbraith, " and it was 
 to say ' good-bye '." 
 
 211
 
 XV 
 
 GALBRAITH'S WATCH. 
 
 Until the shadows began to grow long across 
 the land, Anchor Darrett slept like a tired child 
 in the pretty room where the maid had drawn 
 the curtains and half closed the shutters so that 
 the interior became one of soft tinted twilight. 
 She had fallen asleep wondering who Galbraith 
 was. He looked like a gentleman, was dressed 
 like one, and had really spoken to her more than 
 the others; yet no one had accounted for him. 
 He was another friend of Felipe's, of course. 
 
 She wondered when Felipe would be home; she 
 had forgotten to ask. Then she counted drowsily 
 the carnations on the wall paper between the two 
 windows and was falling gently into sleep when 
 the sharp memory of a man's voice came to her, 
 and the firm, warm clasp of a hand. 
 
 "If she recovers I shall just as certainly ask 
 her to be my wife! " 
 
 She opened her eyes with a start. Was there 
 some one in the room? Who had spoken? 
 
 " It was a dream, it must have been a dream," 
 she answered herself. And then after a space of 
 drowsy thought, " But it was his voice and 
 he did hold my hand, and called me ' dear V 
 
 212
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 Then the voice and the pink tinted walls drifted 
 far away. Ana came twice, slipping into the room 
 and out again, nodding her head reassuringly to 
 Galbraith, who was seated at the end of the cor- 
 ridor with a magazine whose leaves were seldom 
 turned. Ana, who also informed him that the 
 senora was asleep, a few drops from the vial left 
 by the doctor had effected that! tried in various 
 ways known to coquettish maids to arouse some 
 show of interest in the Senor Braith, but he sat 
 there hour after hour, with a closed book on his 
 knee, and stared out stolidly over the most beau- 
 tiful valley in the country. She had thought Don 
 Mac and Sefior Braith the two finest looking men 
 who had ever been seen side by side, as they rode 
 across the lawn and stood for a moment at the 
 entrance after dismounting. She had wondered 
 how Dona Delfina could ever have given up Don 
 Mac, but now she thought she knew. The Amer- 
 icans made poor lovers, and the one in the cor- 
 ridor who said nothing and frowned much would 
 never win a girl for himself as long as grass grew 
 and water ran. 
 
 Once Luigo appeared in the corridor of the 
 sleeping rooms, and Galbraith regarded him sharp- 
 ly, and seemed once inclined to speak to him, but 
 the old man passed silently on with only one 
 swift, stealthy glance at the American. Galbraith 
 felt rather than saw the venom of the Castro fao 
 
 213
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 tion in that glance, and he stood up and stretched 
 his arms and stepped through the window onto 
 the little stone balcony, where the ivy was send- 
 ing out little creepers until the scrolls and griffin 
 heads carved thereon were almost covered by the 
 spreading green. From where he stood the door 
 of Anchor Darrett's room was in as plain view 
 as from inside the window. No one could ap- 
 proach it without being seen by him, neither, and 
 this was the point considered most important by 
 'Delfina, neither could the girl in any return of 
 her forgetfulness leave her room without arousing 
 the temporary guard. 
 
 But Delfina had forgotten the balconies, and 
 Galbraith, though in full view of the door, was a 
 trifle removed, and less likely to hear words spoken 
 on the other side of it. 
 
 And thus it was that he heard no sound of the 
 " Senorita i Senorita mia ! " murmured at Anchor 
 Barrett's window. 
 
 But Anchor heard it as it wakened her gently, 
 gently dut of her long, refreshing sleep. At first 
 she thought drowsily that it was the fragment of 
 a dream sounding in her ears like that other dream 
 that had brought her the hand clasp and the 
 strange words with it. So she lay with closed 
 eyes thinking of the days she could not remember, 
 the days she had been ill in his house. They had 
 told her so little, Delfina and the others! Noth- 
 
 214
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 ing of the flood or how they found her, nothing 
 of the baby. Strange how she had forgotten 
 that baby! Yes, and the old woman! And all 
 at once she remembered that the man who had 
 lifted them both to her must have been Galbraith, 
 yes, certainly, for the light from the adobe had 
 shone plainly on his face ! 
 
 " Senorita ! Dona Anchor ! " 
 
 Then she opened her eyes quickly and realized 
 that the voice was not part of a dream. 
 
 Luigo stood just inside the half closed shutters. 
 She was not surprised to see him there. In the 
 old days Luigo, though some sort of a relation 
 of Felipe's, had often helped old Dolores, their 
 only servant. She even remembered what a good 
 cook he was, and wondered vaguely if he had 
 brought her something to eat or drink. She felt 
 thirsty. 
 
 " You can come in, Luigo. What is it? " 
 
 "S sh!" And the dark hand was lifted, 
 warning her to silence. Then he came close, 
 watching the door warily. " He is outside Senor 
 Braith ! They put him there so no one could say 
 one word with you ! Si you listen, I tell you." 
 
 Anchor shrank a little against the pillow, the 
 old face was so strangely, desperately eager. 
 
 " I don't know what you mean," she faltered. 
 ;< Why must no one speak to me? " 
 
 " For same reason they all telling you lies
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 in the sala, all of them ! Mother of God i Dona 
 Anchor, listen close with the ears, but no say no 
 word, no scream with the mouth ! You are de- 
 voted to Felipe, maybe you help me ! Felipe no 
 would scream, and the old Serior Darrett he not 
 knowing how to be afraid! " 
 
 The girl pushed back the hair from her fore- 
 head and raised herself on the pillows. 
 
 ' You are afraid to tell me something, some- 
 thing I ought to know, for fear I shall scream." 
 
 " Serior Braith lying to you about Felipe. They 
 all act the lie, doctor, Dona Delfina, Don Mac, 
 all of them ! " 
 
 "About Felipe! What about Felipe?" And 
 she caught him almost roughly by the shoulder as 
 the swift memory came to her of those men in 
 the coach and the almost contemptuous criticism 
 they had flung at his name. " Speak ! Don't stand 
 staring at me! Where is he? What has he 
 done?" 
 
 " Done ! Mother of God ! He has done noth- 
 ing, he has died ! That is all, Senorita ! " 
 
 "Luigo!" 
 
 It was not a scream, but a hoarse, smothered 
 protest, and the old man caught her as she swayed 
 forward. 
 
 " Dona Dona mia ! " he muttered, as he 
 placed her back among the pillows and sank on his 
 knees by the bed. " Listen ! You must be strong 
 
 216
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 quick ! You must keep it all here." And he tapped 
 his breast as she opened her eyes and stared at 
 him in a blind sort of horror. 
 
 " You never say one word that I have told you, 
 but you listen, listen ail the time to the Amer- 
 icanos. They talk maybe si they think you no 
 knowing. Then we put all the talk with the other 
 things, and make a trap for the right man." 
 
 ' The right man? Luigo! " 
 
 She drew away from him in a sort of dread of 
 his intensity and his rambling, disconnected sen- 
 tences. A doubt of his sanity crossed her mind, 
 for he looked half mad as he knelt there gesticu- 
 lating with those long, brown fingers, his eyes 
 wildly alert, as he half whispered his eager words 
 to her, for the maid at the door or a step in the 
 hall. 
 
 " Dona Delfina, she forgetting the double bal- 
 cony and the room on the corner where the stair 
 is," he leered triumphantly. " They no si afraid 
 some one come in, as they are you maybe go out." 
 
 As she stared at him, she grew convinced that 
 if Felipe was dead and a wave of sickness came 
 over her at the thought then, without doubt, 
 Luigo's mind had been unbalanced by the shock. 
 As a boy Felipe had been his idol, and he was 
 old now, old enough to be childish in his fancies. 
 He had stolen to her because the doctor had said 
 she must not be told. Her first impression of that 
 
 217
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 black dress of Delfina's ! Yes, he was perhaps tell- 
 ing her the truth of Felipe. That was the cause 
 of the peculiar constraint she had felt but could 
 not explain. 
 
 She could not explain it very clearly even yet, 
 for she felt strangely numb after the electrical 
 shock of his words. Tears of self pity had not 
 come to her yet, but she was conscious of pity for 
 the old man. 
 
 " It was right to tell me. I am not so sick as 
 they think," she said gently. "But I am very tired, 
 Luigo. Go, please ! I must not talk of him or 
 I I might break down, and they would know you 
 told me. I want to lie here still and quiet and 
 think think!" 
 
 " In one two weeks the Senor Atterly come 
 back," he persisted eagerly. " He fine friend to 
 Felipe; he hate these Americanos who know so 
 much; who boss over the world! Ay! How he 
 is glad when I telling him I found the man the 
 judges no find at all! And when you are beside 
 me, when you say, ' Go on make the rope strong, 
 hang the Americano ' ' 
 
 "Luigo hush!" she said, clasping her head 
 in her hands distractedly. ' You make me ill. 
 You always hated Americans. But I am Amer- 
 ican, and why should I want ropes and hang- 
 
 ings? 
 
 Why? " And the dark face was thrust close 
 218
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 to her own, and she shrank from utter terror at 
 the hate in his eyes. " You no American, you 
 no want to be revenge? You no American, you 
 go telling them I found the man, so he go run 
 quickly away? Good! " And he got to his feet 
 and folded his arms as he glared down at her. 
 "Good! I no telling you his name at all ! Felipe 
 
 have a sister so devote " and he flung back 
 
 his head mockingly " she eat the loaf and drink 
 the wine long side the murderer ! " 
 
 " Murderer? Luigo! " 
 
 " The murderer of Felipe ! " 
 
 He fairly hissed the words at her and flung out 
 his hands in a comprehensive, accusing way ap- 
 palling to the girl, whose nerves were already 
 taxed to their utmost, and her moan was almost a 
 scream as she sank back shuddering and weeping. 
 
 With a quick answering cry Galbraith was at 
 the door rapping and calling to her, and a moment 
 later Ana came running along the corridor. But 
 when they entered there was no sign of Luigo. 
 The shutters were closed a trifle more tightly than 
 before, and the sound of the girl's weeping 
 drowned the sound of a window closing from off 
 the double balcony. 
 
 Ana paused within the door, poised for flight 
 at the first warning of danger, and encouraged to 
 venture thus far only by the presence of Galbraith, 
 stalwart and authoritative, on the threshold. 
 
 219
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " Is the Senorita the Senorita is ill? " she fal- 
 tered, as the Senorita shook her head and sat up, 
 white and trembling. 
 
 " No, I am not ill. I want some one your 
 mistress or the doctor or any one ! " 
 
 "Will I do, Miss Darrett?" Galbraith asked, 
 moving inside the door. She stared at him a mo- 
 ment, striving to calm the tempest of feeling, 
 striving to find words for the horror Luigo had 
 left with her. 
 
 ' Yes, you will do," she said at last. " You 
 will do if you will tell me the truth, if you will 
 tell me whether it is a crazy dream, or " 
 
 She broke down again, trembling and covering 
 her face. 
 
 " Let me know what it is," he said gently. 
 ' You have had a bad dream, perhaps and " 
 
 " Perhaps," she said, suddenly, letting her 
 hands fall from her face and staring at him with 
 almost accusing intensity. " I only want you to 
 tell me two things: Is Felipe my brother 
 dead?" 
 
 Ana shrank back with a gasp of astonishment, 
 and looked inquiringly at Galbraith; but he had 
 eyes only for Anchor Darrett, and his face paled 
 under its tan as he said, 
 
 Yes he is dead." 
 
 She drew a deep breath and stared at him in 
 220
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 silence for a moment, stared as if to force from 
 him any fact he might wish to hide from her. 
 
 " Was he murdered? " 
 
 Galbraith's eyes widened, and his regard 
 changed to that of quick suspicion. It was the 
 first time he had heard expressed in words the 
 belief he knew was cherished by Darrett's many 
 Mexican cousins. His glance took in the girl, the 
 room; every corner where one of them might be 
 hidden, but when his answer did come it was de- 
 cided, emphatic. 
 
 " No, he was not ! Don't let such an idea " 
 
 But she interrupted him with a gesture. 
 
 "No more just now! It is best for me to 
 know the truth, but I want to be alone now 
 please ! " 
 
 " I shall be in the corridor if you should need 
 any one." 
 
 " I shan't," she said wearily, " and you need 
 not stay on guard there. I know all they were 
 trying to keep from me and I am not too ill 
 to bear it. But I am tired tired! I came back 
 to my own land for happiness, and it gives me 
 this!" 
 
 221
 
 XVI 
 
 ANCHOR RETURNS TO THE WORLD. 
 
 In spite of Delfma's appeals, she had insisted 
 upon hearing the details, even upon seeing the 
 papers with the record of Felipe's death. She did 
 not tell how she had learned of the death, and the 
 suggestion from Ana, that it was through a dream, 
 struck a superstitious thrill to the hearts of the 
 Mexican servants. They half believed, like the 
 people of the canon, that powers more than mortal 
 belonged to the new Sefiorita. Even Delfina did 
 not feel comfortable over it, but she did not ques- 
 tion, and she did not oppose the reading of the 
 papers. 
 
 " Words are of no use," insisted Anchor. " If 
 I don't learn all there is to know, I shall fret 
 myself into a fever imagining what it may be. If 
 his death was an accident, and there was nothing 
 horribly revolting about it, why should you try 
 to keep it from me ? " 
 
 Delfina, after a consultation with Galbraith, 
 had to give in, and the girl, all alone, went over 
 and over the brief record. 
 
 Thus, then, he had died while she was hastening 
 to meet him. He had gone down into that valley 
 of the shadow as she had ridden with high heart 
 
 222
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 across the ranges. When she made the ride on 
 El Diablo to save the name of Darrett in the 
 Hermosa, she had been the only living one who 
 bore it ! 
 
 She fought out the battle of feeling all alone, 
 and then sent for Delfina. 
 
 ' You poor dear ! " began the latter, at the 
 sight of the girl's white face, but Anchor stopped 
 her. 
 
 " Don't do that! " she said, avoiding Delfina's 
 eyes. " I am still weak for some reason. If you 
 commence to pity me, I may break down entirely, 
 and," she said decidedly, " I don't mean to if I 
 can help it. I am not sick, but I am likely to be 
 if I stay here. Where are my clothes? " 
 
 " But the doctor said " 
 
 " I shall go frantic if I have to lie here in bed ! 
 Your doctor is a nice man, and he knows a lot, 
 but he does not know me." 
 
 And again Delfina had to give way, and helped 
 Ana dress her in one of her own gowns of clinging 
 black, deftly lengthened by addition of lacy flounc- 
 ings, and deftly belted by a Spanish scarf to cover 
 deficiencies of fit. The girl shrank instinctively 
 from the sombre draperies, then moved herself to 
 accept them. 
 
 " My own trunks, are they nowhere in 
 reach?" she asked. And then she heard of the 
 
 223
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 wrecked coach, of her lost boots and the satchel 
 that contained her trunk checks ! 
 
 " Of course Don Mac can get your baggage 
 anyway," said Delfina, reassuringly. " He is 
 waiting now in the court for the doctor's visit, and 
 he will blame me for letting you get up ! " 
 
 " Does Don Mac Leighton, then, decide when 
 people shall go to bed or get up in this Hermosa 
 Valley?" inquired Anchor, as she gathered up 
 the papers concerning Felipe's death. 
 
 As the swish of Delfina's train was heard on 
 the stair, the two men looked up, and at sight of 
 the girlish black robed figure beside her, both 
 arose in astonishment. But while Galbraith took 
 a step forward in protest, Leighton moved back. 
 
 "She would come down!" explained Delfina. 
 " My authority was no sort of use." 
 
 " Neither would theirs have been," said An- 
 chor, and holding her hand out to Galbraith, " You 
 were good to me," she said simply. 
 
 He hesitated and glanced at Leighton, then 
 took her hand. 
 
 " A cloudy sort of kindness," he observed. 
 " We would all do a lot more if we could." 
 
 " Because I am Felipe's sister? " she asked 
 wistfully, so much she wished to hear some one 
 welcome her for Felipe's sake, some one to dis- 
 prove that first impression she had received of 
 Felipe's standing in He-rmosa. Again Galbraith 
 
 224
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 glanced at Leighton, but the latter only bowed 
 assent as he placed a chair for Delfina. 
 
 " Not entirely," replied Galbraith at last. " You 
 see, when we first began to want to do things for 
 you, we didn't know whose sister you were. You 
 were only," he added, " the Sefiorita of the Indian 
 shoes, * Miss Moccasins.' ' 
 
 "Miss ?" 
 
 " Moccasins," he stated. " You know there 
 was some time before we found any other name for 
 you, and then we found the wrong one! But 
 ' Miss Moccasins ' was what the Mexicans called 
 you, and it seemed a good enough name." 
 
 " It is," she assented. " I don't care what they 
 call me, so long as they all got out of that awful 
 canon. I know you. You followed to help me 
 that night. Tell me all that happened after I 
 forgot." 
 
 So Galbraith told her all he thought best, told 
 her how Leighton had dragged himself across the 
 fields until he had found her, told her of old Pe- 
 renza, and promised to drive her soon to see the 
 people and the places. And all the time Leighton 
 spoke of business affairs with Delfina, though she 
 strove in vain to discuss the personal affairs of 
 that day, and the change the revelation had made 
 for them all. 
 
 " I may not see you for several days," he in- 
 
 22 5
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 sisted, " and I have to take this opportunity to 
 mention the details you should know." 
 
 "You are going away?" she asked, in some 
 dismay, as she glanced at Anchor. She plainly 
 expressed her dislike of his absence for so long 
 a time. ' You are going now? " 
 
 " Yes, to-night," he replied. " Galbraith will 
 be in call if you need either of us, and he is worth 
 two of me. I have business near Santa Barbara." 
 
 There was a lull in the conversation just then, 
 and his words came clearly to Anchor. 
 
 " Santa Barbara ! " she repeated, with a little 
 sob in her voice. " Oh, I wonder how long it 
 will be until I can make that trip. I am not ill, 
 you know, only my head was hurt, and I suppose 
 I won't dare make railway journeys until the doc- 
 tor says so, but oh, I want to go ! " 
 
 " To Santa Barbara? " asked Delfina. 
 
 " Near there, to our little old home, ' Treasure 
 Trove,' you know. " 
 
 She sighed, leaning back and gazing with half 
 closed eyes at the picture she fancied there. " Not 
 big or grand like this, you know, but a real adobe 
 in a forest of flowers ! I think I have lived on 
 the memory of it all the time I was imprisoned in 
 the snow and ice back East. I know I have a 
 mental record of all the great trees of roses. I 
 used to write of them to him, to Felipe ! " And 
 again there was the miserable effort to keep back 
 
 226
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 a sob. " He kept them all pruned and cared for, 
 and the old house ready and waiting for me ! This 
 is all very fine, Delfina, grand in many ways; but 
 I'l^ never feel that I'm quite back in my old land 
 until I hear the birds singing around in the old 
 adobe again ! But even there, even there, I shan't 
 find him!" 
 
 She dropped her face in her hands and her 
 shoulders shook with silent weeping. Delfina got 
 up abruptly and walked to the far end of the 
 sala. The two men looked at each other across 
 the girl's bowed head. 
 
 Delfina knew, and they knew, what those prom- 
 ises of Felipe had amounted to! Delfina at that 
 moment felt towards the weeping girl just as she 
 had felt towards the people who were unlucky 
 enough to have been caught in the flood. Leigh- 
 ton also arose and walked to and fro under the 
 palms in the court. Only Galbraith remained be- 
 side her, and mechanically picked up the papers 
 she had let slip from her lap. 
 
 '' I should not break down like this," she said 
 at last, lifting her head and speaking more to him 
 than the others. " But it is all so overwhelming, 
 and much of it so strange." 
 
 He nodded without speaking and she leaned 
 back closing her eyes, while he smoothed and 
 folded the papers she had let fall. Leighton, 
 halting by the archery, saw the headlines of one 
 
 227
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 of them, big, black and red letters announcing 
 the shooting. He stared at Galbraith in amaze- 
 ment, and with two steps was beside him, gripping 
 his arm. 
 
 " What in " he began, half fiercely, but 
 
 checked his words as Anchor opened her eyes and 
 looked at him and then down at the papers. 
 
 " Yes," Galbraith confessed. " You need not 
 try to annihilate us with looks, Mac ! I knew you 
 would object, and so would Dr. Elroy, but neither 
 of you were here, and she thought she knew best." 
 
 " I did," said Anchor, nodding her head. 
 " Don't you see I am less feverish? I could not 
 wait, I had to learn for myself whether " 
 
 She paused abruptly and looked at the two men. 
 iWere not these the Americans whom Luigo had 
 doubted? This one beside her who had been so 
 considerate, ever at her call, and that other, who 
 scarcely spoke, but who had cared for her when she 
 was helpless, who, though wounded, had dragged 
 himself in the track of the flood until he had found 
 her! She did not want it to be so, yet she knew 
 that his was the voice, the sole memory she brought 
 back with her out of those weeks of unconscious- 
 ness. She rebelled at the fact, and she hesitated 
 about confiding to him the real reason why she 
 had insisted on reading at once all records of the 
 death in the adobe. 
 
 228
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 But It was he who questioned her when she 
 hesitated. 
 
 " Yes, you wanted to learn for yourself wheth- 
 er " 
 
 " Whether the death was an accident, or wheth- 
 er I must get well quickly to help hunt down the 
 murderer." 
 
 " Anchor! " exclaimed Delfina in protest. " Do 
 you suppose for a minute that if such work was 
 to be done I should have neglected it? " 
 
 " No," said the girl slowly; " but we might see 
 things in a different light, and I wanted to look 
 for myself." 
 
 " And the reading has cleared the doubt from 
 your mind? " persisted Leighton, while Galbraith, 
 with the papers in his hand, sat silently staring 
 at the cascade of water falling over the aquatic 
 plants in the center of the court. 
 
 " I think it has," said Anchor, thoughtfully. 
 '' Whatever he meant to do with those revolvers 
 and he had enemies ! he probably had good rea- 
 son for arming himself. But whatever his pur- 
 pose was, it certainly was not to use the revolvers 
 on himself, and there is not a trace of evidence to 
 show that there was any one with him. No, I 
 don't think the coroner made any mistake; Felipe 
 was certainly loading the revolver when the car- 
 tridge exploded. There seems nothing else to 
 think. If there were " 
 
 229
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 1 You would think it," said Delfina suddenly. 
 ' You look as if you want to think it." 
 
 " No, I don't, Delfina. But if it is true, if it 
 should be true, I want to know it ! " 
 
 "And then?" queried Galbraith, speaking for 
 the first time. Delfina noted the curious hesitat- 
 ing way he spoke, and, looking at him, noticed 
 the same tense, yet questioning, expression on his 
 face. But he did not observe her scrutiny. His 
 eyes were turned on Leighton, and Leighton was 
 waiting for Anchor's answer. 
 
 " And then," she repeated, turning on Gal- 
 braith, " then they would find that in shooting 
 Felipe they had not cleared the Hermosa Valley 
 of Darrett blood! There would be enough left 
 to fight his battles ! " 
 
 " Oh, don't, Anchor," said Delfina, appealingly. 
 4 You are not strong enough even to think of it 
 yet. It's too terrible to talk about. Luigo has 
 become almost a maniac over the same idea. Wait 
 until you are quite well before you think of it too 
 much." 
 
 "Is it true that Luigo's mind is affected?" 
 asked Anchor, quickly. 
 
 " Oh, I scarcely know. On all other points he 
 is as rational as he ever was, but on this one well, 
 I advise you to avoid him. He will only make you 
 miserable with his suspicions and fancies." 
 
 " He imagines things? " 
 
 230
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " I should say so ! I had some friends come 
 to stay with me, but they couldn't endure him. 
 The women almost had hysterics when they found 
 him listening around their windows. And the 
 men well, he simply trailed the men like an In- 
 dian, especially the Americans! And they all 
 found some sudden reason for taking their wives 
 and sisters and going home. He is just as likely 
 to trail either of you, or both of you," she said, 
 looking from one to the other of the two men. 
 
 " It is well to be warned," said Leighton, look- 
 ing at his watch. 
 
 " I must leave, if I am to catch my train, senora. 
 I am pleased to find Miss Darrett so remarkably 
 well, considering. Is there anything I may do 
 for you? " he asked, interrupting himself. 
 
 " Nothing, unless you stay home and post- 
 pone that trip?" and she smiled at him, appeal- 
 ingly. 
 
 " Can't possibly," he said briefly. " And for 
 you?" he said, turning to Anchor. 
 
 " Nothing," she said with a little sigh. " You 
 are going near the spot I love, but since I can't 
 go, too " and she shook her head sadly. 
 
 " Now, if you were really a Spanish cabellero," 
 remarked Delfina, with a cynical little smile, recall- 
 ing Leighton's avowal by the couch that morning, 
 " if you were, you could find that spot and the 
 roses in it, and bring back a bunch of them with 
 
 231
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 a pretty speech. But the men nowadays seldom 
 .see the flowers they send with their cards; the 
 florist substitutes what he pleases." 
 
 " No substitute could equal my Marechal Niel, 
 growing by the door of our old adobe," declared 
 the girl. ' You have beauties here; I can see them 
 in every direction. But my mother planted that 
 one!" 
 
 " I trust you will be able to visit it soon," said 
 Leighton, civilly, " and that you will find it all 
 that you dream of." 
 
 " Ah, I am so sure of that last," she breathed 
 fondly. " Felipe knew what a joy the place was 
 to me. Did he ever take you to visit it, Delfina? " 
 
 " No, he never did," replied the Gonzales heir- 
 ess, with a little shrug unseen by Anchor. Felipe 
 had known his bride too well to fancy she would 
 care to visit a little old house all very well for the 
 laboring people, but 
 
 Then Leighton went away and later Galbraith 
 went back to the Mission. But in the days to 
 follow, he grew not to mind the Mexicans who 
 flitted, like swarthy ghosts, on his track. Even 
 when he met Luigo in the Hacienda house or 
 grounds, which he did almost daily, he got into 
 the way of calling some reckless, cheery Spanish 
 salutation, for which he was repaid in scowls. 
 
 The world of Hermosa had grown a little bet- 
 ter place to stay since a pretty girl commanded 
 
 232
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 attention. He uttered no word now of taking a 
 run across the border for mental or physical re- 
 cuperation. He worked like a Trojan through 
 the day, doing Leighton's work, as well as his 
 own, and keeping in the saddle from dawn till 
 sundown. But after that his horse was headed for 
 the Hacienda, and the hour there was recompense 
 for the labors of the day. Delfina grew glad of 
 his coming, while Anchor had not exactly the prim, 
 temperate traits of the aged maiden ladies by 
 whom she had been adopted. Yet Delfina found 
 herself on guard over her own speech when in 
 the girl's presence, and Delfina had never been 
 accustomed to guards of that sort. The girls 
 whom she knew would never have ridden that 
 fiend of a horse across the ranges, but neither 
 would they lift their brows at the sort of popular 
 slang her brother's widow considered chic. 
 
 ' Yet, I can imagine her in a fury of passion," 
 thought Delfina, watching the girl sometimes. " I 
 could even imagine her smashing things. But she 
 looks contemptuous if a woman uses slang before 
 her, and shocked if I lift a skirt above the knee ! 
 Ugh ! Such women are simply not feminine. Fem- 
 inine women come down off their stilts when there 
 are no men around! Who would expect Felipe's 
 sister to be a mixture of a fury and a nun ? " 
 
 She had seen no evidences herself, she had only 
 heard the account given by Pedro of how the 
 
 233
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 Seriorita had laughed when El Diablo had pranced 
 and tried to break away in the stable yard. And 
 now that her health no longer required the isola- 
 tion Leighton and the doctor had insisted upon at 
 the Mission, now that they could speak to her face 
 to face, there were many wives and children of 
 the Mexican workmen w 7 ho came barefooted and 
 bareheaded up the drive to the Hacienda, and 
 waited at the entrance for a word from their Seno- 
 rita of the Moccasins. 
 
 Even this was a wordless irritation to Delfina. 
 To her no such homage had been paid, though all 
 of them lived on her land. To Felipe, who would 
 have brought good times and prosperity to them 
 all, they had given nothing but grudging, jealous 
 civility, and now a mere chance stroke of luck 
 had brought them to this girl's feet! 
 
 " That's the way they knuckle down to Mac 
 Leighton ! " she remarked to Galbraith, as Anchor 
 went out to meet some of the flood refugees in the 
 court. " And what has Mac Leighton done for 
 them any more than any other landowner in the 
 country? Look at those old people almost touch- 
 ing the ground before her! What's the reason 
 some people win all sorts of races without even 
 trying?" 
 
 ' You ought to know," replied Galbraith, who 
 was growing almost diplomatic in the atmosphere 
 of the Hacienda. 
 
 234
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " I don't know," she said Impatiently. " They 
 would not kow-tow to you or me in that way, or 
 tag around after us with rosaries or flowers ! And 
 it isn't as Felipe's sister they ask to see her, mind 
 you ! No, they scarcely realize that her name is 
 Darrett at all, and they never call her that ! It is 
 ' Our Senorita ' they ask for, their Senorita, mind 
 you ! And one stuttering idiot came this morning 
 with a little lead saint for her, and asked for the 
 ' Senorita Miss Moccasins ' ! " 
 
 Galbraith smiled grimly. He could see the irri- 
 tation she felt at being ignored in her own grounds 
 by those barefooted laborers. Gonzales, her 
 father, had not been by any means a model man, 
 yet he had held the liking of his workmen. His 
 wife, the Dutch seiiora, could not have won their 
 approval, though she had stripped her fat neck 
 of its diamonds and showered them on the swarthy 
 tribe. And the blonde Delfina, whose short figure 
 was already, at twenty, almost matronly, was So 
 truly their Dutch senora's daughter that they 
 never forgot it. 
 
 She, on her part, hated them. She knew that 
 if her people had been of the real Californians, 
 or even of the old Mexican families, it would all 
 have been different; then she could have lived the 
 life of a princess in such a princely domain. As 
 it was, her position was almost that of a pretender. 
 
 235
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 There are yet a few things left to be won instead 
 of purchased. 
 
 She had always been annoyed by the attitude 
 of the people towards herself, especially after her 
 marriage with Felipe; but she had never felt the 
 annoyance so acutely as since the advent of An- 
 chor, nor could she content herself any longer with 
 the contemptuous thought that they were too 
 ignorant to show proper respect to a lady. A 
 glance through the archway at Anchor and her 
 visitors dispelled that fancy. 
 
 " I am sick of the place ! " she confessed to 
 Galbraith. " It never has been a home for one 
 minute to anybody! And Mac Leighton is doing 
 all he can to compel me to retain it." 
 
 " But he isn't shackling you down to live here," 
 observed Galbraith. ' You could rent it for five 
 years, live abroad, and cut a dash of your own in 
 some country you like better." 
 
 " Yes," she assented. " But I shan't leave until 
 I see this fight out between Atterly and Leighton. 
 Atterly is trying to get a decision from the court 
 that I attained my majority on marriage. If he 
 wins, he has an option on the place, for Felipe and 
 I signed it. If the option holds good, it will mean 
 a lot of spot cash instead of a little driveling per- 
 centage to spend each year." 
 
 236
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " A little driveling percentage of fifty thou- 
 sand! " commented Galbraith. 
 
 " Well, my mother would pay that for one 
 necklace ! What use is money if it's tied up? Mac 
 Leighton is blind to his own success. If Hermosa 
 were boomed as a winter resort and it would 
 win, too, so close to the mountains, with plenty of 
 water and a branch road running up here why, 
 it would double the value of the Mission rancho in 
 a year. Can't you make him see that? " 
 
 " Afraid not ! " admitted Galbraith. " You 
 see, Mac reasons it this way: In the first place, 
 Mr. Atterly does not represent the railroad; he 
 only hopes to if he can euchre you out of the 
 estate. Hold on," he protested, as'Delfina faced 
 him indignantly. " I am not saying this to hamper 
 you. Fight it out with Mac! But you see, it's 
 
 about this way: You gave " he hesitated 
 
 over the name " you gave your husband power 
 of attorney? " 
 
 " Well. Of course I did." 
 
 " Exactly. And he used it." 
 
 "Of course he had to attend to the estate!" 
 she replied, crossly. 
 
 " Do you happen to know how much he used 
 on mortgages given to Mr. Atterly and his friends, 
 or how much he got down on that option?" 
 
 "Mortgages?" she said, sharply; "I don't 
 know what you mean ! " 
 
 237
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " I thought perhaps you didn't," he observed. 
 11 1 don't know a great deal myself. But Mac 
 Leighton has been doing a lot of sitting up at 
 nights trying to sift things, and I guess he is on 
 the home stretch. Those mortgages are due about 
 the time the option expires and before your ma- 
 jority." 
 
 "Well?" she asked, after staring at him in 
 puzzled silence. 
 
 " Well, Mac is hustling to raise the money to 
 pay them off before that date that's all." 
 
 " If he thinks I had no legal right to sign that 
 
 power of attorney, " she began. And then she 
 
 stopped suddenly, as if struck by a sudden thought. 
 
 ' Why, say! ' None of us need to pay them, need 
 
 we?" 
 
 "Mr. Atterly is counting on the property pay- 
 ing them." 
 
 " But if Mac Leighton is right about Mr. At- 
 terly, I don't acknowledge he is! but if he is, 
 and I had no legal right to sign those papers, At- 
 terly can't collect it, no one can collect any debts 
 made by Felipe, not a cent. And serve them right, 
 too!" 
 
 Galbraith smiled and agreed. 
 
 " Then what does Mac mean? " she demanded. 
 " Is he trying to raise more money on the prop- 
 erty, my property, to pay off debts he considers 
 unjust? Why, what a fool!" 
 
 238
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " Yes," agreed Leighton's friend. " But that's 
 the sort of fool he is. However, if I were you, 
 I would not worry about his raising money on 
 the property. I don't know the details, of course, 
 but I'm sure he will hand back your property to 
 you intact. He's been a slave to that idea ever 
 since he returned." 
 
 She got up and walked to the window, where 
 she stood for a minute looking out. Then 
 
 ' What a fool ! " she said again. But her tones 
 had lost their sharp aggressiveness, and again Gal- 
 braith smiled. 
 
 After that conversation, Delfina grew particu- 
 larly gracious to him. He had not only placed 
 Leighton's attitude in a new light, but she ac- 
 knowledged to Ana that he was a godsend as re- 
 garded the Senorita. If he had not been on hand 
 daily, she would have had to invite some people 
 down to help her over that first week, and the most 
 of the girls she knew would be much too " larky " 
 to introduce just now, when Anchor went over and 
 over the mementos of Felipe, and strove to adjust 
 herself to the idea of life without him, and com- 
 forted herself with the thought of his many per- 
 fections. 
 
 And that was the very hardest of all to endure, 
 especially in the presence of another, and Delfina 
 thanked her lucky stars because the other was 
 Galbraith, who knew everything. Thus three days 
 
 239
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 went by, and Galbralth was detailed to take the 
 Seriorita for her first drive. Deliina, with a sig- 
 nificant grimace and remark concerning her last 
 drive, excused herself to Galbraith from accom- 
 panying them. 
 
 The ponies were brought around by Luigo, 
 who had kept sedulously in the background of 
 late. He gave Anchor one long, keen look as she 
 stepped into the carriage, and she gripped Gal- 
 braith's arm unconsciously. 
 
 "Are you nervous about going?" he asked. 
 But she shook her head with averted eyes until 
 the old Mexican had crossed back of the vehicle 
 and was out of her range of vision. 
 
 " It is Luigo. He makes me half afraid. Fe- 
 lipe's death has changed him so." 
 
 ' Yes, it has," he agreed, and took his place be- 
 side her, as a mounted messenger loped his mus- 
 tang along the drive and presented a box he car- 
 ried to Delfina. 
 
 " Wait, Anchor! this is for you! " she said; 
 and then her careless expression changed as she 
 recognized the writing. " Of course it may not 
 be of importance." 
 
 " Please open it for me," said the girl, leaning 
 forward. " I am not expecting anything, but 
 oh, give them to me ! My own, own roses ! Oh, 
 you beauties, you beauties ! " 
 
 She laughed with tears in her eyes as she bur- 
 
 240
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 led her face in the fragrant flowers, and Galbraith, 
 watching her, envied the man who sent them. 
 
 " It is my first real breath of home ! " she said. 
 "And he sent them! " 
 
 Delfina looked at her sharply. The girl was 
 so rejoiced with the message from her old garden 
 that she scarcely noted her own words, or how they 
 might be read. But Delfina had a memory of an- 
 other unconscious confession in the carriage that 
 day; who could tell but that the girl's mind, on 
 that point, would remain unchanged? 
 
 ' Yes," she said, smiling strangely. " I thought 
 he would send them; you remember I suggested 
 it?" 
 
 4 You are both very kind," said Anchor, hand- 
 ing them back. " I will keep just this one. Will 
 you have the others put in water for me? " 
 
 Then Galbraith spoke to the ponies and Anchor 
 leaned back in the carriage and looked silently at 
 the beautiful park and the fields and sloping 
 stretches of orchard with the mountains looming 
 back of them. Galbraith watched her to see 
 if any point brought remembrance to her, but none 
 did. 
 
 ' They were going to be married once, I heard 
 about it," she said, at last, abruptly. " Were they, 
 was he in love with her? And now that Felipe is 
 gone, will they " 
 
 18 241
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 She did not finish the sentence, but Galbraith 
 understood. 
 
 " No, they won't ! " said Galbraith promptly. 
 " It never was what you call a love affair. Gon- 
 zales and he were friends in a way, business 
 friends; but Gonzales thought as much of him as 
 if he had been his father. She was a pretty little 
 girl then, and still at school. Gonzales was 
 afraid, afraid to leave her without a protector 
 he could trust. That's how it was fixed up Gon- 
 zales proposed it. He told me so himself! And 
 he died happy because Mac agreed. That's about 
 the record, I guess. She never cared very much 
 for anybody except Delfina, till your brother 
 came." 
 
 " It is good of you to tell me that," she said 
 gratefully. " I knew he had enemies, business 
 enemies I supposed. I heard the marriage dis- 
 cussed in the stage. It was because Felipe was a 
 stranger among them that they resented him. And 
 then your Don Mac was a favorite, and so 
 
 She halted uncertainly, and again he helped her 
 out. 
 
 " That's it, exactly ! Some of them did resent 
 the slight to Leighton. But just understand this, 
 and don't forget it, no matter what any one tells 
 you: The marriage made no friction between 
 Leighton and your brother, never for a minute ! 
 Leighton was the first man to offer him a hand, 
 
 242
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 the first one to stand by him and force the Her- 
 mosa Valley to follow. Don't you forget that, 
 either!" 
 
 Her face lit up at his words: It was so good 
 to know that Felipe won loyal friends! Then 
 after a moment's thought she shook her head. 
 
 " Still, there is something I can't explain, if 
 they were really friends, something I remember 
 myself! I spoke of quarreling with him the first 
 time we met! Well, it was not that exactly, but 
 I did resent things he said about Felipe." 
 
 ' That night? " he said, looking at her intently. 
 
 ' That night," she said, nodding her head. 
 ' The flood was coming. He warned me out of 
 its way and he he said it was Felipe's work! 
 He said the Barrett name was a curse on the 
 valley and and then he tried to stop me when 
 I rode to save the people Felipe had helped to 
 endanger." 
 
 " But he did not know who " 
 
 " Oh, no; he did not know who I was. It was 
 not a minute w.e stood there in the canon. All we 
 thought of was the flood, and he said it was Fe- 
 lipe's fault." 
 
 " Don't bear malice for that," he said gently. 
 " Any one else will tell you the same." 
 
 "Oh, would you?" 
 
 ' Yes, as a man who knows something about 
 masonry, I should have to say yes. The trouble 
 
 243
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 was your brother did not understand such work, 
 and he was badly advised. The foundation of 
 that dam had been condemned in Gonzales' time. 
 It should never have been continued. Leighton 
 came back from Mexico to stop it, and got here 
 a day too late." 
 
 " But Felipe never intended, never dreamed 
 >> 
 
 " No, he never supposed it would happen, of 
 course; yet you might go easy on Leighton for 
 turning bitter when he knew there were dozens 
 of lives to be ground out along that creek, and he 
 helpless to save them." 
 
 " You are a good friend," she said, earnestly. 
 " You tell me things plainly, and the rest try to 
 cover them up because I've been sick." 
 
 " That's because they have sense, and I'm lack- 
 ing, I reckon." 
 
 They had reached the Mission, and the ponies 
 were held in to a walk. Anchor looked with in- 
 terest at the weather-stained buildings, and ex- 
 claimed with delight at the garden of lilies. 
 
 "It is perfect! This is the real California I 
 love! I am thankful for every glimpse of it! " 
 
 An old woman, swinging an infant to and fro 
 in a hammock, looked up as if startled at the girl's 
 voice. She let fehe hammock hang idly and came 
 towards them, her hands upraised and her face 
 alight. 
 
 244
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 "Mother of God!" she cried. "You have 
 come back our Senorita ! " 
 
 " It is the old woman who nursed you when 
 you were unconscious," Galbraith said softly. 
 And Anchor thanked him with a look. 
 
 " It is nice of you to be glad to see me," she 
 said, hesitatingly, a little confused by the exuber- 
 ance of the welcome. " I must have been a great 
 trouble to you all." 
 
 "A trouble! Ai yi ! The trouble for us is 
 when you going away! When Anita she telling 
 me, I cry so I can have no tears left at all ! " 
 
 She almost wept as she spoke, and then laughed 
 at her weakness, and in her delight did not see 
 the wonder, quickly veiled, in the girl's eyes. 
 
 " I am glad to come back," she said, soothingly. 
 '' I will come many times, if you will let me ! " 
 
 " I telling that Anita how she lies; she say you 
 never, never come back! I knowing always you 
 come back. How you sleeping without Jose by 
 the side?" 
 
 At this query, Anchor's self possession failed, 
 and she turned a startled glance on Galbraith. He 
 pointed to the child in the hammock." 
 
 ' That is Jose," he remarked. " It is the child 
 you saved from the flood." 
 
 " Oh ! " she breathed, reproachfully. " And 
 you never told me what a fine surprise you had 
 
 . 245
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 prepared for me! And what a little beauty he 
 is!" 
 
 She evaded Perenza's question by admiring 
 Jose, and Perenza was too excited to notice it. 
 To find that their Seriorita Don Mac's Sefiorita 
 had really come back once more changed all 
 the world of the Mission garden! 
 
 " Ai ! If he was but home again Don Mac ! " 
 she muttered, as she watched Anchor, Anchor, 
 who was in the hammock with Jose, kissing and 
 petting him for the sake of his great brown eyes 
 eyes like Felipe's ! and because his small hand 
 closed so tightly over her proffered finger. 
 
 " Ai, if he was but home again. If he could 
 but see her in the fine lacy dress and the charm 
 of the new, decided manner! Surely, surely, if 
 the man was not a fool, he would never let her out 
 of his sight again! " 
 
 So she thought while she talked of other things, 
 and called Anita to bring some wine or lemon 
 drink for the Seriorita such as she used to make 
 for her. And on this hint, Anchor greeted Anita 
 also with a pretense of remembrance, much to the 
 latter's delight. But the only memory she re- 
 called to Anchor was that of the woman seen from 
 the window of the Hacienda, the woman who had 
 wept and held up the child and whom Senor Don 
 Leighton had promptly sent away. 
 
 A glance at Galbraith confirmed the shadowy 
 
 246
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 memory as a fact, and all at once she realized 
 that those tears had meant much. The grief of 
 them, and the joy of the old woman, linked her 
 to the garden of the Old Mission more surely than 
 any bonds yet forged linked her to the parks 
 of the Hacienda. Who would weep with grief 
 there if she should suddenly be called away? Or 
 who would weep with joy at her return? 
 
 The first affection, the first caresses to greet her 
 in California met her in the home of the man she 
 had meant to dislike! She sighed impatiently as 
 she realized it, and looked at the rose he had sent- 
 that morning, and wished all things had been dif- 
 ferent ! 
 
 Then Jose, who had fallen asleep again, had 
 to be carried to his own little cot, and Anchoi 
 had to view that, as well as the little room where 
 she had struggled back to unconscious life. 
 
 ' To think that I could forget such a perfect 
 place ! " she lamented. " My one recompense is 
 that I am seeing it again. And this quaint dream 
 of a place is his home? There is nothing to com- 
 pare with it ! " 
 
 " Nothing so old in this corner of the county," 
 agreed Galbraith. " It needs repairs all around, 
 but Mac hates to tackle it for looks." 
 
 " I should think so." And Anchor walked the 
 length of the patio, and sat on the old stone rim 
 of the fountain and watched the doves circling 
 
 247
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 above the old tile roof. " In pictures of Mexico, 
 I have seen just such interiors, but never anywhere 
 else. Our old adobe I thought lovely, but it is a 
 very modest affair, a mere cottage. But this 
 this suggests a rambling old one-storied castle, if 
 a castle could be a ground-floor affair ! This court 
 is perfect, so is the garden, and the delight of my 
 soul is the furnishing; there surely is not a chair 
 or table that was ever made by an ' American V 
 
 " I reckon you are right," agreed Galbraith. 
 " And every piece was made to stay in its place, 
 for they weigh like lead, and never a nail in 
 them!" 
 
 " I have dreamed of such places," said Anchor, 
 going in and out of the different rooms leading 
 from the many arched corridor in which never 
 the sound of a driven nail had been heard in the 
 building. " And to think that for weeks I actually 
 lived here, saw these perfect pictures at every 
 turn, and forgot every one of them ! " 
 
 Galbraith said little. He had wanted to see 
 her once more by the fountain in the court, or 
 under the thick green shrubbery of the old garden, 
 and now that she was there, he was content to 
 stand apart and watch her. Galbraith was having 
 his own brief dream, knowing full well that it was 
 a dream, and the awaking was as certain as day 
 dawn. 
 
 At the Hacienda Hermosa she had not been so 
 
 248
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 truly a part of the picture as under the rafters of 
 the Mission corridors. Something of the discord 
 of that first day in the house of Gonzales, its 
 shocks, its revelations, had created an atmosphere 
 never to be dispelled for the girl weighed down 
 by the tragedy of Felipe's death and haunted 
 against her will by the memory of Luigo's wild 
 fancies. 
 
 And only in the home of the man she had meant 
 to hate did she find real peace, real joy at her 
 coming, and warm human hands outstretched to 
 her, from the child in the hammock to old Perenza 
 leaning on her cane ! 
 
 And the sympathy affected her as the sunlight 
 a belated rose. She was alive with glowing, eager 
 interest. She heard over again the story of how 
 Don Mac had brought her home in the gray dawn 
 of that awful morning, of how he had scarcely 
 eaten or slept for many days after, and how he 
 was ever close to her door. 
 
 Perenza told it all most willingly. Much as 
 she admired the returned Senorita in the fine 
 clothes and with the fine manner, yet she missed 
 the frank, childish note of the girl with the moc- 
 casins, the appealing, affectionate creature who 
 had been Don Mac's shadow, and who frankly la- 
 mented when he was out of her sight. 
 
 This more dignified Senorita would not lament 
 for such a cause, of course not ! But she was even 
 
 249
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 more beautiful than ever, and all Perenza's hopes 
 came back with a rush as the eyes of the girl 
 warmed and glowed at the recital of those days 
 when Don Mac alone fed the courtful daily, doc- 
 toring the sick, clothing the children, finding work 
 for the women and men, and burying the dead ! 
 
 " And Don Mac so sick all that time ! " added 
 Leighton's historian, " so oh, so white and so 
 dragging the foot like this, even when every day 
 in the saddle ! Ai ! mouths had been empty and 
 maybe more graves full, si he had no come back 
 in time. The good God sending him on account 
 of that thousand times cursed Hermosa dam ! " 
 
 Anchor got up suddenly and walked to the 
 other end of the corridor. Was there no place 
 where she could evade that one bitter subject? 
 Curses curses always for Felipe's work! 
 
 "Mary Mother!" muttered Perenza. "My 
 tongue should be split before I spoil it all like 
 that ! A mule would have more sense ! I all the 
 time forgetting how he is her brother! " 
 
 She looked accusingly at Seiior Braith ; he might 
 have told her! He pretended not to see. He 
 realized all the girl felt, but he realized also that 
 it might be just as well for her to learn that Leigh- 
 ton was not singular in his condemnation of Dar- 
 rett's work. 
 
 After a moment Perenza got up and with a 
 
 250
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 curious little smile hobbled after Anchor, and took 
 hold of her sleeve. 
 
 " Come ! " she said, persuasively. " A little 
 while ago you laughing on account of them Indian 
 shoes, how they giving you a name. Come! I 
 showing you them shoes." 
 
 The girl's fingers closed understandingly over 
 the old brown hand. She knew the old woman 
 had forgotten the relationship when she spoke. 
 She knew, also, that she must get used to hearing 
 bitter words when Hermosa dam was mentioned. 
 But it was so soon, so very soon, and it seemed 
 but yesterday she heard of his death for the first 
 time! 
 
 Perenza led her to the angle of the corridor. 
 A Navajo blanket hung across an open door, and 
 she pushed it aside with her cane, still holding the 
 girl's hand, and led her within. 
 
 It had been like the other sleeping rooms, a 
 cloister for some long forgotten monk. Anchor 
 hesitated on the threshold, as she noticed som- 
 breros, great Mexican spurs, and wonderfully 
 made saddles, scattered about the little room, and 
 hung about the wall. One picture hung where the 
 light fell on it softly through the narrow window. 
 The painting was of a woman, young, and darkly 
 beautiful, only a lace draped head and one white 
 hand and wrist, but it caught Anchor's glance and 
 held it. 
 
 251
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " The Senora Mercedes, our own Don Mac's 
 mother," said Perenza proudly. " She was the 
 old governor's granddaughter. So very grand 
 that family! But all them girls, they marry with 
 Americanos. So Don Mac, he all Americano, 
 now, I think." 
 
 " How lovely she was," said the girl softly. 
 And something in the mother's eyes held her own 
 as did the eyes of the son. Even his voice came 
 back to her as she looked, his voice, and the 
 compelling hand clasp, and the words, the haunt- 
 ing, ever recurring words by which she had seemed 
 drawn back to life and memory. 
 
 " Dios ! Yes, she is the most lovely of all ! " 
 agreed Perenza. " She all the time La Favorita 
 in those days. Senor Don Mac Leighton no is 
 like new Americanos, who make the jump into 
 dollars like yesterday. He all the time with all 
 his grandfathers a fine cabellero how you call 
 the gentleman." 
 
 " I did not know. I thought he was all that 
 you call American like me ! " 
 
 " No, he is Californian. I live on his great- 
 grandfather's rancho when I was a baby! " 
 
 "Here?" 
 
 " Sure ! But they losing all their rancho, just 
 like the common peoples, losing them all many 
 times before ever seeing this place. He going to 
 Mexico when little yet. After while he grow big, 
 
 252
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 he making the money, a houseful ! When he is tired 
 of the mines he come back here with that Senor 
 Gonzales. By and by he wants a rancho to live 
 like his grandfathers lived before the American 
 ever coming at all. Oh, he pretty smart! He 
 making money all the time, where the grandfath- 
 ers losing it ! " And Perenza's old eyes watched 
 the girl warily to see what effect the recital of his 
 wealth and his cleverness would make on this 
 American Senorita, who must not think that the 
 Gonzales had all the money in the valley! 
 
 But the girl scarcely heeded that. She was 
 thinking, as she looked at the picture of his 
 mother, how fine was the life of those many 
 grandfathers in the days before the race for money 
 began in California. 
 
 " And he bought all this just to keep one corner 
 primitive and old fashioned," she said at last. 
 ' That is fine ! I should love to do that in my 
 own little adobe, but it is hopelessly modern com- 
 pared to this." 
 
 " She go die long before Don Mac make the 
 money for her," said the old woman, nodding 
 her head towards the picture. " So he carry that 
 here with his own hands, and no other woman ever 
 have her face on his wall. Look all around, 
 Senorita, you see ! " 
 
 Anchor smiled and nodded; no other picture 
 was in sight, at all events. 
 
 253
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " No, she is like a saint to him his mother," 
 went on Perenza, still regarding the girl strangely. 
 " Her picture is beside the shrine, you see ! No 
 other ever meaning enough to him for her face to 
 go there. But now now, Senorita, si you look 
 close " 
 
 She had caught Anchor's hand again, and was 
 gently drawing her closer to the shadowy wall 
 beside the picture. The little niche built in all 
 the rooms as a shrine was unusually shadowed 
 in this one by the heavy frame of the painting 
 beside it. But as the girl approached more closely, 
 close enough to see what the little stone shelf held 
 there in the shadow, she halted with a gasp of 
 amazement and turned a startled, half accusing 
 look on the old woman. 
 
 " Mother of God ! No ! " said Perenza, hastily 
 reading the glance aright. " My hands never 
 touched them Indian shoes at all ! It is the day 
 he coming home from that Gonzales Hacienda 
 and leaving you there. Anita is crying, and so 
 am I. Ai Dios, that was a day ! And Don Mac 
 he not saying anything. He just picking them up, 
 and I thinking he taking them to you. Dios! 
 How I get an ague quick when I seeing them 
 here ! I say a dozen ' Ave Marias ' and some 
 ' Our Fathers ' ! He putting the shoes of your 
 feet where he never put the picture like another 
 senorita's face ! " 
 
 254
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " Perenza ! " 
 
 Anchor's face flamed scarlet. She turned as if 
 to avoid seeing what he had not meant her to see, 
 but Perenza grasped her skirt. 
 
 "Listen, Senorita!" she said, pleadingly. "I 
 praying you come for a long time. When I see 
 him watch by your door, I know all the other 
 senoritas he ever spoke to is forgot. I know it is 
 for you he have wait. And listen, listen, Senorita ! 
 When you wake up on that bed you wake up same 
 like a little child in your mind. You walk only 
 beside him. You hold his hand every minute. 
 All at once he can no forget you his Senorita of 
 the Moccasins! Don Mac thinking you a poor 
 child with no home all these days when he loving 
 you and his house covering you, and now, Senorita, 
 now, Mother of God! now you are a fine lady, 
 are you too proud to throw him a look of the eye? 
 You no care at all that he going with white face 
 like a dead man, and that he no sleeping any more 
 except with your slipper against his cheek? You 
 no care at all? " 
 
 Anchor strove vainly to unclasp the tenacious 
 brown fingers. She felt helpless, trapped! She 
 could feel her cheeks flame and, turn her head as 
 she would, she knew those sharp old eyes had seen 
 the tears in her own. 
 
 " Ai, zi ! Senorita ! You are not, then, too 
 
 255
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 proud? Ai Sancta Maria the tear! Ah, 
 Senorita, the cheek telling, the eyes telling, the 
 tears " 
 
 With a final wrench, Anchor tore herself loose 
 and stood staring at Perenza angrily. The tears 
 still sparkled in her eyes, but she dashed them 
 away. 
 
 " But the tongue is not telling ! " she declared, 
 lifting her head defiantly. " You have no right 
 to bring me here, to tell me this ! And Don Mac, 
 Don Mac never looks at me, never thinks as you 
 say! And I, I tell you I would cut the tongue 
 from my head before it should confess con- 
 fess " 
 
 " The truth, Senorita mia? " 
 
 The girl looked at her. 
 
 ' You are a very stubborn, very troublesome 
 woman, Perenza ! " 
 
 Perenza uttered a contented little chirrup of a 
 laugh. 
 
 " Ah, when he speaks, Senorita mia, then you 
 will confess ! " 
 
 " He will never speak, Perenza," said the girl 
 softly, as she passed from the dusk of the little 
 room onto the sunflecked and vine wreathed cor- 
 ridor. 
 
 But softly as the words were spoken, they 
 reached the ears of the man who stood in the old 
 
 256
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 olive orchard just outside the window. His face 
 was white as he leaned close to the wall that old Pe- 
 renza might not discover him. 
 
 But old Perenza was on her knees beside his 
 bed, mumbling prayers of gratitude, for the last 
 fear had been driven from her mind of ever see- 
 ing Delfina Gonzales mistress of the Mission 
 rancho ! And when the prayer was ended and she 
 clattered with her stick out into the patio, It was 
 to find the Senorita of the Moccasins entering the 
 carriage at the garden gate, and doing so with con- 
 siderable haste. 
 
 A little ways along the hedge Diego fastened up 
 a broken bridle, and demanded of the sleepy Mex- 
 ican boys, why they had not taken charge of Don 
 Mac's horse when he arrived, instead of letting 
 it range as it pleased in the old orchard. 
 
 " Dios! Don Mac never coming home that we 
 see," protested one of the boys. " Most like he 
 just work somewhere, and letting the horse find 
 home." 
 
 " Let us go," said Anchor to Galbraith. " Del- 
 fina will wonder at our long stay." 
 
 Perenza nodded her head and chuckled as they 
 drove away. 
 
 " Ai ay ! It's a good day's work, Perenza ! 
 " So young and so pretty, and the man only a 
 man after all! He never will see the Dutch 
 
 257 
 
 17
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 Senora's daughter again, when this girl looks at 
 him. You no can drive so fast, Seiiorita, but how 
 Don Mac can catch up, and you forgetting you 
 leave that rose from your bosom on his pillow ! "
 
 XVII 
 
 THE SENORITA RESCUES GALBRAITH. 
 
 But despite Perenza's hopes, Don Mac made 
 no attempt to ride after the carriage of the Senor- 
 ita that day, or the next, or the next after that! 
 In fact, Delfina finally sent for him and received 
 a diplomatic note of thanks and the information 
 that he must forego the pleasure of a chat at 
 present: her friend, Mr. Atterly, was winning 
 a few points in the Hermosa game, and he, Leigh- 
 ton, was losing sleep, nightly, planning counter- 
 moves. 
 
 " Nonsense ! " said Delfina, petulantly, tossing 
 the note from her. ' The man must think I'm 
 a fool to believe that! Can't he plan here as 
 well as at the Mission?" 
 
 " The Mission and Mac don't see much of 
 each other lately," remarked Galbraith. " He 
 is not there one day out of five." 
 
 Delfina shrugged her shoulders, and looked her 
 disbelief. 
 
 ' What happened the day you stopped there 
 with Anchor? " she demanded. " He came back 
 from Santa Barbara that day." 
 
 " Nothing happened. We didn't see him.'* 
 
 14 Well, it's curious ! He has not come near 
 
 259
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 since then, and Anchor will ride or drive in any 
 earthly direction but towards his rancho." 
 
 " Oh, well, she may not fancy that particular 
 road." 
 
 " Don't be an idiot ! It's the prettiest road in 
 the country." 
 
 While they talked, Anchor rode up the path 
 slowly, so slowly, so thoughtfully that she scarce- 
 ly heeded when she reached the portal, and the 
 stopping of her horse aroused her with a start. 
 
 " I never saw you creep along like that before," 
 declared Delfina. " Did you fall asleep?" 
 
 " No, I was thinking, and ever since the flood, 
 the operation of thought in this cranium is slow 
 and painful. Delfina, do you know where Luigo 
 is?" 
 
 " No, indeed ! He disdains all of us lately. 
 Marta tells me he threatens to go to Mexico. 
 Good luck send the day ! " 
 
 " I was in the village," said Anchor abruptly, 
 " and I saw him come out of a lawyer's office with 
 a slender man, a gentleman who wears glasses." 
 
 " Atterly ! " interrupted Delfina. 
 
 " Perhaps. But why should Mr. Atterly pat 
 Luigo on the shoulder and tell him his fortune 
 
 was made? And why Where is Senor 
 
 Leighton ? " she asked suddenly, interrupting her- 
 self. 
 
 260
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " He was leaving the Mission as I was starting 
 here." 
 
 "Was he? Is he coming here this evening?" 
 
 Delfina gave a little petulant laugh. 
 
 " I don't know, and, if you will forgive a short 
 answer, I don't care! I sent for him and he re- 
 turned me a very lame excuse." 
 
 " Do you want him?" asked Galbraith. But 
 Anchor shook her head. 
 
 ' They mentioned his name, that is all. They 
 mean to annoy him in some way. The stranger 
 said they could side-track Leighton now and give 
 him something beside Hermosa to put his time in, 
 with. Then he laughed and patted Luigo's shoul- 
 der, and said his fortune was made. Now what 
 could Luigo have done for them? " 
 
 Her question was addressed to Delfina. But 
 Delfina did not know and did not care. If Mr. 
 Atterly was in the village, common courtesy de- 
 manded that he should call on her before consult- 
 ing with her servants ! Of course Luigo was not 
 exactly a servant still 
 
 Anchor was drawing off her gloves at the foot 
 of the stairs which she was about to ascend, when 
 she noticed Galbraith's alert, uneasy expression. 
 
 " Do you know what Luigo could have told 
 them?" she asked pointedly. 
 
 " No, I don't," he answered, picking up his hat. 
 
 261
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " But I guess I'll be moving. If they are laying 
 any trap for him, it is as well he is told." 
 
 " Thought he was not home ! " said Delfina, 
 with an air of pique. 
 
 " He is with the county surveyor along division 
 line by the old Mission dam, at least he started 
 there at sun up." 
 
 Delfina smiled skeptically. 
 
 "You never fail him do you?" she re- 
 marked. 
 
 "I hope not." 
 
 " Not even when it's a case of stretching the 
 truth ? " she persisted. 
 
 " Not even if it's a case of a whopping big lie ! " 
 he said, smiling at her. " But this time it's the 
 truth!" 
 
 " Of course," she agreed. " A sort of Damon 
 and the other fellow! How long has it lasted? " 
 
 " Oh, we've been pards since he lifted me out 
 of a pit of trouble ten, twelve years ago. And 
 to make sure that I wouldn't tumble in again, 
 he didn't let go his grip on me after he got me 
 out." 
 
 " Now what sort of trouble could you need help 
 in ? " derisively queried Delfina, as she glanced at 
 his six feet one of stalwart manhood. 
 
 " Oh, just trouble ! A man may weigh a hun- 
 dred and seventy and not have an ounce of sense, 
 you know ! " 
 
 262
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 Anchor at the foot of the stairs regarded them 
 soberly. Delfina was laughing, but Galbraith, 
 glancing at the girl, grew suddenly serious. 
 
 "What is it, Senorita?" he asked. "Have 
 you any commands before I go?" 
 
 " No," she said, doubtfully, " no commands 
 but- 
 
 " Well, what is it? " And Delfina's tones were 
 slightly impatient. The seriousness of the girl 
 was a sort of kill-joy to Felipe's widow. " Don't 
 be afraid to speak." 
 
 " Afraid! " The girl's eyes flashed darkly for 
 an instant. " I it is not quite my place to speak, 
 perhaps, but I could not help thinking that while 
 you two laugh over some pit he saved you from, 
 there are others digging pits for him, perhaps, 
 and no one to warn him ! " 
 
 Galbraith stared at her a moment and then a 
 dull red flush crept over his face. 
 
 " I am everlastingly at your feet for that :- 
 minder. Adios ! " 
 
 The next instant he was gone and a little later 
 they heard the clatte-r of his horse's feet. 
 
 Delfina flung herself into a chair with an im- 
 patient sigh. 
 
 ' Will nothing content you but to drive all 
 the men away?" she demanded. "First Mac, 
 now Braith! Of course Galbraith is not much 
 of a cavalier, yet he is a man ! " 
 
 263
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " You think you think Don Mac stays away 
 because because I am here? " asked Anchor, sud- 
 denly, sitting down on the lower step and regard- 
 ing Delfina with questioning, compelling eyes. 
 "You think that?" 
 
 "Ah-h?" And Delfina's eyes half closed as 
 she leaned back and looked at the girl strangely, 
 almost insolently, before speaking. Then she 
 laughed, a little, short, mirthless laugh that made 
 Anchor shrink instinctively. 
 
 " So that is how the cat jumps, is it?" asked 
 her sister-in-law. " It isn't Galbraith at all, it is 
 Mac!" 
 
 " I don't know I don't know what you mean," 
 said the girl, falteringly. 
 
 . " Oh, yes, you do ! Own up, now ! " And Del- 
 fina's voice and laugh tried hard to give her words 
 the color of careless good nature. " I guess you 
 remember more of your stay at the Mission than 
 vcu let on. You and Mac have been playing 
 the rest of us for tenderfeet, eh? Now, tell the 
 truth: Did you quarrel, or what did happen 
 the day Braith took you over there? Mac got 
 there before you left, and about an hour after 
 he sent you those roses. That much I do know. 
 But from that day to this he has never shown his 
 face here! Now what happened that day?" 
 
 Anchor's thoughts flew back to the little shrine 
 in his sleeping room and her moccasins in the 
 
 264
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 shadow there. Delfina saw the blush creeping 
 over the girl's cheeks, and felt a cold anger at 
 the discovery that the girl was in some way ac- 
 countable for Leighton's absence, and Braith's, 
 too! She felt an annoyance that even Galbraith 
 had obeyed so quickly her lightest shade of a com- 
 mand. Delfina had been the only feminine ruler 
 of the Hermosa for a long time, and she resented 
 the fact that this girl could, for any cause, keep 
 Mac Leighton away, and she resented, also, the 
 tell-tale blush. 
 
 Anchor got up and went over to the window, 
 for Delfina's laugh annoyed her more than the 
 persistent questions. 
 
 " Nothing happened," she said, a trifle coldly. 
 ' We only talked with the old housekeeper and 
 I rocked the baby asleep in the hammock. Your 
 Sefior Leighton was not there." 
 
 " He was there somewhere ! " declared Del- 
 fina, " watching you doing duty as child's nurse, 
 perhaps, for the child, they say, he has agreed to 
 father." 
 
 Her disdainful laugh gave an ugly color to the 
 speech, and Anchor turned on her suddenly with 
 startled, darkening eyes. 
 
 " He has agreed? " she faltered; and the late 
 blush had faded from her cheek. 
 
 Delfina did not care for Mac Leighton any 
 more than of old, but she had of late been consid- 
 
 265
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 ering several very sensible plans regarding the 
 Hermosa. Leighton had been in a way the foun- 
 dation of them ; the devotion he had shown to her 
 since Felipe's death naturally could mean but one 
 thing, and it was a victory worth while to win a 
 man like Leighton a second time. The first time, 
 of course, Gonzales had done the proposing and it 
 had been an affair of business, but now 
 
 And this girl with her big eyes, this girl who 
 had won worship where she had bought tolerance, 
 was she to be allowed to ride rough-shod over 
 Delfina's plans as she had ridden like a tempest 
 over her lands that first evening in the Hermosa 
 Valley ? 
 
 She leaned back smilingly and noted the hit 
 made by her little arrow of malice. 
 
 " Oh, don't look so shocked, Anchor," she pro- 
 tested. " Your grand aunts did not teach you 
 much about the real world, I guess. Mac is bet- 
 ter than the most of men, but there are always 
 Mexican girls around the ranches, you know, and 
 someone has to look after their children! " 
 
 " But this child you must be mistaken ! this 
 child is the one I saved, the one I carried out of 
 the flood. That is why ' 
 
 Delfina interrupted her with a shrill little laugh. 
 
 " Oh, that is why Senor Leighton is to bring 
 it up as his own, because you saved it?" And 
 she laughed again, highly amused at the idea. 
 
 266
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " That was a clever thing to tell you. For, of 
 course, they had to make up some reasonable 
 story when you visited a bachelor establishment, 
 and asked questions about the babies they had not 
 time to put out of sight! Oh, Anchor, don't look 
 so shocked and solemn about it ! You will get 
 over your prudishness after a season or two out 
 here." 
 
 " I shan't get used to liars," retorted the girl. 
 
 "Well, Mac didn't do that part of it," ob- 
 served Delfina. " He only kept out of sight and 
 let the others do the romancing for him. But, 
 in future, it might be as well to be more careful 
 where you pay visits: Galbraith meant no harm 
 in taking you, but " 
 
 " And that child, the child they said I claimed 
 when I was ill, the child they said slept beside 
 me, was his? " 
 
 Delfina nodded and yawned sleepily. 
 
 ' Yes, I hear he is adopting it legally. Great 
 luck for the little beggar, isn't it?" 
 
 Anchor made no reply. She felt faint and sick 
 at heart. The perfume of those roses and the 
 memory of the treasured moccasins, had filled her 
 hours with vague dreams of beauty. Even the 
 music of the child's laugh and its clasp of her 
 fingers blended into the harmony of memory that 
 was hers. It all belonged to one perfect day. 
 
 267
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 And the day was gone, gone without a hope left 
 of a morrow! 
 
 "Are you sick, Anchor?" demanded Delfina, 
 sharply. " Heavens! you are not going to faint, 
 are you ? " 
 
 " I think not," returned the girl, whose eyes 
 had closed for a moment as she leaned against 
 the window frame. " I am only tired." 
 
 " Well, for goodness sake go to bed and get 
 rested. You frightened me silly for a minute. 
 What's that?" 
 
 It was a shouting mass of people on the high- 
 way just outside the gates. Only their heads 
 could be seen above the hedge, and they were 
 following three men on horseback who were re- 
 treating before the mob in an awkward fashion, 
 half backing the horses that they might face the 
 shouting, gesticulating, threatening crowd. 
 
 Delfina hastily found a field glass, and looked 
 anxiously at the unusual commotion. 
 
 " It's Sheriff Mahan ! " she cried in alarm. 
 " He's got a prisoner they are trying to take 
 from him there is another man helping him, a 
 deputy, I suppose ! I can't see clear for the hedge, 
 but the sheriff is surely trying to reach our gate. 
 Oh, how horrible!" 
 
 Anchor picked up the glass, but could see little 
 more than Delfina had described. The backs of 
 the men were towards her and she could not see 
 
 268
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 their faces or their horses, for the hedge. She 
 could see a revolver in the sheriff's hand. She 
 could see that he was shouting and arguing with 
 the mob, and she could see that the deputy kept 
 very close to the third man and that their horses 
 were backed slowly, slowly towards the gate. 
 
 " They can't open the gates without turning," 
 she cried, throwing down the glass and reaching 
 for her whip; "and they don't dare turn their 
 back on that mob ! " 
 
 " Anchor ! Come back ! Anchor ! Are you 
 crazy?" screamed Delfina, angrily. 
 
 But no reply came back. An instant later and 
 Anchor dashed around the curve from the stables, 
 without a saddle and bent low on a little mus- 
 tang's back. She was speeding to the gates to 
 reach them before the men. 
 
 The shouting and curses blended with the thud 
 of the nag's flying hoofs, and it was all a confused 
 riot through which she heard no distinct word, 
 saw nothing ahead but the great iron gates, hung 
 on massive stone pillars. 
 
 The three men faced the circle of the mob. 
 As she slipped from her horse, she saw the rea- 
 son why two of them kept so close together, and 
 could not manage their horses to advantage, the 
 prisoner was handcuffed to the deputy. 
 
 Their horses were almost touching the gate. 
 She waved her hand and screamed to them, but 
 
 269
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 only a few of the Mexicans mounted on draught 
 horses saw her; no one could hear her single 
 voice in that roar. 
 
 A swarthy Mexican waved his hat and cheered 
 at sight of her. Others leaped to the backs of 
 their work horses, climbing up by the chains and 
 the straps of the harness, standing erect and shout- 
 ing at sight of her. " The Senorita ! Our Senor- 
 ita ! " they cried. 
 
 The sheriff cast one glance over his shoulder 
 and saw a slender girl lift her hand imperatively 
 as she swung open the heavy iron gate. 
 
 " Quick! " he shouted to his deputy. " Inside! 
 Quick!" 
 
 The presence of the girl had for an instant a 
 bewildering effect on the leaders of the mob. 
 They cheered her presence there without know- 
 ing her intention, and before they realized what 
 it was, the three horses were inside and the gate 
 was clanged shut and the girl locked it in the 
 face of the baffled mob. 
 
 One man with a curse drew a revolver; but 
 two others flung themselves on him and dragged 
 him from the horse. 
 
 " No," they shouted with one accord, " not the 
 Senorita ! No harm to the Senorita ! " 
 
 This incident turned for a moment the temper 
 of the crowd without; they shouted questions to 
 each other instead of curses at the sheriff. 
 
 270
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 Anchor, breathless and exhausted, leaned 
 against the gate. She saw the servants running 
 from the house and was conscious that one of the 
 men had dismounted and was beside her. 
 
 "Are you hurt, Senorita?" he asked, quickly. 
 But she smiled and shook her head. 
 
 " No out of breath that is all ! " she said, 
 pantingly. " Oh I had to run so fast! " 
 
 " It was the pluckiest thing I ever saw a woman 
 do ! " he exclaimed, admiringly. ' You saved me 
 my man all right, and I can telephone from here 
 for extras." 
 
 Then Anchor looked around at the two men 
 who had ridden into the shade of the great arbor 
 of the driveway. One was a squarely built, pow- 
 erful-looking young fellow, whose wrist was 
 manacled to that of the man beside him. And, 
 with a sense of relief, Anchor saw that the third 
 man was Galbraith. 
 
 " Oh, it is you ! " she remarked. " Well, I am 
 glad you are here. Are you the sheriff, or are 
 you the deputy? " 
 
 He looked at her, a strange, steady look, then 
 he opened his lips to speak. But no sound came, 
 and he turned an imploring glance to the man 
 beside her. 
 
 But the man beside her did not see it. His 
 eyes were on the face of the very pretty girl who 
 had saved his prisoner for him. 
 
 271
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " No, Seriorita, I am the sheriff, and you have 
 helped me save Mr. Galbraith from the crazy 
 Mexicans out there. He is under arrest for the 
 murder of one of their tribe." 
 
 " Mahan ! " 
 
 Galbraith's voice was half appealing, half com- 
 manding, and it made the sheriff realize who the 
 girl must be. His face flushed in embarrassment. 
 
 " At least they claim him on the mother's 
 side," he stammered. " I I'm very sorry " 
 
 "What does it mean?" she asked, turning to 
 Galbraith. ' You are under arrest you ! " 
 
 " Senorita ! Senorita ! " called one of the Mex- 
 icans whose wife and children she had saved from 
 the flood of Hermosa, " open the gate and give 
 him back to us ! He has killed your brother, Sen- 
 orita. Give him back and we will crucify him ! " 
 
 Anchor leaned against the gate and stared with 
 white face from one man to the other. Galbraith 
 looked at her once, and in very dread of what the 
 shock might mean to her, turned to the sheriff. 
 
 " Mahan, take her away," he said, in a low 
 tone. " She has been ill, and the whole miserable 
 business " 
 
 " It is true, Senorita, it is true by the holy 
 cross! " screamed the Mexican. " Si you lock the 
 gate with your own hand, Mother of God! how 
 can we touch him? But si you say the word, one 
 
 272
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 word, Senorita ! and we tear down a wall of stone 
 to get at him! " 
 
 The sheriff turned to the girl with quick ap- 
 peal. 
 
 "They could do it, Senorita, Miss Darrett! 
 They could tear out that hedge like grass! It is 
 for you to say the word. It's a God-send. You 
 can influence them ! " 
 
 " Speak, Senorita ! We all waiting the one 
 word! He go killing your brother! " 
 
 The girl shrank again as though the cry had 
 been a physical blow. She lifted her eyes and 
 turned mutely from the face of the sheriff to that 
 of Galbraith, where it rested in one long look of 
 question. 
 
 He had uttered no word of denial, but she held 
 up her hand to the Mexicans for silence. 
 
 " My brother would want justice, not murder ! 
 We will wait for the law to give justice ! " 
 
 Some of the Mexicans screamed threats and ac- 
 cusations. But cooler heads had followed from 
 the works, the better class of the natives and the 
 Americans, and they drew their more fiery mates 
 from the gates and shouted offers of help to the 
 sheriff. 
 
 The girl faced them with mute lips and unsee- 
 ing eyes, until the shouts dwindled into mur- 
 murs, many of them blessings on their Senorita. 
 
 Then she smiled on them faintly without see- 
 is 273
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 ing one face clearly in all the motley mob. But 
 not until the last threatening face had retreated 
 did she turn to the three men who watched her 
 as they might watch a magician change the skies 
 fjom clouds to sunshine. 
 
 The entire household had followed her and 
 were clustered, awestruck and incredulous, about 
 the prisoner. Delfina had just arrived and was 
 appealing to the sheriff in shrill tones of inquiry, 
 protest, and threatened hysterics. Some of her 
 appeals were made to Anchor, who heeded her not 
 at all and who turned to Galbraith. 
 
 "What is there you want done?" she asked, 
 slowly, deliberately, as if weighing each word. 
 
 "Anchor!" screamed Delfina. "Don't you 
 understand? They say he shot Felipe Felipe! " 
 
 " Stop that, Delfina ! " returned the girl, with 
 scant ceremony. " I've just got rid of one mob 
 by asking them to wait for justice. Are you go- 
 ing to be more senseless than they? " 
 
 " Senseless ! Oh, Mr. Mahan, she is simply 
 mad! Speak to her, won't you? Tell her " 
 
 Anchor shook her head and held up her hand 
 impatiently. 
 
 ' Tell me, Mr. Mahan, what is to be done, 
 what he needs to have done ! " 
 
 Galbraith leaned forward in his saddle, the 
 color flushing his face strangely. 
 
 274
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " Good God," he murmured, incredulously, " is 
 it me you are thinking of? me? " 
 
 She avoided his eyes, but nodded her head. 
 
 " You are his best friend," she said, simply. 
 "If he had been here, he would have sent the 
 people away, and as he was not " 
 
 " Oh! " And a strange, patient smile of com- 
 prehension shone in Galbraith's blue eyes. ' That 
 is true, Seiiorita. His best friend! Well, I'll 
 show you both I don't forget that. He must 
 know of this and know it right. Will you take 
 the word?" 
 
 Anchor turned to Roderiguez in the crowd. 
 
 " Give me a saddled horse," she said. And 
 then, to Delfina's horror, she turned again to 
 Galbraith. 
 
 ' Tell me the word you want sent and where to 
 find him," she said, briefly. 
 
 And he realized that the Senorita of the Mis- 
 sion garden was gone, and that the semi-invalid 
 of the Hacienda de Hermosa was only a memory, 
 and that the girl calling for the horse and turning 
 with brusque impatience from Delfina's appeals 
 was the Miss Moccasins who had swept ahead 
 of the flood with authority as resistless as the 
 command of the waters. 
 
 275
 
 XVIII 
 
 ANCHOR AND MAC LEIGHTON. 
 
 The surveying party had halted under a wide- 
 spreading oak where a rare spring crept to the 
 surface and spread a silvery green pool in the 
 shadows. To the south were great sloping 
 stretches of grazing land, and across there Leigh- 
 ton was exploring alone for the half erased land- 
 marks of an earlier generation. 
 
 " He does more work than any two of us," 
 commented one of the men, exploring the lunch 
 basket in hopes of an overlooked biscuit. 
 
 " Um ! " agreed another, rolling a cigarette. 
 " He never does let up, doesn't stop long enough 
 to get a comfortable drink. Gee! Who is that? 
 
 " Now, I wouldn't have time for a drink, my- 
 self, if a girl like that was riding to head me off ! " 
 
 Leighton had reached a little belt of stunted 
 pine on the edge of a ridge, when the hoof beats 
 struck his ear, and a moment later he had met 
 Anchor in the green shadows, swaying in the sad- 
 dle and almost falling into his outstretched arms. 
 
 She had not realized her own lack of strength 
 until the miles slipped one by one behind her 
 around the seemingly endless fencing. Then all 
 at once she saw him, the one bulwark of strength 
 for all of them. 
 
 276
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 She reached out her hands to him in mute ap- 
 peal, and the temptation was strong enough to 
 break down the man's reserve. 
 
 With a cry that was half a moan, he gathered 
 her in his arms like a child, and hot kisses were 
 pressed on cheeks, and lips and white throat, while 
 broken, tender words of endearment brought a 
 happy light into her heart as she opened her eyes 
 and looked up at him. 
 
 The end of a blind struggle seemed over. 
 Whatever of tragedy encompassed them, there 
 was no longer the black barrier of misunderstand- 
 ing to loom between. 
 
 "You did kiss me before didn't you?" she 
 whispered. " I am sure of it now ! You kissed 
 my hand you woke me you said before- them 
 all that I should be your " 
 
 " Oh, my God! " breathed the man, with lips 
 against her throat. 
 
 "Your wife!" she said, shyly. " Oh oh, 
 why have you kept away from me ever, since?" 
 
 The kisses ceased and the arms relaxed, but 
 his face was still hidden on her shoulder. She 
 lifted her hand and rested it caressingly on the 
 dark waves of his hair. 
 
 "Was it on account of Jose?" she whis- 
 pered. " She told me to-day. I I thought I 
 would hate you but I don't! I would help you 
 take care of him, he shall be my child, too I " 
 
 277
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 He lifted his head and stared at her and she 
 saw there were tears in his eyes. 
 
 "Darling, darling!" he muttered, between 
 shut teeth. Then he arose abruptly from where 
 he had knelt with her in his arms. He almost 
 lifted her to her feet from where she stood lean- 
 ing against the panting horse. Then, with a sort 
 of rough decision, he stepped back and looked at 
 her strangely, steadily, sombrely. 
 
 " It has not been a child that kept me away 
 from you, little girl," he said, at last. " It has 
 been " 
 
 He paused so long that with a conscience-strick : 
 en cry she interrupted. 
 
 " Oh, Don Mac ! Never mind what it has 
 been ! " she half sobbed. " That is over, over 
 forever ! I came to tell you the most awful thing, 
 the most terrible you can think of! And God 
 forgive me ! I forgot it all when you kissed me ! 
 Oh, Phil, Phil!" 
 
 She was clinging to his arm again, blinded by 
 her own remorseful tears. But he laid his hands 
 on both her shoulders and turned her towards him. 
 
 ' Tell me the worst you have to say, and tell 
 it quick!" he said, sharply. "Suspense is the 
 worst of hells! " 
 
 11 It is Galbraith, your friend Braith ! " she 
 faltered. " He is arrested for the murder. It is 
 Luigo and the Mexicans! They tried to take 
 
 278
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 him from the sheriff. Oh, it was awful! aw- 
 ful!" 
 
 " Galbraith ! " He cast his eyes quickly to- 
 wards the group of surveyors, who had resumed 
 their work and were filing out along the line: 
 u You won't mind riding back alone ? " he asked. 
 " I must send for a horse and take a short cut 
 to town to clear Galbraith ! " 
 
 " No listen ! " she begged, catching his hand 
 again. " I brought you the word to keep you 
 from going. He doesn't want you to go near 
 him. Oh, don't look like that! It is true! Lis- 
 ten to me ! Let me tell you ! " 
 
 He stared doubtfully at her for a moment and 
 then pointed to a truss of dried bunch-grass. 
 
 " Sit down," he said, quietly. " Tell me the 
 word he sent." 
 
 He threw himself on the ground a little dis- 
 tance away and listened intently to every detail 
 until the arrival of extra deputies. 
 
 " I would not leave until then. I would not 
 trust Luigo and the Castros ; they had been drink- 
 ing and might come back. They want to kill 
 Galbraith 1 " 
 
 " He denied the the " 
 
 "Not even that! He only said to tell you 
 they had not an iota of real evidence, that it was 
 all Luigo's madness and a scheme of the lawyers 
 to draw your attention just now from Hermosa 
 
 279
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 affairs. And it may be true; I think it is in 
 part. He begged you not to ' play into their 
 hands ' by going near him, to give every minute 
 to the work you have undertaken. If he wants 
 you, he will send for you, but begs you to keep 
 away until he does." 
 
 " Still, you distrust him ? " 
 
 " I did not say so, but I feel that he knows 
 more than he confesses ! And though he goes 
 free, though he never really harmed Phil, yet, 
 Mac, I never want to see him again! " 
 
 " Don't say that," said Leighton, putting out 
 his hand pleadingly. " He he almost wor- 
 shiped you, Anchor. He would face death for 
 you any minute, for you, or any friend. Are 
 men like that so plentiful?" 
 
 " Delfina stormed, and accused, and finally ap- 
 pealed to him. But it was all no use," said the 
 girl, wearily. " All he would say was that it was 
 a big mistake, and to tell you there was no evi- 
 dence. He did not seem to care what any one 
 else thought. He says it is Mr. Atterly who 
 helped Luigo, and that is true! He says they 
 count on you to throw aside all other affairs to 
 help him, and that you must not walk into the 
 trap, for there is no real evidence. He laid stress 
 on the fact that you have only so many days now 
 in which to settle Delfina's affairs before her 
 majority, that you have enemies and a tricky lot 
 
 280
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 of men against you, that even the loss of one day 
 may undo all you have worked for. He was so 
 intense in his desire to keep you out of it that it 
 must mean something very important." 
 
 " Yes," assented Leighton, " it does." 
 
 Then he arose and walked over to where her 
 horse was nibbling the grass. He brought it back 
 and she saw that the interview was over, the pri- 
 vacy of it, at least, for the surveyors were coming 
 closer. 
 
 He helped her to mount, and then stood, his 
 hand on the bridle, looking up at her. 
 
 ' Well," she said at last, " will you do as he 
 asks?" 
 
 " I will do as he asks until my own work is 
 done; then I reserve the right to interfere 
 in his affairs. My girl! If I could only hear you 
 say you believed in him ! " 
 
 "I can't!" she said, with a little shudder. 
 : " Phil was all I had in the world all ! No one 
 out here seems to think of him as I did," and 
 she looked at Leighton wistfully, " but the man 
 who shot him, or shielded his murderer, if he 
 was murdered, is not a man I ever want to see 
 again. I want him to have justice, but I could 
 not show him mercy." 
 
 " Good-bye!" said Leighton, and turned the 
 head of her horse towards the Hacienda. 
 
 281
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " Mac ! " she said, softly, and held out her hand 
 unseen by the men. 
 
 " My girl ! My Senorita ! " he murmured, 
 crushing her hand to his lips. " Good-bye, little 
 girl, good-bye 1 " 
 
 282
 
 XIX 
 
 THE VISIT TO TREASURE TROVE. 
 
 " It isn't one bit like Mac Leighton," protested 
 Delfina, " when he knows I must be prostrated by 
 this awful shock. It's enough to half kill us 
 both! To think that Galbraith was not only tol- 
 erated, but made welcome here. Ugh! I don't 
 see how he ever entered the room where Felipe's 
 picture hung." 
 
 " I don't think he is guilty," replied Anchor, 
 wearily, " but I think he knows who did do it." 
 
 ;t What about his coat with Felipe's note ask- 
 ing him to be there that very hour? What about 
 the broken comb Luigo picked up in the adobe, 
 and which, several can swear, belonged to that 
 woman? " 
 
 Anchor breathed a little shivering sigh of re- 
 pulsion, and Delfina, understanding, shrugged her 
 shoulders contemptuously. 
 
 ' You needn't take that part of it so hard, 
 Anchor. You know I gave you warning that 
 real men are not the spotless heroes of the story 
 books!" 
 
 ' Thanks to their wives, perhaps ! " 
 
 Delfina laughed outright at the retort. 
 
 " Oh, you are an old maid ! Do you suppose 
 a goody-goody wife would have suited Felipe?" 
 
 283
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " Do you mean to tell me my brother was a 
 bad man? " asked the girl, angrily. " Must you 
 add your bitter fling to all the others of the Her- 
 mosa?" 
 
 "Bitter! Nonsense! He wasn't a doll baby, 
 that's all! But what what what keeps Mac 
 Leighton away when I need him most? Every- 
 body must think it strange ! " 
 
 " Lounging in your sala is not the way to undo 
 your speculations ! " 
 
 " Oh, you've that bee in your bonnet? " laughed 
 Delfina. : ' Well, I wish his devotions to my in- 
 terests were expressed differently. Mr. Atterly is 
 proving the real friend these days! What could 
 we have done in this Galbraith affair without 
 him?" 
 
 " You might have encouraged Luigo's craziness 
 in the beginning," suggested Anchor. 
 
 " Craziness ! It seems he is the only one of 
 us. who had sense; he always hated Galbraith. 
 Well, I'll be of age in another week, thank 
 Heaven! Then I'll be free to settle a lot of scores 
 myself! When you saw Mac, what excuse did 
 he make for not coming near us any more? " 
 
 " He made none. It was not necessary. He 
 was busy and he knew I knew it." 
 
 ' You appear to understand each other wonder- 
 fully," observed Delfina, tartly. " It is a bit 
 strange, if you can't remember your days at the 
 
 284
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 Mission, for then you scarcely know him; you 
 have not seen him six times since! " 
 
 She looked keenly at the girl and this time An- 
 chor had no retort. 
 
 All she knew of him was the murmured assur- 
 ances of love that one day, the close, thrilling 
 clasp of his arms! and back of that the memory 
 of treasured moccasins on a shrine, and a dream- 
 like life of which nothing survived but the echo 
 of his voice, the light of his smile ! 
 
 True, there had been no promises of any sort 
 between them. He had put her on the horse and 
 said good-bye, and she had ridden homeward in 
 a trance of utter happiness, all the tragedies for- 
 gotten, sure only that he loved her, and living on 
 that memory until she heard his voice again ! 
 
 Many days had gone by and she had not heard 
 it. Court was in session and he was winning all 
 points in what he had called the " Hermosa game." 
 He was rushing things through in a way to cause 
 comment on every side. Sometimes Delfina ad- 
 mired it when Mr. Atterly brought her returns, 
 and sometimes she railed against it, as when her 
 notes to him secured only evasive replies. And 
 through it all the girl believed in him and waited. 
 
 Then rumors came to them that the Old Mission 
 was for sale : that was why the careful new survey 
 was made. The natives were disconsolate. Es- 
 perenza Moro was sick in her bed because of it, 
 
 285
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 and Don Mac worked night and day and cared 
 no longer who was sick or who was dead. Not 
 even Senor Braith had he gone near, and that 
 was strangest of all ! 
 
 When the sale of the Mission was spoken of, 
 Anchor rode into town for the first time since she 
 stopped the mob at the gate. The blood of the 
 rioters had had time to cool and she was greeted 
 with apologies and florid blessings as she rode past 
 their homes or their work. 
 
 In the village she visited a retired judge whom 
 she heard had known her father in the old, golden 
 days of the coast lands. From her recovered 
 trunks she had taken different legal papers for his 
 inspection, and over them they talked for an hour. 
 
 " I shall, of course, act for you in the mat- 
 ter," said Judge Bisham, finally, " but your aunts 
 should have tied up your money for a few years 
 longer." 
 
 4 You agree it is a fine property and offered at 
 a sacrifice? " 
 
 " Oh, certainly. It is the real key to the water 
 rights of that section, you know. In fact, Mac 
 Leighton could realize much more from the prop- 
 erty if he had not tied up the rights to the ranch- 
 men as he has done. Mr. Atterly's friends would 
 have given a much higher figure but for that. A 
 beautiful place, too, and Mac Leighton had to 
 
 286
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 sacrifice it must be in some special money trou- 
 ble ! " 
 
 " And my name need not appear in it just yet? " 
 
 " Certainly not, though I rather think Mrs. 
 Barrett would approve of such an investment. 
 My only reason for advising caution was that I 
 feared you were acting on impulse. And it is a 
 big lot of money, not much to you, of course, 
 but too much to sink on a sudden fancy ! " 
 
 " No, it's not a mere fancy, Judge ! " she said, 
 and rode back to the Hacienda to learn that she 
 was one of the witnesses depended upon by Gal- 
 braith's attorney to establish his alibi. 
 
 Delfina protested indignantly. It would look 
 as if Felipe's own relatives were trying to clear 
 the murderer. But Anchor, after the first in- 
 stinctive shudder at the idea, agreed that as she 
 had seen Galbraith that evening, had spoken to 
 him, there was no reason why she should not say 
 so before a jury. But she felt suddenly, like Del- 
 fina, what a mountain of strength Leighton could 
 be to them both those days if only only 
 
 All her nature protested against any criticism 
 of his silence, even while all her heart cried aloud 
 for the love showing through his tired eyes that 
 day, and the clasp of his strong arms as he kissed 
 her. 
 
 And out of her very longing, her absolute in- 
 ability to endure longer, not only the suspense, but 
 
 287
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 the strange sense of mystery pervading it, she an- 
 nounced one morning that she was able to visit 
 " Treasure Trove." There in the garden he had 
 found the roses for her; somewhere under its 
 vines she might find peace. 
 
 Delfina's protests against such a visit were so 
 feverishly insistent that Anchor wondered, and 
 wondered more, when, failing to persuade her out 
 of it, Delfina decided she would go, too. They 
 would stay over night in Santa Barbara and drive 
 out from there. It was not exactly the way she 
 had meant to celebrate her birthday, still 
 
 " You know you don't care the least bit about 
 it," returned the girl. " To you it will only be 
 an old adobe like dozens of others on your own 
 plantation. I had forgotten to-morrow is your 
 most important birthday, but I shall be back to 
 help celebrate. I am hungry for a sight of the old 
 place, but why should you go? " 
 
 " Oh, you expect so much ! And if you should 
 find the place overgrown with weeds, as is more 
 than likely, you'll have a collapse and be sick down 
 there!" ' 
 
 " But I shan't find it so ! " insisted the owner 
 of ' Treasure Trove '. ' You've no idea how Phil 
 enjoyed keeping it ever waiting for me ! It was 
 just a little romance of ours that I might step in 
 any morning for breakfast. Oh, how long I have 
 waited for the dream to come true ! " 
 
 288
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " But do be reasonable ! " insisted the worried 
 Delfina. " Think how many weeks it has been, 
 and how rank the growth is in neglected gardens. 
 You must expect to find it a wilderness ! " 
 
 " No, I don't," said Anchor severely. " I am 
 sure Dolores would not neglect it. She was my 
 nurse, you know, and even when he was gone she 
 knew I would come back some day. We shan't 
 find it quite a wilderness ! " 
 
 Delfina felt sick and half frightened, yet could 
 not pluck up courage enough to say that Felipe 
 never went near it, except to try and sell it, and 
 that the old woman was, perhaps, dead. 
 
 As they rode out along the beautiful drive from 
 Santa Barbara, she tried in vain to delay the ex- 
 pected shock as she saw Anchor's eyes grow smil- 
 ing and eager at half-remembered land-marks. 
 Beautiful places with well kept lawns alternated 
 with fragrant groves of oranges, and Delfina had 
 a mental picture of a roofless adobe, and a garden 
 choked with rank growth, as a contrast. 
 
 Then the driver turned into a lane defined by 
 hedges so broad and even they suggested a verdant 
 driveway. 
 
 ' That's the ' Treasure Trove ' place, he re- 
 marked, pointing to a cottage where only the roof 
 could be seen in the thick green. " It's been for 
 sale quite a while I guess." 
 
 289
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 
 
 11 For sale?" And Anchor's questioning, in- 
 dignant eyes sought Delfina's. 
 
 " I drove two parties out here who thought of 
 buying it, but something was wrong with the title, 
 so I heard anyway. Why, they've been cleaning 
 house since my last trip ! " 
 
 Anchor had questioning eyes for Delfina and 
 questioning words for the driver; but in the midst 
 of her amazement, the carriage halted at a rustic 
 gate woven of Manzanita boughs, very pictur- 
 esque and very recent, as could be seen where the 
 newly cut ends showed. 
 
 From somewhere back of the wealth of roses 
 and heliotrope was heard an exclamation as the 
 driver halted his team and sprang down to open 
 the door. 
 
 Then a wild cry was followed by a vision of a 
 slender, old, black, turbaned creature, who almost 
 flung herself on Anchor, and laughed and cried 
 in her delight. 
 
 " Ai ! My God ! Blessed Seiiorita ! You com- 
 ing at last to old Dolores ! Oh, my baby, my 
 baby! You grow tall now like the heliotrope 
 where you used to hide. Holy Mother! I go 
 crazy with the joy that I seeing you some more ! " 
 
 Delfina sank back in the carriage, almost over- 
 come by the shock of what she had not dared to 
 hope for. Then she began to laugh almost as 
 
 290
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 hysterically as Dolores, and stepped from the car- 
 riage. 
 
 " No, it is not a wilderness," she agreed. " It 
 is a pretty little doves' place of a nest and looks 
 as if we really might have walked in for breakfast 
 and not gone away hungry." 
 
 " Sure! " cried Dolores, promptly. " Each day 
 I looking for you, each night your bed is ready 
 just like he telling me, you see ! " 
 
 "Oh, the dear room and the dear garden!" 
 breathed Anchor. " And my own dear, dear roses 
 everywhere ! Ah, it is surely finer than it used to 
 be. We could not afford rugs like this, nor cut 
 glass rose bowls, nor those beautiful Mexican jars! 
 Delfina, how had you the heart to tell me it was 
 neglected? Phil! my Phil! here at last I really 
 find you, my own Felipe ! " 
 
 The lips of the old woman tightened ominously, 
 and her glad tears were dried at the sound of his 
 name. 
 
 " The good God, he knowing best," she re- 
 marked. " So he sending for him before you com- 
 ing back." 
 
 " And that man said it was for sale ! " said An- 
 chor. " For sale? How could he have got that 
 idea?" 
 
 Dolores made no reply. Delfina tried to broach 
 some other subject, and failed awkwardly, so much 
 so that Anchor was aware of a silence either would 
 
 291
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 have been willing to break. She stared from one 
 to the other, her eyes growing darker with a ques- 
 tion and a fear. 
 
 " Delfina," she cried sharply, " what is it, why 
 don't you speak? " 
 
 " I I never knew anything about the place ! " 
 protested Delfina. " I told you so I told you 
 
 " You do know something ! " asserted Anchor. 
 " That is why you begged me not to come! Tell 
 me the truth is it is it sold ? " 
 
 " Praise God, no, Seriorita," said the old woman, 
 fervently. " Listen, I will tell you. I never make 
 that promise that I no telling you when you come. 
 And now I seeing you again, he can kill me si he 
 like, but I telling you ! " 
 
 "Felipe? Kill you?" 
 
 " Holy Mary, no ! " cried Dolores, crossing her- 
 self. " He try to kill me when he turning me out 
 to sell the rancheria? I go die that time, but I 
 having some good friends. That is over, gone ! 
 Then he come, the fine Senor American ! The roof 
 see he have mend ! The garden he have made 
 new again I Weeds and spiders, that is all when 
 he come ! Ten, many years, all growing up. I 
 try all the time keep that rose bush out, keep the 
 road to the door out that grass. Then Felipe, he 
 want money and he think he sell the rancheria. 
 Ai that was a day ! I think the world is all come 
 
 292
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 to an end and I move down by the river. I never 
 hearing one word^more until the Senor American 
 he come in a carriage and fetch me back, and, 
 Holy Mother ! he having a big hunt to find me ! 
 Now you coming like he say you come some day. 
 I am so happy I no can find words ! And I have 
 new dresses so ! " she added, holding up all the 
 fingers of one hand. ; ' I showing them to you! " 
 
 Anchor put out her hand to stop further speech 
 of the delighted old woman. 
 
 " Never mind about the dresses. You shall al- 
 ways have dresses in plenty now. Why did the 
 American gentleman do all this for the home if 
 he did not buy it? " 
 
 " He say just one thing all the time, that he 
 doing it for Don Felipe. Don Felipe he meaning 
 to do it and he go die too quick. That is what 
 he say all the time. I put my hand in the fire for 
 Senor American, but I think he tell the lie about 
 that! " decided Dolores. 
 
 "Oh, it is a mistake!" cried Anchor desper- 
 ately. " All a mistake ! Phil never could have 
 meant to sell it, never, never! " 
 
 Dolores quietly left the room, and Anchor 
 turned to Delfina. 
 
 " Tell me who Phil's agent is. He may have 
 had one who neglected the place and then secured 
 another one who put it in good order again. Is 
 that it?" 
 
 293
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " Perhaps it is," agreed Delfina. " But if the 
 place is all right now, what need you care ? " 
 
 " I do care ! I came here to find my brother, 
 to find our home his and mine! It is perfect, 
 all I had dreamed it, and now " 
 
 Dolores entered, carrying an ordinary piece of 
 board, looking sulkily from one to the other, 
 and nodding her turbaned head in decision. 
 
 " The Serior American, he taking this down from 
 the gate with his own hand," she said sturdily. 
 " He telling me to make the fire with it to bake 
 my bread, and I taking it. But I making no prom- 
 ise ! I putting it under my bed till you come back." 
 
 She held out the board that they could see the 
 " For Sale " printed in large black letters across it. 
 The amount of acres was added, the address of 
 an agent in Santa Barbara, also address of owner, 
 Felipe Darrett, Hermosa. 
 
 Anchor looked at it steadily while her eyes 
 filled with tears which fell on her clasped hands. 
 Dolores let fall the tell-tale board, and knelt be- 
 side her, burying her face in her lap, and murmur- 
 ing prayers, beseeching, and blessings. 
 
 Delfina arose and walked to the door. She 
 could have strangled the woman with a good will. 
 Why not have left well enough alone? 
 
 " I doing all what the American telling me," 
 protested Dolores, " and I making myself a carpet 
 for your feet si you no crying any more I " 
 
 294
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " You are not to blame, Dolores," said the girl 
 at last, rising to her feet. " But tell me all. Who 
 was the American Senor? " 
 
 " I not knowing. He calling himself the agent. 
 He telling me each day how I putting the roses for 
 you in the finest olla, these roses ! " 
 
 She touched drooping buds of Marechal Niels 
 as she spoke, and Anchor arose and pushed past 
 her to the door. 
 
 " Delfina, what does it mean? " she demanded. 
 " Did you have it done? " 
 
 " No, I did not," returned Delfina emphatically. 
 " It looks mighty like Mac Leighton's work ! Who 
 else knew your favorite rosebush here? Who else 
 would have the the impertinence to claim it was 
 done by Felipe's order? Felipe had no money to 
 do all this, and it has been done since his death! 
 I should think Mac Leighton had enough to do 
 attending to Felipe's business in Hermosa with- 
 out coming down here." 
 
 "Felipe's business in Hermosa?" And An- 
 chor sank on a garden seat and stared at her. 
 " Delfina, is it Phil's affairs he is working night 
 and day to settle up? I thought I thought it 
 was only yours, your own estate, that he Was set- 
 tling it before your majority, as your guardian." 
 
 " Oh, what's the use going back to that? " de- 
 manded Delfina irritably. " I turned some prop- 
 erty over to Felipe, and he we speculated some, 
 
 295
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 and I guess we usually lost. That's all. Mac 
 Leighton claims the transfers were not legal and he 
 is regulating affairs in his own fashion. He seems 
 to have a mania for regulating other people's af- 
 fairs," she added bitterly, as she glanced about 
 the garden. 
 
 " Delfina, did Galbraith know he was doing 
 Phil's work, the work Phil should have done? " 
 
 " Oh, don't drag Galbraith's name into it ! Of 
 course he knew, if any one did." 
 
 "And I dared to judge him!" said the girl 
 thoughtfully. " And he when under arrest for 
 murder thought only of one thing; to send word 
 to Mr. Leighton that he was not on his ac- 
 count to take one minute from the work he had 
 to finish up! And that work was the work Phil 
 left undone! Delfina, what does it mean? Mr. 
 Leighton did not arrange this work here because 
 of you, because of his position as your guardian, 
 and he did not do it for me, because, when this 
 work was begun, he did not know who I was. Then 
 tell me, is it for you, or for Phil, he is working at 
 Hermosa ? " 
 
 "For Phil?" repeated Delfina wonderingly. 
 " Certainly this was done for Phil. At least, he 
 tried to have Phil get the credit for it. And it 
 cost money, considerable money ! " 
 
 !< Then Mr. Leighton paid for it out of his 
 own pocket. Why? " 
 
 296
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " Oh, how can I tell? He has been queer ever 
 since he came back from Mexico. He probably 
 did it only for a whim, for you." 
 
 " Yes," remarked Anchor, sceptically. " We 
 also thought his work at Hermosa was all for you ! 
 We were both mistaken. I don't think we women 
 count for much in your guardian's plans. Can't 
 you see it's Phil's work he is doing, the work Phil 
 should have done for your property as well as 
 mine?" 
 
 "Anchor!" cried Delfina in angry amaze. 
 " You are not turning against Felipe for Mac 
 Leighton? " 
 
 " I never knew your Felipe," returned the girl 
 drearily. " He thought I was tied there in the 
 East, that I would never get back. And he thought 
 he must have thought I should be poor help- 
 less, and he took advantage of that ! Your Felipe 
 did not know that my old aunts were really very 
 wealthy. I scarcely knew it while they lived ! He 
 thought this might be the only home left to me ; 
 and he tried to take it from me ! No, the Felipe 
 I remember never, never could have done that. 
 You are welcome to him, Delfina, welcome to every 
 memory of him. Perhaps he was always a liar 
 and I did not know it; I was only a little child 
 and I loved him. But I am not a child now, and 
 I couldn't love a liar! " 
 
 " No, you are not a child, and you don't seem 
 
 297
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 to be more than half human ! " retorted Delfina. 
 " You are like Mac Leighton, like the American 
 blood in him. People call him ' square,' and it 
 just means that he is hard as nails. And so are 
 you ! When people loved Felipe they did not wait 
 to ask if he was good or bad, they just loved him. 
 He did not seem to me to have a drop of American 
 blood in him, and I was glad of it. He suited 
 me!" 
 
 " Yes, I see he did," observed Anchor. " And 
 there's really no use in you and me quarreling 
 about hir/i now: he is dead and buried, and I must 
 find out how much I owe the man who has done 
 this work." 
 
 But the agent a,t Santa Barbara could not en- 
 lighten them entirely. He had only paid the gar- 
 deners and the masons. Mr. Leighton had per- 
 sonally attended to the furnishings. Then there 
 was the six thousand of the mortgage. 
 
 " What mortgage? " 
 
 The ladies were informed that the mortgage 
 was four years old. Mr. Darrett had also secured 
 five hundred on it later for an option; but the 
 sale was not effected, because the joint-heir had 
 not arranged the conveyance enabling Mr. Dar- 
 rett to act for her. 
 
 On being questioned further, he showed them 
 those old records against the property wiped out, 
 and a surplus left in his charge for a mainte- 
 
 298
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 nance of the house and grounds for that season. 
 The decaying vines and trees had been replaced, 
 and in a year the fruit alone would pay for all im- 
 provements made. In fact, it would furnish a 
 very substantial income for Miss Darrett. 
 
 " He also thought I was poor," said the girl 
 as they took the train back to Olivette. " He 
 thought I was poor and had only this one little 
 corner to depend on for a living out here. How, 
 how is one to measure gratitude for all this? " 
 
 ' You'll find a way between you," said -Delfina 
 with a curt laugh. " It's a nice foundation for a 
 flirtation ! " 
 
 " A flirtation ! " repeated Anchor turning on 
 her tear-wet, indignant eyes. " Can't you see it 
 wasn't for me, Anchor Darrett, he did it, but for 
 Phil's sister? Flirtation! If I never knew an- 
 other good thing he did, I would love him for just 
 that, and I'll tell him so ! " 
 
 Delfina laughed again, but said nothing. And 
 the rest of the way home she was very silent, and 
 there was a hard light in her narrowed eyes. 
 
 Leighton's devotion to her own affairs she had 
 accepted as a tribute, but the revelations at " Treas- 
 ure Trove " brought in so many perplexing possi- 
 bilities that she was quietly furious. And most 
 of her anger was directed against the girl who 
 had brought only mystery and trouble to the Her- 
 mosa Valley. Delfina had just enough of her 
 
 299
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 people's superstition to believe that a curse to Her- 
 mosa rode behind Anchor on El Diablo that first 
 evening. 
 
 " I hate it worse than ever now; I hate the 
 whole place!" she said viciously, as Roderiguez 
 drove them from the station, and the boundaries 
 of her own estate were reached. " Mac Leighton 
 thinks he can twist every one around his finger, 
 but he can't compel me to keep Hermosa after to- 
 day. If Mr. Atterly still wants it, he can have 
 it!" 
 
 "You surely can't mean that!" said Anchor, 
 quietly. " I heard you acknowledge that the fig- 
 ures he offered were less much less than it is 
 worth." 
 
 " Oh, it was Mac Leighton and Galbraith told 
 me that! Yes, and an old fogy lawyer! Leigh- 
 ton is thinking of what the rancho will earn, but 
 I'm thinking of cash on the spot. Leighton is 
 only fit for a sheep-herder anyway; rancho life 
 suits him! He doesn't want Atterly's proposed 
 improvements, that's what's the matter! He has 
 tied up the water rights to the ranchmen and of- 
 fered the Mission for sale with restrictions making 
 it useless to Atterly. But that sanitarium can be 
 a fact in spite of his restrictions ! " She was lash- 
 ing herself into a temper as she spoke, and her 
 one bitter desire was to undo Leighton's work. 
 "Not really mean it? Well, I'll show you! I 
 
 200
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 swear on the cross to accept Atterly's price, cash 
 from Atterly or any one else any minute, and they 
 can build up a ' boom ' town, or cover it with tan- 
 neries for all I care ! " 
 
 "What do you call a cash payment?" asked 
 Anchor. " Now, either Roderiguez or I might 
 want to buy it, yet would not have all those thou- 
 sands in our pockets this moment." 
 
 Roderiguez grinned without turning his head, 
 and Delfina bit her lips feeling that she was 
 laughed at. 
 
 " Cash payment means something to bind the 
 bargain and the balance in a day, two days, or 
 even a week. You think it is only a whim, but I 
 do hate it, and Mac Leighton has made me hate 
 it worse. You think I wouldn't sell it on the spot? 
 Well, you just offer me the price. I'm of age 
 to-day!" 
 
 Anchor drew a ring slowly from her finger. 
 
 ' When my trunks came, you agreed this was 
 worth a thousand," she said quietly. " It is an 
 heirloom and, of course, I don't want to sell it. 
 But will you accept it to bind the bargain until 
 we can drive to Judge Bisham's and get you a 
 draft to redeem it? " 
 
 Delfina took the ring, an exquisite diamond in 
 an old fashioned setting of jet and pearls, but she 
 stared incredulously at Anchor. 
 
 1 You mean ? You can't mean that you " 
 
 301
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 she began; then halted as the absurdity of the 
 question dawned upon her. The extremely simple 
 life of the maiden aunts, as Anchor had described 
 it, gave her no idea of wealth. Felipe had even 
 spoken to her of the probable expense the sister 
 might be to him, Felipe, who could not have pur- 
 chased with his own money the old adobe he had 
 died in! 
 
 " I mean I take you at your word, and find you 
 a cash purchaser at Mr. Atterly's figures," said 
 Anchor, simply. " Roderiguez is witness to the 
 bargain, the first bargain of your actual major- 
 ity!" 
 
 Delfina stared at her, suspicious and incredulous. 
 
 " Is this some of Mac Leighton's doings? " she 
 demanded. ' You don't know anyone in the 
 county to raise that much money from ! " 
 
 " Don Mac would suppose the same thing, so 
 he has nothing to do with it," returned Anchor. 
 ; ' We pass Judge Bisham's house. If I can't re- 
 deem the ring there, of course the bargain amounts 
 to nothing. But if you get a draft for your 
 money, Hermosa is off your hands, and your 
 mind!" 
 
 ' You speak of the price of Hermosa as if it 
 were a string of beads or a pair of Indian mocca- 
 sins," laughed Delfina, derisively. " Did your 
 aunts leave you chests of this sort of sparklers ? " 
 
 !< They never thought or talked much about 
 
 302
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 money," returned Anchor, " and I left before the 
 estates were entirely settled, so I don't quite know 
 what they amounted to. I don't think they had 
 many chests of diamonds, but they had railroads 
 and iron foundries, and what they had they left to 
 me." 
 
 Delfina sat back in the carriage and stared at 
 her. A girl who could be content with two small 
 trunks of linens and woolens when she had money 
 enough to drape herself in real laces was beyond 
 her comprehension. And the fact that the girl 
 had never even mentioned the inheritance, made 
 Delfina feel suddenly small and flaunting in the 
 gowns her friends usually heard the prices of. 
 
 "But it's nonsense! You to buy Hermosa?" 
 she protested. ; ' What could you do with it? " 
 
 " My guarantee is not nonsense," Anchor said, 
 pointing to the ring. "As to Hermosa well, it's 
 a good investment. I may hold it for a rise, as you 
 have done ! " 
 
 Roderiguez chuckled as he listened. He brought 
 the horses up with a flourish just then at the gate 
 of the Bishams, and Delfina, after a moment of 
 hesitation, descended from the carriage. 
 
 She felt tricked and indignant, yet could scarcely 
 tell how it came about. She had simply been 
 taken at her word, of course, but she followed 
 Anchor up the steps, debating how she could re- 
 treat from her offer for retreat in some way she 
 meant to do if a way could be found. 
 
 303
 
 XX 
 
 ANCHOR CHECKMATES ATTERLY. 
 
 But an hour later Roderiguez, with a delighted 
 grin on his face, drove through the park to the 
 terrace of Hermosa and watched over his shoulder 
 a very sulky senora alight from the carriage. She 
 carried a legal looking envelope from Judge 
 Bisham's office and the diamond with the pearl 
 and jet setting sparkled once more on the hand of 
 the Senorita. Anchor halted a moment as the 
 dogs came tumbling out with their welcome to 
 her, and as she entered the outer court, she heard 
 the indignant tones of Delfina, who had preceded 
 her. 
 
 " Senor Leighton here, but could not wait for 
 me? You see," she said, turning sharply to the 
 girl, " our delay at that office has perhaps caused 
 all sort of annoyances. Mac Leighton has been 
 here to see me at last! Well, what word did he 
 leave? Anchor, this is Mr. Medland, Senor 
 Leighton's attorney. Oh, and here is Mr. Atterly ! 
 Does this gathering of legal lights mean any spe- 
 cial trouble? " 
 
 " I think not," said Mr. Medland, a clean- 
 shaven, elderly man, whom Anchor liked for his 
 stately, old-style manner. " I think not, Mrs. Dar- 
 
 304
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 rett, I only represent Mr. Leighton, and place the 
 accounts of the estate In your hands at the termina- 
 tion of his guardianship and management of it." 
 
 Mr. Atterly's black eyes brightened. 
 
 " Absolutely settled at last, seiiora ! Allow me 
 to be the first to offer congratulations ! " 
 
 And Delfina, who had had a trying day, appre- 
 ciated the greeting and held out her hand. 
 
 " I scarcely feel like looking over accounts just 
 now," she confessed. " Of course they are all 
 right or Mac Leighton would not have sent them. 
 Of course, if there are any special things requiring 
 attention " 
 
 There were a few, Mr. Medland thought, sim- 
 ply acknowledgments of the receipt of all docu- 
 ments pertaining to the estate. Perhaps, if Mrs. 
 Darrett was fatigued, Mr. Atterly would assist 
 with the clerical part of the work? 
 
 Mr. Atterly was only too delighted to be of 
 service. Delfina sat at a table in the sala, and 
 occasionally signed the required papers as they 
 were passed over to her, while Anchor sat at some 
 distance, buried in her own thoughts, observing 
 Leighton's lawyer at times, and wondering if he 
 held the key to Leighton's peculiar business meth- 
 ods. She saw Delfina's face flush as mortgages, 
 names and amounts were read aloud, and was con- 
 scious that she regretted so public a review of the 
 
 20 35
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 wild plunges she and Felipe had indulged in dur- 
 ing their one brief year of authority. 
 
 And, as the long lists were checked off, marked 
 " paid," " paid," " paid," Anchor's eyes opened in 
 amazement at the immense sums expended by the 
 manager of Hermosa during the brief while since 
 Felipe's death. 
 
 All that stack of paper redeemed! Was that, 
 could that be why he had sold the Old Mission? 
 She had heard enough to know the Hermosa es- 
 tate was not yet making big money returns. Yet, 
 as the last document was duly chronicled, Mr. 
 Medland passed them all over to her with a sigh 
 of relief. 
 
 " Those bits of paper represent an immense 
 amount of work, Mrs. Darrett," he observed. ;< I 
 am happy to turn them over to you showing your 
 estate clear of every penny of obligation. It is 
 a fine property." 
 
 " Oh, I suppose so," agreed Delfina. " Fine 
 for a man who can manage it; but for a woman 
 
 5> 
 
 " You know my offer for the property still 
 stands," interrupted Mr. Atterly. " Mr. Leigh- 
 ton advised against its sale before, but now that 
 you are your own mistress " 
 
 Anchor saw Mr. Medland's lips tighten at the 
 eagerness in the other man's eyes. He slipped a 
 
 306
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 rubber band about the packet of papers and laid 
 them on the account book. 
 
 " In case you contemplate a transfer of the 
 property, I shall be pleased to act for you at any 
 time, Mrs. Barrett," he remarked; " and even if 
 you retain it, my knowledge of the details of the 
 estate is always at your service." 
 
 Delfina scarcely heard. Atterly's renewal of 
 the old offer nonplussed her; she wished he had 
 not broached it before the others. She knew she 
 must make some reply, but that envelope from 
 Judge Bisham's office lay before her on the table, 
 it had the effect of a lock and key on her tongue. 
 
 " I I scarcely know what offers of help I can 
 accept, just yet, or what offers for the property I 
 shall have to reject," she said at last, as she fin- 
 gered the envelope nervously. " I feel that you 
 will think me a most unreliable business woman, 
 Mr. Atterly, and I am, but the fact is oh, 
 Anchor, you got me into this muddle, you might 
 help get me out! " 
 
 ; ' I'll be very glad to," said the girl, coming 
 forward, " and I shall be glad also, Mr. Medland, 
 if you will help me as you offered to Help Mrs. 
 Darrett. The fact is, she sold Hermosa to me 
 this morning." 
 
 Mr. Atterly grasped the edge of the table and 
 half arose to his feet. His self control was jarred 
 
 307
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 beyond speech, for he swallowed spasmodically 
 twice before the words came. 
 
 " You you are buying Hermosa? " he said at 
 last, staring incredulously from Anchor to Delfina. 
 " Why it was understood " 
 
 " Yes, I know," said the latter irritably. " My 
 intention was to renew your option, but, someway 
 Oh, it started in a jest or a crazy offer I made, 
 and she well, she wanted to speculate, so some- 
 way she got it ! " 
 
 " To speculate ! " And he drew a breath of re- 
 lief as he resumed his chair. " Oh, well, I am 
 willing to pay enough of a margin to encourage 
 Miss Barrett's new pastime." 
 
 But his smile was very nervous and it faded en- 
 tirely as Anchor shook her head. 
 
 " I have not come into possession yet," she 
 confessed, " and I shan't try to get rid of it until I 
 prove a failure as a rancheress. I have an idea I 
 shall enjoy it for quite a while before the novelty 
 wears off." 
 
 . " But there are numberless less expensive tracts 
 to be found for amateur work of that sort," re- 
 marked Atterly, with attempted carelessness, 
 though his lips were blue as he saw the chance 
 of his life slipping through his fingers a second 
 
 time, " and if you are holding this for a rise " 
 
 'Yes, Anchor; that's what you said, wasn't 
 it?" asked Delfina, eagerly. "My! Why, I 
 
 308
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 have simply turned over to you the chance to make 
 a lot of money ! " 
 
 " Don't lament, Delfina," suggested the girl. 
 " Not at least till you see me double my dollars." 
 
 " Double ! " began Atterly, blankly. To put 
 it at that figure was murderous to his chances of 
 profit. At that moment he hated the girl who 
 treated as a jest the thing on which his whole 
 soul was set. As she looked at him she realized 
 there was yet a hope in his mind that it would 
 be more straightforward to eliminate. 
 
 " The place will not be for sale under any cir- 
 cumstances, Mr. Atterly," she said, decidedly. " I 
 heard there was a plan of some promoters to buy 
 it and divide it into small ranchos and building 
 sites for a new town. I bought the place to pre- 
 vent it." 
 
 Mr. Medland held out his hand to her impetu- 
 ously, and she felt she had one staunch friend in 
 her venture. 
 
 " Why, 'Anchor, you didn't tell me " 
 
 " Delfina, dear, you only wanted the money and 
 the freedom from the care of it. You did not 
 suppose," she added, smiling, " that I was buying 
 it for the sanitarium, or the ' boom ' town? " 
 
 " It looks more as if it is to fit some of Mac 
 Leighton's whims ! " retorted Delfina. 
 
 " Is the sale actually concluded? " asked Atter- 
 
 309
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 ly. Anchor picked up the envelope Delfina had 
 carried from Judge Bisham's office. 
 
 " This contains a draft for the first fifty thou- 
 sand accepted by Mrs. Darrett on the sale," she 
 replied. " It is not entirely concluded, but it is a 
 very good beginning." 
 
 A faint smile hovered about the lips of Mr. 
 Medland, and his eyes had an appreciative twinkle 
 as he glanced from the discomfited promoter to 
 the girl's severe face. If she was conscious that 
 she had forestalled one of the largest land schemes 
 the county had yet seen, she made no sign. 
 
 Atterly's face was white as he fumbled the 
 papers and avoided the eyes of the other man. 
 He had been so sure, so very sure of Delfina. 
 Once the power to sell was in her own hands, he 
 felt as safe as if he already held the deed. His 
 experience with her business methods, and Felipe's, 
 her susceptibility to his flattery and sympathy, her 
 pettish estrangement from Leighton, all made 
 him feel certain of her cooperation. And this 
 girl had stepped between, with her unexpected re- 
 sources and her little smile, and his castle of 
 dreams crumbled into dust. 
 
 ' The option given me on the place was so 
 clearly understood," he persisted. " In fact, the 
 money advanced on mortgage, was accepted by 
 by your husband as equivalent to an advance pay- 
 
 310
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 ment on the place, so that, legally, I am not cer- 
 tain but that " 
 
 " Legally that obligation was wiped out," said 
 Mr. Medland, " when Mr. Leighton paid off 
 that mortgage at three o'clock yesterday." He 
 drew the document from the package and held it 
 up for inspection. " It was a close call, Mr. At- 
 terly, a very close call! But the estate was abso- 
 lutely clear of every obligation when Miss Darrett 
 made the first payment on it to-day." 
 
 "Where is Senor Leighton all this time?" 
 asked Delfina, impatiently. " I certainly had a 
 right to expect him at the settlement." 
 
 " He was here," remarked Mr. Medland. 
 " He waited some time, and only left because some 
 unexpected and disconcerting news followed him 
 ;here." 
 
 "What sort of news?" - 
 
 * The docket was unexpectedly cleared of other 
 cases at noon, and the case of Galbraith was called 
 a week ahead of the expected time." 
 
 " Ah ! " there was condemned bitterness in 
 Delfina's look and tone " And he has rushed 
 there, of course ! " 
 
 " I think not. He started at once to catch the 
 train at Olivette, but he is one of the witnesses 
 subpoenaed, and he sent word to Galbraith that he 
 would be back to-morrow morning to help." 
 
 "To help Galbraith!" 
 
 3"
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " He did not say. I offered, however, to take 
 him word, and if there is nothing further in which 
 I can be of use, I shall go at once." 
 
 There was not, and Anchor walked to the en- 
 trance with him, glad enough to escape from the 
 stormy atmosphere of the sala. 
 
 " I congratulate you, Miss Darrett," said the 
 old lawyer, shaking hands with her at parting. 
 " You have done what Mr. Leighton wanted to 
 do and couldn't!" 
 
 " Can you tell me, is he through with the rush 
 of work he felt pledged to? " she asked, hesitat- 
 ingly. " Does he mean to to help Galbraith ? " 
 
 He looked at her keenly. 
 
 " Then you know something of the work he 
 felt pledged to, and " with sudden comprehen- 
 sion " that is why you have checkmated the men 
 who were trying to down him ? However it ends, 
 Heaven bless you for that, Miss Darrett! Good- 
 bye ! I'll see you in court to-morrow. Help Gal- 
 braith? Well, yes: I know he means to try." 
 
 312
 
 XXI 
 
 THE TRIAL. 
 
 The court room at Olivette was packed the 
 second day, as it had been the first, but Anchor 
 looked in vain for Leighton's face among the 
 many from Hermosa. A terrific storm had swept 
 the midlands to the north the preceding night. 
 Telegraph wires were down in every direction and 
 chaos reigned along the railroad over which, ac- 
 cording to Mr. Medland's information, he must 
 come. Twice his name had been called without 
 bringing response, and the case went on. The 
 witnesses for the state, principally Mexican work- 
 men, had been heard, examined and cross-exam- 
 ined, and the people who believed in Galbraith 
 were looking at each other anxiously. The case 
 looked dark enough to please his worst enemies, 
 and Luigo's face was radiant. 
 
 Only once had the prisoner showed any ner- 
 vousness, and that was when the coat found in 
 his room was shown to the jury, and the note and 
 comb taken from the pocket. 
 
 The note called the wearer of the coat to the 
 adobe the evening Felipe died. The broken comb
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 proved that the appointment had been kept. A 
 newly cast horseshoe had been found by Luigo 
 where a horse had been tied near the adobe, and 
 two hours after that appointment, Galbraith had 
 stopped at the blacksmith's to have a lost shoe re- 
 placed; he had just dismounted when the warning 
 came of the flood. 
 
 The comb was easily identified as that of Car- 
 menita Alvarez, who had been known to meet 
 Felipe Darrett at the old adobe. The day of 
 Barrett's death, Galbraith had been drinking 
 had quarreled with Felipe Darrett on meeting him 
 by chance in the road. Serior Leighton's inter- 
 ference had alone prevented trouble between them; 
 he had taken Galbraith back to the Mission. But 
 three witnesses had heard Galbraith threaten to 
 shoot Darrett on sight if he ever went near the 
 Alvarez home again. 
 
 The question of jealousy as a motive was 
 brought up. But, while it was shown that Gal- 
 braith had indeed sent much material assistance 
 to the Alvarez adobe, he had not gone there per- 
 sonally. Food, wine, and even clothing had been 
 sent by a messenger, and always given secretly into 
 the hands of the grandmother. Carmenita had 
 not known who was helping them in their dark 
 days. 
 
 It was further evidenced, however, that, of all 
 the women of the valley, it was Carmenita he tried
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 to save from the flood. When they were found 
 next morning, she was dead in his arms, and her 
 child, Jore, had been taken to the Mission rancho, 
 to his adobe, where it had remained ever since. 
 
 Galbraith's only statement was that he had been 
 out on one of the few ranches to see about some 
 cattle, and only got back as the flood came along. 
 He had met no one on the range. Of the comb 
 and the note, he did not know who had put them 
 in his pocket, or how long they had been there. 
 Yes, he had quarreled with Barrett for not pro- 
 viding for the girl; yes, he believed he had threat- 
 ened to shoot him. But he was not dead sure 
 of much that happened that day, for he had been 
 celebrating Mac Leighton's return from Mexico ! 
 
 The circumstantial evidence was strong for the 
 State. 
 
 Anchor's face had gone white as the association 
 of Felipe and the Mexican girl was sifted ruth- 
 lessly for the tragedy. But when the child was 
 spoken of and named the child she had saved 
 and the plain fact shown that it was the child of 
 her own brother, then the color came back to her 
 face in a wave of anger as she turned to Delfina, 
 who regarded that part of the evidence with an 
 assumption of contemptuous indifference. 
 
 Delfina had known, and Delfina had let Leigh- 
 ton take charge of the little waif. How small, 
 how contemptible, he must think them all! And 
 
 315
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 she she had gone to him, had spoken of the lie, 
 the insinuation that the child was his, and he had 
 given no sign, he had not cast one shadow on 
 the brother she had loved, or, rather, he had 
 gathered the shadows to himself that the rest 
 might live in the sunshine ! 
 
 At the remembrance, the crowds of faces faded 
 away, and she saw only the little ridge of stunted 
 pines along the grazing lands, his face as he held 
 her close, his voice speaking words never to be 
 forgotten. 
 
 Galbraith, who saw that adorable flush creep- 
 ing over her face, clenched his hands in anger that 
 the lawyers had, despite his protests, dragged her 
 into it. And she had heard, no doubt, all that 
 awkward story of Carmenita and Jose! The 
 others he did not mind, they were easy to face; 
 but their beloved Senorita! 
 
 The cross examination of Roderiguez had be- 
 gun. He it was who had carried the note to the 
 Mission rancho that day. Yes, there was a name 
 on the envelope, but he did not read. He had 
 met Senor Galbraith near the corrals, and had 
 given him thg note and Senor Galbraith had taken 
 it and said "All right." No, he had not opened 
 the envelope while Roderiguez was there ; he had 
 only put it in his pocket and ridden away. In 
 which direction? Towards the new dam. 
 
 316
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 The new dam would be also in the direction of 
 the old adobe. 
 
 Had Senor Barrett, himself, given him the 
 note? 
 
 No. He had been going to the postoffice with 
 the mail bag when a stable boy had run after him 
 with the letter and had asked him to take that 
 one letter first to the Old Mission. He had done 
 so, and had given it to the first person he saw 
 there. The first person was Senor Braith, and 
 Senor Braith had looked at the writing and said, 
 " Hell ! " and then put it in his pocket and said, 
 ''All right!" and rode away. 
 
 On being shown the coat, he could not say at 
 all if it was the one the Senor wore. All the ranch- 
 men wore such a blouse with straps and pockets 
 these days. They all looked much alike. He, 
 Roderiguez, wore almost a fac-simile of it at that 
 moment. 
 
 Workmen had seen Galbraith near the new dam 
 a little later. Senor Leighton was there and had 
 called to him. Nothing was heard of the conver- 
 sation except Senor Braith's swearing about the 
 masonry. He had remained only a few minutes 
 and then had ridden up the road. They heard 
 him call back about some stray cattle he was going 
 to see about. Many workmen had heard this. 
 Yes, there was a way he could have circled some
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 fields and crossed to the old adobe without much 
 chance of being seen. 
 
 For the third time since the trial, the name of 
 Leighton was called and the announcement was 
 made that he was not present. A telegram had 
 been received the night before by Mr. Medland, 
 stating that he was en route from San Francisco. 
 He should have reached Olivette ten hours before, 
 but all were aware of the havoc of the storm and 
 the delayed trains and broken wires. The rail- 
 road people were trying vainly to open communi- 
 cation with the northern branch. 
 
 Then Mr. Atterly pushed his way forward to 
 the desk of the State's attorney. In his hand was 
 an open telegram and a murmur sounded in his 
 wake as the people saw it; the wires were again 
 connected ! 
 
 For one instant he halted and swept his glance 
 over the Hermosa witnesses, until it rested on 
 Anchor, and instinctively she shrank from the 
 veiled malice of it. Whatever news he bore, she 
 felt it was something against Leighton, against 
 her! 
 
 There were a few hurried words at the desk, 
 and then the attorney turned to the judge. 
 
 ' Your Honor," he said, slowly, " unless there 
 is some great mistake here, this case will always 
 lack its one most important witness for the state. 
 The night train was wrecked at Bellefont last
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 night and the name of McNeil Leighton is among 
 the missing! " 
 
 Galbraith's eyes turned straight to Anchor. He 
 saw her clutch at the seat in front of her and then 
 sink back. Delfina caught her sharply by the 
 wrist, and whispered frantically that people were 
 looking, that she must rouse herself. 
 
 But it was not Delfina's voice that aroused her. 
 Through the confused, drowsing sense of semi- 
 consciousness, the stroke of iron-shod hoofs on a 
 pavement came to her ears, the fierce beat of 
 frantic riding and a shout of the people in the 
 court yard, \vhat a shout! 
 
 Then there was the grind and push of many 
 feet near the door, one hoarse, breathless voice, 
 and cheers silenced by the sharp rap for order in 
 the court. 
 
 And then, pushing through the crowding, eager 
 mass, she heard his voice and opened her eyes to 
 see him, hatless, dust-covered and haggard, push- 
 ing his way forward with hand uplifted. 
 
 1 Your honor and gentlemen of the jury! " he 
 said, speaking with difficulty. " I have walked 
 and run and ridden seventy-five miles to reach 
 here in time. I beg you to hear my testimony 
 before the trial goes further, for I was the only 
 person in the adobe when Felipe Darrett died! " 
 
 For an instant there was a choked silence in the 
 crowded room, then a long indrawn breath, like a
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 shudder, and the people turned to each other with 
 strained looks and many a whitened face. The 
 Mexicans from Hermosa, who understood, men 
 and women alike, dropped to their knees, and 
 rosaries clicked in many a brown hand. 
 
 The judge, Leighton's friend for years, was 
 shocked for one moment into an involuntary ex- 
 pression of protest, and then sank back and mo- 
 tioned the clerk to administer the oath. 
 
 Some one offered the new witness a glass of 
 water, which he accepted with a grateful nod. He 
 was coatless, one sleeve half torn from his shirt, 
 and with some difficulty he was using it to mop the 
 perspiration from his face and neck. 
 
 Mr. Medland came forward with a borrowed 
 coat, which he donned mechanically and grasped 
 with some eagerness a preferred handkerchief. 
 
 To his strange, disheveled appearance, he 
 seemed not to give a thought. Neither did he 
 notice the crowd or any individual faces in it. 
 His first glance had found Galbraith, to whom 
 he raised his hand in mute salute, and then he 
 sank back in the chair in utter weariness, utter 
 resignation, akin to content. The race was over 
 and he dared rest for breath. 
 
 The prosecuting attorney hesitated a moment. 
 Where to begin with a witness like this was a 
 problem. A glance at the people showed the tem- 
 per of them. The witness might be a deliberate 
 
 320
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 murderer, but just now he appeared to them he- 
 roic. The attorney for the state did not mean 
 to remain indefinitely an attorney. He had various 
 ambitions to be decided by the vote of the peo- 
 ple, and he kept a weather eye open for popu- 
 larity. 
 
 ' You state that you were in the adobe at the 
 time of Felipe Barrett's death; were you alone 
 with him? " 
 
 "Yes, alone." 
 
 " Did you go there with him? " 
 
 "No, I was there by appointment. He asked 
 me to meet him there." 
 
 " For what purpose? " 
 
 " He said to talk over some business affairs." 
 
 ''What sort of affairs? and why was such an 
 isolated place selected for the conversation?" 
 
 ' The affairs were concerning the property of 
 his wife. I was her guardian. He had attempted 
 to dispose of some of the property to men who 
 were at his home. He did not mean me to come 
 in contact with them until he had gained my con- 
 sent to the transfers. Neither did he want to go 
 to my house, for Galbraith and he had quarreled 
 that day and he did not want to risk meeting him 
 again; and those are the reasons he gave me for 
 making the appointment at the adobe." 
 
 " He asked you to meet him there? " 
 
 " He sent me a note with that request." 
 
 21 321
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 "Is this the note?" 
 
 Leighton looked at the creased, water-stained 
 paper held out to him. " 'Mi Amigo ! ' Yes, that 
 is my good friend's note ! " 
 
 " But you were not in the flood, and this letter 
 has been water-soaked ! " 
 
 " It was in the coat wrapped around Galbraith 
 when we found him. His clothes were dripping." 
 
 " After receiving the note, what did you do? " 
 
 " I rode to the adobe, where I found ' Mi Am- 
 igo ' preparing for me." 
 
 " What sort of preparation? " 
 
 " Putting cartridges in a pair of guns! " 
 
 A thrill ran over the court room, a muttered 
 " My God ! " came from Delfina as she realized 
 that after all it had been Leighton Leighton! 
 
 Even in her excitement, she turned to Anchor, 
 grasping her hand spasmodically to see what ef- 
 fect the revelation had on the girl. But Anchor's 
 face was a white mask, with wide, unseeing eyes 
 staring straight out. She no longer saw Leighton 
 or any other distinctive face, and the hand Delfina 
 grasped was icy cold. 
 
 " Anchor ! For Heaven's sake ! " whispered Del- 
 fina, tensely. But Anchor only put aside her hand 
 and did not turn her head. All the blood in her 
 body seemed driven into her heart, all her power 
 concentrated in the effort to hear, to comprehend 1 
 
 322
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 ' You discovered him putting cartridges in 
 guns ? " 
 
 " I did not discover what he had been doing 
 until later. His back was to me as I entered the 
 open door. He was at a table and the drawer 
 was open. He closed it quickly and turned to 
 speak to me." 
 
 "Then what followed?" 
 
 ' We sat down on opposite sides of the table 
 to talk; he remained beside the table drawer and 
 nearest the door." 
 
 ;< What was the nature of the conversation?'* 
 
 " He tried to convince me that my jurisdiction 
 over the Hermosa estate, and my guardianship of 
 Manuel Gonzales' daughter ended when she mar- 
 ried. Failing in that, he tried to buy me to transfer 
 all my power to him at once that day. I refused 
 to consider such a proposition, and told him I 
 must see the accounts of the estate for the year 
 during my absence in Mexico. These he refused 
 to show me. I then stated my intention of taking 
 up the management of the estate where I had laid 
 it down a year ago, and, so far as possible, to give 
 it back to Manuel Gonzales' daughter on her ma- 
 jority as clear of obligations as when I carelessly 
 left it in their hands." 
 
 "Well, what next?" 
 
 " He swore I could not do it, and incidentally 
 
 323
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 swore that I should not see his wife again con- 
 cerning the estate, or anything else." 
 
 " To what ' else ' did'he refer? " 
 
 " A Mexican girl, who was the mother of his 
 child and who would have starved but for Gal- 
 braith and some of her Mexican neighbors. Gal- 
 braith quarreled with him about it that day and 
 threatened to send Father Rey to his wife con- 
 cerning it." 
 
 " You heard this quarrel? " 
 
 " Yes. We met Barrett on the road. He was 
 surprised and sulky at my return from Mexico at 
 the wrong time. He realized that his land deals 
 were off if I interfered; wanted me to ride on into 
 the village with him and make the transfers he 
 needed. When I refused and said we must go 
 over all the accounts for the year before consider- 
 ing sales, he blamed Galbraith for influencing 
 me, and for carrying reports as to the manage- 
 ment of the estate during my absence. From 
 that the subject was turned to the girl, and Gal- 
 braith threatened to shoot him if he ever went 
 near her again after neglecting her when she need- 
 ed friends and money and was no longer able to 
 work. This neglect was during Barrett's absence 
 in San Francisco. The threat of shooting was 
 overheard, the only thing there was to connect 
 Galbraith with Barrett's death." 
 
 ' Whose coat was it that was found in Gal- 
 
 324
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 braith's room, containing the note of appoint- 
 pierit?" 
 
 " Mine. I put it on him when we found him, 
 and it had hung in his room, unnoticed and for- 
 gotten since the flood." 
 
 " Were you armed when you went to the meet- 
 ing with Barrett?" 
 
 " I was not." 
 
 " Will you tell the court how the shooting oc- 
 curred? " 
 
 " Barrett expressed a foul suggestion as to my 
 interest in the women of his family. I called him 
 a liar. He jumped for me and I caught him by the 
 throat and left arm to force him back into the 
 chair. He drew a gun from his pocket with his 
 right hand, and had it against my side before I 
 realized he was armed. He snapped it once, but 
 it did not go off. Then I caught his right hand 
 and the fight commenced for the gun. Buring 
 the struggle it went off. As he fell he caught at 
 the table drawer, pulling it open. There I saw the 
 cartridges and the other gun he was loading when 
 I arrived." 
 
 " Bid you at any time during the struggle se- 
 cure possession of the gun? " 
 
 " No, except with my hand closed over his." 
 
 " Bid your fingers at any time during the strug- 
 gle touch the trigger? " 
 
 325
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 There was a pause, caused by the judge making 
 a gesture for delaying reply. 
 
 " The witness is not called upon to incriminate 
 himself," he observed. 
 
 " Thank you, judge," said Leighton. " But I 
 am willing to tell all I am certain of, and I can't 
 ever be quite certain of that ! " 
 
 Galbraith swore softly and the judge looked 
 troubled. Through all the room there were whis- 
 pered exclamations and smothered protests. 
 
 " I mean that in such a struggle it would not 
 be possible for either man to say that his finger 
 had, or had not, touched the trigger. I was 
 trying to get the gun from him. It went off be- 
 fore I secured it. When he fell, the gun was still 
 in his hand. 
 
 "How long did he live?" 
 
 " Only long enough to speak one word." 
 
 "What was that?" 
 
 " A woman's name." 
 
 " Then what did you do? " 
 
 " I sat down and looked at him, and figured 
 out my chances of being accused of his murder 
 by the men who almost had the Gonzales estate 
 in their hands for a merely nominal sum. I had, 
 as it was, only a very brief time in which to ad- 
 just the financial affairs of the property before my 
 guardianship of Mrs. Darrett expired. I further 
 concluded that even if Mrs. Darrett became aware 
 
 326
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 that a quarrel with me had led to his death, her 
 natural prejudice would make my settlement of 
 the estate a very difficult matter. I had made 
 a big mistake in leaving the estate to the sole 
 care of Mrs. Darrett and her husband that year. 
 I meant to rectify it so far as I could, and the 
 only hope I had of accomplishing it was to keep 
 my name from being connected with Barrett's 
 death." 
 
 " How came the comb in the pocket with the 
 note?" 
 
 " I saw it on the floor of the adobe before I 
 left. I took it for fear suspicion should fall on 
 the girl who had met him there." 
 
 ' Was Galbraith aware you went to the 
 adobe?" 
 
 u No. He was still rather wrought up over his 
 quarrel with Darrett, and I did not tell him that 
 day. How much he suspected afterwards, I don't 
 know. But when the coat and note were brought 
 up as evidence, then he sent me word to lose not 
 an hour on his account, but go ahead with the 
 work I had so nearly accomplished. I realized 
 then that he meant to help me to time, and I 
 realized also that he must know." 
 
 Galbraith's face flushed uncomfortably as this 
 reference to his devotion caused a rustle in the 
 room, and the turning of many eyes in his direc- 
 tion. To be tried for murder was one thing, but 
 
 327
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 to face a flutter of belated admiration was a more 
 difficult proposition. 
 
 " The ' time ' he helped you to was certainly 
 delayed until the eleventh hour," observed the at- 
 torney. " Can you tell the court why your silence 
 was so prolonged?" 
 
 " I had to raise money on my property to make 
 good the loans of the Gonzales estate. I did this 
 in several instances with only my word as a guar- 
 antee. Three days ago my place, the Old Mis- 
 sion, was sold to secure the money I needed to 
 square up, for naturally I did not know what the 
 result of my evidence here would be ! Two days 
 ago, I settled the affairs of the Gonzales estate 
 and my guardianship of Mrs. Darrett expired. 
 One day I took to settle the personal obligations 
 I mentioned. I expected to reach here before the 
 trial was more than commenced. The wreck 
 changed that. But I'm here now ! " 
 
 There was a certain challenge in the final words 
 and the tone. Galbraith, glancing lazy blue eyes 
 around the room, decided it would not be taken 
 up. Hermosa, and Olivette as well, looked quite 
 satisfied that Felipe Darrett was good and dead! 
 
 The State's attorney glanced from judge to jury 
 and back to Galbraith undecidedly. The court 
 came to the rescue. Was there any further evi- 
 dence against the prisoner at the bar? The at- 
 torney for the State had nothing sure to offer. The 
 
 328
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 court, with slight comment, passed the case to the 
 jury, and, without leaving their seats, the verdict 
 of " Not Guilty " was rendered. 
 
 Leighton made his way to Galbraith and they 
 clasped hands without a word. 
 
 " Case of the State against Galbraith dis- 
 missed. Call the next case ! " said the judge, me- 
 chanically, and then leaned forward to shake hands 
 with Leighton. 
 
 " You look fit for a hospital," he observed. 
 " But I don't know which of you to envy the most 
 the possession of your friend! " 
 
 u Oh I'm not in it with Braith," said Leigh- 
 ton, wearily. " I was too late for the round up. 
 And the tough thing for him was, that he did 
 not know how much, or how little, I had to do 
 with Barrett's death." 
 
 " I knew you were doing the work he should 
 have done," growled Galbraith, " and as soon as 
 I found out it wasn't the woman you were work- 
 ing for, that was enough to know ! Can't we get 
 out of this mob? I'd as soon have the Mexicans 
 yelling for my scalp as this ! " 
 
 As the two emerged from a side door there 
 were cheers and congratulations from the crowd 
 waiting there to catch sight of them. 
 
 Leighton looked from right to left with an im- 
 patient frown. His utter exhaustion precluded 
 
 329
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 any feeling beyond the one absorbing desire for 
 rest. 
 
 " Get me some place where I can sleep, 
 Braith ! " he implored. " I've run the race, and 
 I've won by a neck, but I'm done up, old man, 
 I'm done up ! " 
 
 As they reached the crossing, a carriage moved 
 slowly past, impeded by the crowd at that point, 
 and Delfina's profile, indignant and animated, was 
 turned toward them. She was leaning forward, 
 talking to Mr. Atterly, who faced her from the 
 front seat, and, beyond her, sat Anchor, pale, 
 apathetic, sunk back in the shadows. 
 
 Both men halted at sight of her. As she saw 
 Leighton so close she leaned forward, her eyes 
 growing wider, her face paler. Her hands crept 
 up to her throat and suggested to him only abso- 
 lute, breathless terror. 
 
 For one instant his gaze held hers in a very 
 agony of hopelessness; then he stepped back and 
 bowed slightly in acceptance of what fate had 
 brought him. He heard a little shriek from Del- 
 fina, who had just caught sight of him, and the 
 carriage shade was pulled down with a snap. 
 
 Leighton laughed drearily as he turned away. 
 
 "Where's that bed, Braith?" he asked. And 
 then, after a little, " Was she in there with that 
 crowd? Did she hear all that damnable stuff 
 
 330
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 about him? Poor little Seiiorita. She will never 
 laugh again under the Mission palms ! " 
 
 " She worshiped him or pretty nearly that." 
 said Galbraith, moodily. " We can't expect her 
 ever to laugh with us again ! " 
 
 "No," agreed Leighton, "that's the hell of 
 it I " 
 
 331
 
 XXII 
 
 DELFINA SURRENDERS. 
 
 One long day and night of hysterics on Delfina's 
 part, railings, upbraidings, and threats against 
 Leighton. 
 
 Mr. Atterly had accompanied them home, an- 
 other lawyer had been sent for, and there were 
 long, headaching hours of sifting the evidence at 
 the coroner's inquest and the later testimony in 
 court. Somewhere they must find for her a legal 
 reason for the arrest of Leighton. She would 
 take it to the supreme court. This Hermosa 
 county was no place to try him, or Galbraith, 
 either: He had won sympathy for even Gal- 
 braith ! He had made Felipe a trickster and her 
 a laughing stock! 
 
 The judge and jury were fools! Who was to 
 tell whose hand was on the trigger of that re- 
 volver? It was all planned before the trial; the 
 judge was Leighton's friend, everybody knew that ! 
 It was all put up to fool the people. She believed 
 now that Leighton and Galbraith had followed 
 Felipe there and murdered him. Leighton's com- 
 ing into court like that was only a part of a plot 
 to blind the public. The judge and jury were in 
 
 332
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 it, too, for all she knew! And it could all have 
 been put up like that, she believed. 
 
 But at this juncture, the consulting attorney 
 drily reminded her that the wreck of the train at 
 Bellefont could not very well have been " put up," 
 even with the help of judge and jury, and that 
 public opinion was such that it would be useless 
 to try and convict Leighton of anything. In fact, 
 the people could not do enough to make up to 
 Galbraith for the action against him led by the 
 Castro faction: All of the name had already 
 been warned out of the Hermosa Valley, and Lui- 
 go, for his own safety, had been sent south from 
 Olivette. 
 
 " Believe me, Mrs. Darrett," he said, finally, 
 " the case is best left alone. Leighton's stupen- 
 dous work for the dead man's wife, his child, and 
 even his sister (for the story of her long illness 
 at Old Mission had leaked out!), all this would 
 weigh heavily in his favor, even if there had been 
 a crime to balance. But there was not a vestige 
 of evidence to show that there had been." 
 
 Delfina 'had hysterics again at the mention of 
 the child, which she considered in very bad taste; 
 in fact, such reference was nothing less than in- 
 sulting to her. So Mr. Atterly dismissed the con- 
 sulting attorney who had betrayed so little sym- 
 pathy, and took up alone the task of comforting 
 Mrs. Darrett. 
 
 333
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 For Anchor was of no use whatever. She only 
 wandered restlessly in and out of the rooms, or 
 sat numb and dumb under the palms of the court. 
 She had not spoken Leighton's name, and Del- 
 fina's wordy emotions took on an added grievance 
 at her silence. 
 
 " Of course, it doesn't hurt you, all this scan- 
 dal about the woman and child; but you might 
 have a little human sympathy, Anchor ! " 
 
 " It did not hurt you, either, so long as Mr. 
 Leighton buried the mother and took care of the 
 child and no one else knew it ! " 
 
 " Knew it! " cried Delfina. " Everybody knew 
 it, of course, except you, but they did not know I 
 knew it ! And as if I had not had enough to bear, 
 it had to be told over again before that gaping 
 crowd! Oh, Mac Leighton was careful no one 
 should miss hearing it all! " 
 
 " I doubt now if he told half," said the girl, 
 wearily, " and he would not have told that if he 
 could have secured absolute justice for Galbraith 
 without it. Any one could see that just as they 
 could see our great debt to him, a debt greater 
 than we can ever pay." 
 
 "Debt?" repeated Delfina. "Oh, you mean 
 Hermosa? Well, you're not much of a business 
 woman after all! He accepted the charge of the 
 estate from my father and he had no right to let 
 Felipe and me run it for ourselves. I wasn't capa- 
 
 334
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 ble, and of course we made mistakes. Every one 
 seems to think it so wonderful that he simply kept 
 his word to my father. Jt wasn't for me he did 
 it, I see that now! He made up the losses of 
 Hermosa because he promised father, and," she 
 added, with tingling bitterness, " he did Felipe's 
 work here, and at ' Treasure Trove,' because he 
 had killed Felipe!" 
 
 Only a little shiver, as if from cold, showed that 
 her arrow had struck. No word, no protest ; only 
 a dumb acceptance of facts, irritating to Delfina, 
 who wanted words. 
 
 " I have telephoned for some friends," she con- 
 tinued, " I'll simply die if I have not some life 
 about me so long as I do stay, and that won't be 
 a day longer than your lawyers and mine require 
 to fix up the papers. I'm glad the place is off my 
 hands forever! I'm going straight to Paris. 
 What's to become of you ? " 
 
 " Me? I have not thought. I was asked to 
 visit at Judge Bisham's, and I may accept. Or 
 his widowed sister might come here, perhaps. I 
 shall manage someway." 
 
 ' Yes, I should think you could," observed Del- 
 fina. " On the money the Bishams say you have, 
 you could manage pretty well anywhere! That 
 lawyer asked me if it were true you had bought 
 Old Mission. They seem to think if you could 
 buy Hermosa you can buy the earth ! " 
 
 335
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " Oh, I'm so glad, so glad now that I did buy 
 it!" breathed the girl, softly. "I can give it 
 back now, can't I? It will help some a little 
 to balance ' Treasure Trove ! ' 
 
 " Good Heavens ! " cried Delfina, dumfounded 
 by this last revelation. " Do you mean that it 
 actually was you who bought it? Do you hear 
 this, Mr. Atterly, two ranches in one week! The 
 girl is crazy! " 
 
 " I regret that I am not afflicted with the same 
 sort of madness and luck," remarked Delfina's 
 legal friend. " Then you have acquired all but a 
 few little garden plots of what was in the old days 
 the famous Leighton rancho. In any other coun- 
 try it would be considered almost a principality. 
 It is larger than many a kingdom! " 
 
 " Anchor, do sit down and talk instead of going 
 about in that restless, doleful way ! " said Del- 
 fina, fretfully. " I'm so nervous, I'm just sick 
 as it is, and you make me feel as if there is a 
 funeral in the house ! " 
 
 " I feel like one! " said the girl; and Delfina 
 shuddered again. 
 
 ' You are always here when trouble comes, Mr. 
 Atterly!" she sighed. "Do you remember the 
 other awful day? It's no wonder I hate every 
 foot of this valley ! I never look out of that 
 window that I do not seem to see the crowd troop- 
 ing through the park to bury that Mexican girl. 
 
 336
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 That was Mac Leighton's work, and I've a good 
 mind to undo it yet ! " 
 
 " In what way? " 
 
 " Such tribes have their own burial grounds, 
 haven't they? Can't I make them move her? " 
 
 " I think," remarked Anchor, quietly, " it would 
 be better to bring Felipe over here, than to do 
 what you suggest. The girl has surely earned 
 grave room beside Felipe Darrett. Let her have 
 it." 
 
 " Anchor, have you no feeling? " cried Delfina. 
 " I never expected you could speak of Felipe so 
 heartlessly." Then, after a few quiet moments 
 with her handkerchief to her eyes, she whimpered, 
 " I do hope you won't make bad worse, by having 
 anything to do with the child after I am gone! " 
 
 Anchor made no reply, and, after a little pause, 
 Delfina lowered the handkerchief and looked at 
 her. Something in the girl's face made her for- 
 get her whimpering. 
 
 " You don't mean that you intend to take that 
 child? " she demanded. 
 
 ' The only thing to prevent me," said Anchor, 
 quietly, "is that I can't see how any Darrett could 
 ask a further favor from Mr. Leighton." 
 
 " Now, what did she mean by that? " queried 
 Delfina of Mr. Atterly, as Anchor left the room. 
 ' Thank goodness there are some live people com- 
 ing this evening. Anchor is so hard on my nerves ! 
 
 337 
 
 23
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 Did she mean that she was too prejudiced against 
 him to accept any favor? or did she mean he had 
 done too much already for any Darrett to ask 
 more?" 
 
 But Mr. Atterly had no idea. He agreed that 
 Miss Darrett was at times perplexing.
 
 XXIII 
 
 "GOOD-BYE TO HOPE." 
 
 That night Delfma's guests brought music and 
 laughter into the sala. And after three hours of 
 the chatter, of the games, and of supper, Anchor 
 stole out alone to one of the little stone balconies 
 where the sound of voices and laughter were soft- 
 ened by distance. Only the stars gave light in 
 the dark blue to show the winding paths in the 
 park where the crushed shawls showed white. 
 Once she thought she saw a figure cross the 
 path -and move towards the house, but concluded 
 she was mistaken when no one came into the circle 
 of light streaming from the windows of the sala, 
 and making blacker by contrast the dense shadows 
 of the shrubbery. 
 
 Some of the house servants had gathered under 
 the balcony in a little group, looking into the win- 
 dows of the sala and listening to a girl singing 
 there. They spoke together in subdued tones, but 
 now and then sentences came up to the balcony, 
 and one of them caused her to lift her head, alert, 
 listening ! 
 
 " Anita telling Roderiguez how it is sold and 
 how they all may be going away. Don Mac he 
 
 339
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 going to-night or to-morrow, gone already maybe 
 to Mexico. He never coming back this time ! " 
 " Sure, he come back," remarked another, hope- 
 fully. 
 
 " No, Anita say how Sefior Braith stay behind 
 to sell all the horses. Then he taking Diablo, 
 Anita and Carmenita's baby, and they all going 
 to some old rancho in Mexico. Perenza she lay 
 in bed all day, she say she no will go, and she no 
 will stay except Don Mac stay, too! That old 
 woman most crazy." 
 
 " Don Mac he so no rich any more no? " 
 " Oh, these Americans never getting all poor! " 
 " He never marry our Senora now." 
 " How the Senora marrying him when Don 
 Felipe die fighting him?" demanded another. 
 "How could that be?" 
 
 None of them knew. And then the talk drifted 
 to other things, and the group scattered as one 
 or another was called to duty elsewhere. 
 
 A carriage was called a little later, and three 
 laughing girls and their brother bade good night 
 and were driven away. Mr. Atterly and another 
 caller followed, leaving only a couple of girls who 
 were to remain for the night, and who were play- 
 ing queer dances, and dancing them to Delfina's 
 delight, for her laugh rang high and clear through 
 the open windows. 
 
 And still Anchor sat there on the low seat, her 
 
 340
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 arms resting on the carved railing and her chin 
 on her palms,. staring out into the night, hearing 
 no longer the laughter below, seeing nothing but 
 the pictures in her own wearied brain. 
 
 To-morrow! Perhaps to-night! Going from 
 his own home, beggared because of the help he 
 had given to others ! 
 
 Now she knew what her restlessness had meant; 
 she had waited from hour to hour for some word 
 from him, some sign ! Without it, how could she 
 go or send? How let him know she had seen 
 " Treasure Trove " and realized how deeply he 
 had paid for the mere chance of a finger on that 
 trigger ? How offer him Old Mission to help pay 
 the Barrett debt? 
 
 And Jose ! Had he not already done enough 
 without the continued burden of her brother's 
 child? Her mind was made up, there was no 
 one but herself to do what was needed to be done. 
 She would go for Jose, and she would tell him. 
 
 A silvery chime of midnight sounded from a 
 clock below. Four hours until dawn, and at 
 dawn she would be under the Mission palms again ! 
 
 The dancing had ceased. One of the girls sang 
 some little good-night song, and then her fingers, 
 moving idly over the keys, struck the prelude to 
 Tortis's " Good-bye," and the girl on the balcony 
 dropped her head in her arms with a choking sob. 
 
 34i
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " All the to-morrows will be as to-day 1 " sang 
 the girl in the sala, with sorrowful cadence. 
 
 " The cord is frayed, the cruse is dry, 
 The link must break and the lamp must die 
 Good-bye to hope ! Good-bye good-bye ! " 
 
 The girl on the balcony arose with a half moan 
 of protest. The light from the hall streamed out 
 across the balcony and outlined her every move- 
 ment to a man who stood hidden in the shadows of 
 the shrubbery across the drive. He could see 
 her heaving shoulders and her hands clasping and 
 unclasping; even the tears wet on her cheek he 
 could see as the light touched it. 
 
 11 What are we waiting for you and I 
 A fleeting look a stifled cry! 
 Good-bye forever good-bye good-bye ! " 
 
 He could hear the sharp indrawn breath of her 
 sobs, then the laughter and gay good-nights in 
 the sala. And as the chattering groups ascended 
 the stairs, and Delfina was heard inquiring for her, 
 she turned swiftly and disappeared in the interior. 
 
 342
 
 XXIV 
 
 THE RIDE AT THE DAWN. 
 
 At the first streak of dawn she crept down the 
 great stairway and out to the stables where a 
 sleepy groom stared at her as at a ghost. But 
 some whispered directions and a coin tied his 
 tongue and made his fingers nimble, and a few 
 minutes later he watched the Seiiorita walk her 
 horse silently over the grass where horses were 
 not allowed to step. Before she had reached the 
 gate the drifting fogs of dawn had swallowed her 
 from sight. 
 
 At the gate of the Mission stable she saw a 
 horse held, saddled! It was El Diablo and her 
 heart crept into her throat, choking her. She was 
 barely in time then! But how how could she 
 speak ? What could she say with that mad thump- 
 ing of heart and brain? 
 
 Even to the stable boy she could scarcely articu- 
 late, but he grinned and nodded his head. 
 
 "The Senor he just going!" he said, and 
 moved El Diablo a little distance from the strange 
 animal at whom he was pointing his ears men- 
 acingly. Then she heard a step, the jingle of a 
 spur, and the next instant Galbraith loomed up 
 through the fog. 
 
 343
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 He halted, dumfounded at sight of her, tongue- 
 tied as herself. Then he spoke in Spanish to the 
 boy, who relinquished El Diablo into his hands 
 and disappeared. 
 
 Galbraith had raised his hat at sight of her, but 
 did not speak while the boy was in hearing. Then 
 he went nearer and drew a letter from his pocket. 
 
 " I was just going to you," he said, simply. 
 " He told me to send this by noon, but I I 
 thought you might have word to send and I was 
 taking it myself as soon as he got out of sight." 
 
 " Out of sight ! " she said, mechanically, star- 
 ing at the envelope. " Has he has he " 
 
 " He started not five minutes ago for the sta- 
 tion above Olivette. He didn't want to meet 
 people in the town. I tried to keep him another 
 day, but he learned yesterday it was you who 
 bought the Mission, and at Hermosa last night he 
 learned you had bought the Gonzales rancho as 
 well. He started to see you last night, but he 
 came back wild, and so he is gone! ' 
 
 " Oh I came to give him back the Mission 
 to beg him to take it and to ask him for Jose ! " 
 she faltered. " Oh, Braith ! Help me, help me ! " 
 ' You mean you don't hate us both for dragging 
 your brother's name through all that, for letting 
 the public know? Senorita, if you don't, for 
 Mac's sake think fast and speak plain ! " 
 
 344
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 She opened the letter and cried out in protest 
 at the " Good-bye " with which it began. 
 
 " Oh, he was there last night ! " she half sobbed. 
 " He meant to see me, he meant to tell ! Tell me," 
 she said abruptly, crushing the letter inside the 
 vest of her habit. " Was it because he heard I 
 had bought the ranches that he left without see- 
 ing me? Tell me true! " 
 
 " It was one of the reasons. He is a poor man, 
 now. He has only a little Mexican property left. 
 It may pan out, and it may not ! " 
 
 She gathered up the reins, a look of resolve in 
 her eyes, to which the quick tears sprang. 
 
 " Good-bye," she said, briefly. " Which road 
 did he take?" 
 
 ' You are you are going after him yourself? " 
 he demanded, catching her bridle. 
 
 " I am going after him myself," she said, plain- 
 ly emphatic. " I don't know what he will say and 
 I don't care what any one thinks! Oh, Braith, 
 you know you must know the money is no use 
 to me if it sends him down there alone! Money! 
 I would go with him if I had to live in a mud hut 
 in the hills!" 
 
 "Wait!" 
 
 Galbraith was unsaddling El Diablo with light- 
 ning speed, and the girl comprehending his inten- 
 tion without a word, slipped from the saddle which 
 he quickly transferred. 
 
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 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " He had ten minutes start, but El Diablo, with 
 your weight, will catch him. Adios, Seiiorital 
 God Almighty clear the way for you! " 
 
 He crushed the hem of her skirt to his lips as 
 she leaped to the saddle. Then he stepped back, 
 pointing the way, and El Diablo sprung forward 
 like an arrow. No curveting tricks, no side step- 
 ping dances ! He seemed to realize that this ride 
 at dawn left no time for play. 
 
 Some Mexicans, stretched in the shadows of the 
 hedge, sleeping off the too potent effects of new 
 brandy, started up at sound of the thunder of 
 hoofs bearing down on them, and crossed them- 
 selves in vague dread as they caught sight of the 
 girl's white face and the great eyes dark with in- 
 tensity as she swept past looking neither to right 
 nor left. 
 
 "Holy Mother!" muttered one, rubbing the 
 sleep from his eyes. " It is the Sefiorita of the 
 Moccasins, or it is her spirit ! She was seen like 
 that the night of the flood ! She rides somewhere 
 to save some one! Blessed Mother, watch over 
 her!" 
 
 The memory of that other ride in the dusk 
 came to her as she bent low and whispered to El 
 Diablo, and lifted her head to scan the open road. 
 
 Over the fields the growing light picked out 
 clearly now the hedges and hollows, and far to 
 
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 Miss Moccasins 
 
 the east a growing pink pierced the sky of mauve 
 and silver. 
 
 Her heart gave a happy throb as she saw it, 
 and she patted the shoulder of El Diablo, and 
 laughed softly, and whispered: 
 
 " Run run Diablo! It is an omen. We rode 
 into the shadows and horror that other time, but 
 now the new day is before us, the new day and 
 the sunshine ! " 
 
 Just as the first lance of gold shot through the 
 blush in the east, she heard, far down the valley, 
 the shrill whistle of the coming train, and flashed 
 past the startled Mexican boy who had driven the 
 cart from the Mission with Don Mac's traveling 
 traps. And a few moments later El Diablo thun- 
 |dered up the rise to the little station where one 
 ^man paced alone, with hands clasped back of him 
 and head drooped, waiting. 
 
 If any words of greeting were spoken, neither 
 could ever remember what they were. He raised 
 his eyes to see her leaning forward on El 
 Diablo, her hand outstretched to him! He lifted 
 her from the saddle and for the second time she 
 heard the broken murmurs of his tones close to 
 her ear, and this time she felt tears, not her own, 
 on her cheek. 
 
 "My Senorita! My little girl!" he half 
 groaned. " How can I say good-bye to you 
 now?" 
 
 347
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 " I I didn't come to say that ! " she whis- 
 pered. " Diablo Diablo never would have 
 made the run for just ' Good-bye ! 
 
 And then Diablo, snuffing and prancing at the 
 rumble of the approaching train, heard the glad 
 laugh of Don Mac as he clasped the Seiiorita in 
 his arms. 
 
 El Diablo saw or heard no more than that, for 
 he bolted for home as the scream of the train cut 
 the air of sunrise. 
 
 Around a little knoll a man on a reeking horse 
 blocked the way and caught him, and El Diablo 
 recognizing a Mission mate, halted and surveyed 
 the foaming animal that had kept in sight all the 
 way, lest some mishap should have chanced El 
 Diablo's rider. 
 
 The newcomer slipped from the saddle and 
 stood listening, listening to the slowing train, the 
 slight pause, the sliding open of the baggage car 
 door, the sound of voices, and then the music of 
 the engine bell smothered by the sound of the 
 wheels rolling southward faster and faster, until 
 only the echoes came back drifting along the little 
 hollows where the fog still rested. 
 
 And when the last echo drifted into silence, the 
 man flung himself face downward in the grass by 
 the road. The horses grazed near, glad of the 
 breathing space after that mad run, and El Diablo 
 lifted his beautiful head and regarded with curi- 
 
 348
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 osity the man lying there in the grass with his face 
 hidden in his arms. 
 
 A few hours later a girl in a riding habit, and 
 a man whom Dolores called "Sefior Americano'* 
 stood before an old priest in the little adobe of 
 " Treasure Trove." The dead past was buried 
 by the vows made over their clasped hands, and 
 
 its ghost has never risen to trouble them. 
 ******** 
 
 The boy, Jose, rides now over the ranges beside 
 his adored Don Mac and his adorable Dona An- 
 chor. He has the beautiful eyes of Felipe, but 
 his nature is more that of the devoted Spanish 
 girl who sleeps in the grounds of Hermosa. 
 
 Delfina never forgave the marriage of Anchor. 
 The shock was so great that she started at once 
 for the East, whither Mr. Atterly followed soon 
 after to comfort her. She did not even send cards 
 to the Leightons when the wedding occurred, six 
 months later. 
 
 The doves circle as of old over the belfry of 
 Old Mission and peace lies over the land of Her- 
 mosa. Perenza and Dolores sit by the hour in 
 the patio and watch a tiny baby boy and girl play- 
 ing under the vines, or splashing with the doves in 
 the fountain. 
 
 The boy is called Braith, and when he asks 
 questions about the big man he was named for, 
 and who used to live here in the patio, but who 
 rode away one day and never came back, he won- 
 
 349
 
 Miss Moccasins 
 
 'ders why Don Mac always gives him an extra 
 kiss, but tells him not to ask questions, and why. 
 the tears come into his mama's eyes, and she always 
 sends him to see if sister is awake, or asleep, or 
 playing too long in the sun ! 
 
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