THE NINE SWORDS 
 OF MORALES 
 
 GEORGE HOMER MEYER 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
The 
 Nine Swords of Morales 
 
 The Story of 
 An Old-time California Feud 
 
 BY 
 GEORGE HOMER MEYER 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY 
 
Copyright, 1905, 
 
 By HENRY ALTEMUS 
 
 Published October, 1905 
 
To 
 THE BEAUTIFUL LAND OF SONOMA, 
 
 In memory of boyhood days, of friends there, living and dead, 
 I dedicate these imaginings of what might have been 
 in the old, old days, amid scenes and sur 
 roundings which have ever seemed 
 to me fit home for Romance. 
 
 G. H. M. 
 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I pAGE 
 
 TELLING OF AN AMBUSCADE ON THE SANTA ROSA PLAINS, 
 OF A SUMMONS, AND A PARTING 1 
 
 CHAPTER TI 
 
 WHICH TELLS OF THE WARNING THAT CAME LATE, AND OF 
 THE RIDING FORTH OF THE NINE SWORDS 9 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 How MANUEL DE GUERRA MET A FRIENDLY FOE, AND EN 
 COUNTERED AND OVERCAME A TEMPTATION 14 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 OF THE NlGHT-RlDER WHO SOUGHT TO STAY MANUEL, AND 
 OTHER CHANCES OF THE WAY 19 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE RACE is NOT ALWAYS TO THE STRONG, BUT IT SOME 
 TIMES is TO THE SWIFT 22 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 Ix WHICH MANUEL LEARNS THAT IT is NOT ADVISABLE TO 
 TRIUMPH UNTIL WELL OUT OF THE WOODS .... 26 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 IN WHICH MANUEL FINDS HIMSELF PARTICIPATING IN A 
 HUNT BUT NOT AS THE HUNTER 32 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 TELLING OF A STRANGE WOODLAND POTENTATE OF OLDEN 
 TIME AND THE RECEPTION HE GAVE MANUEL DE GUERRA 41 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 IN WHICH MANUEL REACHES A LANDMARK IN HIS JOURNEY 
 
 AND ENCOUNTERS THE THREE IRON MEN 49 
 
 vii 
 
viii CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 TELLING OF AN ODD MEETING ON THE LAGUNA SHORE, AND OF 
 WHAT CAME OF IT ........... 57 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE STRUGGLE IN THE DARK AT THE FORD, AND THE COMING 
 OF THE NINE SWORDS 64 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE SUIT THAT WAS PLEADED IN VAIN AT THE CASA RIVAS. 
 AND THE BLACK FALSEHOOD THAT FOLLOWED ... 73 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 How MANUEL DE GUERRA KEPT HIS TRYST, WITH THE AID 
 OF THE NINE SWORDS . . 81 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 How MANUEL PASSED THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE 
 SHADOW, AND THE DEEDS THAT WERE DONE BY HIS FRIEND. 
 HERRERA 87 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 WHICH TELLS OF " HERRERA S RAID." AND OF THE WEDDING- 
 GIFT FRANCISCO BROUGHT TO MANUEL 95 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 -Or THE UNEXPECTED GUEST WHOSE NEWS BID FAIR TO DIS 
 TURB AND DELAY A WEDDING 103 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 TELLING How FRANCISCO HERRERA CAME, AN UNBIDDEN 
 GUEST, TO THE CASA RIVAS 1 . . . . ... . 110 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 TELLING OF A GREAT SORROW AND A GREATER JOY, AND OF 
 SOMETHING THAT CAME AFTER . . . .. . . . 121 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 IN WHICH OCCURS AN ESCAPE, ALSO A CAPTURE, AN ACCUSA 
 TION, AND AN UNLOOKED-FOR RETURN 133 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 How FRANCISCO HERRERA FOUND FRIENDS IN NEED IN THE 
 
 MIDST OF THOSE HE HAD COUNTED FOES . . . . . 140 
 
CONTENTS ix 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 PACiE 
 
 OF THE AMBUSCADE IN THE WILLOWS. AND THE NINE GOOD 
 REASONS WHY IT DID NOT RESULT AS WAS ANTICIPATED . 154 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 TELLING OF THE SECOND NIGHT-RIDE OF FRANCISCO HERREBA 
 IN HOSTILE TERRITORY, AND HOW IT ENDED .... 1G4 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 Two WAYLAYERS OF THE DARK, AND WHAT IT WAS THAT 
 DISTURBED THEM AT THEIR WORK 1G9 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 HOW THE GONZALES LEARNED THAT FRANCISCO HERRERA s 
 FRIENDS COULD DO MORE THAN MOURN 170 
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 THE SHOCK AND THE GRIEF THAT RAMON GONZALES BROUGHT 
 TO HIS FRIENDS AT THE CAS A RIVAS. . ... .... 185 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 OF THE WOOING OF SANCHO GONZALES, AND THE OMEN THAT 
 DARKENED ITS BEGINNING 190 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 THE STRANGE GUESTS WHO CAME UNINVITED, BUT NOT UN 
 WELCOME, TO THE SECOND RIVAS WEDDING . . . . . 199 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 How PEPE THE INDIAN, FRIEND OF THE MORALES, BECAUSE 
 OF THAT FRIENDSHIP CAME UPON EVIL FORTUNE ... . 209 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 A FRIEND IN NEED FOR PEPE THE FAITHFUL, AND A SURPRISE 
 FOR THE CAMP OF HIS FOES . . . . . ... . . 216 
 
 CHAPTER XXX 
 
 IN WHICH PEPE S CAPTORS FIND THEMSELVES POSSESSED OF 
 ANOTHER AND MUCH MORE TROUBLESOME PRISONER . . 221 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI 
 
 WHICH TELLS How YOUNG DIEGO MORALES SEES FIT TO VEN 
 TURE HIMSELF WITHIN THE LION S DEN . 227 
 
x CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII PAGE 
 
 How DIEGO, THE RECKLESS, FINDS STRANGE COMPANY IN THE 
 STRONGHOLD OF HIS FOES 230 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII 
 
 DIEGO MORALES RIDES AWAY FROM THE CASA GONZALES 
 WITHOUT HIS BROTHER, AND YET NOT ALONE .... 244 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV 
 
 TELLING OF PERILS AND ALSO OF CERTAIN STRANGE EXPERI 
 ENCES WHICH BEFELL DIEGO ON THE WAY 249 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV 
 
 A GREAT SURPRISE AND A GREATER JOY COME TO DIEGO 
 MORALES AND THE STORY ENDS 257 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 TELLING OF AN AMBUSCADE ON THE SANTA ROSA 
 PLAINS, OF A SUMMONS, AND A PARTING 
 
 AGAIN Pepe, the Indian, caught a swift 
 glimpse of arms and dark, shaded faces 
 close at hand, and this time he pulled his pony up 
 in its tracks. 
 
 But even with such a confirmation of his former 
 fears he did not fail to exercise that caution and 
 cunning which had all his life been natural to him. 
 His act in checking the pony was half involun 
 tary, but all that followed was calculation. 
 
 Leisurely he dismounted, and it was with every 
 appearance of naturalness that he proceeded to 
 remedy an imaginary break in the rawhide trap 
 pings of his shaggy steed. He noted that those 
 besetting his path were no longer to be seen, but 
 no one could have observed that he gave feven a 
 glance toward the place of their concealment. 
 What he wanted now was a chance to think. 
 
 The ambuscaders were not watching for him. 
 That was certain. Otherwise, why still hide? 
 For whom, then, did they wait? Don Manuel, of 
 
2 TJEIE. NINE: 8WQRDS OF MORALES 
 
 course:;. he ;:wfeqm Pepe fed been sent to summon; 
 Don Manuel , wlio must even now be making ready 
 to follow in his trail. That young man was in 
 danger. Could he not go back and warn him? 
 Perhaps. But it would not do to turn here and 
 now. They would see through that in an instant. 
 A shot from a carbine, even the throw of a lariat, 
 and the days of his slothful, good-natured exist 
 ence would be ended. 
 
 Decidedly, that would not do. He must pre 
 tend to be still ignorant of their presence. He 
 must go on until some irregularity in the ground, 
 some concealing feature in the landscape, should 
 afford him opportunity for an unsuspected de 
 tour. Already in view, and but a few minutes 
 ride distant, was a belt of willows, mingled with 
 it the loftier ash and alder, and white oaks hoary 
 with hanging banners of moss. This the Indian 
 lad knew served as a sort of natural dividing-line 
 between that more northern and narrower por 
 tion of the Santa Rosa Plains whereon he was 
 and the wide-spreading expanse which lay farther 
 to the southward. As earnestly as was possible 
 with one of his sluggish temperament, he hoped 
 that those now spying upon him might not follow 
 him thither, for there, he knew, lay his best chance 
 for an unobserved change of course. There, too, 
 as he could not but realize, were excellent oppor 
 tunities for another ambuscade, but of this he 
 must take the chance. In any case, the early- 
 setting December sun was already sinking out of 
 sight behind the redwood-covered hills to the 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 3 
 
 westward, and twilight, with its possibilities of 
 concealment, was not far distant. 
 
 So, still without another glance toward the am 
 buscade, Pepe mounted his pony again and rode 
 carelessly on to the southward. 
 
 And, as it chanced, it was just at this moment 
 that young Manuel de Gruerra was receiving the 
 packet that Pepe had brought for him to the Ha 
 cienda Morales. Pepe had not stayed to transfer 
 it personally, but had left it to be delivered when 
 Manuel should return from the ride upon which 
 he had gone out with that brave troop of broth 
 ers, his hosts. 
 
 Nine sons had old Don Sancho Morales seen 
 grow to manhood or vigorous youth before he 
 closed his eyes for the last time, and despite the 
 daring and even reckless character of their lives, 
 death had not since claimed one of the dashing 
 brothers. Now, grown men all, handsome, stately, 
 and tall, strong of arm, perfect riders, and prompt 
 for every deed that promised excitement or ad 
 venture, they were known far and wide through 
 out the Sonoma valleys and plains as * The Nine 
 Swords of Morales." 
 
 Every one of them had been taught to fence 
 from the time he was strong enough to wield a 
 Mexican saber, and to each old Don Sancho had 
 given for his own one of those deadly weapons as 
 soon as he was satisfied with the skill of the re 
 cipient. In those old days every ranchero who 
 owned a sword wore it when he rode abroad, and 
 there was no fear, therefore, of the brothers be 
 ing deemed in masquerade. 
 
4 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 Old Don Sancho left yet another child, Dolores, 
 now grown tall and beautiful, and the soft luster 
 of whose dark eyes darker for the great masses 
 of clustering hair which, unbound, would have 
 streamed to her feet lent to the blending curves 
 of her face an expression of such gentleness and 
 sweetness as no human being might note unmoved. 
 Sole female of the Morales name and line was 
 she, for her mother had long preceded her father 
 to the grave. It was she who, supported by a 
 half-dozen servants of mixed Indian and Mexican 
 blood, held gently despotic sway in the hacienda 
 on the banks of Russian River the "casa" 
 standing then almost upon what is now the site 
 of Healdsburg. It was to her, in the absence of 
 the men of the household, that Pepe, the Indian, 
 had intrusted the message which he bore to Man 
 uel. It was she who gave the note into the hands 
 of her guest when he returned from his ride with 
 her brothers. 
 
 And it was to her, standing on the porch, in the 
 warm, damp dusk of that winter evening, that 
 Manuel came a little later, still with his letter in 
 his hand, and still, as she noted in the first mo 
 ment of his approach, booted and spurred. 
 
 " Donna Dolores, " he said, speaking with a 
 strange tone of repressed feeling, "I am come 
 to bid you adios." 
 
 Adios ? You are going ? 
 
 "Immediately, Donna Dolores. I am sum 
 moned home to my foster father, and this this 
 He seemed to struggle with himself. 
 "This is the summons/ 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 5 
 
 As lie spoke he handed her the note, which she 
 received with hesitation. 
 
 "Am I to read?" she said doubtingly. 
 
 "If you will be so kind, Donna Dolores. It 
 will lighten the weight of what I have to tell 
 you." 
 
 And Dolores read, silently, swiftly, and, as the 
 meaning of the words came to her, with a strange 
 catching in her chest. 
 
 It was a note signed "Pancha Rivas," and it 
 began and ended very abruptly: 
 
 "You have been absent long, and we hear noth 
 ing of your return. I care not to be the sport of 
 any man s whims, yet would I not condemn you 
 without cause. My father has bidden friends 
 from far and near to my birthday feast. Are 
 you alone to be absent? You have until the last 
 hour of the day to come. If you are not here 
 then I shall know that you mean to be faithless, 
 and shall hold myself free." 
 
 Manuel knew that she had finished, but he 
 waited to lift his eyes from the ground until she 
 should speak. When she did so her words were 
 calmly uttered, but the voice was not that which 
 was usual to her. 
 
 "And you are going?" 
 
 "I am going, Donna Dolores." 
 
 It seemed as if she strove with herself before 
 she spoke again. Then she said: 
 
 "It is right that you should go, and at once. 
 It is she you are to marry. It is she whom you 
 love. 
 
6 THE NINE SWOBDS OF MORALES 
 
 Now lie raised his gloomy eyes and spoke with 
 something of sudden passion: 
 
 "I will go to her yes. She is the woman I 
 am pledged to marry. She is not the woman I 
 love not now." 
 
 "But you loved her once?" 
 
 "I was taught that she loved me. I had grown 
 up with her, seeing her daily my foster father s 
 child. He first spoke of our marriage. She was 
 bright and fair, pleasant to see and to speak with. 
 The day would some time come when a mistress 
 as well as a master would he needed for the 
 wealth my dead father left me. I was content 
 that she, so fair and winsome, should take that 
 place. Yes, I was content then." 
 
 "And and now!" 
 
 The words were nothing more than a whisper, 
 but something in them seemed at once to break 
 away the restraint with which he had crushed 
 down the passion in his heart. In an instant he 
 was on his knees at Dolores feet, not daring, as 
 it seemed, to touch even the hem of her dress with 
 his trembling hands, but looking up into her face 
 with eyes of misery and longing. 
 
 "Now," he said, "now? Oh, Dolores, Dolores! 
 Now I wish that I were dead ! 
 
 Something of hardness had seemed to be gather 
 ing in her fair white face, but it was all gone now. 
 Half unconsciously she placed her hand gently, 
 caressingly, on his dark, clustering hair, and in 
 her eyes and the tones of her voice was a mea 
 sureless pity. 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 7 
 
 "Ah, do not say that," she murmured. 
 "Honor before all." 
 
 "But, oh, why was I so mad! Why did I 
 fling away all so lightly? Dolores, Dolores!" he 
 added, and his voice grew imploring, is there no 
 hope for me! Is it too late?" 
 
 "Too late for all but honor, Manuel." 
 
 He rose slowly, once more grave and calm, but 
 his face was pale and set. 
 
 "You are right," he said, "and I must go. 
 Donna Dolores, good-bye." 
 
 She gave him her hand, and for a moment he 
 held it silently, gazing the while into her calm 
 face. Then once more a wave of passionate, de 
 spairing longing thrilled through him, and he 
 pressed the soft hand madly to his lips and his 
 breast, murmuring inarticulate words. 
 
 And now the contagion of his passion seemed 
 to break through the strong barrier of her own 
 reserve. She bent over him, for again he had 
 flung himself down before her, stooping until her 
 lips were almost at his ear. 
 
 "Manuel, Manuel!" she whispered; "you must 
 go yes, you must go! Forget not your faith. 
 Ride ride, as if more than life depended on your 
 speed ! Strive as never you have striven yet to 
 do this girl s strange bidding. But, oh, Manuel, 
 Manuel! If if it should be that all goes for 
 naught that heaven is not with you in this if 
 fate send that you are too late then, oh, Manuel ! 
 then come back to us to me. 
 
 As though not daring to look into her face, even 
 in the growing dusk, he kept his eyes bent upon 
 
8 THE NINE SWORDS OE MORALES 
 
 the earth, but he felt gropingly above his head, 
 once more seeking her hands. She drew them 
 shyly away, when he had scarcely touched them 
 with his own, and then he lifted a fold of her dress 
 and pressed it to his lips. A moment after, his 
 step sounded on the path leading to the corral, 
 and while she still lingered she heard a jingle of 
 spur-bells and bridle-chains, and a soft fall of 
 hoofs upon the turf. Only for a moment. Then 
 the sounds died away in the dusky distance. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 WHICH TELLS OF THE WARNING THAT CAME LATE, 
 AND OF THE RIDING FORTH OF THE NINE SWORDS 
 
 THE world is filled with women pure and good, 
 but lest, perhaps, it might become too 
 nearly like unto the true home of angels, it is 
 given to few, indeed, to be more wholly white- 
 souled, more utterly free from every weakness 
 of self, than was this gentle sister of the nine 
 great sons of Morales. Yet for one moment, 
 when the last sound of the retreating hoofs of 
 Manuel s steed had died away, and there grew in 
 her mind the numbing thought of how much of 
 loss and loneliness this parting meant, the heart 
 in her breast cried out in pain that was bitter and 
 rebellious. For one moment one only she 
 struggled with a jealous sense of wrong, of loss 
 and suffering which sent tears to her eyes and 
 quivering hands to her white throat and then, 
 in an instant, all seemed ended, and in her heart 
 remained w oe, indeed, but no longer thought of 
 bitterness. 
 
 She turned to re-enter the house and all but 
 cried out as she did so, for a tall, almost gigantic, 
 man stood at her elbow. But in an instant she 
 saw that it was her eldest brother, Carlos Mor- 
 
 9 
 
10 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 ales, like all of his brethren still a bachelor, 
 though he would never again see his thirty-fifth 
 year. 
 
 A sudden something, almost of fear, seized 
 Dolores, even as she recognized the man who 
 loved her, as she knew well, above everything on 
 earth. Could he have heard ? 
 
 It seemed that he divined the unspoken ques 
 tion, for he answered it, very quietly: 
 
 "Yes, I was there in the rose-bushes. I could 
 not get out, before he began his confidences. Then 
 I had to remain, or come forth in the midst of it 
 an." 
 
 "Then you know " 
 
 He drew the drooping head tenderly against 
 his broad breast. 
 
 "I know that I have a sweet and lovely sister, 
 and that I have just missed gaining a new and 
 gallant brother. That is all. Look your fate 
 your fate and his firmly in the face for once, 
 Dolores, mi querida, then turn from it forever. 
 He is a man and a caballero, my sister. But he 
 has gone, and it is better so." 
 
 As they turned to enter the house Dolores fan 
 cied she noted a sudden movement of her brother s 
 hand toward his breast, and it seemed that some 
 thing glittered in his grasp. She stopped, gazing 
 with startled question into his face. 
 
 Again he read her thought, and answered 
 this strange man with the old directness : 
 
 "Yes/ he said quietly. "There was a mo 
 ment when I feared to learn that this guest of 
 ours had sought to make a plaything of my sister s 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 11 
 
 heart. I would not have liked to hear that, Do 
 lores." 
 
 The girl shuddered, but clung more closely to 
 his arm, and again they moved toward the open 
 doorway. 
 
 Yet once more were their steps arrested. 
 
 "Listen!" said Dolores. 
 
 Faint from the distance came the soft pounding 
 of unshod hoofs. A look, half of hope, half of 
 dread, leaped into Dolores face. Quickly she 
 spoke, but only to break off at the third word : 
 
 "That is not" 
 
 "De Guerra returning? No. That is never 
 his horse." 
 
 And that Dolores already knew. Could she not 
 tell the footfalls of Manuel s steed as well as the 
 light, swift tread of his rider? 
 
 But the sound to which they listened came 
 steadily nearer, and before many moments Pepe, 
 the Indian, rode sedately into the flood of light 
 which streamed from the door. 
 
 "Manuel?" he said quietly. "Don Manuel de 
 Guerra?" 
 
 Carlos pointed southward. 
 
 "He is far away by this," he said. "Seek him 
 to-morrow on the Arroyo Santa Rosa with Don 
 Pedro Rivas." 
 
 "Gone?" said Pepe. "That is bad very 
 bad." 
 
 Sudden fear awoke in Dolores breast, and she 
 moved forward. 
 
 "What is it?" she asked hurriedly. "What 
 is wrong?" 
 
12 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 Then Pepe, in his brief Indian fashion, told 
 them of the ambuscade and of his fears that it 
 had been set for Manuel. 
 
 An inarticulate cry escaped Dolores, and she 
 turned her white face and fear-lit eyes to Carlos. 
 But he did not stay to answer or console. Instead, 
 he stepped swiftly into the great living-room of 
 the casa, strewn with rugs and Indian mats, and 
 with walls thickly set with antlers and other tro 
 phies of the chase. A great array of arms of al 
 most every kind hung there, also, and amid them 
 the long sabers which had helped to give a name 
 to " The Nine Swords of Morales." 
 
 One of these Carlos took down and hung the 
 trappings about him. 
 
 "Call the others," he said briefly. 
 
 Some one did as he said, whether a servant of 
 the household or Dolores herself, the latter could 
 afterward scarcely have told. What she did re 
 member was that the great room had seemed to 
 suddenly fill with men, that all about her were the 
 tall forms of her splendid brothers, while the 
 jingle of spurs and the clank of steel rose above 
 and almost drowned the few brief words of direc 
 tion which Carlos was giving to his major-domo 
 and the retainers whom he was to leave as a guard 
 for the hacienda. She remembered, too, passing 
 out with the rest a moment later to where nine 
 wiry steeds pranced and struggled in the hands 
 of those who held them, and standing by while 
 every man sprang into his saddle. Then, as the 
 others swung away from the house, Carlos bent 
 low to her ear. 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 13 
 
 "Dolores," he whispered tenderly, "do not 
 grieve. We will find him, we will save him, never 
 fear. But, tell me, mi querida, shall we guard 
 him safely to his journey s end, or shall we bring 
 him back to you!" 
 
 For an instant Dolores hid her face against her 
 brother s hand, and he felt her tremble. Then 
 she drew her head back and met his eyes bravely, 
 though her face was drawn and white. 
 
 "Carlos," she said, "save his life and his honor 
 both. Let him keep his word. 
 
 Carlos kissed her, proudly, fondly. 
 
 "God s blessing on thee, heart of my heart!" 
 he murmured in his soft native tongue. "Now, 
 good-bye. 
 
 Another moment, and he had overtaken the 
 others and assumed, as was his right, his place 
 in the van. No servants of the estate were with 
 them, for it had for years been the preference of 
 the Nine Swords of Morales to ride only with 
 each other. Perhaps it was the name in which 
 all, from the youngest to the eldest, took a strong, 
 though unuttered, pride that so inclined them. 
 
 There had been no word of discussion as to the 
 expedition. When Carlos had told them where 
 they were going, and why, he had covered the 
 subject completely with one brief speech: 
 
 "The guest of our house is our charge until he 
 passes beneath the roof of another." 
 
 So the Nine Swords of Morales sped southward 
 to save the man who had shared their shelter and 
 eaten of their bread and so made himself a brother 
 of their race. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 HOW MANUEL DE GUEREA MET A FRIENDLY FOE, AND 
 ENCOUNTERED AND OVERCAME A TEMPTATION 
 
 MEANWHILE it so chanced that Manuel 
 lacked not for warning of the snare be 
 fore him. Pepe. owing to the darkness and his 
 wide detour, had missed him, but another had his 
 interest at heart. 
 
 Out of the gloom, as he dashed onward, sud 
 denly loomed dimly before him a steed and rider, 
 and a challenging voice sounded through the dark : 
 
 < Halt! Who goes?" 
 
 "De Guerra," answered Manuel boldly, for he 
 feared no man, nor did he think of any one at that 
 moment who should seek to stay him on his road. 
 
 "As I feared," said the voice again, for little 
 of the speaker could be seen, the less from the fact 
 that, as he spoke, the stranger drew his cloak so 
 closely about him as to render both form and face 
 indistinguishable. 
 
 You feared ? said Manuel. And why 1 
 
 "That I have not time to explain," said the 
 stranger. "I came but to give you a word of 
 warning. Go back." 
 
 "Go back?" 
 
 "Yes if you would live till morning." 
 
 14 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 15 
 
 Manuel s laugh rang out mirthful, yet sar 
 castic. 
 
 "Truly, my unknown friend, you deserve my 
 thanks. You have given me news. But before 
 you go further, tell me who is the mortal enemy 
 who seeks the life of Manuel de Guerra." 
 
 He laughed again at the absurdity of his own 
 suggestion, but the stranger did not laugh. In 
 stead he spurred closer and spoke with an earnest 
 ness that compelled attention and gravity. 
 
 "Manuel, do not make a jest of this. I have 
 risked more than you think to give you warning. 
 Half a traitor am I that I do so, yet I regret it 
 not. But do not make my effort useless. There 
 is a reason why some would not have you reach 
 the Rivas Rancho to-night, and they do not intend 
 you shall. To-morrow you may ride in safety, 
 but to go forward to-night is to meet those who 
 will stop you, though they take your life in doing 
 so." 
 
 Manuel could not but believe, and now his anger 
 rose. 
 
 "And how know you the plan of these treacher 
 ous dogs?" he demanded. 
 
 "Because," answered the other, with perfect 
 equanimity, i I am one of them. 
 
 Then Manuel laughed again, in spite of himself, 
 and he bent forward and grasped the stranger s- 
 hand. 
 
 "That you are not," he said heartily, "even 
 though you chance to be in their company. You 
 hide your face from me, but there is something in 
 your voice that I have heard before, and in any 
 
16 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 case I know you for a friend. But I cannot take 
 your warning, though I thank you for it. Go for 
 ward I must, whatever happens." 
 
 "Wait till to-morrow. " 
 
 "No. There is a reason why I must reach the 
 Santa Rosa this night, and that within the next 
 five hours." 
 
 "Yes, I know; but I know, too, that there is a 
 reason why you should not. I beg you to go 
 back." 
 
 For just one moment, mingling with half- 
 formed conjectures as to the plots of his unknown 
 enemies, there rose in Manuel s mind a tempta 
 tion. Should he not go back? Before was peril 
 for that he cared little but beyond, should he 
 pass it by, lay only the cold reward of duty done, 
 the smiles and the hand of one whom he knew 
 now he had never loved, and even whose love for 
 him there was something in the cold sternness of 
 her message which bade him doubt. Behind him, 
 within the walls he had so lately quitted ah, 
 there was friendship, brotherhood, and yes, why 
 should he drive the sweetness of the thought from 
 his mind? a love that a man might die for. 
 Could he not go back? 
 
 But only for an instant did the dream for he 
 knew it was only that hold sway in his soul. 
 Driving it out came the knowledge that it was not 
 thus she would have him think she nor his dead 
 and gone father, whose name yet sounded on 
 men s tongues when they spoke of honor and 
 truth and latter-day chivalry. And once more he 
 answered, gravely and calmly : 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 17 
 
 "No, I cannot go back. But if you will add to 
 your kindness, tell me where my enemies He, and 
 T, who know every rood of these plains, should 
 easily avoid them." 
 
 His unknown friend shook his head. 
 
 That would be impossible. They have a line 
 of watchers from the Sonoma Mountains to the 
 mouth of the Laguna Santa Rosa. And their 
 patrols ride constantly between. I and here 
 the stranger laughed grimly "am one of these 
 patrols, though somewhat distant from my proper 
 station. 
 
 Manuel laughed, too, with a gay light-hearted- 
 ness for which, though he perhaps did not himself 
 realize it, the very peril surrounding him was 
 chiefly responsible. 
 
 * Caramba ! he muttered profanely, but only 
 half aloud; "there must be an army. What 
 mighty chieftain have we here that I have of 
 fended. By heaven ! he added, louder and more 
 fiercely now; "only Gonzales could muster such 
 a throng Gonzales, who comes so often to the 
 Rivas Rancho. The dog! Ah, I begin to see!" 
 
 "And you will go back?" said the stranger, 
 almost beseechingly. 
 
 "Go back, will I? No!" growled Manuel 
 through his teeth. l They stretch from the moun 
 tains to the water, do they? Thank you for that, 
 friend, but their line will have to be longer than 
 that to stop me. But good-bye to you now, and 
 may the day come when I can repay your service 
 of to-night." 
 
 And then Manuel turned his horse s head, set- 
 
18 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 tied himself in the saddle, and sped away in the 
 darkness toward the west. 
 
 "He will try the hills on the further shore of 
 the Laguna," thought the other, correctly enough. 
 "But what a ride for a night like this, and how, 
 too, will he cross the waters ?" 
 
 But there was no one to answer, and with a 
 muttered curse on hot-headed youths, ambus 
 cades, and all sorts of treachery, he rode away 
 himself, only hoping now that his own double- 
 dealing might not be suspected. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 OF THE NIGHT-RIDER WHO SOUGHT TO STAY MANUEL, 
 AND OTHER CHANCES OF THE WAY 
 
 MANUEL realized well enough the difficulties 
 of the route he had now chosen, but he did 
 not regard them as insurmountable. He knew 
 all the cattle-paths on the western shore of the 
 Laguna Santa Rosa as few other men did in that 
 old day. The brawling watercourse in later time 
 to be called Mark West. Creek, after the wander 
 ing English sailor, would be in flood, of course, 
 and the Laguna itself likewise. But the horse 
 beneath him was trusty and stanch and had swum 
 with him on his back before now. Why should 
 he not do so again ? Only one thing worried Man 
 uel the question of time. It was a long distance 
 that he was to make, and he had to be at the Rivas 
 Rancho by midnight if the bidding of that strange 
 girl who held his troth, though not his heart, was 
 to be accomplished. 
 
 So he bent low in his saddle, and talked in the 
 ear of the brave horse beneath him as comrade 
 would to comrade and indeed, were they not 
 such? and the steel-sinewed steed seemed to 
 understand all that was required of him. Manuel 
 never did more than touch his side with the heavy 
 
 3 19 
 
20 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 spur which every California!! rider wore, and even 
 this the horse did not wait for now. Swiftly, 
 splendidly, sure-footed as an antelope, never once 
 making a misstep, never pausing in his stride, he 
 dashed onward, the spectral, moss-hung white 
 oaks racing hy him in the gloom. There was no 
 underbrush, and for this Manuel did not forget 
 to be thankful. 
 
 Miles had been traversed, and he was begin 
 ning to note the roar of the swollen stream before 
 him, and to bestow a little more thought than he 
 had previously done upon the question of cross 
 ing, when a new direction was given to his mus 
 ings. 
 
 Dashing forward in such a direction as to inter 
 cept Manuel in his course, another horseman 
 sprang suddenly into sight, looking almost gigan 
 tic in the dimness of the night. In little more 
 than a second they were almost upon each other. 
 
 "Halt! Who goes?" shouted the stranger, 
 bending forward as if to grasp De Guerra s bri 
 dle-rein. 
 
 "The man you are looking for," answered 
 Manuel, with a sort of grim humor, and as he 
 spoke swinging his horse just a trifle to one side. 
 
 Now, the stranger s best plan would have been 
 to draw a weapon, or at least to have made use 
 of his lariat. But he chose to attempt something 
 shorter and simpler. 
 
 Once more he stooped forward to seize the 
 bridle-rein, and Manuel, not deigning to draw 
 knife or pistol, simply lifted his vigorous young 
 fist and brought it down on the bent head with a 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 21 
 
 force that sent the would-be captor headlong from 
 the saddle. 
 
 The man lay still, and Manuel, though he 
 glanced back, did not stop to ascertain whether 
 he were living or dead. 
 
 "One of Gonzales patrols is off duty for a 
 while at least," he muttered grimly, as he sped on. 
 
 The encounter startled but did not alarm him. 
 It seemed evident, taking into consideration the 
 nearness of the torrent he was to cross, that the 
 man he had met must have held the extreme end 
 of Gonzales line. He blamed himself a little that 
 he had not so shaped his course as to strike the 
 stream further westward, but the ground was 
 rougher there, and the prospects discouraging. 
 On the whole, considering that he had come safely 
 through the encounter, and in view of the fact 
 that the man he had struck down was not likely 
 to give an alarm for some time to come, he was 
 inclined to believe he had done about as well for 
 himself as possible. 
 
 While coming to this comforting conclusion he 
 had entered the strip of willow-dotted lowland 
 forming the approach to the brawling stream he 
 was so rapidly nearing and at once, with shout 
 and challenge, from the darkness on either side 
 of his pathway, half a score of dusky horsemen 
 thundered forward to intercept him. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE RACE IS NOT ALWAYS TO THE STRONG, BUT IT 
 SOMETIMES IS TO THE SWIFT 
 
 ONE deep mental objurgation Manuel be 
 stowed upon himself for his vain confi 
 dence, but the exigency was too pressing for re 
 grets that meant any waste of time. Even while 
 he condemned his own folly he leaned forward 
 and shouted in El Zingaro s ear, and that brave 
 steed seemed at once to flatten to the earth with 
 the sudden and tremendous increase in his stride. 
 With a clash and a clamor of oaths the waylayers 
 dashed together, only an instant too late, for by 
 a mere half-length had Zingaro won. Indeed, 
 but that one of the pursuers steeds had fallen 
 headlong with his rider in the shock of the col 
 lision, and lay, kicking madly, amid the stamping 
 hoofs of the disordered group, the fugitive s nar 
 row chance would scarcely have served. A quick 
 throw of a lariat might easily have rendered his 
 short lead abortive, and, looking for this, Manuel 
 lay for a moment flat upon Zingaro s neck, that 
 the fatal, swishing loop he dreaded might have 
 less chance of securing effective hold. But the 
 throw was not made, thanks to the confusion amid 
 his enemies, and though all but one or two of 
 
 22 
 
THE NINE SWOKDS OF MORALES 23 
 
 these speedily disengaged themselves and sped 
 forward in pursuit, it was only to see Zingaro al 
 ready fifty yards away and still rushing on at a 
 rate which every moment widened the gap be 
 tween them. 
 
 But the pursuers did not pause and, indeed, 
 there seemed little enough reason for them to lose 
 heart thus early, when success still appeared not 
 only certain but almost at hand. They knew the 
 ground, perhaps not so thoroughly as Manuel, 
 but sufficiently well to realize that for the fugitive 
 there could be no escape except directly across 
 the swollen and brawling torrent which barred his 
 path. Spreading out as they rode, and taking 
 advantage of a curve in the course of the torrent, 
 a moment served to place fugitive and pursuers 
 in such a position that his case seemed hopeless. 
 At all events any attempt on his part to turn 
 either way along the bank of the stream promised 
 to be impossible unless he were willing to ride di 
 rectly over at least one or two of his foes. With 
 fierce satisfaction they realized this, seemingly 
 at the same instant, and at once a shout of tri 
 umph burst from the lips of all. 
 
 Manuel heard the exultant cry, and instantly 
 fathomed its meaning, but he smiled as he once 
 more bent low in the saddle and let his hand rest 
 caressingly upon the smooth, warm neck before 
 him. 
 
 "They do not know us yet, Zingaro," he mur 
 mured softly ; * ah, no ; not yet ! 
 
 Then horse and rider burst suddenly through 
 a final fringe of willows and found themselves 
 
:>4 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 instantly upon the bank of the raging and foaming 
 barrier in the path. 
 
 Viewed in that faint and uncertain light, it did 
 not present an inviting appearance to either steed 
 or rider, and even Manuel s brave gray snorted a 
 little as he paused on the wet and yielding brink. 
 The water was running over the banks, for the 
 torrent at this point bore not only its own proper 
 volume, but also that of the Laguna Santa Rosa, 
 the two streams joining but a short distance 
 above. Knowing perfectly that both were at their 
 highest, Manuel did not need any information as 
 to what must be the depth and force of the torrent 
 raging along before him. But what was the use 
 of considering? 
 
 1 In, Zingaro ! in ! " he shouted, and at the word 
 the brave gray sprang from the bank, and horse 
 and man almost disappeared beneath the muddy 
 flood. 
 
 But only for an instant. The next, Zingaro s 
 head was reared high above it, and with a great 
 snort of mingled spirit and disgust he blew a 
 wave of the unpleasant liquid from his nostrils. 
 Then, steadily and swiftly, he swam for the oppo 
 site shore. 
 
 Manuel knew better than to attempt to guide, 
 particularly in that dark obscurity, a horse whose 
 extreme intelligence he had long since learned to 
 fully appreciate. He let the reins lie loose upon 
 Zingaro s neck, and that sagacious and capable 
 animal justified the confidence well. Before Man 
 uel could believe it possible, the gray was clamber 
 ing like a cat up the bank on the further side, 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 25 
 
 breaking his way through the willows with a calm 
 determination, which seemed to indicate that such 
 performances were only what any and every 
 properly-minded horse should do quite as a mat 
 ter of course. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 IN WHICH MANUEL LEAENS THAT IT IS NOT ADVISABLE 
 TO TKIUMPH UNTIL WELL OUT OF THE WOODS 
 
 ONCE more on firm ground, Zingaro freed him 
 self of as much as possible of the water 
 which clung to his sides as he left the stream with 
 a shake which rattled every bone in Manuel s 
 body. Then, with a vigorous stamp, given as if 
 to assure the rider that he was still thoroughly 
 capable for whatever remained to be done, he 
 once more started forward. 
 
 But Manuel checked him. Across the stream, 
 on the bank he had just quitted, he could dimly 
 make out a confusion of men and horses. All 
 seemed to be crowded close upon the brink, but 
 as yet none had dared to venture further. Amid 
 the constant swish and murmur of the rushing 
 water came to his ear a mingling of fiercely ut 
 tered words and savage Spanish oaths. Whether 
 it was himself or one another that they were so 
 vigorously cursing, it was, of course, impossible 
 to decide, but it could readily be conjectured that 
 they would not waste time in imprecations if they 
 deemed it possible still to pursue him. Mani 
 festly his successful crossing of the torrent had 
 put them at a loss. 
 
 26 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 27 
 
 6 And no blame to them, Zingaro : they have 
 not thee ! was Manuel s half-uttered thought, as 
 once more he stroked the arching neck of his 
 splendid gray. 
 
 Manuel knew that his true policy now was to 
 move on as silently as might be, if possible leav 
 ing his enemies uncertain whether or not he had 
 made the passage in safety but he chose to do 
 otherwise. His pulse was beating high with the 
 pride of triumph already his, the confidence of 
 success yet before him and he was little more 
 than a boy ! He turned again toward the farther 
 bank and shouted, his strong young voice ringing 
 clear amid the hiss of the water : 
 
 Adios, Senors ! Buenos noches ! 
 
 He realized in an instant how grave had been 
 his error. At once rang out a louder burst of 
 imprecations, and amid the clamor a single fierce 
 cry of wild rage, followed at once by the sound 
 of a plunge, to which, with barely a pause between, 
 succeeded another and another. Clearly his 
 taunting words had been the one thing needed to 
 spur them forward and with something very 
 like an anathema upon himself, Manuel at once 
 urged Zingaro on and away from the scene of his 
 rider s folly. Even as he did so he heard and 
 with a feeling of instantly returning confidence 
 what seemed a shriek of consternation from the 
 waters behind him, followed immediately by a 
 chorus of other cries. But he did not pause. 
 That some one of his pursuers was in serious 
 trouble seemed certain, and Manuel could not re 
 press a feeling of satisfaction, possibly repre- 
 
^8 THE NINE SWOBDS OF MORALES 
 
 hensible but very human, that it should be so. If 
 true it meant much to him, but he fully realized 
 now that, whatever the case of his pursuers, his 
 part must be to put all the distance possible be 
 tween himself and those behind him, and this at 
 once. So again, with cheering voice and gentle 
 touch of knee, he urged Zingaro on. 
 
 But there was a different character of country 
 now to be passed over. The flat plains which 
 Manuel had hitherto been traversing had given 
 place to steep and high hills, thickly covered, for 
 the most part, with wood. The occasional white 
 oaks of the Santa Eosa plains had been succeeded 
 by the more vigorous black oak, intermingled with 
 which were many specimens of the beautiful ma- 
 drona and the stately fir. These would not have 
 seriously impeded a horseman s progress, but be 
 neath them the ground was almost everywhere 
 covered thick with underbrush, manzinita, young 
 madrona, and dwarf live-oak, with here and there 
 patches of the exasperating chemisal. One un 
 used to the territory would, on horseback, have 
 been almost completely helpless in broad day, to 
 say nothing of the darkness. 
 
 But Manuel made good progress, thanks to 
 Zingaro s sure-footedness and general intelligence 
 and to his own thorough knowledge of the ground 
 he traversed. There was comfort, too, in the 
 thought that, however difficult the way was for 
 himself, it must be more so for his enemies, should 
 any of them have succeeded in effecting the pas 
 sage of the torrent. Even allowing that their 
 general knowledge of the country was equal to his 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 29 
 
 own which hd felt it was no conceit on his part 
 to doubt there remained the extreme difficulty of 
 following his trail in the dark through a wilder 
 ness, unless, indeed, they were able to keep with 
 in sound of Zingaro s hoofs. This he felt certain 
 had been rendered impossible already. Even al 
 lowing them to have succeeded in crossing the 
 stream which had checked their first pursuit, they 
 could not, he was well assured, have done so 
 within the very few moments that he could have 
 been in hearing. Had it been a question of a 
 single and plainly defined path, serving for both 
 pursuers and pursued, the matter might have 
 been different, but the actual conditions were far 
 otherwise. His general direction, as also the 
 probable objective point which he might choose for 
 himself, those who followed could quite probably 
 guess ; but they could not without difficulty and de 
 lay ascertain which of the various cattle or Indian 
 trails apparently or actually tending in that di 
 rection he had elected to follow. By way of 
 increasing their difficulties as to this, Manuel took 
 pains, during the first half-mile of his renewed 
 flight, seizing the opportunity afforded by a break 
 in the underbrush with which he was familiar, to 
 make a sudden change from the path along which 
 he had first ridden to another. The latter, while 
 notably rougher, tended in the same general direc 
 tion and possessed the advantage of being some 
 what straighter and shorter. He knew, too, that 
 in due course it would again approach so near to 
 the track he had previously followed as to make 
 
30 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 another change, should he consider one advisable 
 at that point, a matter of no difficulty. 
 
 So he rode confidently forward, reasonably sure 
 that he had defeated the immediate pursuit, 
 though not able to dispel a certain amount of un 
 easiness which had arisen in his mind as to what 
 might await him further on in his journey. 
 Should those of his foes whom he had already 
 encountered and eluded have made what seemed 
 to Manuel the natural and almost obvious effort 
 to retrieve their failure, there was, indeed, more 
 than a chance of trouble still in store for him. 
 To Manuel it appeared almost inconceivable that 
 they should not attempt to speed down the east 
 ern shore of the Laguna with the purpose of cut 
 ting him off when he should endeavor later to 
 cross that broad stream in order to make the 
 final stage of his journey along the Arroyo Santa 
 Rosa to the Rivas Rancho. It was true that, at 
 the very beginning of their journey of intercep 
 tion, there would be the difficulty of crossing the 
 furious watercourse in which they had already 
 come to grief, but this he knew could be much 
 more easily done at the point where they would 
 naturally attempt it under the changed plans. 
 There it would not have received the waters of 
 the swollen Laguna, and must, of course, be a 
 much less formidable barrier. 
 
 Manuel, however, was of too healthy a disposi 
 tion to worry long over difficulties yet in the 
 future. Thus far the luck had all been his, and 
 he was boy enough still to look for it to continue 
 with him. Even allowing that his enemies were 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 31 
 
 making the attempt he feared, there were still 
 chances in his favor. For one, they might guess, 
 but they certainly could not with certainty deter 
 mine, the point at which he would make his cross 
 ing. Indeed, unless they knew the Laguna as 
 thoroughly as he did himself, there was every 
 probability that in this they would make an error 
 likely to completely defeat their plans. 
 
 Wonderfully cheered, for some reason, by the 
 last thought as it flashed through his mind, Man 
 uel again found himself leaning forward over the 
 neck of his tireless steed and once more address 
 ing him aloud, as if he were a human companion : 
 
 "Not yet have they caught us, Zingaro, mi 
 muchacho! and how should they while I ride 
 a horse like thee ? 
 
 If Zingaro did not understand the words, he did 
 the loving caress that accompanied them, and he 
 swung his handsome head half around as though 
 to look his acknowledgments. And then, as if it 
 were the instant result of the slight change in 
 the direction of his attention, he stopped sud 
 denly in his rapid walk and stood still in the path. 
 His head was up, his eyes flashing, his ears bent 
 forward. Manifestly he was listening, and this 
 with so human an air of intelligence as fairly 
 startled even the rider who knew him so well. 
 
 But Manuel had other cause for thought than 
 this, for in the first instant of the silence which 
 marked the pause in his own progress he, too, had 
 heard what attracted Zingaro s attention the 
 hoof-beats of more than one horse following in his 
 track. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 IN WHICH MANUEL FINDS HIMSELF PARTICIPATING IN 
 A HUNT BUT NOT AS THE HUNTER 
 
 AMAZEMENT contended with consternation 
 in Manuel s mind as he listened. That he 
 should have been pursued was nothing strange, 
 but that those on his track should have been able, 
 despite their accident at the crossing, not only to 
 keep pace with but also to overtake him, more 
 than all to follow his trail with apparently un 
 erring certainty and this at night and in a 
 wilderness seemed to pass belief. 
 
 For a moment, indeed, almost inclined to doubt 
 his own senses, Manuel redoubled his attention 
 and again, as if in answer to his doubt, came the 
 dropping sounds of hoof-beats. Clearly, too, they 
 were drawing rapidly nearer with every instant 
 that he hesitated, and just as evidently they were 
 following directly in his track. 
 
 Manuel shook his braided reins. 
 
 "Vamos, Zingaro!" he whispered, and the good 
 horse shot forward along the dark trail at a pace 
 which must have insured speedy disaster to any 
 animal less sure-footed than such as he. Manuel 
 realized this, if Zingaro did not, and there was 
 comfort in the thought comfort the young rider 
 
 32 
 
THE X1XE SWORDS OF MORALES 33 
 
 needed at that moment and for many thereafter. 
 For, recklessly as he rode, those who followed 
 seemed even more heedless of the chances of the 
 pathway and the night. Ever amid the hoof-beats 
 of his own steed sounded the continuous thud- 
 thudding behind him. Try as he might, he seemed 
 unable to increase the distance between them 
 indeed, it seemed at times as if it were rather 
 growing less and the feeling of vexation in the 
 young fugitive s mind speedily began to give way 
 to one stronger and far more uncomfortable. 
 
 Than Manuel de Guerra no braver youth in 
 that old day rode the hills and plains of Sonoma, 
 but he was not without at least a slight share of 
 the superstition of his race and time. Despite his 
 efforts to cast it forth, the thought steadily grew 
 in his mind that there was something uncanny in 
 this suddenly revived pursuit which checked at 
 no difficulty, made no error over any of his twists 
 and turnings, but followed ever surely and re 
 morselessly in his track. That he did not gain 
 upon those behind was not so strange. Recklessly 
 as he rode, wherever the chance offered, it was 
 yet impossible, without absolute madness, to 
 press Zingaro to his best speed, and this he had 
 not sought to do. But the singular ability which 
 his pursuers, whom heretofore he had not cred 
 ited with any great keenness of woodcraft or in 
 tellect, now showed in keeping so unerringly upon 
 his trail was something which he could not con 
 sider without ever-increasing wonder. 
 
 Gradually the temptation grew strong within 
 him to check his wild flight, await their coming, 
 
34 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 and, once and for all, end everything of doubt in 
 the encounter that must follow. The knowledge 
 that he was fleeing, to all appearance in strong 
 fear, from pursuers so few in number was some 
 thing in itself intensely distasteful, and but for one 
 thought he must have acted upon the bolder im 
 pulse the instant it was conceived. But Manuel 
 knew that his way lay forward; that honor and 
 duty yes, and the word of her whose will must 
 be his law even though it sent him from her for 
 ever bade him take no needless risk of failure in 
 his mission. If he stayed to defy those who fol 
 lowed, he could not but feel that he should thereby 
 almost certainly defeat that mission and in his 
 heart Manuel dared not deny that he would wel 
 come failure, even though brought about at the 
 peril of his life. And so confessing, he vowed 
 once more, deep in his loyal soul, that no act of 
 his should aid his enemies even to the accomplish 
 ment of his heart s chief desire, since that desire 
 his honor bade that he put from him. 
 
 So he rode steadily forward, and ever behind 
 him sounded still continuously, maddeningly 
 the hoof-beats that told of pursuit relentless and 
 untiring. 
 
 Once, indeed, either through his having uncon 
 sciously slackened his speed or because of some 
 acoustic vagary of the night or the locality, the 
 following sounds seemed suddenly to have ap 
 proached so near that he impulsively checked 
 Zingaro and whirled him about in the path. It 
 seemed that the pursuers were actually upon his 
 flanks, and it was with a fierce mental anathema 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 35 
 
 upon his own carelessness that he prepared to do 
 what now seemed the only thing possible, and 
 grapple hand to hand with his enemies. But an 
 instant served to show that it had not yet come to 
 this, for the hoof -beats, though certainly nearer 
 than before, still sounded, as he could now deter 
 mine, some distance back on the trail. And even 
 as he noted this the sounds ceased altogether. 
 
 Sudden fury seized upon Manuel, as. the picture 
 of his pursuers, waiting there, grim and silent in 
 the darkness, rose in his mind. 
 
 1 i Come on, cowards ! " he shouted savagely. 
 
 There was no answer, only the echoes of his 
 own voice sounding for a moment up the hillside, 
 then once more the blank silence of the night, 
 absolute and profound. Again arose in Manuel s 
 mind an impulse akin to that he had earlier 
 crowded down, and he longed to spur Zingaro 
 back along that dark path and to dash savagely 
 down upon those who waited there, who had fol 
 lowed him so fiercely and so far and yet chose 
 not, save at their own time and opportunity, to 
 close upon him and make an end. 
 
 But the impulse passed, or rather the better 
 resolution triumphed, and with grinding teeth and 
 frowning brows he once again swung his steed 
 about and rode on his way. 
 
 And once more, from the darkness behind him, 
 came the sound of following hoofs. But he stayed 
 no more to listen, and for mile after mile sped 
 swiftly on. 
 
 But Manuel halted at last, and this with a sud 
 den conviction that now, indeed, had the choice 
 
36 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 been taken from him and the direction of his 
 future movements placed in other hands than his 
 own. And with this thought came also another, 
 inexpressibly galling, that he had for an hour past 
 been made to play the part of hunted quarry, to 
 be driven at last, like a harried coyote, into the 
 very grasp of the hunters. 
 
 In the last stage of his hurried flight he had 
 suddenly rounded a spur of the steep and thickly- 
 wooded hill bordering the western shore of that 
 portion of the Laguna Santa Rosa in later years 
 to be known as "Gray s Lake." Before him now 
 lay a comparatively open and level triangular 
 glade, of which the boundaries were the hillside 
 and the water. In the midst of the space, par 
 tially screened by clumps of intervening shrub 
 bery, blazed a fire of logs and brushwood, the 
 flame throwing into partial and fantastic relief a 
 score or more of figures seated or standing about 
 it. Glimpses were to be obtained also of yet other 
 forms further away from the blaze and more or 
 less obscured in the shadows. 
 
 Manuel realized, even while he glanced mechan 
 ically about him, that if he were seeking a way of 
 escape the quest was hopeless. Already he knew 
 the ground sufficiently well to understand that 
 now, indeed, he was sorely beset. To go forward 
 was to ride directly into the camp of those whom 
 he could not question were his foes ; to turn back 
 was to meet his immediate pursuers. To the 
 right was the steep and impenetrably wooded 
 hillside, and on the left the broad and deep ex 
 panse of the lake. Knowing Zingaro s powers as 
 
THE XIXE SWORDS OF MORALES 37 
 
 a swimmer, he might, indeed, have dared this, but 
 the shore on his own side was too treacherously 
 marshy to be crossed. Even could this difficulty 
 be overcome, he knew that the further bank was 
 so thickly bordered with willows that a landing 
 there, more especially at night, would be practi 
 cally impossible. His flight seemed ended. 
 
 As the thought forced itself into his mind there 
 came again to his ears the thudding of the hoofs 
 behind him, now close at hand. With a sudden 
 furious impulse he drew one of his long-barrelled 
 pistols from the holster and swung his horse 
 about until he faced directly back in his tracks. 
 
 "Stand! I will fire!" he shouted fiercely, lev 
 eling his weapon at the blackness before him. 
 
 The shadows of the thickly-wooded pathway 
 out of which he had himself just emerged still hid 
 his pursuers, but he heard sounds indicating the 
 sudden checking of more than one horse as his 
 words, followed at once by the sharp clicking of 
 his pistol-lock, rang out in the night. The 
 thought flashed through his mind that his figure 
 must be standing in dangerous relief against the 
 firelight behind him, should his enemies care to 
 anticipate his threat. And he was not wrong. 
 
 Even with the thought there was a whirring 
 twang, and something soft and feathery, like the 
 tip of a bird s wing, brushed with lightning swift 
 ness by Manuel s cheek. 
 
 "Dios!" he muttered, startled. "An arrow!" 
 
 Half involuntarily, in the surprise of the in 
 stant, he pressed his trigger, the heavy pistol still 
 leveled at that dark space before him. The ex- 
 
38 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 plosion of the huge piece echoed thunderously up 
 the steep hillside but Manuel heard, neverthe 
 less, a sudden "Wah!" in the darkness, which 
 seemed to indicate that his chance bullet had not 
 altogether gone astray. 
 
 But the result of his shot had not daunted his 
 pursuers. Before lie could draw the second 
 pistol, had he been so minded, two horsemen had 
 darted forward from the shadows and seized his 
 reins, one on either side. 
 
 Within a moment a score or more of footmen, 
 some rushing from the camp-fire, others seeming 
 to spring from the woods at his very stirrup, 
 swarmed about him. Turn where he might, Man 
 uel could see only a mass of wild, dark faces, all 
 the more fierce in appearance for the flickering 
 and fitful character of the light by which he 
 viewed them. 
 
 But Manuel, after one moment of amazement, 
 could have laughed aloud. At once he lifted the 
 broad hat from his head and turned his face to 
 the light. 
 
 "You are Sonoma s men," he said quietly. "I 
 am Manuel." 
 
 There was a stir in the dark throng about him. 
 Then he heard his name "Manuel," "Manu- 
 elo," "Manuelito," in various forms passed 
 about as it were from one to another of those who 
 surrounded him. Always it was uttered in tones 
 of kindness kindness recalling those days in 
 Manuel s early boyhood when his father had first 
 taken him to Sonoma s camp and won for him 
 from that strange potentate and his wild follow- 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 39 
 
 ers that place in their affections which had ever 
 since been his own. 
 
 The two men who had seized his bridle at once 
 released their hold, but one of them bent forward 
 and passed his hand, lightly but with an air of 
 hasty anxiety, over Manuel s breast and shoul 
 ders. He had in his grasp a strung bow, but the 
 arrow that might have been resting on the string 
 was missing. 
 
 Manuel laughed, and swept his hand swiftly 
 across his cheek. The other nodded as if in grave 
 satisfaction, then calmly thrust a bare and sinewy 
 arm close to Manuel s eyes. Even in the half- 
 light the youth was able to note that the dark 
 skin was scarred by a yet darker mark, such as 
 might have been made by the scorching graze of 
 a bullet. 
 
 "I am sorry, but I did not know," said Manuel 
 gravely, speaking in Spanish, but almost uncon 
 sciously modifying it as to word and accent as 
 his earlier experiences with those about him had 
 taught him should be done. 
 
 "I know now why I could not shake you off," 
 he added, smiling again. 
 
 The Indian s dark cheek wrinkled slightly, and 
 there was a brief gleam of white teeth which 
 might pass for at least the suggestion of a smile. 
 But he only said, with a slow nod : 
 
 "We will go to Sonoma." 
 
 He spurred forward, his mounted companion 
 and Manuel following, side by side, while behind 
 them trooped the throng of footmen whom the 
 sound of Manuel s shot had called together. It 
 
40 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 was but a distance of a few rods to the camp-fire, 
 and before Manuel had done glancing about him 
 and endeavoring to recognize individuals among 
 his wild escort, he had arrived, and his immediate 
 conductors checked their horses. 
 
 i Sonoma, some one said. 
 
 "You are welcome, Manuelo," spoke a calm 
 voice, in pure, unaccented Spanish. "Dismount, 
 sit by me here, and say how I may serve you. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 TELLING OF A STRANGE WOODLAND POTENTATE OF 
 
 OLDEN TIME AND THE RECEPTION HE GAVE 
 
 MANUEL DE GUERRA 
 
 STRANGEST and, in a way, most romantic 
 of all the notable figures of Northern Cali 
 fornia in that old day was the singular being in 
 whose presence Manuel now found himself. An 
 Indian of Indians, inasmuch as the tribesmen of 
 every hill and valley for a hundred miles owned 
 him as ruler, there were yet those both among 
 his own people and the aliens in the land who 
 could not but wonder and doubt when the ques 
 tion of his race was suggested to them. Indian he 
 might be in habits of life and the apparent stolid 
 impassivity of his nature, but there the points of 
 identity ended. Dark in complexion, he was not 
 more so than many a Spaniard or Mexican who 
 traced a pure-blood descent from proud houses 
 in Southern Spain, and of the aquiline outline of 
 his countenance the same could be said. Utterly 
 foreign to the usual appearance of the race he 
 ruled was the thick mass of bristling beard which 
 covered his face from throat to eyes, while his 
 difference in this respect from the ordinary In 
 dian was accentuated by the fact that his hair, 
 
 41 
 
42 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 instead of hanging in long, straight locks upon his 
 neck and shoulders, stood out in thick, stiff clus 
 ters about his massive head. His dress, so far as 
 the conditions of his life permitted, ^s rather 
 that of civilization than of savagery. Even his 
 piercing black eyes were not distinctively those 
 of an Indian, and if a sterner light shone in them 
 than would have been usual had they lit a Cau 
 casian face, the fact was easily to be accounted 
 for in his knowledge that, in the world of which 
 alone he knew, no word stood above his own. In 
 the little Sonoma pueblo named for himself and 
 lying beyond the mountains, Vallejo might rule 
 for Mexico: Sonoma gave him friendship al 
 ways obedience when their wishes chanced to 
 chime. Far to the southward dwelt Solano, 
 "Prince" by grace of a Spanish patent, So 
 noma s tribal suzerain in name and only so. 
 Here, in his own "Three Valleys" and among 
 the hills between, he ruled his tribesmen as he 
 listed, and no man said him nay. 
 
 Strange tales were told at times of Sonoma s 
 blood and ancestry tales having their founda 
 tion very probably in the peculiarities of his ap 
 pearance, possibly in some actual knowledge of 
 the original* narrator. However that might be, 
 there could be no question that with whatever of 
 fact might in the beginning have appertained to 
 them, much that could hardly be other than fiction 
 had come to be interwoven this the more readily 
 that there was little possibility of correcting 
 whatever of error there might be. There were 
 old men living who were credited with having 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 43 
 
 knowledge of the truth, but it had long been 
 known that no one of these could be induced to 
 tell how little or how much he knew. There was 
 one other also who had knowledge, but whom no 
 one cared to question that one, Sonoma. 
 
 So the rumors of knightly Conquistador an 
 cestry, of descent strangely unblemished by gen 
 erations spent amid dark-hued aliens, remained 
 but rumors, as did yet other tales, some so 
 strange as to be self-evidently works of fancy 
 and Sonoma lived on, to the great mass of his 
 own tribesmen, as to the stranger settlers in the 
 land, a problem and a mystery. 
 
 He did not rise as Manuel dismounted before 
 him where he lay in the full glow of the firelight, 
 his athletic limbs, wrapped in Mexican leggings 
 of leather, extended carelessly before him and 
 his great form partially supported upon one 
 elbow. His couch was a brightly barred Mexican 
 blanket, ample in size, and as Manuel gave Zin- 
 garo into the care of one who stepped forward to 
 receive him, the Chief motioned for the youth to 
 seat himself so close beside him as to be also pro 
 tected from the dampness of the earth. Manuel 
 obeyed, and then Sonoma silently extended his 
 hand, for so it was ever his custom to greet his 
 friends among the white men. When he spoke it 
 was again in Spanish, as pure as Manuel s own, 
 and his soft, almost caressing voice seemed alto 
 gether at variance with the fierceness which his 
 bristling beard and brows gave to his dark face. 
 
 "You are welcome, Manuelito," he said. "But 
 
44 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 why do you fire on your father s friends and 
 your own! It was your pistol, was it not!" 
 
 Manuel s eyes glistened and his white teeth, 
 shone in the firelight. 
 
 "I but gave bullet for arrow, Chief," he said, 
 "and there is no hurt done. But why do my 
 father s friends chase my father s son over the 
 hills as if he were a coyote!" 
 
 Something as near a smile as ever came upon 
 Sonoma s grim face twitched for an instant the 
 masses of his great beard. 
 
 "And why," he said, "does your father s son 
 prowl like a coyote about us in the dark, if he 
 would not be hunted!" 
 
 "How should I know you were here so far 
 from home!" 
 
 Sonoma s broad shoulders stiffened slightly, 
 and when he spoke again something of the soft 
 ness seemed gone from his voice. But there was 
 no anger in his words. 
 
 "It was all home once," he said, and bent his 
 piercing eyes about him, on either side, as if 
 striving, even in the darkness, to survey the herit 
 age he knew so well was passing from him. 
 
 Manuel hastened to speak again. 
 
 "Chief, your people have done me no harm. I 
 passed them in the dark, and they did not know 
 whom they followed. But there may be those 
 even now upon my track from whom I have more 
 to fear." 
 
 "Gonzales* men?" 
 
 Yes. How did you know ! 
 
 "I knew they were abroad and so my men 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 45 
 
 kept guard," said the Chief sententiously. "But 
 I believed them across the water." 
 
 i So they are, but a few may have followed me 
 here." 
 
 "Then they shall follow you no more," said 
 Sonoma quietly, and, turning his head, he spoke 
 to those of his tribesmen nearest him. Now he 
 used the pure Indian tongue, of which his young 
 guest had but a smattering. Manuel could obtain 
 only an inkling of what was said, but he guessed 
 the remainder, something of it at least, when he 
 saw a group of men walk quickly to their picketed 
 horses, mount and ride quietly away in the direc 
 tion from which he had come. 
 
 "They will keep the trails," said Sonoma, an 
 swering the question in the eyes of his guest, 
 
 "And if any come " 
 
 "They will stop," said the Chief. 
 
 "But if they will not!" 
 
 Sonoma s great brush of beard twitched again. 
 
 i i They will stop, he repeated. 
 
 Manuel laid his hand hesitatingly upon his 
 host s arm. 
 
 "I would not wish," he began but said no 
 more, for he knew Sonoma s moods well, and the 
 look that met his own now warned him that 
 further suggestion was unwelcome. And, to say 
 truth, it was with no particular feeling of sorrow 
 that he saw his possible pursuers consigned to at 
 least the chance of something like a very shocking 
 surprise in the near future. 
 
 "Tell me," he said, more for a new subject of 
 
46 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 conversation than otherwise, "why TOUT people 
 are here to-night." 
 
 "We came three days ago to hunt the wild fowl. 
 We would have gone before now. bnt the waters 
 rose and our laden ponies cannot cross. And 
 there are some of the women and children with 
 us. So we have waited." 
 
 Why not go as I have come to-night ? I swam 
 ^^M through." 
 
 "Yes with some one after you," said Sonoma, 
 again with that strange hint of un-Indian humor 
 breaking thfMgh his ordinary aboriginal impas~ 
 sivenesSy 9& was wont to happen when it fell in 
 his way to converse with a Caucasian. 
 
 But he was thoroughly grave an instant later, 
 for a sound of confusion suddenly came from the 
 northern end of the waterside glade. The guess 
 which Manuel at once made as to its cause needed 
 not for confirmation the sudden burst of Spanish 
 profanity which broke forth a few seconds later. 
 
 "They have tracked me. after all and quick 
 ly," said Manuel. 
 
 "Yes."" said Sonoma quietly. S4 but they will go 
 back now." 
 
 Then he signed with his hand, and his young 
 guest s horse, which had been undergoing a vig 
 orous rubbing down indeed, but that Manuel 
 had seen this going on. he would scarcely have 
 contented himself to delay so long was led for 
 ward. 
 
 "I have seen that you were eager to be gone." 
 said his strange host, speaking in his usual quiet 
 and passionless fashion. "Then ride on now " 
 
THE XIXE SWORDS OF MORALES 47 
 
 and once more the grim phantom of a smile flitted 
 across his wild face "lest I have other guests 
 yon may not care to meet." 
 
 Manuel wrong his hand, then swung himself 
 into the saddle. 
 
 "Shall these go with you?" asked the Chief, 
 indicating a group of his men who stood beside 
 their ponies near at hand. 
 
 "Oh, no; indeed, there is no need," said Man 
 uel. ^Keep my friends yonder from following." 
 he added, laughing, "and I shall go the faster for 
 being alone." 
 
 "Yes. your horse is swift, though we have as 
 good," said the Chief. "But have it as you 
 will." 
 
 Then, as Manuel settled himself in the irnHif, 
 Sonoma arose suddenly and stood beside him. 
 
 * Manuelito," he said in his soft voice of caress 
 ing kindness, "you ride to the ^W^IF Rivasf f> 
 
 "Yes. Chief." 
 
 I" and now Manuel noted a hesitation 
 which seemed strange, indeed, in one who ordi 
 narily knew his own strong will and spoke it 
 fearlessly -not. Manuelito, to Donna Panehaf" 
 
 "Chief!" 
 
 Sonoma lifted a deprecating hand. 
 
 "Be not angry. Manuelito, son of my friend, 
 my friend who is dead," he said, in his soft 
 Spanish. "Go your way as you wilL But, Man- 
 uelo. all man s foes are not those who waylay him 
 in the woods or chase him on the plain." 
 
 -udden fire of fury seemed to flame in the 
 Chief s eyes as he uttered the last words, and 
 
48 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 into Manuel s mind came a faint memory of a 
 tale he seemed to have heard sometime in his 
 early youth, a strange, wild story of a Sonoma 
 who then claimed other race and name than now 
 were his a story in which a woman figured. But 
 the dim memory faded, and his mind came back 
 to the present as he saw the Chief turn away with 
 no further words, a wave of his hand serving for 
 farewell. Manuel replied in the same silent fash 
 ion, loosened his braided reins, and rode on his 
 way. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 IN WHICH MANUEL REACHES A LANDMARK IN HIS 
 JOURNEY AND ENCOUNTERS THE THREE IRON MEN 
 
 MANUEL knew every cattle-path and Indian 
 trail on both sides of the Laguna, and it 
 needed but a few moments careful work for him 
 to guide Zingaro to the nearest of these which 
 trended in the direction he desired to go. Then, 
 onward once more sped the good horse, gallop 
 ing when he could, walking when he must, but 
 never failing to make the very best speed possible. 
 
 But the path was steep and tortuous, and some 
 times, where it ran along the shore of the Laguna, 
 Manuel found that the water had risen so high 
 as to cover it. Then it became necessary to break 
 a way through the brushwood, which was slow 
 and wearisome work. Hasten as he would, it was 
 an hour before he reined in his still vigorous 
 steed on the summit of Battle Hill and sprang 
 from his saddle beneath the shadow of the 
 " Three Iron Men." 
 
 Manuel knew the legend well. From the days 
 in his early boyhood when his Indian nurse had 
 told him the tale, it had remained ever in his 
 memory. Had it been otherwise the story must 
 in any case have been recalled to him now. Even 
 
 49 
 
50 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 as he dismounted to give Zingaro the rest that he 
 felt the good horse needed before attempting the 
 passage of the broad stretch of water which lay 
 below, from high above came to his ears the 
 clash of arms and armor, the sound of mighty 
 blows, and the groans of wounded and dying men 
 sore stricken in strife. Of a surety the Iron Men 
 were still fighting that last deadly battle. 
 
 Manuel had no more superstition than belonged 
 to his race and time, but he crossed himself as he 
 listened, and glanced not alone above him, but 
 also around about the sloping sides of the hill. A 
 little moved to awe he was, and at least approach 
 ing that frame of mind in which he would scarcely 
 have been startled to see the steep slopes peopled 
 again with the dark and striving forms of the 
 savage warriors against whom the Iron Men had 
 made their last desperate struggle. He saw noth 
 ing, of course, and his stout young nerves were 
 too strong and healthy for him to imagine what 
 was not there. Yet the place and the hour 
 brought back with weird force the tale of the 
 long-past tragedy. Vividly he recalled with what 
 intense interest he had listened to the story of 
 the armed and armored strangers and the stern 
 march that had ended so darkly. The tale was 
 centuries old even when he heard it first, but it 
 had lost nothing of impressiveness then for the 
 ears of a child, and it lost nothing now, recalled 
 under such circumstances, for the mind of the 
 man. 
 
 Coming from what distant scene of Spanish in 
 vasion could now only be conjectured, the stern 
 
TIIK NINE SWORDS OP MORALES 51 
 
 strangers had fought their way thus far to the 
 north. Fiercely pursued they were and harassed 
 as they progressed by ever increasing bodies of 
 native foemen, who, day by day and night after 
 night, hung upon their flanks with never-ceasing 
 enmity. Day by day the number of the pursued 
 grew less as they fought their way hopelessly on 
 ward. Day by day their steeds grew more wear 
 ied and less able to bear the riders, who, worn 
 and famished themselves, were wholly unfit to 
 pursue their way on foot. Day by day the de 
 spairing eyes of chiefs and followers looked 
 vainly for the succor that never came. And at 
 last, upon this bold highland, seized on in the 
 fugitives final desperation as offering at least 
 a chance to die hardly and at savage cost to the 
 remorseless pursuers, came the beginning of the 
 end. 
 
 Here the fugitives had intrenched themselves 
 for the last struggle. Here, foot by foot, the lines 
 of gaunt-faced men with which the upper heights 
 of the hill had been surrounded in the awful sim 
 plicity of the final plan of defense gave slowly 
 back toward the crest of the hill above them 
 those lines ever shortening as man after man died 
 under the continuous onrush of overwhelming 
 foes died bravely, sternly, and never unavenged. 
 Here, upon the summit of the hill, stood at last, 
 back to back, still firm and unflinching, the Three 
 Iron Men. 
 
 Leaders of the band they, and sole survivors, 
 not that their own part in the battling already 
 done had been less earnest, not that they had 
 
52 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 dared death less fearlessly. But the full suits of 
 steel they wore by virtue of their higher rank had 
 guarded them better from the arrows and lances 
 and stone-headed clubs of their assailants than 
 had the buff coats and simpler armor of their fol 
 lowers. But now, overwhelmed by the rush of 
 blood-maddened foes, crushed to the earth by the 
 weight of those who grieved not that they died 
 if only in dying they could aid the living against 
 these last desperate foemen, the Iron Three so 
 to be remembered evermore in the land of the 
 tragedy met their end. Together, as they had 
 lived and striven, so they died and the savage 
 conquerors, even amid the counting of their own 
 almost numberless dead, the binding up of the 
 wounds of which scarcely one among the living 
 knew the lack, felt reverence enough for those 
 who had so stoutly and sternly defied them to the 
 deadly end to bury them, unshamed and un- 
 stripped, still clad in their stained and dinted 
 armor, on the spot where they fell. 
 
 Even so and there The Three found sepulture 
 and there, as the years went by, swiftly grew up 
 ward three young and graceful saplings of fir, 
 slender and willowy at first, but speedily strength 
 ening into stately and vigorous young trees. Yet 
 later, as the counting by years gave place to reck 
 oning by decades, they had grown into forest 
 giants which now, with the lapse of centuries, 
 towered in air, side by side, to a height almost 
 incredible. Still were they strong and vigorous, 
 chiefs among giants, and still they gave forth, far 
 in the upper air, with every breeze that blew, that 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 53 
 
 constant sound and semblance of battle, of echo 
 ing blow and groan of dying men, which had 
 caused the great group to be known far and wide 
 as monument and memorial of the Three Iron 
 Men. 
 
 The old story, vivid as he had heard it in his 
 childhood days, flitted through Manuel s mind as 
 he waited in the shadow of the great tree-trunks. 
 The weird battle-clamor echoed far above his 
 head as the heavy upper limbs swayed slightly in 
 such breeze as was blowing high aloft. Continu 
 ously came down the sound of blow and death- 
 cry and, stout-hearted as the lad had ever been, 
 it was with distinct relief that he at length de 
 cided that Zingaro had rested sufficiently to un 
 dertake the passing of the broad stream before 
 him. 
 
 Yet he could not but smile as he mounted, re 
 membering even in the midst of his awe, how lit 
 tle the thought of what now so oppressed him had 
 troubled his mind while the scene of the legend 
 was yet distant. Battle Hill, during the hours 
 that he had been hastening toward it, had simply 
 meant to him a point where it behooved him to 
 cross the Laguna, since directly eastward, and 
 seven miles away almost, indeed, upon that spot 
 where the beautiful City of Roses was afterward 
 to spring into being was the Rivas hacienda, the 
 end of his journey. 
 
 Another reason for crossing here was that the 
 great watercourse, so formidable in winter, 
 though almost dry in summer, while deeper just 
 here than at many other points, was much nar- 
 
54 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 rower. This was due to the fact that on the east 
 ern side, and just opposite the bold bluff upon 
 which Manuel stood, a knoll caused the shore to 
 project out much farther toward the center than it 
 did elsewhere for miles. 
 
 Despite this fact, however, Manuel knew that 
 nearly if not quite a quarter of a mile of water 
 lay between the opposite shores, and he could only 
 hope that it might be possible to wade the greater 
 portion of the distance. On his own side it would 
 have to be a swim from the first plunge, but op 
 posite he knew that the shore shelved gradually. 
 
 He had looked well to his girths before re 
 mounting, and with a word to Zingaro, already 
 impatient, he made his way, zigzagging but as 
 rapidly as possible, down the steep incline to the 
 water s edge. At the brink he paused a moment, 
 and it probably would not have lessened the awe 
 still possessing him could he have anticipated 
 that even on the spot where now he stood, on a 
 day yet to come, a foul crime was to be committed, 
 and Salvador the Outlaw, darkly famous in later 
 years, was to add one more chapter to the black 
 career so soon after this last deed to end upon 
 the scaffold. 
 
 But all this, fortunately for the youth s peace of 
 mind, already rapidly recovering, was still far in 
 the future, and his pause on the brink was but that 
 he might give a moment s thought to the selection 
 of a proper point at which to urge his horse into 
 the broad stream. A circumstance which might 
 have puzzled many a person less thoroughly ac 
 quainted with the governing conditions than Man- 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 55 
 
 uel was the fact that the volume of water which he 
 now had to cross was immensely greater than that 
 of the creek it flowed into, and which he had al 
 ready successfully passed at a point below the 
 junction of the two streams. Manuel knew that it 
 was simply the result of the Laguna having spread 
 out, lake-like, over all the available low-lying 
 ground, through the inability of its narrow outlet 
 to carry off, with sufficient rapidity, the accumu 
 lation of water resulting from the recent heavy 
 rains. But the explanation, if it occurred to him 
 at the moment, did not cause him to regard with 
 any more pleasure the crossing now to be made. 
 
 But the stout-hearted lad gave little time to 
 meditation. Dismounting, he once more looked 
 to his girth, then swung himself into the saddle 
 again and made his way to the point he had se 
 lected. Here, too, he spent little time in uselessly 
 contemplating what lay before him. 
 
 "In, Zingaro; in!" he shouted, and the brave 
 horse took the plunge. 
 
 Thanks to the backwater which had so swollen 
 the Laguna, there was little current, and, save 
 such difficulty as might be caused by submerged 
 clumps of willows, there was nothing to impede 
 the progress of a horse that had been trained to 
 swim with a rider on its back. Zingaro was such 
 an animal, and once more, as the horse glided 
 swiftly through the dark water toward the oppo 
 site shore, Manuel found cause to bless the fore 
 thought that had led him to teach this, his favor 
 ite steed, everything that it seemed possible for a 
 horse to learn. It was a long, long passage before 
 
56 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 the gallant gray s feet struck bottom in the shoal 
 ing water on the eastern side, but never once did 
 the splendid steed falter, never once did he lose 
 his confidence in the gently guiding hand of his 
 rider. Indeed, as the horse made the remainder 
 of the passage to shore, Manuel, feeling him stum 
 ble and plunge, owing to the muddy and uneven 
 bottom, had cause to regret that the deep water 
 had not extended entirely to land. 
 
 But the shore was reached at last, and then 
 Manuel sprang to the ground to wring the water 
 from his drenched clothing, and to hug Zingaro s 
 damp head in his arms and against his breast 
 with more genuine affection, perhaps, than many 
 a man would manifest toward a brother. 
 
 "Zingaro, caro Zingaro!" he murmured lov 
 ingly. "Oh, the brave horse! Had ever master 
 one like thee before?" 
 
 Zingaro rubbed his damp nose against Man 
 uel s cheek, as if to show how thoroughly he un 
 derstood it all ; then suddenly threw his head high 
 and stood rigid in a way that Manuel well under 
 stood meant alarm. But he had himself heard the 
 sound which had attracted the animal s keen at 
 tention. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 TELLING OF AN ODD MEETING ON THE LAGUNA SHORE, 
 AND OF WHAT CAME OF IT 
 
 OVER the gently sloping knolls bordering the 
 eastern shore of the Laguna a horseman 
 was riding at a slow "lope," the hoofs of his 
 steed falling in dull though rhythmic cadence upon 
 the soft earth. It was not this sound, however, 
 which had first reached the ears of Manuel and 
 Zingaro, but rather the voice of the strange rider. 
 For as he rode he sang a verse of a California 
 vaquero love-song. 
 
 "Oh, closed be all eyes but thine own, my sweety 
 
 And dim be the kindly stars! 
 Hoiv else shall I come to thy dear, dear feet, 
 
 When the hate of thy kindred bars? 
 And sivift be thy silent hoofs, my steed, 
 Swift, sivift, as the leagues fly by! 
 Thou knoivest what need 
 Have I of thy speed 
 Till the home of my foes be nigh; 
 The home of my foes, 
 Where divelleth the rose 
 For the breath of whose lips I would die! 
 Yes, deem myself blessed to die!" 
 
 57 
 
58 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 No one who rode thus in gay and careless ease 
 could be a midnight waylayer, the very essence 
 of whose policy should be silence and secrecy. 
 But as Manuel listened his brows drew together, 
 and into his heart came a feeling more of con 
 sternation than any previous experience of the 
 night had been sufficient to cause. Half mechani 
 cally, as he noted that the newcomer must in a 
 moment be upon him, he glanced about as if seek 
 ing a possibility of concealment. But on this side 
 of the Laguna there was no underwood, nothing 
 but tall white oaks, whose bare trunks might hide 
 a man, but certainly could not conceal a horse. 
 In any case, the thought of seeking concealment 
 was not one to remain in Manuel s mind for more 
 than a fleeting instant. 
 
 But it was with an ejaculation that was some 
 thing between a curse and a groan that he mut 
 tered, shaking his head : 
 
 "Had it been any one else or he at any other 
 time!" 
 
 Then he stepped forward as if to meet the 
 horseman, and the latter, seeing him, pulled up his 
 steed in an instant. 
 
 "Well met in the dark, amigo," called out the 
 stranger, in a voice fearless and gay, and mani 
 festly belonging to one who was afraid of nothing. 
 "Who, beside myself, is crazy enough to be roam 
 ing about this water-sodden wilderness at this 
 hour?" 
 
 "Is it you, Herrera?" said Manuel, in a tone 
 which gave no hint of the disturbed condition of 
 his thoughts. 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 59 
 
 "Yes, it is I, Herrera. And I should know your 
 voice. But it cannot be that you are Manuel 
 de Guerra. No, no ; fate could not be so kind to 
 me as that." 
 
 All the laughter had gone from the stranger s 
 voice, which now thrilled with what seemed a 
 mingling of fierceness and triumph. But Manuel 
 spoke as calmly as before. 
 
 "I am Manuel de Guerra," he said. 
 
 Without a word Herrera leaped down from his 
 saddle, hitched his horse to a tree with a few deft 
 turns of a lariat, and strode to Manuel s side. 
 
 "I have waited long for a meeting such as this, 
 Senor de Guerra," he said gravely. "I do not 
 do such wrong to your courage as to suggest that 
 my ill success in securing it earlier was of your 
 making. But now that we have met at last I 
 fancy we need waste no words." 
 
 Manuel ground his teeth. That this man, the 
 one deadly foe he, up to this night, had believed 
 he had, should meet him now! He feared him 
 not. Gentle-mannered, kindly-natured youth that 
 he was, Manuel de Guerra had never before seen 
 the time when he shrunk from peril. But that the 
 boyish and almost wholly causeless quarrel of 
 three months before should rise up for final and 
 deadly settlement now ! 
 
 And this man, too, in earlier days, had been his 
 friend and comrade rode with him, hunted with 
 him yes, fought with him! A few hasty words 
 worst of all, a blow! had changed all, and the 
 deadly reckoning which older friends had inter- 
 
60 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 fered with at the time of the quarrel was de 
 manded at last and to-night. 
 
 "You do not answer me," said Herrera, as 
 Manuel still struggled with his confusing 
 thoughts. 
 
 "I have just swum the Laguna," said De Guer- 
 ra, uttering the first words that came to his 
 tongue. 
 
 "And your powder is wet," said Herrera, with 
 a courteous deadliness which was appalling. 
 "Bueno! What need have we for pistols! 
 Though I might lend you one of mine, did you 
 desire. But it is simpler otherwise. See I 
 hang them here upon my saddle. I keep only my 
 knife. You have your own. The water has not 
 harmed that. We are equal as to weapons. Shall 
 we begin, Senor?" 
 
 Still the same deadly courteousness. Still the 
 same calm taking for granted that there could be 
 but one issue of this chance meeting. Manuel 
 could have cursed aloud. 
 
 "Herrera," he said hoarsely, "this cannot be 
 to-night, You must wait." 
 
 Herrera started, but when he spoke his voice 
 was still courteous. 
 
 "I have already waited long, Sefior. I have 
 waited and the burn on my cheek does not heal. 
 
 "I know, I know. Still, even though you think 
 me coward, let it be as I say. To-night I cannot 
 fight you. 
 
 "I have no thought of charging you with cow 
 ardice. The day has been " and here this 
 strange man s voice faltered and trembled 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 61 
 
 "when I would have had the life of any one who 
 uttered that word of Manuel de Guerra. But 
 and now once more spoke the coldly, calmly, cour 
 teous voice again "may I ask so much of the 
 Senor s confidence as an explanation? It is not 
 like him this refusal to give the man he has in 
 jured a chance to wipe out the memory of that 
 wrong. 
 
 "Why not?" exclaimed Manuel, speaking his 
 thought aloud. "Herrera, you know of Pancha 
 Rivas. To-night I am expected at her father s 
 house. There are those who seek to bar my com 
 ing those who have taught her to fear that I 
 am faithless and dishonored. Delay me now, and 
 you aid those who have already waylaid me on 
 my journey, driven me far from my path, and 
 sought in every way to make me fail. If we are 
 to fight to-night, why, then, I must hope that you 
 kill me, for otherwise I see delay and failure and 
 dishonor. 
 
 "Who is it," and there seemed now a new tone 
 in Herrera s voice, "that has waylaid you to 
 night? Is it Gonzales and his gang?" 
 
 "I fear so. They stopped me far to the north 
 ward, and it was because of them that I came by 
 the west shore. It was only so that I escaped 
 them." 
 
 "You have not escaped them, De Guerra, not 
 yet. I did not understand, but an hour ago, 
 yonder to the northeast, a troop of the cutthroats 
 passed me, riding south. They stopped to learn 
 my name and peer into my face, but long before 
 this they have planted themselves between here 
 
62 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 and the Rivas Rancho. They have learned of 
 your changed route and that you passed them 
 by." 
 
 "Can it, indeed, be so?" 
 
 "It is. But you have no time to argue. Is your 
 horse rested? Into the saddle, then, and on, and 
 take care of yourself. Stay your pistols are 
 water-soaked. Take mine they are dry and they 
 are loaded. You can return them when we meet 
 again for meet again we shall, Manuel de Guer- 
 ra, and then will our own quarrel find settle 
 ment. 
 
 Once more Herrera s voice was cold and stern, 
 but Manuel drew nearer to him and took his re 
 luctant hand. 
 
 "Francisco," he said, "we may meet again, but 
 it can never be the meeting that you mean. 
 Though you put the worst insult upon me, I can 
 never forget this night nor the old friendship. 
 Ah, do not put your hand to your cheek. Fran 
 cisco comrade brother, will it make you forget 
 that unlucky day if I say that I was wrong if I 
 beg you to forgive me ? " 
 
 Then Herrera gave one great, gasping sob and 
 flung his arms about Manuel, heedless of the 
 water- soaked garments, and hugged him half 
 madly to his breast. Only for a moment. Then, 
 he sprang away, tore loose the lariat that held 
 his horse, and the next instant was in the saddle. 
 
 "Mount, mount!" he said in a voice which he 
 seemed to strive to render cold and fierce. 
 "Mount, and let us start." 
 You? Are you coming?" 
 
 i t 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 63 
 
 "Am I not? Could I let you go alone now?" 
 
 And then, with a swift change from the emo 
 tion of the moment before, Herrera laughed out, 
 not loudly but with gay light-heartedness. 
 
 "Vain man!" he said. "May I, too, not have 
 my own purposes to serve? Is there but a single 
 pair of soft eyes under old Rivas roof? Oh, Man 
 uel, Manuel," he added, laughing again, but with 
 a strange suggestion of reverence amid the wild 
 jest of his words, "heaven itself must have sent 
 us both to this blessed mud-hole to-night," 
 
 Manuel wrung Herrera s hand, and a moment 
 later the two friends, so fiercely estranged, so 
 strangely brought together, dashed away east 
 ward, side by side. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE STKUGGLE IN THE DARK AT THE FOED, AND THE 
 COMING OF THE NINE SWORDS 
 
 FOR three miles the way lay over and among 
 a succession of low-lying knolls, the config 
 uration of the ground being such that the water 
 precipitated during the recent heavy rains had 
 quite thoroughly drained away. The traveling 
 was good, therefore, the occasional small water 
 courses presenting no obstacle to the rapid prog 
 ress of the two spirited steeds, both animals leap 
 ing them as they came in the way without a pause 
 in their flight. A larger stream, through which 
 the horses dashed in a moment, half swimming, 
 half wading, brought them to the end of this por 
 tion of the territory to be traversed. 
 
 Before them now lay two miles of perfectly 
 level land, the soil being of a heavy adobe forma 
 tion, in its damp condition exceedingly disagree 
 able to pass over. But the spirited steeds which 
 Manuel and Herrera rode scarcely slackened in 
 their speed until the riders forced them to do so, 
 desiring to save their strength for the better 
 ground beyond. 
 
 But first to be passed and marking the eastern 
 boundary of the adobe plain, was a deep stream, 
 
 64 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 65 
 
 with high and precipitous banks, later to be called 
 "Pino Creek, " and in its swollen condition in 
 that early day, long before the advent of bridges 
 in Sonoma, a decidedly formidable obstacle. 
 
 Doubly formidable it seemed to both Manuel 
 and Herrera, since the same thought was in the 
 mind of each that here, if the waylayers were still 
 in the path, they would be found. 
 
 Manuel knew of but one place in many miles 
 where the banks on either side of the stream were 
 of such a character that a crossing could be made 
 with a horse. Toward this point he directed his 
 course, though with many misgivings. 
 
 And the event fully justified them. Out from 
 the darkness on every side, as they dashed up to 
 the bank of the stream, sprang what seemed a 
 host of horsemen. The friends saw them at the 
 same instant, and into the minds of both leaped 
 the same thought. 
 
 It was Herrera who gave it voice. 
 
 "On on!" he shouted from his position a 
 horse s length in the rear. "Dash through them, 
 Manuel ! It is our only chance ! 
 
 On this Manuel had already and instantane 
 ously determined. He set his teeth savagely, bent 
 low in the saddle, and for once touched Zingaro 
 with the spur. 
 
 Three horsemen had drawn themselves up just 
 where the path descended to the water s edge. 
 Like a thunderbolt Zingaro dashed into the group, 
 and the center rider and horse went headlong 
 over the bank and into the turbid stream below. 
 The two other men bent forward to seize Man- 
 
66 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 uel s bridle-reins, but the effort was fruitless, and 
 the next instant Herrera rode one of them down 
 and dashed the other from his saddle with a 
 savage back-handed blow. A second later, and 
 the horses of the two friends plunged madly into 
 the stream. 
 
 It was very deep, and both animals had to swim. 
 Grouped on the bank above them, and distinct 
 against the sky, Manuel, as he glanced back, could 
 see a large number of horsemen, the comrades of 
 those whom Herrera and himself had ridden 
 down. The two friends, in their position between 
 the banks, to say nothing of the fact that their 
 horses and themselves were almost wholly sub 
 merged, were in darkness. Still, even in the mad 
 excitement of the moment, Manuel found an in 
 stant to wonder why it was that they were not 
 fired on. He was soon to learn the reason. 
 
 The stream was crossed in safety, and up the 
 steep bank the two horses scrambled, cat-like, 
 sure-footed as antelopes. In a moment they were 
 on the top. 
 
 Then Herrera laughed aloud. 
 
 "Safely through, Manuel!" he cried. "A hard 
 passage, but your troubles are over now." 
 
 "Not yet!" shouted a voice from the darkness, 
 and with the words came the vicious swish of the 
 lariat, and Manuel felt the deadly noose settle 
 over his shoulders. But the young De Guerra 
 knew the one thing to do, and did it. The cord 
 was drawn tight in an instant, but yet more 
 swiftly he drew his knife, and he had barely felt 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 67 
 
 the first strain when he was once more free, with 
 Zingaro plunging onward unimpeded. 
 
 But, alas! from behind him came a cry, ut 
 tered in the bravest spirit, but fated to have un 
 fortunate effects. It was the voice of his friend 
 he heard: 
 
 "Manuel, I am caught ! Ride on, ride on ! while 
 I keep the scoundrels in play. 7 
 
 But Manuel did not ride on. Instead he turned 
 without the pause of a second, and another in 
 stant saw him plunging into the dark and strug 
 gling mass of horses and men, the center figure 
 of which he knew was his friend. 
 
 The impetus of Zingaro s charge carried him 
 well into the mass, and Manuel, striking madly 
 about him with the butt of one of Herrera s pis 
 tols, soon cleared a space around him. He could 
 not see to fire with any certainty, and he disliked 
 to be the first to make the strange contest which 
 the night had seen him drawn into a fight to the 
 death. For that reason, too, he had replaced his 
 knife in its sheath. 
 
 Bending low, he could dimly see that some one, 
 Herrera undoubtedly, was struggling to free him 
 self from the noose of a lariat. Manuel caught 
 him by the arm and aided him, intending that he 
 should mount behind him on Zingaro, who could 
 carry a double burden at least a short distance, 
 and out of the press of enemies. But even as the 
 thought formed in his mind, some one cut the girth 
 of his saddle from the other side, and the strain 
 of his effort to aid Herrera caused him to fall 
 headlong. 
 
68 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 He was on his feet in an instant, with Herrera, 
 now fully freed, beside him. But around them 
 was a complete circle of foes, and more than one 
 savage voice was uttering cries that boded ill for 
 the friends. 
 
 "Kill them kill the misbegotten dogs!" 
 shouted some one. "Kill them both and now!" 
 
 "Yes, kill them," added a colder voice. "It is 
 the only safe way. What will Vallejo say of this 
 if they live to tell!" 
 
 Herrera had his knife in his hand. Now he 
 said to Manuel : 
 
 "Let me have one of my pistols, Manuel. This 
 is to be to the death." 
 
 It seemed so, for with a growling, snarling rush 
 the crowd swept upon them. 
 
 Manuel fancied that he heard some one who 
 spoke in terms of authority endeavoring to hold 
 the assailants back, but if the effort were made it 
 was futile. The men were now too ripe for mis 
 chief to be controlled. 
 
 "Back to back, Manuel," said Herrera calmly, 
 as he drove his dirk into the breast of a man who 
 had just failed in an attempt to slash his throat 
 open, and back to back, therefore, the two men 
 fought on. 
 
 The darkness favored them, but their position 
 was desperate in the last degree, and there could 
 be, as it seemed, but one ending. Their enemies 
 who had firearms hesitated to use them, for fear 
 of injuring one another, but with every other sort 
 of weapon the two friends were savagely assailed. 
 Men rushed upon them with drawn knives, 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 69 
 
 slashed at them with great Spanish sabers, or 
 strove to transfix them with long ranchero spears. 
 Here, too, the darkness was, in a measure, to the 
 advantage of the two men striving so desperately 
 against these overwhelming odds. Nevertheless, 
 not a moment had passed before both were 
 wounded. Herrera s hurt was trifling, but a half- 
 breed savage drove a lance at Manuel s breast 
 with so vicious a purpose that it must have slain 
 him had he not, at the instant of the blow, shot 
 the brute dead. As it was, the spear pierced deep 
 in his breast, and though he uttered no word that 
 might discourage his comrade, he felt himself 
 growing steadily weaker as he fought on. 
 
 And now, as the assailants apparently realized 
 all in a moment the disadvantage to them of the 
 darkness, a cry arose for torches. Instantane 
 ously, as it seemed, a half-dozen were produced or 
 improvised, and waved aloft in such a manner 
 that their light fell upon the desperately battling 
 pair. And now, indeed, it seemed that the end had 
 come. 
 
 But in that strange lull which is so often a 
 feature of a desperate conflict just before the 
 striking of the last blow there came an interrup 
 tion. 
 
 It was a shrill, piercing cry, uttered in a boyish 
 voice, but one which seemed to quiver and thrill 
 as with a lustful joy born of anticipated conflict : 
 
 "Morales! Morales! Make way for the Nine 
 Swords !" 
 
 Manuel s heart leaped within him, for he knew 
 the voice of Diego, youngest brother of Dolores. 
 
70 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 And the girl he loved had somehow heard of his 
 peril, and sent her kinsmen to his rescue. And 
 this she had done, even though that sending 
 should lead him to her rival ! 
 
 But now the cry was repeated, nearer at hand 
 and in deeper volume, for it was not alone the 
 youngest brother who this time gave it voice. 
 
 "Make way! Make way! Make way for the 
 Morales ! 
 
 The thunder of rushing hoofs blended with the 
 cry, and, while its echoes yet rang in the air, 
 through the circle of Manuel s foes, and into the 
 glow of the blazing torches, burst the Nine 
 Swords ! 
 
 Diego rode first, for in his wild eagerness to 
 engage in this, his first warlike adventure, the- 
 boy had pressed in advance of all the others, even 
 of Carlos, the grim head of his house. It was he 
 who, seeming to take in everything in an instant s 
 glance, spurred his horse fiercely around and 
 around, just within the circle of Manuel s foes, 
 waving his long saber in the faces of those before 
 him, and shouting savagely : 
 
 Back, back, you dogs ! Let me see the next 
 hound that dares to lift a hand against them ! 
 
 But his brothers had already rendered such a 
 thing impossible, for they had so grouped their 
 horses as to form about the two to whose aid they 
 had come, a wall which no foe could hope to pene 
 trate. Then, while they so sat upon their steeds, 
 each man with his bare saber in his hand, ready 
 for instant use, Carlos spoke, and in his cool and 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 71 
 
 cutting tones there was something that seemed 
 like the lash of a whip. 
 
 "So it seems that the warning was correct, and 
 we have come only in time. But who, may I ask, 
 is the leader of this gang of caballero cutthroats? 
 To know him would be distinguished honor." 
 
 No one answered, but many glances turned in 
 stinctively in one direction. Carlos own eyes 
 followed, but all he could see was a horseman 
 making his way rapidly from the circle of the 
 light. The next moment the sound of rapidly 
 falling hoofs told of a hasty departure. 
 
 "Ah, the gentleman is modest," resumed Car 
 los pleasantly. "Sad that he should seem to be 
 ashamed of such a gallant deed as this. It is 
 strange, too, that there should be here so many 
 gallant caballeros whom I have seen about the 
 ranch o of Senor Gronzales. How angry the Sefior 
 would doubtless be did he know of it." 
 
 Some of the ruffian gang looked at one another 
 uneasily, some scowled, but, three to one as they 
 were, no one made a threatening move toward the 
 Nine Swords or those they guarded. 
 
 "Come, Senors," remarked Carlos again, speak 
 ing still with the touch of sullen sarcasm in his 
 calm voice, "don t you think you had better be 
 moving ? The adventure is probably over for this 
 once, and here on the ground I see two or three 
 caballeros your friends, doubtless who might 
 be the better for a little looking after. This fel 
 low here with half of his head blown off, probably 
 does not need your kind attention, nor does that 
 other with the very neat hole in the breast of his 
 
72 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 shirt. But there are a few who seem to have life 
 enough left to groan. " 
 
 The scowls deepened on the sullen faces into 
 which he gazed, but still no move was made 
 against himself or his brethren. Then, very 
 calmly, Carlos spoke a few words to his brothers, 
 and The Nine, still keeping the two friends in 
 their midst, moved slowly away from the spot 
 and the corpses that cumbered it. 
 
 As soon as the darkness hid them Carlos halted. 
 
 "Seiiors," he said, "I see you have both lost 
 your horses, doubtless during the trouble yonder. 
 We cannot find them to-night, and you must 
 mount with us. You, Caballero, whom I think T 
 remember as Sefior Francisco Herrera, will 
 please make use of Diego s steed. As for you, 
 Manuel " 
 
 Here is Manuel s horse now!" exclaimed 
 Diego. t i Was there ever such another ? 
 
 It was true enough. Into the group Zingaro, 
 unsaddled and with his bridle-reins dandling on 
 the ground, came pushing his way. As he found 
 his master he uttered a low whinny. 
 
 "Good horse, brave Zingaro!" muttered Man 
 uel faintly ; then fell lifelessly as a log to the earth. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE SUIT THAT WAS PLEADED IN VAIN AT THE CASA 
 RIVAS,>ND THE BLACK FALSEHOOD THAT FOLLOWED 
 
 BUT while the nine brothers gathered sorrow 
 ing about the unconscious form that lay at 
 their feet, the horseman who had stolen away from 
 the throng of Manuel s enemies was dashing 
 recklessly eastward. Black rage was in his 
 heart black rage and a fierce resolve that in 
 spite of all he would yet win that upon which he 
 had set his soul; that for which he had already 
 striven so desperately, even at the cost of treach 
 ery and attempted murder. Twice that night had 
 his plans been foiled, but there was yet another 
 effort to be made, and deep within his inner con 
 sciousness he swore an oath, unholy though un 
 spoken, that this time not the Nine Swords of 
 Morales nor anything above earth or under 
 heaven should balk his scheming. True, what he 
 now meditated was unworthy of a caballero, but, 
 after all, the waylaying and blood-letting which 
 he had not found particularly distasteful earlier 
 in the night were also open to criticism. Let fate 
 grant him but time and opportunity now and he 
 would not fail. 
 
 So he spurred savagely on, giving his horse no 
 
74 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 rest, whether in ascending or descending the 
 knolls which lay in his path for the first mile of 
 his journey, nor suffering him to slacken in his 
 speed in crossing the muddy adobe plain that lay 
 beyond. Over this the traveling was wearisome 
 to the last degree, and though the distance that he 
 had to go was short, it was a thoroughly blown 
 steed from which he finally sprang at the gateway 
 of Don Pedro Rivas rancho residence. 
 
 Once within the doors of the casa, it was a large 
 and a merry assemblage through which Gonzales 
 threaded his way, searching for Pancha Rivas. 
 Gay young caballeros from as far away as So 
 noma and San Rafael were there, and with them 
 their sisters or other female relatives, dark-eyed 
 senoritas, for whom distance had no more terror 
 than it had for their brothers. Well might it be 
 so since there was not one among them but could 
 ride from dawn till dusk without dreaming of 
 fatigue. Elder women were there and graver 
 senors also, and even a stranger need not have 
 been long in the gathering without discovering 
 that it was some more than ordinary circumstance 
 that had drawn it together. 
 
 Gonzales, as he moved on through the throng, 
 his dress disarranged and spattered with mud, 
 was the target for numerous remarks and not a 
 few questions. He answered none of them, walk 
 ing steadily forward, but one speech at least, 
 though uttered by perhaps the brightest maiden 
 there, that maiden his own sister, caused his 
 cheek to pale and his lips to writhe. 
 
 "Ah, my lost brother at last. A late guest, 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 75 
 
 Ramon a late and a muddy. But what news do 
 you bring of the greater laggard!" 
 
 A very lovely maid, though little more than a 
 child, was this dark-eyed and laughing Juanita, 
 and perhaps the truest affection of her brother s 
 wayward heart had been for her. But he passed 
 her now without reply nay, more, with a gesture 
 in which was so much of anger that the red 
 blood rose, throbbing, in her cheeks. 
 
 "Where is Donna Pancha?" whispered Gon- 
 zales, stooping over old Rivas where the latter 
 sat at the upper end of the large apartment. 
 
 "In her room with her maidens. She will be 
 here presently. " 
 
 t But cannot I speak to her there for a moment 
 first?" 
 
 * Surely ; you know the house. Rap at her door 
 and one of the girls will come. Then you can 
 send her word." 
 
 Gonzales hurried off, and Rivas gazed after 
 him curiously. But the old ranchero was too 
 easy-going, and also entirely too completely un 
 der the dominion of his elder daughter, to worry 
 his indolent brain much over the actions of those 
 whom that daughter chose to treat as close 
 friends. 
 
 "Perhaps he brings a message," thought the 
 old man, so dismissed the subject. 
 
 Meanwhile Gonzales hurried on, and a moment 
 later had followed the advice given him, and sent 
 in a message to the young mistress of the casa. 
 He waited not long for an answer, for, even before 
 he had expected it, a hand was laid upon his arm, 
 
76 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 a pair of dark eyes were gazing into his, and a 
 vvoice, musical, if a little high-pitched, uttered the 
 single word : 
 
 "Well!" 
 
 Pancha Rivas was a very lovely girl, albeit 
 there was a flickering, fickle light in her dark eyes 
 which, to one who looked beneath the surface, 
 might have somewhat marred the perfection of 
 her beauty. 
 
 Gonzales own eyes lit up with passionate long 
 ing as he saw again the fair face whose influence 
 upon him, alas ! had thus far not been for good, 
 but he paused not to gaze, dear to his soul as 
 was the sight before him. 
 
 "He is coming," he uttered hoarsely. 
 
 "Coming Manuel?" said the girl, speaking in 
 a half- whisper, her eyes lighting strangely. 
 
 "Yes, Manuel. He will be here before mid 
 night." 
 
 A strange, tremulous ripple of laughter escaped 
 the red lips of the girl, though it seemed that she 
 shuddered in her merriment. 
 
 "Before midnight!" she echoed. "Why, then 
 he will keep the tryst I made for him. 
 
 "And you?" 
 
 "I, Senor? Why, if Manuel, after all, is true, 
 you would not have me faithless!" 
 
 Again she laughed, and to the man who stood 
 beside her, with his dark face drawn and rigid, 
 her mirth was maddening. 
 
 "And I I am nothing," he murmured, half 
 under his breath. 
 
 Pancha shrugged her shoulders. 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 77 
 
 Suddenly Gonzales flung himself upon his 
 knees, and words, tremulous and imploring, 
 poured from his lips. There was no hypocrisy in 
 either speech or action. He had come into this 
 girl s presence with a black lie already framed 
 to tell that he might thereby move her to his will. 
 But now it seemed that something no ordinary 
 scruple impelled him to strive to triumph with 
 out this last crowning act of treachery. 
 
 "Pancha, Pancha!" he said passionately. "It 
 is all true. He is coming. He will be here. But 
 must I lose all I, who love you so madly; I, 
 whom you have taught to believe you preferred 
 to him who held your childish promise! Did you 
 not tell me that he would not come! Did you 
 not tell me you had sent your message late that 
 you might win the freedom I believed you wished 
 only that you might give yourself to me? Oh, 
 Pancha, Pancha, love of my soul! Are you, in 
 deed, as fickle as the wind? In days past men 
 have said so, Panchita, and I I have forced 
 them to retract even while I prayed in my soul 
 that there might be something of truth in their 
 words just enough, Pancha, to cause you to turn, 
 from Manuel to me! Oh, mi querida! tell me 
 that I did not win only to lose again. What if he 
 comes, indeed, now so late! Laggard he is to 
 claim a bride at the eleventh hour! Is not your 
 heart mine, Pancha? Give me your hand then, 
 while there is time. The priest is here. He would 
 do the bidding of your father, and your father 
 lives only to gratify every wish, every whim of 
 yours. Pancha, Panchita, my heart, my very life. 
 
78 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 is in your hands ! If you have no thought for 
 yourself, be merciful to me ! 
 
 The words came forth in a torrent, pitiful, im 
 ploring, but the very spirit of perverseness and 
 coquetry had seemingly entered the girl. Surely 
 she could not otherwise have turned from the 
 kneeling pleader, saying, so coldly : 
 
 I think you have had your chance, Senor Gon- 
 zales. I am sorry for you, of course, but I can 
 not but believe that were I a man and in your 
 place I could have seen to it that my rival did not 
 keep his tryst. " 
 
 Dios ! exclaimed Gonzales, starting to his 
 feet, shocked both at the suggestion itself, as com 
 ing from her, and at the consciousness of the vain 
 treachery with which he had anticipated it. 
 "You do not mean that I should have " 
 
 " I do not mean that you should have done any 
 thing, " she said, speaking with yet greater cold 
 ness. "But I think that I, in your place, might 
 have managed to detain him, and that, too, with 
 out harm to either. You, Senor, seem to have 
 lacked the mind to plan such a stratagem or 
 was it the courage to carry it out that was want 
 ing?" 
 
 Gonzales pale cheeks flushed red at the cruel 
 words, and when he spoke again all the passion 
 and pleading seemed to have gone out of his 
 voice. 
 
 "Spare me your taunts, Seiiorita," he said 
 coldly. "I would have spared you but now I 
 have that to say which it will not please you to 
 hear. 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 79 
 
 She turned upon him with swift suspicion. 
 
 " Speak!" she said imperiously. "What is it 
 that you mean ? 
 
 "I mean that Don Manuel de Guerra is indeed 
 on his way hither, and he will be here before mid 
 night. But he is not coming alone. " 
 
 "Who is with him?" 
 
 "The brothers Morales " 
 
 "The Nine Swords!" exclaimed Pancha, smil 
 ing again. "They will be brave guests at a wed 
 ding." 
 
 "You interrupted me," said Gonzales hoarsely. 
 * Some one else accompanies Sefior de Guerra and 
 his friends. Some one else a woman." 
 
 "Ah!" said Pancha, a fiery light flashing in 
 her eyes, "Dolores Morales!" 
 
 "You have said it, Donna Pancha," replied 
 Gonzales. "That was her name a month, ago." 
 
 Pancha s cheeks grew livid. 
 
 "Go on," she whispered. 
 
 i Now she is the Seiiora Manuel de Guerra. 
 
 For one moment Pancha did not speak, stand 
 ing pale and motionless, with dilated eyes fixed 
 upon Gonzales. 
 
 "Married?" she murmured at last. "The sto 
 ries were true, then? And he brings her here 
 here, to me! It is thus he answers my summons. 
 And I, I am to be shamed before my people and 
 my guests ! Oh, how has he dared to put this af 
 front upon me? I poor, feeble wretch that I 
 am! I am but a woman, only a woman! Yet 
 how dared he? Does he dream that my father 
 and my kinsmen will pass this by? Ah, no, no! 
 
80 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 He cannot think it. Good cause, indeed, to bring 
 the Nine Swords! But, oh Manuel, Manuel, who 
 would have dreamed that you could do this 
 thing!" 
 
 "Senoritat!" said Gonzales, as if eager to 
 break in upon her passionate speech, "I would 
 have spared you this humiliation. I could not 
 bear to tell you what I knew, but I would have 
 made the triumph yours and the mockery and 
 confusion his. But you would not listen." 
 
 She turned to him swiftly and clasped his arm 
 tightly with her trembling hands, then pushed 
 him fiercely from her. 
 
 "Gk>!" she said. " Bring my father here." 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 HOW MANUEL DE GUEKKA KEPT HIS TEYST, WITH THE 
 AID OF THE NINE SWORDS 
 
 THE tapers burned before the improvised 
 altar, the incense from the swinging censer 
 perfumed the air. Bride and bridegroom knelt 
 in their places, she with face pale and rigid, he 
 with eyes that ever sought the floor and with 
 hands which trembled with every breath he drew. 
 There were looks of doubt and uneasiness, too, 
 upon the faces of the guests, for this seemed a 
 strange and to many an ill-omened wedding. 
 There had been no explanation of Gonzales ap 
 pearance as the bridegroom only a brief, almost 
 stern statement from old Don Pedro that his 
 guests had been entirely wrong in believing that 
 Manuel de Guerra had been expected as anything 
 but a guest. But there was a dark look upon 
 Rivas face as he made this statement, and now 
 as he witnessed the rites that were making his 
 child a wife, the gloom of his countenance did not 
 lighten. 
 
 It was over at last, the last prayer said, the 
 blessing pronounced, and as bride and groom and 
 the kneeling guests arose and found opportunity 
 to glance about them, the massive clock which old 
 
 81 
 
82 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 Don Pedro had at infinite pains and excessive ex 
 pense imported from Mexico in the first year of 
 his settlement in California, struck the last hour 
 of the night. But the strokes had not begun when 
 the attention of all was attracted simultaneously, 
 as it seemed, to a group of men standing just 
 within the doorway, through which they had en 
 tered silently and unnoticed during the conclud 
 ing ceremonies. . 
 
 The strangers stood somewhat in shadow, and 
 there was something in their grim silence which 
 irritated Rivas out of his usual habit of unques 
 tioning and indiscriminate hospitality. It was 
 with something of suspicion that he spoke, sud 
 denly and sharply: 
 
 "Who are you, Seiiors, and what do you wish 
 of me!" 
 
 It was Carlos Morales who stepped forward 
 and made answer. 
 
 "We wish nothing of you, Seiior, well or ill. 
 We are the Morales, and we were not bidden to 
 your wedding feast, but we have one with us who 
 was." 
 
 Then the group opened, and four of the broth 
 ers came forward holding the corners of a large 
 serape upon which lay as in a hammock what 
 seemed the body of a dead man. Onward they 
 walked, Carlos leading the way, and the startled 
 guests moving backward as they advanced toward 
 the altar-place. There, at the feet of the white- 
 faced bride and her trembling husband, they laid 
 down their silent burden. 
 
 Francisco Herrera, who walked with the group, 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 83 
 
 knelt beside the motionless form of his friend, the 
 traces of tears upon his cheeks, but the Nine 
 Swords stood about them, dry-eyed and stern, 
 and with hands that seemed prone to rest upon 
 the hilts of the weapons that they would not will 
 ingly draw in the presence of women and a priest 
 of God. To Carlos they still left the office of 
 spokesman. 
 
 "I would grieve to frighten so new a bride, 
 Senora," he said, fixing his eyes pitilessly upon 
 the white face before him, "so I hasten to tell 
 you that I believe our friend here is not dead. If 
 the soul has, indeed, left his body, then, Senora, 
 you have the comfort of knowing that your will 
 was his even to the last, for he died as a true man 
 should, striving to fulfill the behest of her who 
 held his pledge of faith. He did fulfill it, lady, 
 for we, his friends, can vouch that he was here 
 before the clock struck twelve. Living or dead, 
 then, Senora, Manuel de Guerra kept his faith, 
 and if others have chosen to make that faith a 
 folly, why, his is not the blame. " 
 
 Pancha struggled with herself as if striving 
 for strength to speak. Then her white lips 
 moved. 
 
 "How was he hurt?" she whispered. 
 
 "Ask that, Senora, of him who stands beside 
 you. Ask of him whose was the ambuscade, 
 whose the treacherous attempt at murder." 
 
 "You you!" gasped Pancha, turning with 
 fierce eyes to the ghastly-faced man at her side. 
 
 But the Nine Swords gave no heed to this, nor 
 did Herrera. Silently the bearers lifted their 
 
84 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 burden again and moved toward the door. Then 
 it seemed that old Rivas awakened as from a 
 dream. 
 
 "Leave him here," lie said. "He is my foster 
 son." 
 
 "But he stays not beneath the same roof with 
 that dog," said Carlos sternly. 
 
 Gonzales started forward with a cry, 
 
 " Dog! he screamed. "I will have your life 
 for that word ! 
 
 "Come not too speedily to seek it, Senor," said 
 Carlos. "I should be loth to make so fair a bride 
 too early a widow. 
 
 And the scorn in his eyes, as he turned them 
 from one of the two pale faces to the other, seemed 
 to cut like a scourge. 
 
 Then the group of friends moved toward the 
 door, but as they went a slender, white-clad girl, 
 beautiful despite her pallor and the dread in her 
 dark eyes, started forward and laid her hand as 
 with a sudden impulse on Herrera s arm. In 
 her face was a likeness, distinct but strangely 
 softened, of the cold-eyed bride of this ill-omened 
 wedding. 
 
 "Francisco!" whispered the girl, so low that 
 only Herrera heard. 
 
 He paused for an instant, and his sad eyes met 
 her own. Then once more they turned to the still 
 form being borne through the doorway. 
 
 "Yda!" he murmured, almost below his breath 
 then moved away with hesitating steps, follow 
 ing the others. In a moment the darkness had 
 shut them in. 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 85 
 
 Now Panclia turned again to her husband. 
 
 1 Come with me, she said. 
 
 He followed her to the room where he had 
 sought her earlier in the night. There she 
 stopped. 
 
 "Then it was all a lie?" she said. 
 
 He could not meet her eyes, but she heard him 
 murmur five words half under his breath : 
 
 "It was for you, Pancha." 
 
 She sprang forward and struck him in the face 
 with all her strength, and he staggered back 
 against the wall, startled, outraged, and wholly 
 miserable. 
 
 Then this strange girl laughed with a quick 
 catching of the breath, and held out her hand to 
 him the hand that had struck him. 
 
 "If I had had my dagger," she said, "I know 
 I should have stabbed you. But as I did not, and 
 since you are my husband, and I have lost forever 
 the one true man in all the world for you, I think 
 I will forgive you. Now let us go back and cheer 
 up those frightened wedding-guests. 
 
 Manuel lay that night under the hospitable roof 
 of the Carillos, but with the coming of the next 
 day his strength had so far returned that it was 
 deemed safe to take him back to the Casa Morales. 
 So, borne in a litter, and guarded by the Nine 
 Swords and his recovered friend Herrera, he 
 made the journey, moving by easy stages and 
 with many rests. It was evening when the jour 
 ney s end was reached and Manuel found himself 
 once more within the walls where he had but 
 twenty-four hours before vowed to sacrifice his 
 
86 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 heart to honor and duty. They laid him upon a 
 couch in the great living-room, and then, some 
 how, it seemed as if every one suddenly fled and 
 left him to himself. 
 
 But his loneliness was only for a moment, for 
 a soft footfall sounded in the room, a swift step 
 crossed the floor, and in the dusky half-light some 
 one knelt beside him some one who lifted his 
 weary head in soft, loving arms and pressed her 
 warm lips to his cheek, whispering so softly and 
 so tenderly : 
 
 "Manuel, Manuel! I sent you away, but you 
 have come back to me! Oh, Manuel! I am so 
 happy, so happy ! 
 
 For one moment Manuel thought that death 
 had come, and with it Paradise. And then he 
 thought no more, for he had fainted. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 HOW MANUEL PASSED THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE 
 
 SHADOW, AND THE DEEDS THAT WERE DONE 
 
 BY HIS FRIEND, HERRERA 
 
 THE spear of the half-breed, though the arm 
 that drove it was already stiffening in 
 death, had gone deep into Manuel s breast so 
 deep that it ever remained a mystery and a mir 
 acle that it did not slay. His youth, the perfect 
 health and vigor of his frame, above all, the lov 
 ing care of his gentlest of nurses, the thought 
 that now, indeed, he could not die with the prom 
 ise of so much of happiness before him all 
 these combined to save him. But he lay long ill 
 and helpless so weak that even had Dolores and 
 her brothers been willing he should leave them 
 this must have been impossible. Day after day 
 so slight remained his hold upon life that it 
 seemed at times the merest chance must end it. 
 But ever at his side was one who lived during 
 that time of dread and darkness but to see that no 
 such chance came near. 
 
 And he always knew her. There were days 
 following the first fever of his wound when Man 
 uel realized nothing of his surroundings noth 
 ing but the fact of her presence. Even in the 
 
 87 
 
88 THE NINE SWOEDS OF MORALES 
 
 worst of his delirium his gaze would follow her 
 from side to side of the room, ever meeting her 
 own with such a look of love and longing that 
 again and again Dolores turned her face away to 
 hide her tears. Did she leave the chamber while 
 he was awake, his dark eyes, doubly black and 
 seeming almost unnaturally large in his wan face, 
 remained fixed upon the doorway, and their 
 yearning gaze met her instantly on her return. 
 Though in his seasons of mental wandering he 
 had no understanding for her words more than 
 for others, yet the sound of her voice ever seemed 
 to soothe him, as the touch of her soft hand upon 
 his forehead ever brought him peace. 
 
 But it was not often, even in the worst of his 
 illness, that he was beyond grasping something 
 at least of what was going on about him. And 
 certain things there were that seemed to force 
 themselves upon him as o her than they should be. 
 
 Thus he found himself at times wondering in 
 a dazed way why it was that, after the first few 
 days of his invalidism, he saw so little of his 
 hosts. Even in his mental weakness he seemed 
 to realize that there was nothing of unkindness in 
 the circumstance was not Dolores ever there, 
 sweetest of proxies! and yet he wondered. And 
 then would follow the thought that Francisco, 
 too-, was absent Francisco, his recovered friend, 
 who had forgiven him so much; who had fought 
 for him so loyally at the ford; whose eyes had 
 scarcely left his face during that long and weary 
 ride that followed the keeping of his vain tryst- 
 he, too, was absent and again the sick man 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 89 
 
 mentally questioned, feebly and at intervals, why 
 it should be so. 
 
 Once, indeed this, unhappily, at a time when 
 his mind served him so ill that he retained in after 
 days but the faintest remembrance of the inci 
 dent he had what seemed a dim vision of all 
 those splendid brothers, and with them Francisco, 
 coming softly into his room, booted and spurred 
 and armed as if for battle, but moving with a 
 gentleness which in men so massive in frame and 
 limb, had he had mind to note it then, must have 
 seemed almost incongruous. One by one they had 
 paused to bend for a moment above his couch, 
 some of them touching his hand with such gentle 
 ness as seemed to suggest the fear of waking a 
 sleeping child, others hesitating even at this, but 
 all looking upon him with eyes of loving brother 
 hood. Only for a moment did it seem they were 
 with him. Then once more the room was va 
 cant except that Dolores was kneeling beside 
 his couch and hiding her eyes against his hand. 
 
 Once, in the midst of the night, something had 
 awakened him with faculties strangely alert to a 
 knowledge of distant shouts and other sounds 
 and signs of confusion somewhere without, amid 
 it all a sudden sharp fusil ade of shots. At this he 
 had suddenly half risen from his couch, glancing 
 wildly about him and then the door had softly 
 but noiselessly opened, and Dolores came quickly 
 to his side with a word of loving chiding and 
 hands of gentle insistence that pressed him back 
 upon his pillow. Then he felt her cool touch 
 upon his forehead and when next his eyes 
 
<JO THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 opened the night had passed, the winter sunlight 
 was glancing in through the lattices, and without 
 was no sound more warlike than the chirping of 
 the blackbirds. 
 
 From that morning it was that he began finally 
 to mend and now, indeed, was life a joy, weak 
 and wasted as was his once athletic frame, white 
 and feeble the hands of old so brown and power 
 ful. Still were his hosts absent, or with him but 
 at infrequent intervals and then for visits mea 
 sured by moments only. But now, as ever, Do 
 lores was his constant attendant, her lovely cheek 
 paler than he remembered it before his illness, 
 her eyes graver but, if that were possible, softer, 
 gentler than of old, and immeasurably sweet. But 
 just passing as he was from beneath the grim 
 Shadow, it seemed to Manuel that only now had 
 he begun to live. 
 
 As time went by and he grew steadily stronger, 
 bewilderingly happy as he was in the sweet com 
 panionship ever his own, it was but natural that 
 his re-awakening mind should dwell more and 
 more upon the almost continuous absence of his 
 hosts and Francisco. No suggestion of pique or 
 jealousy disturbed him, and it was only a steadily 
 growing curiosity which could finally no longer 
 be restrained that led him at length to put his 
 thoughts into words. Even then, still averse to 
 questioning ever so slightly the actions of his 
 hosts, it was rather accident than design that 
 moved him to speak. 
 
 " Dolores, " he said suddenly, smiling into the 
 
THE NINE SWOKDS OF MOliALES 91 
 
 dark eyes so near his own, "how long am I to lie 
 here, a useless log, shut off from the world?" 
 
 Dolores smile answered his own, and her hand 
 rested for a moment lightly, caressingly, upon his 
 dark hair. 
 
 "Is it so lonely, Manuel?" she asked softly. 
 
 "Oh, so lonely!" he echoed sorrowfully. 
 "Never any one here but my doctor Doctor Do 
 lores! Even her own brothers barred from me, 
 tyrant that she is ! and my friend, Francisco 
 him she has driven away altogether." 
 
 Dolores smiled still, but seemed at once to real 
 ize the seriousness underlying the jest in his 
 words. She answered gravely: 
 
 "There has been much for my brothers to do, 
 Manuel, yet they have ever been within your call. 
 And as for the Senor Herrera " and now all 
 trace of lightness left her voice "never, Manuel, 
 had you friend like him. 
 
 "And your brothers and yourself," mur 
 mured Manuel, but added gratefully: "Brave 
 Francisco! I well believe he would give his life 
 for me." 
 
 Quick tears sprang into Dolores eyes. 
 
 "Yes, he would do that," she whispered, seem 
 ingly more to herself than to him; "he would do 
 that and more ! 
 
 Now Manuel sat suddenly upright on his couch. 
 
 "Dolores, Dolores!" he gasped, in startled hor 
 ror, "you do not tell me he is dead!" 
 
 "Ah, no, no! Heaven forbid!" answered Do 
 lores quickly. But, oh, Manuel ! you may never 
 know all he has sacrificed for you for us. But 
 
92 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 something I may tell you though, indeed, I fear 
 your Doctor Dolores is a poor physician to burden 
 one so weak and ill with what might well have 
 waited. " 
 
 But Manuel, whose cheek was already flushing 
 with at least the dawning of returning vigor, per 
 sisted. 
 
 "No, tell me all, Dolores and tell me now. I 
 have felt there was something I should know." 
 
 And then Dolores, calmly, quietly, in a voice 
 the very sound of which was soothing despite the 
 character of her story, told . him of what had 
 chanced while he lay so helpless and near to death. 
 
 Told him how, following the ill-omened Rivas 
 wedding, half the length and breadth of Sonoma 
 had seemed to burst into flame ; how Ramon Gon- 
 zales, smarting at the public insult Carlos had 
 put upon him, ordered forth the wildest of his 
 followers to raid the Morales lands and to scat 
 ter their herds and herdsmen; how he had fol 
 lowed this up by a desperate though foiled at 
 tempt, led by himself in person, to burn the ranch o 
 buildings outrages which Dolores did not con 
 ceal had been repaid by her brothers and their 
 people with raids almost if not quite as fierce in 
 design and fully as effective in execution. The 
 result had been that now for many weeks the en 
 tire stretch of the broad Santa Rosa Plains, with 
 the hills and valleys adjoining, had rung with 
 warfare, since almost every ranchero had taken 
 sides and ranged himself either with Gonzales 
 and old Don Pedro Rivas on the one hand or with 
 her brothers on the other. 
 
THE NINE SWOKDS OF MORALES 93 
 
 x 
 
 "The Carillos," concluded Dolores, ending her 
 story, "almost alone keep the peace. Near kins 
 men of Vallejo, the Commandant, he will not al 
 low them to champion either side. But only with 
 those of his own house has his word held good, 
 for almost all beside are fighting for us or against 
 us." 
 
 "And I have been lying here helpless, use 
 less ! said Manuel, moved for an instant to bit 
 terness. "Doubtless, too," he added, "my lands 
 have been raided, my buildings burned?" 
 
 "It might well have been so that it was not, 
 your thanks are due to your friend, Herrera," said 
 Dolores. "Oh, Manuel, think of it! his own 
 house was given to the flames while he defended 
 yours ! His own herds were scattered while he 
 drove the Gonzales from your ranges ! All this 
 he has done for you, Manuel, and this " again 
 the swift glimmer of tears dimmed the lovely 
 eyes "this is but the least," 
 
 Manuel s thin cheek flushed and paled alter 
 nately with mingled emotions of pride and anger 
 as he heard of Francisco s devotion, and what it 
 had cost. He did not speak at once, for Dolores 
 last words suggested that there was still some 
 thing to be told, but she seemed strangely loth to 
 continue. 
 
 "Do not grieve, Dolores," he said at last. "I 
 can never repay Francisco, no more than I may 
 yourself, mi querida, and your brave brothers. 
 But what he has lost for me, that at least he 
 must let me make up to him." 
 
 And then Dolores clasped his thin, worn face 
 
1)4 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 for a moment between her soft hands and shook 
 it gently. "Manuel," she said, smiling through 
 the tears that still dimmed her eyes, "you are 
 rich yes, rich and brave;" now her voice fell 
 so low he could scarcely hear "and and I love 
 you ! but you are a goose, Manuel ! Not all your 
 riches or your bravery will make up to Francisco 
 what he has lost for you ! 9 
 
 And even while poor, puzzled Manuel opened 
 his lips to plead for an explanation, once more 
 the soft hands gave him that quaint suggestion of 
 loving reproof and the next instant he found 
 himself left alone with his conjectures. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 WHICH TELLS OF "HERRERA*S RAID," AND OF THE 
 WEDDING-GIFT FRANCISCO BROUGHT TO MANUEL 
 
 IT WAS a great day at the Casa Morales when 
 Manuel was deemed sufficiently strong to be 
 assisted to a seat out of doors, though still within 
 the wide porch which crossed the entire front of 
 the dwelling. Spring was at hand, and the warm 
 sunlight had so tempered the air, though with 
 out impairing its freshness, that every breath 
 he drew seemed to thrill through the invalid s 
 being like draughts of his own mountain wine. 
 Every one about the hacienda kept holiday in 
 honor of his recovery, and now at last he had 
 no longer cause to note the absence of his hosts. 
 All were there The Nine gigantic in frame, 
 splendidly handsome, contrasting magnificently 
 in their dark beauty with the gentle loveliness of 
 their sister. Only Francisco, of those for whose 
 presence Manuel most longed, was still absent. 
 
 And soon Carlos noted the invalid s roving 
 eye, and at once replied to the unspoken ques 
 tion: 
 
 "He will soon be here, Manuel. Already his 
 message and his messenger have arrived. In 
 deed, my brother, it is scarcely more to celebrate 
 
 95 
 
96 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 your own recovery than Francisco s return that 
 we all are gathered here to-day." 
 
 Manuel glanced from face to face wonderingly. 
 
 "His return?" he said. "He has, then, been 
 away? And you say there is a message for 
 me?" 
 
 "Why, yes, it is for you," said Carlos, a swift 
 smile crossing his dark face, "but this tyrant, 
 Dolores ah, Manuel, you do not know what is 
 before you ! has thus far not allowed us to de 
 liver it. " 
 
 As Carlos spoke "a common light of smiles" 
 broke over the faces of all his brothers, and Diego, 
 youngest of The Nine, laughed outright. But 
 Dolores, though she blushed divinely, scorned to 
 be driven from her place beside Manuel s chair. 
 
 His thin hand crept gently upward to her own. 
 
 "Shall I not hear it, Doctor Dolores!" he whis 
 pered. "I think suspense must be very bad for 
 a feeble patient." 
 
 Smiles and blushes blended now upon her lovely 
 face. 
 
 "Nay, hear it then," she said "and do with 
 out your doctor." 
 
 Before he could seek to detain her she had 
 vanished within doors, leaving him staring 
 blankly at the smiling brothers. And then Car 
 los gave him Francisco s message: 
 
 " Tell Manuel, he said, that I will be there 
 in time to be groomsman and that I am bring 
 ing a bridal-gift. 
 
 "And if I am not greatly in error," added 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 97 
 
 Carlos calmly, "he is here now bridal-gift and 
 all." 
 
 Just at that moment there came, indeed, from 
 somewhere down the riverside a great braying of 
 horns, with a wild confusion of other sounds, 
 amid which it seemed possible to distinguish the 
 lowing of numberless cattle mingling with the 
 shouts of their vaquero drivers. Obeying the un 
 spoken wish at once visible in Manuel s eyes, 
 Carlos and Diego quietly grasped his chair, one 
 on either side, lifted him with no more apparent 
 effort than would have been needed had he been 
 a child, and so carried him out from the porch 
 and to a point a few yards distant, whence, thanks 
 to the elevation upon which the house stood, it 
 was possible to see a long way in almost every 
 direction. To the westward, indeed, the wooded 
 ridge served as a barrier, but this mattered little 
 at that moment, since all turned their eyes at once 
 to the south, whence came the sounds that had 
 summoned them forth, and where was already 
 visible a great mass of moving animals, so dense 
 and confused that it needed more than an ordi 
 nary effort to grasp the meaning of the wild 
 array. 
 
 Well to the front, as if leading the way, rode a 
 little group of horsemen clad in gayer costume 
 than most of their companions and this Man 
 uel had but just had time to observe when one of 
 these riders shot suddenly forward and came 
 dashing on at a speed which in a moment brought 
 him to the group before the porch. There a turn 
 of the wrist checked the horse to an instant 
 
98 THE NINE SWOBDS OF MORALES 
 
 stand and in another second the mud-spattered 
 caballero had leaped from his saddle and grasped 
 both of Manuel s hands. 
 
 "Manuel, oh, Manuel !" was all he could say, 
 and into his glowing eyes came at once a dimness 
 that he could not for a moment blink away. 
 
 Manuel could only press his hands, with no 
 spoken word of welcome or reply, but Francisco 
 seemed content. 
 
 In a moment, the newcomer had commanded 
 himself sufficiently to give gay greeting to The 
 Nine, and to bow low in chivalrous homage to Do 
 lores, who had once more resumed her place by 
 the side of Manuel s chair. Then he, too, became 
 for the moment a spectator of the great mass of 
 men and cattle, which still came struggling and 
 plunging onward. He waved his hand toward it 
 with a laugh of gay triumph. 
 
 Behold, Manuel ! I am come to the wed 
 ding and for a bridal-gift I bring you back your 
 own!" 
 
 Manuel s eyes opened wide in wonder. 
 
 "My own, Francisco?" he said. "I do not un 
 derstand." 
 
 "He means," said Diego Morales, gaily eager 
 to have something to do with the giving of the 
 news, "that these are the cattle from your Ar 
 royo Rancho. While he guarded your northern 
 range the Gonzales raiders looted the southern 
 of every hoof and horn. They did not seek to 
 keep what they stole they are not yet thieves for 
 profit, though their education is progressing 
 but thev drove them to the southward till the 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 99 
 
 Bay barred the path. It was then that Hen-era 
 mustered his men, coaxed some of Sonoma s to 
 join him I dare swear they were less wild than 
 Francisco s own! bade my brothers and myself 
 look after you, and rode away to the south. It 
 would seem that his quest has not been in vain." 
 
 "No," added Francisco modestly. "I think I 
 have brought back all." 
 
 But Manuel had raised himself upright and was 
 staring at the great throng of lowing cattle with 
 eyes of wild amazement. 
 
 "All?" he muttered at last. "Francisco, what 
 have you done? There were not half these cattle 
 on my Arroyo Range." 
 
 The look of innocent surprise which came upon 
 Francisco s face was perfect so perfect that 
 Diego was seized with a sudden fit of strangling 
 laughter, in which his older and graver brothers 
 had much ado not to join. Dolores glanced ques- 
 tioningly from one to another, but Francisco re 
 mained calm and pleasantly smiling, though he 
 shrugged his shoulders deprecatingly as he an 
 swered : 
 
 "Oh, as to that, it is of course possible that a 
 stray Gonzales steer or two may have gotten into 
 the herd. Driving up the valley last night in the 
 dark, that could scarcely be avoided. But I left 
 word that if the Senor Ramon or his black-faced 
 brother would come and aid us to sort them out 
 we would be happy to correct all errors." 
 
 Again Diego was seized with his fit of strang 
 ling laughter, and Manuel himself could not but 
 join in the milder mirth of the others, though he 
 
loo THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 shook his head reproachfully as he gazed at the 
 bronzed face and mud-spattered frame of the 
 reckless young raider so cheerfully smiling before 
 him. 
 
 "Ah, Francisco, Francisco!" he murmured, 
 "when we were lads together they always said 
 you were meant for a robber!" 
 
 Had Manuel known all at that moment there 
 might have been more of earnestness than jest in 
 his words. As it was, his eyes opened yet more 
 and more widely as the great herd of cattle, low 
 ing and struggling, came abreast of the casa and 
 began to go by, passing on up the valley to the 
 northernmost of the two great ranges of which 
 Manuel was the owner. At the head rode half 
 a score of horn-blowing vaqueros, side by side, 
 and on either flank, as well as in the rear, a throng 
 of their comrades kept the restless mass of cattle 
 closely together. Every man of them fairly 
 bristled with arms, and the general wildness of 
 their appearance was not lessened by the fact 
 that here and there was to be seen a man who 
 rode half naked, with long black hair streaming 
 from an uncovered head, with bow and quiver at 
 his back, and all such other peculiarities of dress 
 and equipment as went to prove him one of those 
 who ordinarily followed no leader but Sonoma. 
 To do that Chief justice, moved alike by the urg- 
 ings of Vallejo and his own sense of what was 
 best for his people, he had striven to keep his 
 followers from siding with either faction in the 
 strife which had so suddenly broken out in the 
 valley. But Francisco was his "blood-brother" 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 101 
 
 a term that meant much in the old days had 
 grown up with his own younger followers, and 
 when some of these sought to steal away upon an 
 expedition which promised the excitement that 
 they loved, it had not been difficult for the grim 
 Chief to close his eyes. 
 
 Again Manuel gazed in amazement upon his 
 friend, but the unabashed raider only smiled back 
 at. him with eyes of open-souled innocence and 
 it was not for weeks afterward that Manuel 
 learned all that could be told of that reckless ex 
 pedition which was to linger for generation after 
 generation in the memories of the dwellers in the 
 fertile Sonoma valleys as "Herrera s Raid." 
 
 But Francisco grew suddenly grave, and bent 
 lower over his friend s chair. 
 
 "Do not fret, Manuel," he said. "All will be 
 righted in the end and this tro^fele 4s of ilrcir 
 making. I needed surety, yoVkilbw/ for the re 
 turn of my own scattered herds.; AlUl surety; ^ 
 owe no kindness to Gonzales ." 
 
 Manuel pressed his hand. 
 
 "I know what you have suffered in my cause, 
 Francisco," he said gratefully, "and I would not 
 care for Gonzales. But Rivas Rivas was my 
 foster father." 
 
 Herrera drew himself suddenly erect, and his 
 friend noted that his face grew pale. 
 
 "And he was my friend," he murmured, so low 
 that but the one listener heard. "Fear not for 
 that, Manuel. His men rode with the Gonzales 
 when they burned my house but there is not a 
 
102 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 Rivas hoof in all that herd. He and his are ever 
 safe from me." 
 
 At once, and with no warning, sudden light 
 seemed to break upon Manuel s mind. Again he 
 pressed Herrera s hand. 
 
 "Yda!" he whispered; "Yda Rivas!" 
 
 Francisco turned away. 
 
 "My poor Francisco!" whispered Manuel, 
 wringing his comrade s hand; "to think that I 
 never knew." 
 
 Francisco shrugged his shouldejs, an action in 
 which there was more than a little ruefulness. 
 Then a glimmer of mirthful light chased the 
 gloom from his eyes. 
 
 "Never mind, Manuelito," he said, smiling. 
 "After all, it will be something to dance at your 
 wedding if I may not at my own. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 OF THE UNEXPECTED GUEST WHOSE NEWS BID FAIR 
 TO DISTURB AND DELAY A WEDDING 
 
 THE guests began to gather early in the week 
 of the wedding. It was not the custom in 
 that hospitable time for an invitation to any fes 
 tivity, however brief the actual event which fur 
 nished the occasion, to relate to a single day. 
 With guests to come from any distance up to a 
 hundred miles or more, and the exigencies of 
 horseback travel through a country guiltless of 
 roads to be taken into account, it was a matter of 
 necessity as well as of courtesy to make the no 
 tice of invitation ample and the offer of hospital 
 ity indeterminate as to time. Days before that 
 which was to see Manuel and Dolores made one, 
 therefore, caballeros grave or gay began arriving 
 at the low-walled but wide-spreading casa on the 
 banks of the Russian River. Some rode up alone, 
 some came in friendly couples or larger groups ; 
 some with and some without attendants, those 
 so accompanied for the most part bringing with 
 them the ladies of their families. All men, 
 women, and children came on horseback, for car 
 riages there were none in the country, and to 
 travel afoot, however short the distance, was a 
 
 103 
 
104 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 thing unheard of. The stables and stock-yards of 
 the Morales were soon as populous in their way 
 as was the house itself, but in neither ease did 
 there seem to be any limit in the matter of capac 
 ity. Very early, indeed, the house and its ap 
 purtenances became crowded, but thereafter the 
 continuing arrivals appeared to -cause no addi 
 tional embarrassment. With every one, guests as 
 well as hosts, was the utmost good nature, with a 
 disposition and ability to make the circumstances 
 of the case meet the necessities. And the results 
 were eminently satisfying. Of inconvenience 
 there was much; of actual discomfort nothing. 
 Everywhere was joyous good nature, everywhere 
 that charming combination of hospitality and ap 
 preciation thereof which makes guests as well as 
 hosts entertainers and workers for the common 
 good. 
 
 Of the many arrivals, those who lived nearest, 
 for the most part, came latest, and it was upon 
 the last day preceding that fixed for the wedding 
 that to one dark-skinned but handsome caballero 
 Carlos extended a welcome with the warmth of 
 which something of surprise seemed to mingle. 
 And the guest showed his white teeth in a smile 
 of gay good humor as he answered his host s 
 thoughts rather than his words : 
 
 "Yes, it is I, Don Carlos Joaquin Carillo, and 
 I am no more a Morales man than one who rides 
 with Gonzales. But and here he laughed 
 aloud "my wild brother, Ramon, is just now 
 feasting with your foes, so it was fitting, was it 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 105 
 
 not, that I should come to you? What else can 
 the brothers-in-law of the Commandant do!" 
 
 Carlos smiled as he answered with calm cour 
 tesy : 
 
 "Whatever the circumstances, Seiior, we rejoice 
 in your presence. Your brother s absence I can 
 only regret. But you did not speak of Don Julio. 
 May I hope then that he also is to be our guest?" 
 
 Carillo laughed again. Poor Julio ! " he said ; 
 "you must pardon him, but he remains at home- 
 cursing over the good cheer he misses. We really 
 must be neutral, you know, we Carillos so it was 
 that or cut poor Julio into halves. It must not 
 go abroad that the Commandant s kinsmen are 
 taking sides." 
 
 "There is merrymaking, then, at the Casa 
 Rivas?" said a voice at the speaker s elbow. 
 Carillo turned and again his dark face broad 
 ened and his white teeth shone. 
 
 "Ay, Senor the Raider," he said; "merrymak 
 ing and feasting there was a fatted calf or two 
 that you did not chance to get. 
 
 Herrera shook his head deprecatingly, but 
 smiled as he questioned further: 
 
 "And Gonzales is there, of course?" 
 
 "Ay! and well nigh chief of the feast with 
 his black-faced brother to back him." 
 
 "Sancho?" 
 
 "Even so. And if Sancho has his way, his 
 brother will not be the only one of the wild breed 
 to wed a Rivas. Of a verity old Don Pedro has 
 the queerest of taste in sons-in-law. 
 
 Had Carillo looked closely he must have seen 
 
106 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 the paleness that crept up beneath the tan in 
 Francisco s face at his careless words. But al 
 ready he was glancing elsewhere. Herrera bade 
 the laughing caballero an adieu to all appearance 
 as gay as his own, but turned his face away as 
 quickly as might be to hide the trouble that he 
 could no longer keep from his eyes. And then, 
 still with a merry passing word here and there to 
 those he could not avoid without evident inten 
 tion, he strode swiftly through the laughing 
 groups until he had left all and found himself 
 alone in the grove of willows fringing the river. 
 And there, flinging himself down upon the earth, 
 the boy he was little more in years wrestled 
 long with the yearning of his passionate heart- 
 long and faithfully, yet did not conquer at the 
 last. 
 
 So it was that when the gay party had gathered 
 that evening about the long table in the great 
 dining-room, the bright presence of Francisco the 
 Raider was wanting. Instead was only the brief 
 note which a servant thrust into Manuel s hand 
 as he left his room to join the feasters : 
 
 "Forgive me, Manuel, and ask that sweet lady 
 so soon to be yours and her brave brothers also 
 to forgive me. I would be but a death s-head at 
 the feast. I beg that you will not doubt my 
 speedy and safe return what could happen to 
 one already so luckless as I? and that you unll 
 not delay your own happiness because of the 
 vagaries of your unfortunate "FRANCISCO." 
 
 Dolores saw the note as Manuel took his place 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 107 
 
 beside her, also the trouble in his eyes. She ex 
 tended an open hand for the fragment of paper. 
 
 Give it to me, she said with sweet imperious- 
 ness. 
 
 He did so, silently, and at once the worry in his 
 face was reflected in her own. 
 
 He has gone to the Casa Rivas," she said 
 aloud. 
 
 The exclamation drew many eyes at once to 
 her troubled face. 
 
 "What is wrong, Dolores!" said Carlos gently. 
 "Who has gone?" 
 
 And Manuel added: 
 
 "We are all Francisco s friends. Let Carlos 
 read the note aloud." 
 
 It was done, and for a moment guests and hosts 
 looked at one another questioningly. Then Car 
 los spoke, gravely enough at first, but with a 
 swift change to mirth which did much to lighten 
 the shadow that seemed to have fallen upon all : 
 
 "The mad lad! Ah, that Casa Rivas! What 
 trouble it makes for our best and bravest!" 
 
 Manuel s thin cheek flushed, though he smiled 
 to meet the gentle raillery in Carlos s eyes. And 
 Dolores, with a sudden mutinous look at her dark- 
 faced brother, for one instant laid her slim hand 
 lightly upon Manuel s shoulder with a touch of 
 such gentle meaning as brought just the sugges 
 tion of a smile to some faces and a look that was 
 very different indeed into others eyes. 
 
 Then Joaquin Carillo suddenly struck his hand 
 heavily upon the table. "The Casa Rivas!" he 
 said. "I deserve to be struck dumb!" 
 
108 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 No one answered in words, But every eye was 
 turned upon him in mute question. 
 
 "It was I who sent him," he said, in wrathful 
 self-accusation. "Why must I prate of the 
 merrymaking there of black-faced Sancho Gon- 
 zales and his hopes! Thank the saints, my mad 
 brother will be at his back the boy will not lack 
 for one stout friend even in the very nest of his 
 foes." 
 
 "No, nor for others, Senor," said Carlos calmly. 
 "But now, my guests, be not sparing, I beg of you, 
 of our good cheer. Be assured that nothing can 
 destroy our pleasure in your presence. And if 
 my brothers and I, for a few short hours, must 
 leave to Donna Dolores and Don Manuel the priv 
 ilege of entertaining you, I do not doubt that you 
 will forgive our absence, knowing its cause. 
 
 Nay, but I ride with you ! exclaimed Joaquin 
 Carillo, rising in his place. 
 
 1 And I ! " " And I ! " echoed round the board, 
 as man after man sprang to his feet, the candle 
 light finding reflection in a score of flashing eyes. 
 
 Carlos waved his hand in courteous but posi 
 tive deprecation. 
 
 "Let me beg of you no!" he said. "Bitter 
 enough is the quarrel as it is. Let us not spread 
 the feud. And we do not need your gallant arms, 
 Senors. We go but to overtake and bring back 
 that rash boy. Of your chivalry, my guests, let 
 me ask that you do not desert my sister nor this, 
 my brother, that we leave behind. But there can 
 be no wedding beneath this roof while that other 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 109 
 
 friend, to whom we owe so much, is not among 
 us." 
 
 Then Carlos lifted a goblet, already filled, and 
 motioned his guests to take up their own. 
 
 "While we stand," he said, "join with me, all 
 of you, in one draught, my friends, to the ab 
 sent to the rash, the foolish, if you will ; but, ah ! 
 the daring ! Francisco Herrera ! 
 
 "Herrera the Raider!" shouted a voice that 
 sounded like Carillo s, and all drank the red wine 
 at a gulp. Then, moved by a common impulse, as 
 it seemed, every man there swung his hand above 
 his head, and the rafters rang with the cry 
 1 1 Herrera the Raider ! Viva ! Viva ! 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 TELLING HOW FRANCISCO HEBREBA CAME, AN 
 UNBIDDEN GUEST, TO THE CAS A RIVAS 
 
 TO FRANCISCO HERRERA, watcher in the 
 darkness, with the gleaming lattices of the 
 Casa Rivas less than fifty yards away, the tink 
 ling melody of guitar and mandolin came continu 
 ously and with a tantalizing effect which it seemed 
 must soon become maddening. The very keen 
 ness of his eyes added to his discomfort, So near 
 had he ridden to the mansion at that moment 
 holding so many of his foes that he knew or 
 fancied he knew every swaying figure that the 
 movement of the dance caused to pass across the 
 lighted window-spaces. One by one, and with 
 steadily growing vexation, he recognized them 
 caballeros and senoritas ; youths like himself, 
 with whom in happier times he had known many 
 a day of wild frolic; bright-faced women from 
 whom there had ever been a welcome for Fran 
 cisco Herrera, most dashing of cavaliers, gayest 
 of boyish adorers. It was all changed now for 
 him. They were there as of old, his one-time com 
 rades ; now as ever welcome guests beneath old 
 Don Pedro s roof and at his laden board; free to 
 sue for, perhaps to win he ground his teeth at 
 no 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 111 
 
 the thought the smiles that it seemed were nev 
 ermore for him. He was here, maddening in the 
 darkness ! 
 
 Yet he gazed on searchingly, yearningly ; giv 
 ing little heed now, despite the furious jealousy 
 of a moment, to the male figures that passed 
 across his field of vision, but devouring with hun 
 gry eyes the more graceful forms beside them. 
 For a sight . less keen the recognition of these 
 could scarcely have been easy. Viewed from 
 where Francisco sat in the saddle there was lit 
 tle whereby to distinguish one from another 
 among the many wearers of floating veils 
 and flower-decked bodices of white. Some, in 
 deed, he knew at once, of others he was not so 
 certain and for one he waited still, confident 
 that she at least could not escape his eyes so 
 sharpened by love and longing. 
 
 And suddenly he straightened in his saddle, the 
 warm blood throbbing in his cheeks. He saw the 
 gleaming red roses in her hair, he fancied he 
 could even at that distance note the soft luster of 
 her great dark eyes and then his gaze fell upon 
 the man beside her. 
 
 Francisco s brows drew downward, his head 
 sank a little upon his breast, and deep in his fierce 
 young heart throbbed something which it was just 
 as well did not find utterance in words. 
 
 Upright and manly, daring and generous, quick 
 to anger and as swift to forgive, Francisco was 
 as gentle and kindly a caballero of his race and 
 time as one could wish to meet. But it was hard 
 to sit, outcast and lonely in the darkness, and 
 
112 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 see another and that other! free to worship 
 unforbidden at the shrine he had once so fondly 
 imagined his alone. 
 
 But he was too light-hearted, too bright-na- 
 tured, to borrow pain, and was the less inclined 
 thereto that he knew time to be pressing, and that 
 it behooved him now, having dared so much, to 
 go yet further forward with the purpose which 
 had brought him unless, indeed, he wished to 
 own it hopeless. That would mean riding away 
 at once from the presence of profitless peril, for 
 Francisco knew that a Herrera, than whom the 
 Morales counted no stancher ally among all who 
 supported their quarrel, showed little judgment, 
 not to mention caution, in being alone and at 
 night, as he was now, in the district his foes 
 claimed for their own. But the lad was young, 
 he had dared such chances often, and fortune, 
 with his own quick wits and active arm, had ever 
 kept him safe from ill. 
 
 Francisco did not dwell for an instant upon 
 the alternative of retreat and safety, but had he 
 hesitated the choice must soon have been taken 
 from him. For while he yet paused, not in fear 
 but in indecision, as to how best to go forward 
 in his venture, some one came slowly walking to 
 ward him in the darkness. He knew, outlined as 
 he was against the sky, there could be but one 
 chance in a thousand that he had not already been 
 seen. So he rode easily forward and met the 
 stranger a few yards nearer the house. 
 
 Francisco had formed no special plan, trusting, 
 as almost ever, to the chances of the moment and 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 113 
 
 liis own quick wits, and it seemed that he was 
 not to do so vainly. As the two met, the man 
 from the house said unconcernedly and in the 
 half-Indian, half-Spanish patois of the aboriginal 
 natives of the province : 
 
 " Shall I take the horse, Senor?" 
 
 Francisco instantly realized, of course, that lie 
 was believed to be merely one more of the guests 
 at Rivas merrymaking, legitimately present if 
 somewhat late-arrived. For the moment at least 
 there was no danger of disclosure that he did not 
 himself invite. But there was a familiar tone 
 in the voice that had addressed him, a familiar 
 air, too, in the careless pose of the stocky figure 
 standing at his horse s shoulder, which caused him 
 to lean suddenly forward and peer intently into 
 the man s face. 
 
 "Why, it is Pepe!" he said, half laughing in 
 his light-hearted way over a meeting which some 
 how seemed an earnest of yet other good luck to 
 follow. 
 
 Pepe, though an Indian born and bred, for years 
 had been a sort of semi-retainer of the Rivas 
 household, coming and going much as he listed, 
 but always considering the rancho his home. He 
 had all the stolidity of his race, its incapacity for 
 betraying emotion, but for just one instant he 
 seemed startled. Then he shook his head slowly, 
 muttering : 
 
 Senor Francisco ! That is bad very bad ! 
 
 But Francisco only laughed again, and swung 
 himself easily down from the saddle. He had 
 known Pepe well in the time before the breaking 
 
114 THE NINE SWOKDS OF MORALES 
 
 out of the feud, lie knew, too, of the good service 
 done in other days for his friend and comrade, 
 Manuel de Guerra, by the sluggish but loyal In 
 dian. He would not see, therefore, in the present 
 meeting anything but good, and it was Pepe s 
 first remark, rather than the second, that he chose 
 to reply to. This he did in his own whimsical 
 way. 
 
 "Yes, you will take the horse, Pepe. I can t 
 lead him into the dance, now can If" 
 
 But if Pepe saw the point of Francisco s mild 
 joke he declined to show it. Instead he chose to 
 take the remark seriously, if not literally. 
 
 You will not go there, Sefior ? " he said gravely. 
 
 "And why not, Pepe!" asked Francisco, lightly- 
 still. t i Am I not a guest and Don Pedro is there, 
 is he not, and the Donna Yda ? 
 
 "And the Gonzales and others," said the In 
 dian stolidly. 
 
 Francisco frowned, but his only answer was to 
 move forward, saying : 
 
 "Take care of the horse, Pepe. I may need 
 him, you know." 
 
 Pepe laid his hand on his sleeve, detaining him, 
 and spoke again, this time with a note in his gut 
 tural voice which seemed almost imploring: 
 
 l Senor, if you go there, you may not need him 
 again. 
 
 "Then I give him to you, Pepe but ride him 
 away before some of those brave Gonzales cabal- 
 leros steal him," answered Francisco, again 
 laughing softly, as he strolled on toward the 
 house. 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 115 
 
 Pepe looked after him for a moment, then 
 moved as if about to take the horse to the stables. 
 But with his first step he paused, glanced thought 
 fully about him, and then led the animal a few 
 paces to one side, where the drooping branches 
 of an oak hung so low that he easily reached one 
 of them. To this, with a knot at once secure and 
 readily to be unfastened, he hitched the halter, 
 then quietly sat himself down in the dark shadow 
 at the foot of the great tree-trunk. Here he be 
 came at once invisible, but his eyes could rest both 
 upon the horse and the lighted windows of the 
 house beyond. 
 
 The old-time Mexican plan of house-building 
 the solid, fortress-like square surrounding an in 
 ner court never obtained much of a foothold in 
 Northern California. The comparatively peace 
 ful character of the Indians, also, in all probabil 
 ity, the question of cost, tended to bring a much 
 simpler and less warlike style of architecture into 
 favor, though there were isolated instances to the 
 contrary. The home of Don Pedro Rivas was of 
 the simpler fashion a large oblong, thickly 
 walled with adobe, and along one entire side of 
 which, really the front of the house, ran a deep 
 porch, pillared with hewn columns of wood, about 
 which, as well as over the overhanging eaves 
 above, grew climbing rose-bushes and honey 
 suckles in luxuriant profusion. Against the inner 
 wall of the porch, rooted in large, rudely-made 
 receptacles for earth, were other vines and bushes, 
 partially screening the lattice-work of the win 
 dows. Two of the latter, one on either side of the 
 
116 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 wide doorway, opened into the great living-room 
 of the casa an apartment which, with its antler 
 and weapon decked walls, might not improperly, 
 but for the lack of stateliness to be attributed to 
 the low ceiling, have been likened to the baronial 
 hall of an Old-world feudal castle. 
 
 Plainly built as it was, and despite the low-hung 
 and roughly-hewn beams above, the apartment 
 was still picturesque in the highest degree, thanks 
 to the wealth of woodland and warlike decoration 
 which covered the walls ; the brightly-barred Mex 
 ican blankets serving at once to soften and beau 
 tify the couches ; the great rugs of fur, to furnish 
 each of which some monarch of forest or mountain 
 had yielded up his life above all, at this moment, 
 to the gay throng of revelers, gorgeous, as to the 
 men, in gold-braided velvet, or beautiful, as for 
 old Don Pedro s gentler guests, in snowy white, 
 relieved only by wreaths and clusters of flowers 
 and their own glowing cheeks and eyes. 
 
 Shielded against observation from the open 
 doorway, had any one chanced to look out, by a 
 mass of wall foliage, Francisco Herrera stood for 
 a moment before one of the latticed windows aijd 
 gazed upon the scene within. 
 
 Yes, Pepe was right and even while he vowed 
 in his fiery soul that no man should bar him where 
 he willed to go, Francisco could not but own that 
 within that room was no place for him or for any 
 who rode with the Morales unless, indeed, he 
 might come with those nine great sons of Anak at 
 his back. Before his eyes as he gazed, lolling on 
 the settees about the large room, chatting in 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 117 
 
 groups or moving in haughty grace in the stately 
 dance at that moment going on, were they all 
 leaders and satellites together the chief foes of 
 his own and his comrades people. Gonzales the 
 elder and his fierce-faced brother, brave in velvet 
 which fairly jingled with metal decorations, were 
 notably prominent, easily taking first place in an 
 assemblage made up for the most part, so far at 
 least as the guests were concerned, of their own 
 supporters and allies. Not all, it is true, were 
 of the number of either, for Francisco noted at 
 least a few Carillos, Pachecos, Berryessas 
 whom he felt sure were there as Rivas guests 
 solely, and not to afford testimony that the Gon 
 zales could count them as members of their fac 
 tion. But these, neutrals, as they might be called, 
 were few compared to the number of those he 
 knew to be vowed either to Rivas or Gonzales in 
 the enmity of both against the Morales. Even 
 were they disposed to actively aid him in opposi 
 tion to the others, they would be powerless to do 
 so effectively. All in all, the aspect of the interior 
 of Rivas great hall was not such as the watcher 
 at the vine-framed window found encouraging. 
 
 And then, in a second, even as he felt for the 
 first time a dawning of doubt, a weakening of that 
 supreme and boyishly absurd confidence in his 
 own good fortune, his eyes brightened with a glad 
 light and his cheek grew warm with throbbing 
 blood. Surely, surely this was worth it all ! 
 
 Now he knew his eyes had not deceived him in 
 the glimpse he had gained while he still sat in the 
 saddle. The red roses gleaming bright in the dark 
 
118 THE NINE SWOBDS OF MORALES 
 
 masses of her splendid hair, the long, drooping 
 lashes rendering yet more beautiful the eyes so 
 bewitching in their soft blackness, the round cheek 
 glowing with just a tint of carmine, the full, curv 
 ing lips which seemed formed but for the tenderest 
 of smiles was ever, the watcher wondered, a pic 
 ture so fair as this 1 
 
 Francisco looked and adored, half mad with 
 love and longing, almost frantic, too, with the 
 thought that the day had been when he was free 
 to worship where now he came under shadow of 
 the dark, stranger and outcast. There had been 
 nothing between them in the old days nothing 
 in words only silent adoration and a hope grow 
 ing ever stronger that she knew what he had not 
 dared to utter, knew and was not displeased. 
 And then, with no word of warning, had come the 
 feud, the severance of old friendships, the ending 
 of his dream. 
 
 But had it ended? Francisco looked again 
 or rather with renewed intentness, for his eyes 
 had never wavered from her face then threw 
 back his broad shoulders and vowed deep in his 
 soul that it should never end while the heart 
 within his breast should beat. 
 
 Then his brows grew dark again, for he saw 
 the younger Gonzales, brother of him who had in 
 earlier days won the hand of her coldly beautiful 
 sister, bending low over Yda where she sat and 
 murmuring something in her ear. What it was 
 the watcher could not guess, though, if impas 
 sioned looks and gesture had meaning, it was 
 something to which the speaker himself attached 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 119 
 
 more than slight importance. They had been 
 dancing together but a few moments before. Was 
 he urging her again to become his partner, or was 
 it some graver plea? Francisco was a gentleman 
 by nature and instinct, and the meanness of the 
 eavesdropper was something of which he had no 
 conception, but as he witnessed that unheard 
 pleading and noted the look of trouble which crept 
 upon the fair face of the listener, he felt himself 
 swayed by an eagerness to know all that was 
 passing before him that was almost insupportable. 
 
 In the intensity of his feeling he forgot, par 
 tially at least, the caution which his position ren 
 dered so necessary, and no longer remembered to 
 keep back a little from the lattice that the light 
 from within might not fall upon his face. But 
 recollection awoke again, and with a shock, when 
 the thought was suddenly forced upon him that 
 Yda s eyes were meeting his own, in any case that 
 her gaze was turned exactly in his direction. He 
 could not think that she had seen him except 
 in a certain possibly fancied intentness with which 
 she gazed in his direction, she gave no sign but 
 he was reminded in an instant of his peril from 
 other as keen and less friendly eyes. With the 
 first impulse of restored caution, he drew his face 
 hastily away from the window and for the moment 
 lost sight entirely of those within the room. 
 
 When he looked again it was to see Sanoho 
 Gonzales standing, frowning and moody, by a va 
 cant chair, and to catch a fleeting glimpse of a 
 cluster of red roses as the wearer disappeared 
 through a doorway leading, as Francisco well 
 
120 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 knew, to the more private apartments of the house. 
 
 Francisco longed to laugh aloud in reckless hap 
 piness. Whatever Gonzales had pleaded for, cer 
 tain it was, if appearances were at all to be relied 
 on, it had been denied him. Else why the look of 
 gloom upon his dark features, the moodiness of 
 the attitude in which he stood, utterly heedless, to 
 all seeming, of notice or comment from others? 
 Ungenerous in the reaction from the unformed 
 dread of a moment before, Francisco again found 
 himself thrusting his face forward to the window 
 the better to note the apparent discomfiture of his 
 rival. 
 
 And then, though no sound of approaching foot 
 steps had warned him, a hand was placed upon 
 his arm, and a low voice murmured at his side : 
 
 "Seiior, are you mad?" 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 OF SOMETHING THAT CAME AFTER 
 
 FOR a few seconds the heart in Francisco s 
 breast seemed to stop beating, not with 
 dread, but through very madness of delight. 
 Then, in the friendly shelter of the foliage, he 
 caught the soft hand from his arm, pressed it 
 again and again, yet with all tenderness and rev 
 erence, to his lips, utterly disregarding indeed, 
 not noticing the girl s slight effort to draw it 
 away. 
 
 " Donna Yda, Donna Yda !" he murmured, heed 
 less of all but the joyous madness that possessed 
 him, unable even now to give it utterance in words. 
 
 Yda trembled, but did not again seek to draw 
 away her hand that, indeed, would have been 
 impossible. But her only answer to the almost 
 wordless manifestation of his joy was to repeat in 
 different form the greeting or warning she had 
 given him a moment before : 
 
 "You must be mad to be here." 
 
 "Mad? I have been so, perhaps," whispered 
 Francisco, his adoring eyes fixed upon the flushing 
 face before him. "But it is all ended now all 
 swallowed up in happiness." 
 
 121 
 
122 THE NINE SWOKDS OF MORALES 
 
 i Hush, hush ! they will hear ! And oh, why did 
 you come?" 
 
 "Is not the answer here, Senorita?" said Fran 
 cisco softly, no less moved than before, but now 
 no longer finding the expression of his delight 
 impossible in words. 
 
 All the coquetry of the Rivas blood had been 
 centered in the elder sister, that coldly beautiful 
 Pancha, because of whose whims and fickleness 
 weapons had more than once been drawn and 
 blood been shed while she was yet almost a child. 
 Yda s nature was one of absolute sincerity, and 
 there was no pretence, only a faint note of wonder, 
 in her low voice as she answered Francisco s 
 speech. 
 
 "I, Senor? I?" 
 
 Then the blush deepened in her cheek, and she 
 sought to draw away her hands he had them 
 both now as if realizing for the first time that 
 the warm clasp in which he held them, the passion 
 ate kisses he had pressed upon them, meant some 
 thing more than the gay gallantry which she re 
 membered in him when she was but a child and 
 he also too youthful, even had she been otherwise, 
 for her to give more than a passing thought to 
 his romantic seeming of devotion; but his gentle 
 clasp did not relax, and the effect of her words 
 and action seemed but to drive from the wild 
 youth s mind every remembrance of the peril of 
 his position, every thought but the one intox 
 icating, maddening that the loneliness of the past 
 year was ended ; that she was with him once again 
 she, the. one fair maid in all the world for him! 
 
THE NINE SWOKDS OF MORALES 123 
 
 and that now at last it was his to tell her all 
 that was in his passionate young heart. 
 
 So he held the little hands the closer in his 
 own strong clasp, not touching her otherwise in 
 the chivalrous reverence that was a part of his 
 loyal love, though he drew her so close to him 
 as they stood amid the shielding shrubbery that 
 he needed but to whisper for her to hear his pas 
 sionate words: 
 
 "You, Donna Yda! All these months I have 
 lived on the memory of my last look upon your 
 face ! Yda, Yda ! forgive me if my words seem 
 folly. If only you knew how I have longed for 
 you, thirsted for you, maddened for you!" 
 
 "Oh, hush, hush! They will hear> 
 
 Indeed, that seemed true, for even as he spoke 
 in his deep undertone, a group of the merry 
 makers within had swept up to the window, where 
 some of them stood now almost pressing against 
 the lattice. But it could not have been merely 
 this which caused Donna Yda to shudder so vio 
 lently. Was it not a face and his, of all others ! 
 that she had seen pressed against the frame 
 work? 
 
 The fear in her eyes was at once a warning and 
 an indication, and Francisco s glance followed her 
 own. But he saw nothing more startling than the 
 group of figures standing close against the win 
 dow, though surely for any one less heedless than 
 himself that circumstance was sufficiently alarm 
 ing. Even he, answering, however, rather the 
 dread in Yda s eyes than any recognition of peril 
 in his own mind, moved quietly back from the 
 
124: THE NINE SWOKDS OF MORALES 
 
 window, still keeping close to the wall, and draw 
 ing Yda gently with him by the little hands he still 
 held so tenderly yet strongly. 
 
 "It is nothing," he whispered soothingly. 
 "They did not see." 
 
 But Yda trembled and still glanced about her 
 with affrighted eyes. 
 
 "Ah, do not fear, mi querida!" he murmured 
 caressingly. "Indeed, I will go yes, and at once, 
 if my presence brings you dread. 
 
 "Yes, yes, Senor, you have said it," she an 
 swered, hurriedly whispering; "you must go 
 and go at once." 
 
 "Ah, Donna Yda, you are cruel." 
 
 "No, no, no! But you have promised." 
 
 "Yes and I will keep my word. But ah, Se- 
 norita, it is not so I would prove how wholly I 
 bend my will to yours. And I go without one word 
 from you! But forgive me. Adios, Senorita, 
 since it must be so." 
 
 He released her hands, lifted the broad hat 
 from his head, and bent low in farewell, but as he 
 moved toward the outer edge of the porch he felt 
 her light touch upon his velvet sleeve. He turned 
 eagerly. Her eyes were downcast, but the gentle 
 ness of her voice was balm and music to him. 
 
 "I bade you go, Sefior, but I would not have the 
 old playmate leave me in unkindness." 
 
 He dropped his hat upon the floor and caught 
 both her hands again. 
 
 You remember the old days, Donna Yda ? The 
 boy Francisco, and his " 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 125 
 
 "And his tempers, Senor. Yes, and I see lie 
 has them still," interrupted Yda, faintly smiling. 
 
 "Yes, yes," whispered Francisco, with eager 
 passion; "the old tempers aye! and the old love, 
 the old worship, for the fairest, sweetest maid in 
 all the world to him ! Oh, Yda ! Yda ! am I mad 
 with joy that I dare believe she is still my own 
 my own ? 
 
 The girl shrank back from him, white-faced and 
 trembling. 
 
 * No, no ; you must not, she whispered. You 
 do not know. 
 
 He pressed closer again, eagerly, yet with ten 
 der reverence, forbearing now even to do so much 
 as touch her hands. 
 
 "I know that I love you, Yda, my Yda! Only 
 that, only that!" 
 
 The pain deepened in her eyes, and then for a 
 moment she hid her face in her hands. 
 
 "You must not, you must not," she murmured 
 brokenly. "I dare not listen. I have no right- 
 not now ! 
 
 Something like a chill seized upon his heart at 
 her last words, and the manner of their utterance. 
 He pressed no nearer to her now, and the light and 
 life seemed suddenly to die from his glowing 
 young face. 
 
 "Yda," he said at last, "am I indeed too late!" 
 
 She did not answer in words, but bent her head 
 as if in feeble assent. Then, half unconsciously, 
 her eyes turned to the window and the room be 
 yond. Francisco s glance followed and fell upon 
 Sancho Gonzales, brilliant in crimson velvet and 
 
126 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 glittering braid of gold, where lie swayed to and 
 fro, handsome, but cold and haughty even in his 
 relaxation, amid the groups of dancers. 
 
 Herrera s eyes grew fierce and glaring, and for 
 a moment the glittering crimson figure seemed to 
 lose its outlines and fade into a red mist which he 
 felt was somehow getting into his brain and mov 
 ing him to madness. Then he became aware of 
 Yda s quivering touch upon his arm and heard her 
 tremulous whisper at his ear : 
 
 "Ah, do not, do not look so! What have I 
 done?" 
 
 The fury died at once from his heart and eyes. 
 He turned half away with a slow, hopeless move 
 ment which went to her soul as no outbreak of 
 violent anger could have done. 
 
 "Oh, Yda, Yda!" he said gently, "who would 
 have dreamed you could forget so soon ! 
 
 She moved swiftly nearer to him at that, and 
 pressed her hands upon his arm with a gesture 
 at once imploring and protesting. 
 
 "What was there to remember?" she whispered. 
 How have you the heart to reproach me to be 
 so unjust? We had been boy and girl together. 
 We had yes, I will say even this ! we had played 
 at lovers. But as we grew older, what had you 
 ever said to me other than to others? What to 
 prove you more than a comrade, a friend? Ah, no, 
 no, I would not seem to reproach you, but, oh, 
 Francisco, when you rode away for the last time 
 and ranged yourself against my father and his 
 people, what was there for me to remember? 
 What to give me thought that you would ever 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 127 
 
 come back to me? What to make me forget in 
 such memory that the comrade of my childhood 
 was the fierce rider who raided my kinsmen s lands 
 with the mad Morales? Ah, Francisco, is it kind, 
 is it just, to reproach me?" 
 
 Once more he caught both her hands in his, 
 disregarding her feeble resistance, and pressed 
 them again to his lips. 
 
 God forbid that I should blame you, he whis 
 pered. Mine the folly, mine alone I could pray 
 that mine only should be the pain ! But, oh, Yda, 
 even though I had deserved to be forgotten how 
 could it be?" 
 
 Her head drooped, she did not seem able to 
 meet his eyes, and her whispered words were fal 
 tering and broken. 
 
 "I I do not know. He is my father s friend 
 my sister s near kinsman. All seemed to wish it. 
 They talked of the feud of the need of binding 
 friends more closely. I I do not know that I 
 cared for him at first. Yet he was gay and hand 
 some and he seemed to think much of me. Per 
 haps I was moved a little. Perhaps oh, Fran 
 cisco ! why were you away or why did you ever 
 return ? 
 
 Again he caught her hands, again he drew her 
 nearer to him, this time with a masterfulness of 
 possession which frightened her. 
 
 "Querida, mi querida," he whispered, tenderly, 
 passionately, the despair all gone from his voice 
 now, i you have said too much. I shall never give 
 you up. I have been a laggard lover, but it is 
 
128 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 not too late. You are mine, mine, mine! Mine 
 ever and mine only ! * 
 
 Oh, hush, hush ! He has my word ! 
 
 " And I, Yda, love of my soul, light of my eyes ! 
 what have I?" 
 
 And then, as if her will could no longer endure, 
 she sank weakly against his breast, and her answer 
 was almost a sob: 
 
 "My heart, Francisco!" 
 
 His arms were round her even as she spoke, 
 and she whispered the words with his face press 
 ing the thick masses of her clustering hair and 
 his lips almost against her cheek. She made no 
 effort against him now, and when she spoke again 
 it was only to murmur, "I have missed you so, 
 Francisco ! whereat that wild young lover almost 
 went mad entirely, and felt himself possessed of 
 an insane desire to seize and lift the slight form 
 before him bodily in his arms, to bear her at once 
 into the throng of enemies so near, and there defy 
 any and all to take her from him. Something of 
 wild recklessness it seemed for one instant that 
 he must do to ease the fierce throbbing of his 
 heart and the hot tumult in his brain. And what 
 he did was only to bend his head yet a little lower, 
 to clasp her just a little more closely, but with 
 nothing of rudeness in his loving pressure, and to 
 whisper over and over again in the soft words of 
 the language that seems made for love "My 
 darling, my darling, my darling!" 
 
 Again the sound of jest and laughter but a few 
 feet away broke in upon them, and Yda drew her 
 self quickly from Francisco s arms. 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 129 
 
 "You must go," she whispered; "but you will 
 come again?" 
 
 "Will I not? Oh, Yda!" 
 
 "But I would not Ah, go, go! Quick! oh, be 
 quick ! 
 
 She pushed him from her, and Francisco, half 
 desperate at the thought of parting, yet did not 
 hesitate, for there was that in her frightened whis 
 per and nervous action which told him there was 
 no time to lose. Obeying the pressure of her 
 hands, he moved swiftly along the porch in a di 
 rection away from the door, out of which, had he 
 paused to look, he might at that moment have seen 
 the first of a strolling group begin to issue. What 
 he did not see he heard, however, and while his 
 proud young spirit writhed that he should seem 
 to play a skulker s part, he did not spare any 
 effort that could tend to keep his presence secret 
 and so save the girl he loved distress and humilia 
 tion. His softly shod and unspurred feet made no 
 sound, the shadow afforded by the successive clus 
 ters of shrubbery served him well, and when he 
 finally stepped from the end of the porch upon the 
 ground and amid darkness which seemed to render 
 special efforts at concealment no longer necessary, 
 he had no reason to believe that his presence had 
 been observed by unfriendly eyes. 
 
 A while he waited in the deeper shadow of an 
 oak that stood conveniently near, while the light- 
 hearted merrymakers upon the porch, whom he 
 noted that Yda had at once joined, lingered about 
 the door. Their action in leaving the interior of 
 the casa had apparently been aimless, however, or 
 
130 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 nearly so, for a few moments in the open air 
 seemed to content them. Then, greatly to Fran 
 cisco s satisfaction, save that Yda went with them, 
 he saw the last of the group disappear within the 
 doorway. Realizing then that, since it was his 
 fate to go without hope of another glimpse of the 
 fair girl now so measurelessly dear to him, it was 
 wisdom to depart at once, he made his way as ex- 
 peditiously as might be toward the spot where 
 Pepe had taken charge of his horse. 
 
 As he neared the place, walking carefully in 
 the darkness, he saw that the animal had been 
 moved slightly aside, and now stood beneath the 
 limbs of one of the large oaks of the grove amid 
 which Don Pedro Rivas had built his home. But 
 surely, making all allowance for the deceptiveness 
 of the half-light, that could not be Pepe s stocky 
 figure standing at the bridle-rein. And as he 
 paused a voice spoke, and resolved his doubts, but 
 not as he would have had them ended. 
 
 "Whose horse is- it and why are you sitting 
 there in the dark?" asked the voice. 
 
 Pepe s answer was slow in coming. The old- 
 time California Indian had no special objection to 
 lying, but civilization and education were neces 
 sary to make him do it glibly. The reply came 
 finally Pepe s known sluggishness of thought 
 and speech serving, though unconsciously to him 
 self, to strengthen its plausibility : 
 
 "I do not know the horse some one of the se- 
 nors rode it. I waited to know if I should take it 
 to the stable. " 
 
 "Do so now. Go!" 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 131 
 
 Pepe arose slowly from his seat against the tree- 
 trunk. There was a double reason for his hesi 
 tancy. Added to his dislike to place Herrera s 
 horse even temporarily out of its rider s reach, 
 was a feeling of deep and sullen anger that the 
 man before him should dare give him orders as 
 a master. To obey old Rivas, upon whose lands 
 he had voluntarily made his home, was one thing ; 
 to take commands from others, to whom he felt 
 no sense of obligation, was quite different. Ordi 
 narily, perhaps, he would have thought little of 
 the matter; now, angered as he was on behalf of 
 the reckless young adventurer who had often 
 shown him kindness, Pepe s queer intellect, with 
 its hidden but strong leaven of savagery, rapidly 
 began to build up a cause for offense that was 
 almost mortal. 
 
 The man most vitally concerned knew nothing 
 of it, of course, but as the Indian approached as 
 if to do as he was bidden, Sancho Gonzales stood 
 very near to death. 
 
 But the fever of sullen fury died in Pepe s being 
 as silently as it had arisen, and, quietly loosening 
 the hitching-cord, he led the animal away in the 
 direction of the stables. Gonzales watched him 
 until there was little to be seen in the darkness, 
 then, shrugging his shoulders, strolled back to 
 ward the house. 
 
 Pepe s progress grew more and more lagging 
 as he neared the stables, the more so, perhaps, 
 that a glance backward had shown him the tall 
 figure of Gonzales moving away in the direction 
 of the casa. When the first corner of the out- 
 
 10 
 
132 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 buildings cut him off from view of the house he 
 stopped altogether. He must think and with 
 Pepe thinking was something not often to be done 
 in a hurry. 
 
 But, as it chanced, even the effort was spared 
 him, for a soft, swift step approached him now, 
 and Herrera s own voice reassured him. 
 
 "Good Pepe," said the lad, a deeper feeling 
 than usual in his ordinarily careless tones. "You 
 have been my friend to-night. I will not forget 
 it" 
 
 "And you will go now?" said Pepe, stolidly as 
 ever, but his hearer guessed and almost laughed 
 out at the world of relief that was concealed by 
 those emotionless accents. 
 
 "Yes, Pepe, I will go now," he said gaily. 
 
 i i Not quite yet, I think, uttered another voice, 
 and a hand met his own on the bridle-rein. 
 
 Sancho Gonzales stood beside them. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 IN WHICH OCCURS AN ESCAPE, ALSO A CAPTURE, AN 
 ACCUSATION, AND AN UNLOOKED-FOR RETURN 
 
 IN THE days when the fame of Herrera the 
 Eaider filled the land it was said of him, and 
 not alone by friends, that he had the lightest 
 foot, the swiftest thought, and the surest hand of 
 any in Sonoma. The Gonzales, above all others, 
 had had rueful reason to accord him this suprem 
 acy. And surely Sancho did not recognize who it 
 was that stood within his grasp, or he had scarcely 
 acted as he did. He had heard enough to know 
 the stranger for an enemy, but it did not cross 
 his mind that it could be that enemy. Yet Gon 
 zales showed no lack of promptness in his action, 
 albeit it was rather of word than of deed. 
 
 " Seize them both, Senors and the horse!" lie 
 said. 
 
 There was a rush of men but a blow, a leap, 
 a quick word to his steed, and Francisco was safe 
 in the saddle and dashing away at a speed which, 
 even from the beginning, seemed to place his es 
 cape almost beyond question. But not so swiftly 
 the good horse sped that the rider did not hear 
 Gonzales speak again, and. in a tone in which 
 
 133 
 
134 THE NINE SWOEDS OF MORALES 
 
 anger, triumph, and a hint of something else 
 seemed ail to blend : 
 
 Let him go. At least we have the Indian dog. 
 
 If Gonzales meant, as was instantly suspected 
 by Herrera, that the latter should hear his words, 
 he succeeded, but if he hoped that such hearing 
 would stay the fugitive s flight, he had reason to 
 believe the hope a failure. True, it did seem to 
 all of those through whose grasp Herrera had 
 slipped so quickly that there was a sudden pause 
 in the sound of the rapidly receding hoof-beats, 
 but it was only for an instant, for almost before 
 it could be noted the swift patter of Muchacho s 
 flying feet was again to be heard, continuing until 
 the sound died away to the northward. 
 
 Gonzales, who had made no move toward pur 
 suit, apparently realizing that it would be hope 
 less, listened until there was no longer anything 
 to be heard, then spoke, and, to do him justice, 
 there was something of honest scorn in his voice : 
 
 " There is a caballero!" he sneered. "What to 
 him is the fate of his friend?" 
 
 And neither to Gonzales nor to any of his fel 
 low captors of poor Pepe did it seem to occur that 
 a horse might flee without a rider and that dark 
 ness covers much. 
 
 But they haled the stolid Indian across the 
 grounds to the casa and dragged him in without 
 warning before Don Pedro Rivas, where that 
 courtly mannered host sat in the midst of a group 
 of his elder guests. The old ranchero s eye kin 
 dled as he saw what was being done, for, though 
 knowing nothing of the circumstances, he was not 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 135 
 
 accustomed to see his dependents harshly used, 
 if at all, by any but himself. There was that in 
 his look which caused all but Sancho Gonzales, of 
 the few who had made the capture, to fall back 
 from the unresisting prisoner as the latter was 
 brought before the master of the hacienda. All 
 the guests gathered in a wide circle, the music 
 ceasing, and Don Pedro s displeasure probably 
 was not lessened by the fact that this untoward 
 incident should so have interrupted his merry 
 making. His voice was at its coldest when he 
 spoke. 
 
 "Senor Sancho Gonzales," he said, giving his 
 guest his full name, as if to emphasize the fact that 
 it was the younger brother, and not his own son- 
 in-law that he addressed, "I do not understand 
 jests such as this. Perhaps you will explain." 
 
 But Gonzales declined to be daunted. 
 
 "I bring you a traitor, Don Pedro," he said 
 quietly. 
 
 "A traitor!" 
 
 "Yes traitor and spy both. What else the 
 man of your own people who brings a Morales to 
 your very doors; perhaps" and then, for a fleet 
 ing instant, did his eyes rest accusingly upon one 
 pale and shrinking face "perhaps, almost if not 
 quite within those doors!" 
 
 "And this, you say, Pepe has done!" 
 
 "He has. This moment the skulker escaped, 
 but not until we had seen and heard enough to 
 know that he was here with the Indian dog s aid." 
 
 "Spare your abuse of any of my following, 
 Senor, if you would remain friend of mine, said 
 
136 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 old Rivas sternly. "If this man be guilty, mine 
 be his punishing. Until then lie is the dweller 
 within my gates, the eater of my bread and no 
 man, high or low, shall wrong him. He has yet 
 to say his say." 
 
 "Speak!" said Gonzales. 
 
 Pepe s face remained as expressionless as if 
 carved in wood, but he looked Gonzales silently 
 in the face for a full moment, and to one capable 
 of reading what meaning lay in the depths of his 
 black eyes it must have been apparent that the 
 hate and contempt of his look were alike measure 
 less. Something of this at least Gonzales him 
 self realized, and the veins swelled on his temples. 
 
 "Speak!" he shouted again, and it seemed as 
 if he would rush upon the stolid figure before him. 
 
 But Rivas bent his dark brows upon him, and 
 his elder brother, Ramon Gonzales, laid a restrain 
 ing hand on his arm. Then Rivas himself turned 
 to his sullen dependent. 
 
 "You will speak to me, Pepe," he said gently. 
 "Tell me, muchacho, what is it all?" 
 
 Pepe had, within the last few moments, brought 
 that phase of his complicated nature uppermost 
 that would have moved him to go silently to the 
 stake rather than yield a hair s breadth upon even 
 a more trifling matter than this at the bidding of 
 one he might choose to regard as his foe. But he 
 was not proof against the kindness in the voice 
 and look of old Don Pedro. He spoke at once, in 
 short, broken sentences framed almost equally of 
 Spanish and aboriginal words : 
 
 "One come from the road there. I take the 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 137 
 
 horse. He come to casa here. By and by come 
 back, take the horse go ! 
 
 "And that is all?" 
 
 "AIL" 
 
 "Bali! he trifles with you, Don Pedro," said 
 Sancho Gonzales in fierce impatience, but Rivas 
 seemed not to hear. 
 
 And his name, Pepe ? " he said. 
 
 Pepe s eyes slowly sank to the floor, and he did 
 not answer. 
 
 "Do you not know him, Pepe?" asked his mas 
 ter with yet no change in the gentleness of his 
 questioning. 
 
 "Yes I know," said Pepe sullenly. 
 
 "And his name!" said Rivas once again. 
 
 But Pepe remained silent. Had something in 
 a white and frightened face, framed by dark hair 
 and crimson roses, set his slow brain thinking 
 again? Had it already begun to work into his 
 mind that what might not injure the fugitive could 
 not, therefore, be held certainly harmless as to 
 others ? However all this may have been, he gave 
 no answer to the question last asked him, but bent 
 his fixed gaze stolidly on the floor. 
 
 "A dozen lashes might make him talk," sug 
 gested the younger Gonzales. 
 
 "Or clipping his ears," said the elder. 
 
 "Neither of which plans will be tried," said 
 Rivas, in cold anger, again deeply incensed at his 
 guests inclination to trench upon his own special 
 prerogatives. Perhaps his indignation at this 
 moved him to be more lenient than he had in- 
 
138 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 tended, for certainly many besides the Gonzales 
 were surprised when he added : 
 
 "I think we have asked enough. The stranger 
 came and went and Pepe held his horse. I do 
 not think we need count that a crime. For the 
 rest, if Pepe have reason for not betraying the 
 stranger s name, let him keep it a secret, I, for 
 one, believe my servant neither spy nor traitor. 
 Let that end it." 
 
 The younger Gonzales opened his lips as if to 
 make an angry rejoinder, but the elder checked 
 him. 
 
 "Don Pedro Rivas," he said gravely, "I am 
 not wont to fail in respect to you, and I hope I 
 do not do so now. But, permit me to say, that 
 this should not end so briefly. We should know 
 whom we may trust. If there are spies in our 
 households we should root them out. This man 
 may be guiltless I accuse him of nothing but 
 I say we have not tested either the charge or de 
 nial as yet. For the Indian s own sake, let it not 
 end thus. Let him clear himself, if he can, here 
 and now. There are those of our faction whom it 
 would otherwise be ill for him to meet beyond 
 the shelter of your hand. 
 
 Rivas seemed impressed, despite himself, by the 
 words of his son-in-law, but he spoke in reply with 
 a little impatience. 
 
 "How is anything to be proved?" he asked. 
 * Allow him to be abused I will not. 
 
 "It would seem, if what he says is true," an 
 swered Gonzales, "that to some part at least of 
 his story he might have a witness." 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 139 
 
 There was such a witness, and even as the sug 
 gestion was made, had any one had eyes for other 
 than the central figures in the scene before them, 
 they must have noted the white-faced girl with the 
 red roses in her hair start from her place and 
 press forward to her father s side, with the light 
 of an awakened purpose in her eyes. But even 
 as those nearest turned to follow her rapid move 
 ment, there came a more startling interruption. 
 
 A quiet voice spoke from the outermost rim of 
 the circle : 
 
 "I will be Pepe s witness I, Francisco Her- 
 
CHAPTEE XX 
 
 HOW FRANCISCO HEEKEEA FOUND FRIENDS IN NEED IN 
 THE MIDST OF THOSE HE HAD COUNTED FOES 
 
 THE circle broke apart at once to see the 
 speaker, and Herrera was left standing 
 alone almost in the middle of the room, with the 
 majority of Rivas guests in two groups upon 
 either side. He stepped forward a few paces as 
 he saw the way open before him, his broad hat 
 swinging in his hand, and bowed low, once to 
 the gray master of the house and again to the 
 group of ladies standing near him. This with the 
 smile of an expected rather than an unwelcome 
 guest upon his handsome face, and nothing in his 
 air otherwise not in keeping with the former 
 character. When he spoke it was in a voice which 
 seemed full of frank confidence, almost gaiety. 
 
 "I ask your pardon, Senor Don Pedro Rivas," 
 he said, "for entering unannounced. Perhaps I 
 should do so likewise, judging from the looks of 
 some I see about me, that I have come to your 
 merrymaking at all, lacking an invitation. For 
 the first offense I have to say that I found no one 
 at your door to whom to make my presence known ; 
 for the second, I have not been, in days gone by, 
 so great a stranger to Don Pedro Rivas as not to 
 
 140 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 141 
 
 know that beneath his roof all come as they list 
 and are welcome." 
 
 Black looks had already gathered on not a few 
 of the faces within the great room, but Francisco, 
 as he cast a swift glance about, while awaiting 
 Don Pedro s response, met all with the cheerful 
 smile of one who knows himself in the circle of 
 his friends. So gallant and confident was his air, 
 so handsome his bright young face, that it was not 
 in the heart of any woman there to look upon 
 him other than with kindly eyes. Yet scarcely one 
 among them needed to be told that with their 
 fathers, brothers, and other male kinsmen this 
 man stood at enmity which might at almost any 
 instant become mortal. There were smiles for 
 him in more than one pair of lovely dark eyes; 
 blushes, too, upon more than one round cheek 
 for what fair maid who remembered the days be 
 fore the great feud but could recall some gay 
 prank, some irresistibly comic freak of boyish sen 
 timentality, of which this light-hearted cavalier 
 had been the hero, herself, perhaps, the laughing 
 victim. Imp of mischief he had ever been through 
 all his childhood and youth, but and it stood him 
 in good stead now there had never been that, in 
 the worst of his pranks, to leave a sting behind. 
 Perhaps not until this moment, when they saw him 
 again in the circle where he had been so familiar a 
 figure, did many there fully realize how much had 
 been lacking in his absence. 
 
 But others looked upon him with sterner eyes. 
 To these he was not the gay, light-hearted leader 
 of fandango and merrymaking rather chief 
 
U-2 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 among the allies of the wild Morales riders, him 
 self the leader of a band of vaquero-retainers 
 more reckless than himself, if that were possible, 
 every man of them so ruthlessly ready in keeping 
 plain and path that no Gonzales henchman rode 
 abroad without his bounds by night or day but 
 in peril of returning stripped of weapons and 
 afoot, harried to the last point of endurance, and 
 thankful amid the wrath of his soul that his tor 
 mentors had thus far drawn the line at taking 
 human life except in actual defense of their own. 
 
 It could scarcely be otherwise than that some 
 such thoughts as these were in the mind of old 
 Don Pedro Rivas himself, as well as in those of 
 his sterner guests, as he gazed upon the erect fig 
 ure and confident face before him. If so, he suf 
 fered no trace of them to appear in his demeanor. 
 He only bowed gravely and spoke with a grace 
 of gesture and courtesy of tone which had made 
 him famous even among compatriots with whom 
 the like were instinct. 
 
 "Senor Herrera, I have only to say that, now 
 as ever, you are welcome. The man who makes 
 himself my guest does honor to my roof. While 
 you rest beneath it the house is yours and the 
 master s service with it." 
 
 The old man finished his stately spooHi of wel 
 come, as he had begun, with a bow, and this Fran 
 cisco returned as he spoke again. 
 
 "Your kindness is as ever, worthy of your name, 
 Senor," he said. "Suffer me not, however, to 
 trench upon it further than may be needful. F^epe, 
 your follower here, is accused and through my 
 
THE XIX E SWORDS OF MORALES 143 
 
 fault. I wish only to say that suspicions which 
 impute plotting or treachery to him as against 
 you or your house are unjust and unfounded. He 
 knew nothing of my coming this night until I dis 
 mounted before your door. We spoke but a mo 
 ment together when, as he has said, I left my horse 
 with him and approached nearer to your dwelling. 
 What he said to me was only to urge that I de 
 part at once, and as I had come, unnoticed. When 
 I rejoined him later his words conveyed nothing 
 but the same request. True, in so urging me, he 
 was seeking to spare me trouble, perhaps danger, 
 but I would point out that he was, by the same act, 
 serving you, his master, to the same end. Plotter 
 or traitor he is not. For this you have my word, 
 and I dare believe, Don Pedro, even in these un 
 happy times, that with you and some others at 
 least of those I see about me, it will not lack for 
 credence." 
 
 Rivas did not answer Francisco directly, but 
 he turned to Pepe, who still stood, silent and sul 
 len, in the center of the room, and said with quiet 
 
 k You may go, Pepe. Xo one will trouble you 
 more. 
 
 Stolid as ever, with not a look and apparently 
 not a thought for any one about him, the Indian 
 shambled to the doorway and out into the dark 
 ness. 
 
 Herrera followed the stocky figure with his eyes 
 until it had disappeared, then turned again to 
 Rivas. 
 
144 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 "I have now but to thank you, Scilor and to 
 bid you and your guests farewell. 
 
 Despite whatever efforts they may have made, 
 there were those who heard who could not keep a 
 glitter of malevolent anticipation from their eyes 
 at this, and upon some at least of those about them 
 the hint of evil was not lost. Yda s fair face, 
 already white, grew ashen, and her eyes turned 
 appealingly to her father. But he had needed no 
 warning. His gray head seemed to stiffen upon 
 his shoulders, and his eyes, which he turned, not 
 to him he addressed, but upon those others for 
 whom it was evident his words were also intended, 
 shone with a look which it was not pleasant to 
 meet. 
 
 "For the first time you have wronged me, Seiior 
 Herrera, " he said gravely, " inasmuch as you 
 seem to believe I will permit guest of mine to leave 
 my house, alone and unguarded, to meet the 
 chances of the night. Until dawn, even though you 
 may wish it otherwise, I must constrain } T OU, by 
 your regard for your host s feelings, if no lesser 
 argument will serve, to remain beneath my roof. 
 Few of these fair ladies and gallant caballeros 
 who have honored me to-night would dream, I 
 hope, of forsaking me until the coming of the day. 
 Let us not think," added the old man, less gravely, 
 "that a few short months have served to make a 
 sluggard reveler of him once so gay as the Senor 
 Herrera. 
 
 One brief glance of smiling mockery Herrera 
 permitted himself for the dark faces whose fierce 
 
THE NINE SWOBDS OF MORALES 145 
 
 eagerness bad not escaped him. Then once more 
 he bent his handsome head in acknowledgment. 
 
 "Francisco Herrera, Senor," he said, "now as 
 ever takes and welcomes whatever of good or ill 
 the fates may send. The courtesy of so kind a 
 host it were not less than sin to fail to profit by. 
 Your guest I will be then, and gladly. " 
 
 Sancho Gonzales started violently forward, but 
 his more self-restrained brother laid a detaining 
 hand upon his arm. But there was black displea 
 sure in the latter s own face. 
 
 "Senor Don Pedro Rivas," he said, with cold 
 formality, "suffer me to thank you for the plea 
 sure of your fete and to bid you adieu. I grieve 
 that circumstances should render it necessary for 
 me to depart thus early. 
 
 "I grieve also, son-in-law," answered the old 
 man in a tone of unmoved and icy calm, though his 
 eyes began to glow beneath the shadow of his dark 
 brows. "But," he added, "I will not constrain 
 you and my servants shall speed you on your 
 way." 
 
 "And me also, Seiior," said Sancho Gonzales, 
 with scarcely repressed insolence. 
 
 " And you also, Seiior," said the old man, with 
 quiet courtesy. 
 
 "And I, likewise, will remain no longer," said 
 Pablo Estrada rudely, advancing toward the lead 
 ers of his faction. 
 
 "Nor I," "Nor I," said Benito Gomez and 
 Emilio Silvela, almost in a breath, and these also 
 joined the group, followed an instant later by yet 
 others of those who, for one and another cause. 
 
146 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 had chosen to make the Gonzales quarrel their 
 own. 
 
 "As yon please, Senors," said old Rivas, still 
 with a voice that did not tremble, though his eye 
 shot fire and his cheek grew ashen. 
 
 Then the elder Gonzales spoke again, but his 
 eyes sought the floor as if he felt the cruelty and 
 the shame of what he was saying : 
 
 " I do not see the Seiiora, my wife. I must ask 
 that you send her word. She will, of course, go 
 with me." 
 
 Old Rivas face twitched, and for an instant it 
 seemed that his iron nerve would be shaken. Gon 
 zales had known where and how to strike in thus 
 uttering his scarcely concealed warning that for 
 his host to quarrel with him meant the estrange 
 ment of father and daughter. 
 
 "The Seiiora," said the old man, hesitating 
 slightly, is unused to traveling at night over the 
 unkept roads. It would seem wise for her to re 
 main in her father s house at least until the dawn 
 ing. My servants can then see her safely to her 
 own home." 
 
 "The Seiiora goes with her husband," said 
 Gonzales doggedly, still with his eyes fixed upon 
 the floor. 
 
 A murmur came from among those not of the 
 group immediately about Gonzales, and above the 
 mutter of displeasure an instant later sounded a 
 clear, indignant voice : 
 
 "Shame for the mind that could think it and 
 the lips that could say it." 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 147 
 
 "Who dares!" demanded Gonzales, glancing 
 about him with furious eyes. 
 
 "That do I!" answered the voice with prompt 
 energy, and the speaker pushed his way defiantly 
 forward until he stood in plain view a loose- 
 jointed, athletic young rancher o, with a bold, rov 
 ing eye and a general air of reckless swagger. 
 
 "Senor Carillo Senor Ramon Carillo," said 
 Gonzales, with a sneering emphasis upon the Ra 
 mon" which it was impossible to mistake. The 
 other did not hesitate to avow his understanding 
 of the intended taunt. 
 
 "Aye! Ramon Carillo black sheep of his tribe, 
 if you will, Senor, but man enough to stand by 
 host and friend against any Gonzales who ever left 
 trouble in his track. I care nothing for your 
 feuds; I ride with neither of your factions, but 
 that man whose guest I am I count my friend, and 
 I say shame on you who offer him this affront." 
 
 "And I also," "And I," said the two Pachecos, 
 the elder adding: "Our friend Carillo but took 
 the words from our lips." 
 
 "And from ours," said the three Berryessas in 
 a breath, while Alvarado likewise declared him 
 self, adding bluntly : 
 
 Peace or feud, a festival hall is neutral ground, 
 and I, for one, would not question my host s right 
 to make welcome the Nine Swords themselves, if 
 he willed, and every man of their following. 
 
 "As you will," said Gonzales coldly, "but you 
 who are of my thinking go now from the house. 
 I wait but for the Senora." 
 
 "And what of the Senora?" asked a voice, as 
 
 31 
 
US THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 Pancha Gonzales herself entered from an inner 
 room in time to hear her husband s concluding 
 words. "And why/ she added, with sharp im- 
 periousness, "do you stand divided so as if ene 
 mies about to fly at one another s throats?" 
 
 "My daughter," said old Rivas gently, "it is 
 only that your husband is parting from me dis 
 pleased; and he overrules my wish that you at 
 least should stay with us here, in your childhood s 
 home, until the dawning." 
 
 Pancha s eyes shone dangerously. Perhaps the 
 truest sentiment in her wayward heart was her 
 sincere if half heedless affection for the father 
 from whom she could never remember, even from 
 her earliest childhood, having heard a word that 
 was not spoken in kindness. If she loved Gon 
 zales, after a fashion, there was that in their 
 mutual past which at times rose up between them 
 like a wall of distrustful enmity. The pain which 
 she detected in her father s voice, despite his 
 efforts to conceal it, was all that was needed 
 now. 
 
 "You may go if you will," she said coldly, ad 
 dressing her husband. "I shall remain with my 
 father." 
 
 Gonzales frowned, and answered hoarsely : 
 
 "This cannot be, Senora. Your place is with 
 your husband. You must return with me to the 
 Casa Gonzales." 
 
 "I must, Senor!" 
 
 "Yes, Senora; you must!" 
 
 Gonzales voice was half choked with passionate 
 anger, and his frame trembled as he spoke. But 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 149 
 
 Panclia only smiled faintly and moved as if to 
 stroll heedlessly away. 
 
 For one second a faint light of what might 
 have been triumph lit Rivas dark eyes, then it 
 passed, and he lifted his thin hand. 
 
 "The Sefiora does but jest," he said, with quiet 
 gravity, to Gonzales. "I speak truly, do I not, my 
 child!" he added, turning his grave glance upon 
 Pancha s beautiful but mutinous face. 
 
 For a moment the girl she was little more in 
 years seemed to hesitate. Then she lifted her 
 eyes to her father s, saying gently, almost 
 humbly : 
 
 "What would you have me do, mi padre?" 
 
 "Only your own will, querida," answered her 
 father, gravely smiling, "and that will, of course, 
 be to go with your husband. I will bid the ser 
 vants make you ready. A father s love, my child, 
 comes not between husband s and wife s." 
 
 The old man spoke bravely, but there were 
 those who heard the pain in his voice and read it 
 in his kind eyes, and one at least did not do so 
 unmoved. Quickly Francisco Herrera spoke: 
 
 "Senor, take my thanks for your kindness, and 
 suffer that I depart. I would not that my pres 
 ence should make strife between friends or sepa 
 rate those bound by yet dearer ties. My errand 
 here is done. Accept my thanks, and indeed, 
 Seiior, I must insist upon it let me take the 
 road." 
 
 "With us to serve as escort," spoke a sullen 
 voice somewhere in the background, and a faint 
 sound of grim laughter followed. 
 
150 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 Again Don Pedro s face grew stern and men 
 acing, but another anticipated him in reply to the 
 threatening jest. 
 
 "Say you so, indeed?" spoke out reckless Ra 
 mon Carillo, turning to face the point from which 
 the words and the laughter came. Say you so ! 
 Then Francisco Herrera will ride not alone this 
 night while I can sit my saddle. 
 
 "Which Ramon Carillo cannot always do . 
 after a feast," said the same voice that had 
 spoken before. 
 
 But no laughter followed from those so grouped 
 as to conceal the speaker, for this time, Carillo s 
 eyes, already glowing, were fixed upon them 
 and there was that in his look which seemed to 
 rob the jest of its humor. 
 
 "I have not sat overlong at the feast to-night, 
 Senor," said Carillo calmly. "At all events, I 
 think that he who cares to test may find my hand 
 steady and swift." 
 
 There was no reply, but as Herrera, who had 
 affected to hear nothing of the side talk so vitally 
 concerning him, turned toward the doorway after 
 his farewell bows to Rivas and the group of 
 women, he saw that a sullen throng of his ene 
 mies was already there and some of the foremost 
 in the very act of passing out. And some one 
 else saw also. 
 
 "Ramon Gonzales," said old Rivas sternly, too 
 indignant now to cloak his meaning in courteous 
 phrases, "upon you at least my relative my 
 wishes should have weight. Remain here with 
 your people this night or enter my house no 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 151 
 
 more. Though I lose my daughter, the man who 
 dishonors my hospitality by harm to my guest 
 shall be no kin of mine. 
 
 Gonzales stood irresolute. He had, indeed, 
 made no actual move as yet, but his brother was 
 slowly following the lesser members of his faction 
 toward the porch. In a moment the elder spoke: 
 
 "Sancho, you have heard and you also, 
 Seiiors. Don Pedro Rivas word is law and I 
 add my wish to his. Senor Herrera rides free of 
 us to-night. " 
 
 The younger Gonzales scowled, perhaps at the 
 words, perhaps that he saw at this same instant 
 Francisco Herrera bending low over Donna 
 Yda s white hand, and whispering words the jeal 
 ous watcher could have sworn were something 
 more than a farewell. But he paused, obediently 
 enough nay, an instant later even motioned 
 those before him to return, adding words, too 
 low, indeed, to be heard at the upper end of the 
 apartment, but which it seemed only natural to 
 believe were a repetition of his brother s com 
 mand. 
 
 And while he so spoke Donna Yda was replying, 
 with a shuddering glance toward the doorway, to 
 Francisco s farewell. 
 
 "Adios, Sefior but, oh, I fear, I fear!" she 
 murmured, almost under her breath. 
 
 "Not for me, Donna Yda," he whispered reas 
 suringly. "Believe me, it is needless. You heard 
 Senor Gonzales words." 
 
 "If they were meant," murmured Yda, and then 
 
152 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 her eyes suddenly dilated as she added: "Look 
 I was right ! All have not returned ! 
 
 But Francisco still smiled, though he did indeed 
 cast a hasty glance about him, not toward the 
 door, but to see if any nearer at hand were suffi 
 ciently so to overhear his words. There seemed 
 to be none at the instant, and he whispered : 
 
 "I, too, fear, Senorita but only this parting. 
 For the rest, true or false though these be, I rest 
 secure. When did I lack for friends in need?" 
 
 "The Morales? But they are far." 
 
 "My messenger is fleet." 
 
 "But I believed you came alone, and Pepe " 
 
 "Pepe is not my messenger. But, Yda, Yda, 
 you speak only of parting. There is so much that 
 I would say. Must I go, and leave it all unut- 
 tered?" 
 
 Something he added hastily, and something she 
 whispered in return, hesitatingly and almost be 
 low her breath, but now old Don Pedro approached 
 his departing guest upon one side while Sancho 
 Gonzales, his face dark and lowering, drew nigh 
 upon the other. Of the two, Gonzales was the 
 nearer so near, indeed, that those last few words 
 were scarcely uttered when Yda lifted her eyes 
 to find the dark-faced caballero so close at hand 
 that it seemed impossible he had not heard. But 
 he gave no sign, nor did he speak at all, whatever 
 had been his intention in approaching, for Don 
 Pedro Rivas was now beside them, uttering a 
 final speech of stately farewell. Francisco an 
 swered as courteously as he might, but found no 
 opportunity for further word with Yda. But 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 153 
 
 something there had been in that last whisper that 
 sent him finally striding from the room and into 
 the dark and doubt beyond with a glowing cheek 
 and a step that might have been a bridegroom s. 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 OF THE AMBUSCADE IN THE WILLOWS, AND THE NINE 
 
 GOOD REASONS WHY IT DID NOT RESULT 
 
 AS WAS ANTICIPATED 
 
 THE darkness of the night was not such as to 
 be unusual, though no moon shone in the 
 sky, but to one emerging from the lighted ball 
 room of the casa the aspect without, for a moment 
 at least, was that of seemingly impenetrable black 
 ness. Perhaps it was because of this that Fran 
 cisco Herrera s usually keen eyes did not note 
 the group of dark shadows which, as he passed 
 out from the porch, flitted silently back from the 
 edge of the space affected by the light from the 
 windows and faded at once into the deeper ob 
 scurity beyond. But even had their presence 
 been yet more manifest, it is more than possible 
 that he would not have heeded, in that first mo 
 ment, so tumultuous and so joyous were the emo 
 tions throbbing in his heart and soul. 
 
 As Francisco issued from the porch a hand 
 touched his arm and the careless voice of Ramon 
 Carillo spoke at his side : 
 
 "It is not quite like old Pedro Rivas to let a 
 guest go thus without seeing him to the gates. 
 But I can guess he believed he served you better 
 
 154 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 155 
 
 as it is. Remaining within, lie may keep his 
 eyes upon those other gentle sharers of his hos 
 pitality. I wonder, though, that he did not see 
 
 "See what, Senor?" 
 
 "That all of Sancho s cutthroats did not heed 
 his command, nor the words of Ramon Gonzales. 
 There was a later whisper did you note it? 
 from young Sancho. What it was I did not 
 hear but some of the rascals went on. 
 
 "Did they, indeed!" said Francisco curiously. 
 Then he laughed softly, adding: "I fear they 
 may suffer a shock." 
 
 "You speak confidently, Senor," said Carillo, 
 striving to peer into his companion s face in the 
 dim light of the night. 
 
 "Not more so than I feel, Don Ramon," an 
 swered Herrera. "But you, Senor," he added 
 "will you not let me thank you for your gallant 
 courtesy, and urge you to return? It is ill drag 
 ging others into one s own quarrels and I give 
 you my word I am in no peril." 
 
 "Why, then I, your comrade, cannot be so 
 either," laughed his companion, "so I will even 
 inflict my graceless company upon you yet a while 
 longer. In all seriousness, Senor, I do not doubt 
 that you think you are safe you have said it, 
 and I do not care to question the word of any 
 caballero whose temper is known to be as active 
 as Francisco Herrera s but I think you are in 
 error. And an error in a matter like this, Senor, 
 might suddenly let another very lively ghost loose 
 on these lonesome plains and there are enough 
 of them here now," he added, with a queer change 
 
156 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 to sudden gravity, crossing himself without a 
 suspicion of mockery, as he stopped to gaze suspi 
 ciously at a dim figure before them of which he 
 had become that instant aware. Francisco smiled 
 in the concealment of the night at this odd con 
 firmation of stories which he remembered of how 
 the man at his side, recklessly brave in confront 
 ing every known and understood danger, was al 
 most a child in his superstitious dread of the fan 
 cied terrors of the dark. But even as the thought 
 passed through his mind his companion spoke 
 again, and in a tone of relieved assurance: 
 
 It is only Pepe with my horse. But I do not 
 see yours, Seiior." 
 
 "Mine is gone," said Herrera briefly. 
 
 Carillo stopped short. "Broken away!" he 
 said. "But this must not be. Rivas must be 
 told. He will never suffer guest of his, foe or 
 friend, to depart on foot." 
 
 "That I know well," said Herrera; "therefore 
 he must not know. How could I, kind as he has 
 been to me this night, accept such favor from 
 him?" 
 
 "Caramba! I care not for these fine-drawn 
 whims," growled Carillo. "But since this is so, 
 it only remains that you shall take my horse, and 
 I will walk beside you. Afoot or in the saddle, I 
 shall see you safely on your way. 
 
 Herrera pressed his companion s arm. 
 
 "You are a friend worthy the name, Don Ra 
 mon," he said. "But I will not take your horse. 
 Mount my limbs and frame are lighter than 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 157 
 
 yours, Senor, and it is I that will walk since you 
 will go on. 
 
 Carillo muttered discontentedly, but, realizing 
 that argument was useless, climbed carelessly into 
 the saddle. Francisco turned to the Indian. 
 
 "Pepe, you cannot stay here longer," he said. 
 
 Pepe shook his head. 
 
 "No. Gonzales come stay many days and 
 Gonzales no friend now." 
 
 "I know," said Francisco. "Then come to my 
 home, Pepe, and none shall harm you. 
 
 But Pepe once more shook his head. 
 
 No turn against Senor Rivas, he said. But 
 I go far." 
 
 "Adios, then, Pepe." 
 
 "Adios, Senor." 
 
 Carillo urged his horse forward, and Francisco 
 walked briskly beside him. 
 
 "Hold by my stirrup, Senor," said the rider 
 in an undertone. "You will walk the easier 
 and will be ready then to spring up behind me," 
 he added. 
 
 "Should there be need," said Francisco, half 
 laughing. "I see, Senor, that you still persist I 
 may meet bad company." 
 
 i The strait-laced thieves who are more careful 
 of their drinking than I would say you are in it 
 now," grimly answered the horseman. "But you 
 may meet worse or I watched that tricky Sancho 
 to no purpose." 
 
 "His waylayers would scarcely dare attack me 
 before Don Pedro s door," said Francisco, "nor 
 
158 THE NINE SWOKDS OF MORALES 
 
 would they care to follow me far toward my own 
 people." 
 
 "Perhaps not. But in cutthroatism as in honest 
 ways of life there is a happy medium. For exam 
 ple, " continued Carillo grimly, "what spot for 
 our friends better than this we now approach 
 just too distant from the house for alarm to be 
 given there, yet miles away from the Morales 
 bounds and willows on both sides for ambus 
 cade! What better place!" 
 
 "Aye! what better!" echoed a voice, and figure 
 after figure sprang from the shadows into the 
 pathway before them. 
 
 "Up, up! behind the saddle, Senor!" whis 
 pered Carillo. "They are afoot. We can leave 
 the bandit gang in a moment. Up ! 
 
 But Francisco calmly stepped a pace or two 
 away and drew himself stiffly erect. 
 
 No, I will not flee, he said. * These men will 
 not harm me. They dare not ladrones ! " he 
 added scornfully. 
 
 One of those who fronted him sprang forward 
 at the insulting word, something flashing in his 
 hand. 
 
 "Dare not!" he echoed savagely. "Dare not! 
 And why ! 
 
 Herrera stepped back, just beyond the furious 
 man s reach, but, whatever may have been his first 
 intention, voice and action were suddenly ar 
 rested, for an instant at least, by a new sound near 
 at hand. Francisco glanced aside, then suddenly 
 laughed aloud. 
 
 "Why!" he said, echoing the waylayer s last 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 159 
 
 word; "why? For several reasons nine, I think 
 you will find in all, if you can count in the dark. " 
 
 And nine tall figures, gigantic in the obscurity 
 of the night, moved swiftly out from the second 
 cops^of^illows with a sound of clanking arms. 
 
 "Well met at last, Francisco," said the giant 
 who strode first, sneaking in deep, quiet tones, his 
 manner seeming to indicate that the entire inci 
 dent was one of theXmost ordinary and casual 
 character. "Your hor^e is here in the willows 
 with our own. We caught him a while back, and a 
 few moments more would have seen us at the casa. 
 We guessed he came as a messenger." 
 
 "You were right, as always, Don Carlos," said 
 Francisco. "Know in this caballero a good 
 friend, Seiior Ramon Carillo, who I hope will ride 
 with us homeward to-night. 
 
 t i Why, yes, laughed Carillo recklessly ; 1 1 broth 
 er-in-law of the Commandant though I be, it seems 
 as if it were wise for me to become a Morales 
 man now or risk a broken neck. A Gonzales 
 lariat, I dare swear, will fly more swiftly against 
 a single foe than one of many. It is a fair ex 
 cuse and I am sick of resting and rusting at 
 home while others are finding such good sport 
 abroad. You hear, Senors. Return to the greater 
 rogue that sent you, and tell him for me that 
 Ramon Carillo rides no more, eats no more, drinks 
 no more, with any Gonzales. And if he or his dare 
 raid my lands or my brethren s for this, let him 
 remember that Ramon Carillo Black Sheep Ra 
 mon fears no devil that he sees, and goes far on 
 any road he travels." 
 
160 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 There was no reply in words, but the men ad 
 dressed moved swiftly away in the darkness, van 
 ishing in the direction of the casa. 
 
 "There is one thing, Francisco," said Carlos, 
 as the cavalcade of friends moved northward, "I 
 confess I do not understand. If I heard aright 
 your words to yonder rascals, you spoke almost 
 as if you had expected us here." 
 
 "I did, Sefior," said Francisco promptly. 
 
 "We had not said we were coming." 
 
 Francisco laughed softly. 
 
 "No, Don Carlos, but I knew the word I had left 
 must reach you and I knew the Morales." 
 
 Diego, who had overheard, chuckled. Carlos 
 said nothing, but it seemed to those whose eyes 
 chanced to be turned upon him that he drew him 
 self more uprightly in the saddle, with yet a 
 more stately air than that which always so be 
 came him. 
 
 Then Francisco spoke again, with a voice full 
 of grave feeling: "Sefiors, you have done me 
 brave service to-night, for which I will ever re 
 main your debtor. But now I must ask of you 
 one favor more." 
 
 "You have but to name it, Seiior," began Car 
 los courteously, but Carillo suddenly interrupted: 
 
 "Nay, Don Carlos, promise not so rashly. Be 
 assured the reckless rascal means to put his head 
 again into the trap." 
 
 "No, Don Ramon," said Francisco, gravely 
 smiling. "With you and our brave friends here 
 known to be at hand, I might go to the casa itself 
 in safety and that I have no thought of doing. 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 161 
 
 But I am not free to depart as yet," added Fran 
 cisco, a little hesitatingly, though the darkness 
 hid the flush that arose in his cheeks. 
 
 "We will, of course, await your leisure," said 
 Carlos, "and attend you wherever you will to go. 
 You have but to lead on." 
 
 "That is like your kindness, Senor," said Fran 
 cisco, "but it is not all I must ask of you. Would 
 you not I do not need a guard for the errand I 
 have yet to do would you 
 The sometime reckless raider came to an abrupt 
 stop, and only the darkness hid his confusion. 
 
 It was Carillo who, in his own whimsical way, 
 relieved his embarrassment in a measure at 
 least. 
 
 "Oh, these girls!" he groaned dismally. 
 
 Diego laughed aloud, but Carlos spoke at once 
 without a shadow of amusement in his gravely 
 courteous tone. 
 
 "We will prepare for our return, Seiior," he 
 said calmly, "and when you are ready you will 
 find us but a stone s throw from this spot. Shall 
 we not go, Seiior?" he concluded, addressing Ca 
 rillo. 
 
 "Under your favor, Don Carlos," replied that 
 caballero politely, but with a hint of stubborn 
 ness in his tone, * I have just a word yet to say to 
 this young madcap. 
 
 "Join us when you will," said Carlos quietly, 
 and then the nine brothers, all of them already 
 mounted, moved slowly away in the darkness. 
 
 "Now that is well done, and gentlemanly and 
 there are no braver men," said Carillo, adding 
 
162 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 irascibly: "But I I have said I would see you 
 safe to-night, and so I stick to your traces, Don 
 Keeper-of-Trysts, whether you like it or not, until 
 I see that foolish head of yours once again out of 
 peril/ 
 
 Francisco made no reply, but gazed fixedly into 
 the darkness to the right as they stood in the 
 path. 
 
 "What is it?" asked Carillo, his gaze follow 
 ing Francisco s, and a queer quaver sounding in 
 his voice. 
 
 For a moment Francisco did not reply, but 
 pointed silently. 
 
 "What was it that passed then, Don Ramon?" 
 he muttered at last. "And there there! see, 
 again ! 
 
 Poor Don Ramon s hair bristled. "Where?" 
 he whispered hoarsely, striving to see, yet dread 
 ing that he might succeed. 
 
 "There!" said Francisco again, directing his 
 companion s fascinated eyes to a point a little 
 to their rear. 
 
 "Said I not the plain was full of ghosts?" mut 
 tered Carillo, his tone filled with awe, while the 
 bridle-rein by which he held his horse trembled 
 in his hand. Then, a moment later, his strained 
 attention relaxed sufficiently for him to note an 
 other sound and he found that he stood alone, 
 while from the invisible distance came the soft 
 patter of hoofs falling so swiftly that he knew 
 pursuit would be useless. 
 
 "To leave me alone in the dark!" grumbled 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 163 
 
 Don Ramon, half laughing, half rueful. "Was 
 ever such ingratitude ? M 
 
 But the Morales were within easy reach and 
 loneliness and darkness had no charms for Ramon 
 Carillo. A moment later he rode into the group 
 of brothers, where they stood or sat on the bank 
 of a shallow arroyo, their horses already picketed. 
 
 "I wished but to give the Seiior Herrera a last 
 word of warning, he explained as he dismounted. 
 
 Carlos smiled faintly in the shadow of his 
 drooping hat-brim, but half a mile eastward, Fran 
 cisco, circling swiftly to a position abreast of the 
 Casa Rivas, was still laughing as he rode. 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 TELLING OF THE SECOND NIGHT-KIDE OF FRANCISCO 
 
 HEKRERA IN HOSTILE TERRITORY, AND 
 
 HOW IT ENDED 
 
 IN THOSE old days it was not as now upon 
 the Santa Rosa Plains. The wide stretch of 
 floor-like level, the gentle undulations between, 
 these, of course, have known little or nothing of 
 change. Likewise still remain, here and there, the 
 great white oaks, stately even in their gnarled un- 
 loveliness, which of old furnished almost the only 
 break, aside from the watercourse fringes, on a 
 surface well nigh guiltless of underwood. But 
 from end to end of the broad expanse in that day 
 there was not so much as a rail of fencing save 
 such as served for corral barriers about the 
 widely separated rancho homes. By day the plain 
 was vacant or given over in places to cattle and 
 their herders ; at night it had other denizens. Then 
 the elk and the deer, more cautious while daylight 
 lasted, swarmed down from the hills to the east 
 and west to feast on the richer forage of the plain. 
 On their trail at times crept the panther, not often, 
 fortunately for them, moved to deliberate and 
 continued pursuit of his quarry. His steps were 
 noiseless, as, indeed, we^e those of the prey he 
 
 1G4 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 165 
 
 sought, and the coats of all alike were gray. 
 Ramon Carillo, superstitious as he was physically 
 brave, was not alone in declaring that the plain 
 at night was filled with ghosts, so frequent and 
 so weird were the flitting shapes that beset the 
 path. 
 
 Francisco Herrera, riding swiftly southward in 
 the warm night, noted from time to time the pass 
 age of noiseless shadows of gray, but with no 
 thought of uneasiness. And the good horse he 
 rode had been his companion too often on lonely 
 night-rides such as this not to have learned to 
 accept with calm indifference all the natural ap 
 pearances of the night. But, as they sped swiftly 
 on in the half-darkness, there came at last a mo 
 ment when Francisco felt Muchacho pause in his 
 steady stride and quiver beneath his knees. A 
 sudden hoisting of the animal s graceful head and 
 a pricking forward of the small ears gave further 
 testimony to the steed s alarm. Dare-devil as 
 Francisco was ever and always, he knew his horse 
 and he knew the times, so, even as he drew rein 
 and cast his eye keenly about him, his hand closed 
 upon the butt of one of the long-barrelled Span 
 ish pistols hanging in his holsters. 
 
 " Quiet, Muchacho, quiet now," he murmured 
 in soothing Spanish to the still fretting horse. 
 "There is nothing to harm us here. If there is, 
 we have heels and hands, you and I, Muchacho, 
 and if I use the one as well as you do the other we 
 should be safe enough." 
 
 Francisco laughed softly as he spoke, boyishly 
 pleased with his own thought and speech, the 
 
166 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 while he rubbed his heavy spurs gently against 
 Muchacho s sides and sought to urge him once 
 more upon his way. The horse went forward 
 again readily enough, but still held his head high 
 and seemed not at all satisfied with the clumps of 
 sparse shrubbery which at this particular point 
 dotted here and there the surface of the plain. 
 
 "Now, Muchacho! On, mi hombre!" said 
 Francisco, again speaking aloud, and purposely 
 so, knowing how much the sound of his voice had 
 always meant to the animal he rode. t i So, there 
 faster! Bueno!" 
 
 Another light touch of the spur, and the good 
 horse bounded obediently forward, steed and 
 rider in a moment passing beyond view in the 
 darkness for any who might remain behind. 
 
 Then, from the dusky shadow of a cluster of 
 white oak shrubbery not three rods away from 
 where Francisco had made his momentary halt, 
 silently rode two other horsemen, and without a 
 word quietly followed in his track. 
 
 Only at intervals, as he passed the crest of a 
 knoll, could Francisco s figure be seen, dimly out 
 lined against the sky, but those who came after 
 needed nothing more. They rode swiftly but with 
 extreme caution, never suffering their horses 
 hoofs to sound on beaten trails, cattle-paths or 
 otherwise, and seeking, so far as possible, to keep 
 always at least one protecting ridge between 
 themselves and the apparent object of their pur 
 suit. Nor were they heedless in other ways, for 
 when at last they spoke it was in whispers : 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 167 
 
 * It would seem you were right but hush ! he is 
 stopping. 
 
 "On the ridge yes." 
 
 "The casa may be seen from there?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Look! he has dismounted." 
 
 "Then let us do likewise. Lead the horses for 
 ward gently. 
 
 And while the two watchers moved cautiously 
 on, Francisco Herrera, all unsuspicious of their 
 presence, proceeded to do a strange thing. 
 
 He took from his head his broad-brimmed hat of 
 felt and placed it upon the ground, slightly dented 
 the tall crown and into the hollow poured a small 
 portion of powder. Next Muchacho was urged as 
 far from the spot as the length of a lariat would 
 permit. Then, turning his face partly away and 
 extending his arms, Francisco coolly struck flint 
 and steel above the powder. 
 
 The first spark was successful. There was a 
 sudden, noiseless, almost blinding flash, followed 
 instantly by darkness for a few seconds seemingly 
 blacker than before. 
 
 Muchacho leaped back,, startled, but Francisco, 
 picking up his scorched hat, hastily gathered in 
 the lariat and sprang into the saddle. 
 
 "Quiet, amigo! Quiet, Muchacho, and I will 
 tell you a secret," murmured the boy gaily, gently 
 caressing the fretting animal s neck, and unable 
 to resist making this trusty four-footed friend his 
 confidant. "Now we are going to keep our tryst 
 on the other side and let those who mav have 
 
168 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 seen our signal look for us here ! On, Muchacho ! 
 Swiftly, now!" 
 
 The good horse leaped forward, but from some 
 where in the darkness suddenly darted a dim fig 
 ure, and the whirring sound which fell upon Fran 
 cisco s ear told him instantly what was coming. 
 Like lightning he drew the long Spanish knife 
 from his sheath, but even in that second the noose 
 of the lariat fell about his body and drew instantly 
 tight. The blade with which he had hoped to cut 
 it was driven against his left hand, gashing it 
 badly. The blood spurted, and an instant later 
 a tremendous wrench hurled him headlong from 
 his plunging horse, while Muchacho, with a fright 
 ened snort, plunged madly on and vanished in the 
 darkness. 
 
 Francisco fell heavily upon his head and 
 shoulders and he made no movement to rise 
 again. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 TWO WAYLAYERS OF THE DARK, AND WHAT IT WAS 
 THAT DISTURBED THEM AT THEIR WORK 
 
 WITHIN the broken banks of the arroyo skirt 
 ing the rear of the few acres which in more 
 modern days would have constituted the grounds 
 of Don Pedro Kivas home the willows grew 
 thickly. Here and there, however, the grove was 
 broken by paths and arbors, the latter much as 
 nature made them, though girlish hands had 
 added something of convenience to their inte 
 riors and approaches, the rather for the pleasure 
 of the work, perhaps, than any definite purpose 
 of accomplishment. Perhaps it were nearer the 
 truth to say that girlish minds had planned the 
 work, since for the execution there had ever been 
 gallant boyish aid or older, yet still youthful, as 
 sistance at the command of the fair maids of the 
 hacienda. In the old days none had been more 
 gaily active in this labor of love literally such, 
 though perhaps not then so known than that 
 bright youth of ever overflowing spirit, Francisco 
 Herrera. The chief of the willow arbors was, in 
 deed, so far as artificial framing went, almost en 
 tirely the work of his vigorous hands hands that 
 could never fail in any endeavor while Yda s eyes 
 
170 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 looked on. "Yda s Bower " he had named it in 
 the gay gallantry of his boyish devotion, and 
 "Yda s Bower" from that day on the shaded re 
 treat remained with all the dwellers of the casa. 
 
 To Yda s Bower, on that still night, answering 
 Francisco s whispered plea, had stolen Yda her 
 self furtively, hesitatingly, yet with no shame 
 in thus according the chivalrous friend of her 
 childhood the favor he had sued for but one 
 moment for the words and the planning that 
 should make clear the future for them both that 
 must mean, she could not but hope, though as yet 
 she saw not the way, the end of the cruel quarrel 
 that had so long and fiercely divided friend from 
 friend. From Yda s Bower, blushing and smiling 
 at the memory of childhood romance that the 
 boyish act recalled, she had seen Francisco s sig 
 nal. In that same leafy seclusion waited Yda 
 thereafter, half shy, half eager while Francisco 
 lay like one dead upon the plain. 
 
 The dim figure of a man darted forward to 
 where the silent youth lay, and after came the 
 second of the waylayers, leading the two saddled 
 horses. 
 
 "And what now?" he queried as he reached 
 the spot where his comrade bent over the motion 
 less victim. 
 
 The other did not answer at once, but still knelt 
 with his head bent upon Francisco s breast. Sud 
 denly he arose, speaking hastily and as if the ques 
 tion had just reached him. 
 
 "Nothing, except that we will force no secrets 
 from this cabal lero; and we have urgent reason 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 171 
 
 to hurry hence before any chance shall connect 
 us with this." 
 
 There was no regret, only a slight tinge of anx 
 iety in his tone, and as he said the word "this" 
 he carelessly touched the still form before him 
 with his foot, by way of indicating his meaning. 
 
 His companion seemed a little startled, and 
 there was even something of incredulous horror 
 in his voice as he spoke again: 
 
 "Connect us with this? You cannot mean " 
 
 "I mean that the fall has broken his neck. Cer 
 tainly, it has killed him. 
 
 "Dios!" said the other in a voice of conster 
 nation. 
 
 "Fie, what of that?" rejoined his comrade pet 
 ulantly. "It was an accident. How were we to 
 know that a little fall like that should kill the 
 best rider in Sonoma ? We are not to blame but 
 it will be as well if we never have to make these 
 explanations to the Herreras or De Guerra, or 
 worst of all to the mad Morales. Let us mount 
 and ride. 
 
 "We cannot go too soon for me. This has been 
 a bad night s work." 
 
 "Perhaps, but" 
 
 "Hush, hush!" interrupted his comrade in an 
 excited whisper. 
 
 "What is it?" 
 
 "Listen!" 
 
 The other checked a half-uttered oath of im 
 patience to obey. In the breathless moment that 
 followed both heard, coming out of the darkness 
 to the west a low, deep murmur as of the blending 
 
172 THE NINE SW01IDS OF MORALES 
 
 of hoofs and voices innumerable, while amid it all 
 sounded also, at intervals, a low-toned guttural 
 chant of almost indescribable weirdness. 
 
 One of the listeners leaped suddenly upon his 
 horse. 
 
 " Mount mount!" he whispered to his com 
 rade. * We have not a moment ! " 
 But who is it ! Not the Morales ? 
 6 The Morales no ! Worse ! Sonoma ! 
 "Sonoma? And he" 
 
 "Is blood-brother to that man lying there!" 
 "Jesu! You have said enough. Let us ride!" 
 Side by side the two horsemen shot away to the 
 southeastward, the soft pounding of hoofs upon 
 the turf doing little to indicate the direction of 
 their flight, even had that now strongly increasing 
 murmur of strangely blended sounds not rendered 
 hearing entirely impossible. 
 
 And the murmur grew every moment louder 
 and deeper, and soon, had the man lying there so 
 silently had eyes to see, he might have noted a 
 dark mass moving steadily and with moderate 
 swiftness across the dusk-clad plain toward the 
 spot where he lay. As it drew nearer the mass 
 resolved itself into a throng of horsemen, ten 
 score or more, riding in no order, but pressing 
 forward in one general cavalcade, above which, 
 here and there, a faint gleam suggested the pres 
 ence of a spear. At the head rode a man slightly 
 in advance of his fellows, and silent, though almost 
 all of those who followed seemed to be beguiling 
 their way with the strange guttural chant which 
 apparently knew neither beginning nor ending. 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 173 
 
 And it so happened that the course of the silent 
 horseman in the van led him so directly to the spot 
 where Herrera lay that, had the eyes of rider and 
 horse seen less clearly in the darkness, the hoofs 
 of the latter might have been planted upon the 
 body. 
 
 But in good time the horseman saw, drew rein, 
 and, without turning in his saddle, uttered a sin 
 gle shrill cry. At once the dark mass behind him 
 halted, all save one man, who, at a further brief 
 word from him who led, rode nearer, dismounted, 
 and struck flint and steel over the face of the mo 
 tionless form before them. It was but a flickering 
 flash that followed, but what he saw was enough 
 to cause the kneeling man to raise his head sud 
 denly and utter a few quick words, which, despite 
 their guttural syllables, seemed full of emphasis. 
 
 At once the leader swung himself from the sad 
 dle to the ground, and now some one brought from 
 the throng behind a newly ignited torch. Its light 
 shone alike upon the white, upturned countenance 
 of Francisco Herrera and on the swarthy, strong- 
 featured, black-bearded face of that strange man, 
 white or Indian, Vallejo s friend and confidant, 
 Sonoma, " Chief of the Three Valleys." 
 
 His Indian nature or training was strong 
 enough to cause him to gaze utterly unmoved 
 upon the white face before him, whatever his emo 
 tions might be, but when he noted the lariat still 
 coiled about the body, the look that came into his 
 eyes was not good to see. But he said no word, 
 only knelt and bent his head low to listen at the 
 
174 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 silent man s breast for an instant and what he 
 so learned seemed to satisfy him. 
 
 He rose at once and spoke to those about him in 
 the Indian tongue, giving his commands with the 
 calm assurance of one who knew that he had but to 
 speak to be obeyed. With no word of wonder 
 ment or question, four men spread a blanket on 
 the ground, placed the body upon it, and then 
 lifted the simply-improvised palanquin by the four 
 corners. As many horsemen, assuming at once 
 the proper positions, deftly relieved them of their 
 charge. Then the Chief sprang into his saddle 
 the only such article of horse-gear probably in the 
 whole of that wild band his followers also 
 mounted, and once again the dark mass moved 
 forward across the night-darkened plain. 
 
 And as they rode Sonoma s eyes turned often 
 to the dark burden which his followers bore, and 
 the fury that filled his heart was the deeper and 
 the blacker that he sternly denied it expression in 
 words. "Blood-brother" meant much in the old 
 days with Sonoma and his tribesmen. No mere 
 formal rite of adoption served to establish this 
 kinship of plain and mountain, but when two men, 
 though of different races, chanced to fight in the 
 same quarrel, side by side, and together to suffer, 
 if their mutual liking was sufficiently strong, the 
 wound upon one warrior s limb or body might be 
 pressed upon that of the other until their blood co- 
 mingled. Thereafter they were "blood-broth 
 ers," sworn to fight each other s battles, to bear 
 each other s burdens, to avenge each other s 
 wrongs, and the kinship and the obligation 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 175 
 
 descended from father to son in both lines from 
 generation to generation. In some old day of 
 which only Sonoma seemed to hold the memory, 
 the barbarous but binding rite had been sol 
 emnized between himself and Francisco s father. 
 The elder Herrera had long been dead. His son 
 lay there in the improvised hammock, to all out 
 ward appearance dead also. That son was Sono 
 ma s blood-brother. The thoughts in the Chief s 
 mind as he rode onward, could they have been 
 read, would have shown that he had not forgotten. 
 
 But almost until dawn, in the willow- grove be 
 hind the Casa Rivas, sat a white-faced girl, ever 
 paler as the lonely hours dragged by and the fear 
 in her heart grew colder and colder, waiting for a 
 step and a voice and the touch of fond hands that 
 were not. 
 
 And the Morales, too, waited hour by hour 
 in vain; then ranged the wide sweep of plain, 
 north and south, east and west, till the day broke 
 over the Santa Rosa Hills, and no sight of him 
 they sought rewarded them. To the Casa Rivas 
 they did not go. " There could be no treachery," 
 said Carlos, "with old Don Pedro s knowledge, 
 and we may spare him the insult of the question. 
 But when they rode home at last it was to find at 
 their own door, still saddled and bridled, the horse 
 of Francisco Herrera, with blood on his mane. 
 But of the rider was no other sign than that. 
 
 And there was no longer talk of a wedding. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 HOW THE GONZALES HEARNED THAT FRANCISCO 
 
 HERRERA S FRIENDS COULD DO MORE 
 
 THAN MOURN 
 
 AND the news went abroad, from rancho to 
 rancho, through the valleys, shocking and 
 maddening Herrera s friends with grief and fury 
 fury the greater, perhaps, that there seemed no 
 means of bringing the guilt of his loss home to the 
 doors at which all who loved him were assured it 
 lay. And as days passed, and no word came from 
 the absent, the feud waxed ever fiercer and yet 
 more fierce, until no Gonzales or Rivas, or servant 
 of any bearer of those names, dared ride abroad 
 without armed and numerous escort, lest those 
 fierce brothers of a race famed north and south 
 for reckless prowess and unexampled horseman 
 ship should suddenly bear him down and execute 
 upon him some part at least of that debt of ven 
 geance which these and every other friend of the 
 lost Herrera seemed so sternly eager to pay. 
 Not long did the chief of the Gonzales faction 
 wait for earnest of his enemies suspicions and 
 purposes. His dwelling was almost a fortress. 
 His vaquero-guards did sentry duty along every 
 pathway leading in from the plains. But in the 
 thick darkness of night, when he had thought all 
 
 176 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 177 
 
 doubly secure, beneath his very window a voice 
 cried : 
 
 "Gpnzales!" 
 
 Wide awake in an instant, he yet hesitated to 
 respond to the call. He had no means of knowing 
 whether the voice was that of friend or foe, but a 
 throb of something like actual fear shook him as 
 he sat, undecided, on the edge of his couch. And 
 while he waited the call came again : 
 
 "Gonzales!" 
 
 He arose then and went to the window, merely 
 a narrow, closely barred aperture, for the real 
 "front" of the house, if so it could be called, 
 opened, as to both doors and windows, upon the 
 inner court. He could see no one, since, from 
 where he stood, it was impossible to command a 
 view of the ground beneath him, but he answered, 
 boldly enough : 
 
 "Who calls and what would you have of me?" 
 
 The voice came again from the darkness 
 stern, accusing: 
 
 "Where is Herrera?" 
 
 Gonzales stepped back, shuddering, and at 
 tempted no reply. And again came the accusing 
 question : 
 
 "Where is Herrera?" 
 
 With an effort Gonzales drew himself up, and 
 would have answered. But resolution and voice 
 seemed alike to fail him. The very stillness of the 
 night impressed him as uncanny. Was it possi 
 ble no one but himself was awake about the great 
 house? Were there no ears but his to hear the 
 words of that midnight questioner? And while 
 
178 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 lie still wondered, shaken by unwonted fear, the 
 voice spoke again : 
 
 i i Look on your door in the morning for the mes 
 sage of Herrera s friends." 
 
 That was all. He listened long and intently, 
 but heard no more. Neither was there sound of 
 retreating footsteps, yet he felt, after a time, that 
 his midnight visitor was no longer beneath his win 
 dow. No thought of pursuit entered his mind. 
 Rather it seemed a matter of simple certainty that 
 whoever could dare so to approach his stronghold 
 must unquestionably have a means of safe and 
 easy retreat. And there was that in all the cir 
 cumstances which left him, though he could not 
 ordinarily be accused of timidity, with no relish 
 to venture forth that night. 
 
 But in the morning he was the first without his 
 dwelling and, driven deep in the oak of the mas 
 sive door which closed the main entrance, was a 
 Spanish dirk. Gonzales drew the weapon out, 
 concealed it in his clothing, and said nothing to his 
 household of the message so plainly conveyed. 
 But that day he caused his wife and his sister, the 
 only females of his family, to mount their horses, 
 and sent them at once to the Rivas Rancho, 
 guarded by half his followers. Knowing the Mo 
 rales as he did, he had little fear, despite his hate, 
 that they would interfere with women, even 
 though the latter might be entirely unguarded. 
 Indeed, he more than suspected that the grim 
 warning of the night was intended to indicate to 
 him that he should see to the safety of the non- 
 combatants of his household. But there were 
 
THE NINE SWOBDS OF MORALES 179 
 
 always chances and it was with deep relief, a 
 few hours later, that he saw most of his men re 
 turn with the message that Pancha and her com 
 panion were safe beneath her father s roof. 
 
 Then Gonzales armed all his men to the utmost, 
 doubled his sentries everywhere, barred the en 
 trance to his house more strongly than ever, and 
 waited grimly expectant and as grimly defiant. 
 
 And not long. With the earliest dawn of the 
 next morning the Morales were at his door. With 
 a rush of hoofs and a clatter of arms they swept 
 up the canyon roadway, his sentries scattering 
 like rabbits before them. The master heard the 
 uproar but just in time to bid his porter close and 
 bar the wicket which was the only means of 
 entrance or exit that had not long before been 
 made secure. The next instant Carlos Morales 
 was thundering at the door. 
 
 It was heavy and strong, a double thickness of 
 planks of hewn oak, barred with iron, and the 
 massive wall of adobe in which it was set was 
 strengthened with rock and rubble. The Casa 
 Gonzales was, indeed save for Vallejo s official 
 residence at Sonoma the one dwelling in the en 
 tire district built on the semi-fortress plan so 
 favored in the far south. A solid, flat-topped 
 square, "fronting," to use the word, on an in 
 terior court, it stood upon the steep slope of a 
 canyon opening a mile below on the Santa Eosa 
 plains. A narrow roadway, zigzagging steeply 
 at the last to the entrance, was the only means of 
 access. It was up this roadway, without a pause 
 despite its roughness, that The Nine thundered, 
 
 13 
 
180 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 their horses hoofs striking fire, and the ring of 
 iron upon stone, steel against steel, awakening the 
 echoes of the canyon. 
 
 It has been said that Ramon Gonzales was no 
 coward, but, as he stood just within his barred 
 doorway and listened to the clamor without, he 
 felt moved to bless the impulse that had led him 
 of old to dare the jests of his friends and make 
 his home a fortress. 
 
 Yet as he listened and came to distinguish the 
 words which accompanied the trampling of hoofs 
 without and the continuous knocking upon the 
 solid oak, they did not seem to threaten, but rather 
 to convey a promise of truce. 
 
 "Open," said a voice the voice of Carlos Mo 
 rales. "A word with you, Senor Gonzales a 
 a word for the sake of peace. 
 
 Gonzales laid his hand upon the bars, but a 
 frightened gasp from his porter restrained him. 
 The man was white and trembling. 
 
 Senor Senor, he said, surely you will not 
 open?" 
 
 "And why not? It is but to talk." 
 
 "Ah, Senor! never trust the mad Morales! 
 They will rush in Ah, you have never been in 
 the hands of those wild men, Senor. To me at 
 least it would mean death." 
 
 "Death! to you? Man, you are dreaming." 
 
 "No it was that madman, Diego. He let me 
 go but he bade me never come within his reach 
 again. He needed a new lariat, he said, and was 
 looking for a good hide." 
 
 Gonzales laughed in spite of himself, and 
 
THE] NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 181 
 
 turned again to the door whereat the porter, de 
 serting his post without staying to ask for leave, 
 fled wildly to the interior of the casa. 
 
 Gonzales threw open the small wicket set in the 
 upper part of the great door and pressed his face 
 against the grating which still served as a barrier. 
 
 "I am here," he said, with stern coldness. 
 * What is your wish ? 
 
 Carlos Morales answered, more sternly still : 
 
 "Give us Herrera unharmed" he said, "or 
 give us his murderer." 
 
 "Neither will I do," said Gonzales doggedly. 
 "And I warn you," he added, "to leave my lands, 
 law-breakers that you are." 
 
 "Law-breakers!" echoed Diego Morales, 
 youngest of The Nine. "Law-breakers! The 
 devil is turned priest ! Waste no time in talk, Car 
 los," he added fiercely. "Break in the door!" 
 
 But the elder waved him back. 
 
 1 Senor, he said again, l one last word. If so 
 be you can undo what you have done, for your own 
 sake do not fail. We are here my brethren and 
 myself. Our people hold the canyon road, and 
 Rivas, even if he would, can render you no aid. 
 Herrera s own men are swarming on the hillside 
 at your back mad for their master. Give him 
 up, if you can, for all our sakes, while yet the 
 chance is yours." 
 
 Gonzales face paled a little, but he did not 
 falter. "Do what you will- and can," he said 
 stubbornly. 
 
 1 i Shall we not fire upon them now, while they 
 stand together?" said his brother, Sancho, ap- 
 
182 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 pearing at his side, a carbine in his hand, the ham 
 mer already raised. 
 
 His brother waved him back. "No," he said 
 coldly, "it is not ours to begin. Go to the others 
 and see that all keep out of sight unless, in 
 deed/ and a grim smile flitted for a moment over 
 his stern face "unless you wish, my brother, to 
 sacrifice yourself for the rest of us. Shall I open 
 the door for you?" 
 
 Sancho walked away with a muttered curse, and 
 Ramon, again grimly smiling, turned to close the 
 wicket. 
 
 As he did so there was a terrific crash, and the 
 massive planking of the great door cracked and 
 quivered as if it would burst from the iron fasten 
 ings. Looking hastily through the barred aper 
 ture, Gonzales saw that the gigantic Carlos had 
 dismounted, picked up a huge block of stone from 
 the rocky roadway, and dashed it with all his tre 
 mendous strength against the planking. 
 
 Even as Gonzales looked, the Morales was stoop 
 ing to secure his missile for a second throw. 
 Again came the terrific crash, and once more the 
 oak cracked and shook, while great splinters 
 sprung away from the iron fastenings, though the 
 framework and planking, as a whole, still held 
 firm. 
 
 But it was evident that it could not sustain 
 many more such shocks, and Gonzales, the fierce 
 lust of battle now rising rapidly within him, was 
 debating if he should not indeed take his brother s 
 advice and be the first to make the conflict, now 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 183" 
 
 so inevitable, one to the death, when there came 
 an interruption. 
 
 On the roadway below sounded a clatter of 
 hoofs, and up the steep ascent galloped a rudely 
 clad Indian, his garb as well as the trappings of 
 the shaggy-haired pony he rode alike making 
 plain that the newcomer was not a domiciled 
 aborigine, but one of those preferring the rule of 
 his native chiefs. Yet, as he came nearer, Gon- 
 zales saw in a moment, despite the change in 
 dress, that the new arrival was Pepe, once of Don 
 Pedro Rivas household, but since the night of 
 Francisco Herrera s visit a stranger to his old 
 haunts and home. His present appearance made 
 clear where and with whom he had found a refuge. 
 
 Pepe rode at once to Carlos side, the great 
 brethren making way, and spoke with slow ear 
 nestness, but so low that Gonzales heard no word. 
 What he said, however, produced an effect strik 
 ing and immediate. Gonzales saw Morales grasp 
 the Indian s hand, then sign to the eight brothers. 
 They gathered closely about him, listening with 
 tense faces to the few words he said words 
 which Gonzales would have given much to over 
 hear. Then there was a murmur in the group, 
 quick, low-toned question and answer, and next, 
 the peering chief of the beleaguered household 
 saw Carlos mount his horse and ride closer to the 
 cracked and splintered door. 
 
 "Senor Gonzales, " said the Morales calmly, 
 "we leave you for a time." 
 
 Then, before the amazed man he addressed 
 could frame a reply, he swung his horse about, 
 
184 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 and a moment later, attended by his brethren, was 
 quietly riding down the roadway without so much 
 as a single look behind. 
 
 A sneering laugh caused Gonzales to look 
 around to find Sancho standing at his shoulder. 
 "Who would have thought," said the younger 
 contemptuously, "that they would have lost cour 
 age so soon?" 
 
 But the elder s only answer for a moment at 
 least was to stare at him with a fixed and curious 
 regard which he found strangely disquieting. 
 
 "Sancho," said Ramon at last, as if moved by 
 deep and solemn thought to an inevitable con 
 clusion, "you are the greatest fool in Sonoma." 
 
CHAPTER XXV 
 
 THE SHOCK AND THE GEIEF THAT RAMON GONZALES 
 BROUGHT TO HIS FRIENDS AT THE CASA RIVAS 
 
 TO OLD Don Pedro Rivas the story of Her- 
 rera s disappearance and probable death 
 came as a distinct shock. Strangely enough, he 
 was one of the last of those even indirectly con 
 cerned to hear of what had happened. His first 
 intimation, as it chanced, was given him by Pan- 
 cha, the fair and fickle cause of all the contention 
 in the valleys of Sonoma since the day swords had 
 first flashed and blood been shed because of her 
 witchery. She knew but little, for it had been 
 neither her husband s nor her brother-in-law s 
 policy to speak of the affair of Herrera either to 
 her father or herself unless compelled to. 
 
 And compelled to the elder Gonzales was on the 
 occasion of his first visit to his father-in-law s 
 dwelling after the fiercely begun and strangely 
 abandoned attack of the Morales upon his home. 
 
 The unexpected and unexplained ending of that 
 sudden assault remained, in great part at least, a 
 mystery to Gonzales, as did the strange season of 
 truce which followed ; but by the latter he did not 
 fail to profit. Assured through careful scouting 
 and such other investigation as could be made 
 
 185 
 
186 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 that the apparent withdrawal of his foes from his 
 neighborhood was not a ruse to lure him from his 
 defenses, Gonzales seized the earliest opportunity 
 to leave his house in charge of his brother and to 
 betake himself to the Rivas Rancho. Passion 
 ately devoted to his beautiful if cold-hearted wife, 
 and never at peace apart from her, he was now 
 as eager that she should return to her home as he 
 had been for her to leave it when he believed that 
 to stay meant danger. The unhappy circumstan 
 ces under which he had become her husband had 
 served, strangely enough, to keep him still, in a 
 way, at least, a lover and a wooer. There was yet 
 between them the wall which her girlish fickleness 
 and his own bad faith had jointly raised. To 
 cause her to forget if not that, then at least to 
 forgive how far he had stepped aside from the 
 way of honor, even though her own conduct had 
 been the moving cause of that treachery, was ever 
 his hope a hope that at times grew faint almost 
 to the point of expiring. But, despairing or oth 
 erwise, he was never willingly long away from the 
 woman whose hand he had already won by what 
 shameful means he grew sick at times to remem 
 ber but whose heart seemed still beyond his 
 reach. 
 
 But old Don Pedro Rivas, willing as he was 
 ordinarily to efface himself whenever he could 
 hope so to do something tending to a better under 
 standing between his daughter and his son-in-law, 
 on this occasion allowed the latter little leisure 
 even for greetings. 
 
 "What is this that I hear, Ramon!" he de- 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 187 
 
 manded sternly. "What of Francisco Herrera?" 
 
 Vexed at the intrusion, and at that moment, of 
 a subject always so unwelcome, Gonzales 
 answered, hiding his displeasure as best he could 
 under an assumed heartless indifference which, 
 oddly enough, did him an actual injustice: 
 
 6 i I know nothing of him, Senor, other than what 
 every one knows. He is missing, and there are 
 those who say he is dead." 
 
 Rivas still held him with eyes of gloomy ques 
 tion. 
 
 "It was not," muttered the old ranchero 
 hoarsely "not that night? I had your promise, 
 Ramon " 
 
 "And it was not broken," said Gonzales, driven 
 desperate now, and meeting his host s gaze firmly 
 but with an effort that racked his soul. Then, 
 urged to reckless speech by the lash of something 
 within him which seemed to make silence impos 
 sible, he added : 
 
 If Francisco Herrera died that night, or later, 
 upon my life I had no hand in his slaying. 
 
 There was one within the room who had grown 
 ghastly white while they talked, but no one as yet 
 had noticed her. Her father, ever too strict in his 
 own sense of honor willingly to suspect others, 
 was already seeking how best to remove from his 
 son-in-law s mind the thought that he had doubted 
 him. He could think of no better way than to 
 continue the conversation, but in a manner less 
 personal. 
 
 "Francisco Herrera dead that gallant cabal- 
 lero !" said the old man in sorrow that was not as- 
 
188 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 sumed. "I knew the boy from the day of his 
 birth. What is it that you tell me?" 
 
 "Oh, it is true enough, 7 said Gonzales, angrily 
 reckless still. "It is all over the valley. His 
 horse came home without him, and although his 
 friends are said to have searched near and far, 
 they have found nothing. Perhaps the body is 
 sunk in one of the arroyos or perhaps the 
 coyotes " 
 
 i i Dios ! came in a shuddering sigh from Yda, 
 and she hurried from the room. 
 
 "What ails Yda?" asked her coldly beautiful 
 sister. "One would not look for a Rivas to 
 mourn for a Herrera." 
 
 But her father answered her with a look and 
 tone in which were more of sternness than she had 
 known from him ever in her life before. 
 
 "I think no less of her, Pancha," he said 
 coldly, "that she has still the pitying heart of a 
 child. You have forgotten, it would seem, that 
 the youth was for years her playmate and your 
 own. And to you, Gonzales, " said the old man, 
 again moved to sternness "to you let me say 
 that if I am to believe you or yours have carried 
 your hate for Herrera s friends to such a point as 
 this, then I shall grieve that you ever passed my 
 doors. Never until this unhappy quarrel began," 
 he added with proud sorrow, "had they been 
 closed upon any man, whatever his race or 
 people. 
 
 Gonzales shook his head in deprecation, but he 
 suffered his eyes to sink to the floor lest, perhaps, 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 181) 
 
 his host and relative should see something in their 
 flickering depths that were better left unread. 
 
 And, at that same moment, Yda had flung her 
 self down before her couch and buried her white 
 face in the coverings, murmuring in passionate 
 despair : 
 
 l Dead dead ! Madre de Dios ! then what is 
 there left forme?" 
 
 But there was no answer, and on the morrow, 
 as if fate had not already shown how hard it could 
 be, Sancho Gonzales came to renew his wooing. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 OF THE WOOING OF SANCHO GONZALES, AND THE OMEN 
 THAT DARKENED ITS BEGINNING 
 
 ILL sped the wooing of Sanclio Gonzales, backed 
 though the suitor was by the promise already 
 given, by the urging of a father who considered 
 his honor pledged, and by the influence of the 
 brother who had already found his wife at the 
 Casa Rivas, and whose aim and desire it had been 
 for months past to cement yet more closely the 
 ties that bound his interests with those of the next 
 largest landed proprietor in the valley. Sancho 
 Gonzales had needed no urging or argument to 
 appreciate the prudence of such an alliance when 
 once his darkly admiring eyes had fallen upon the 
 calm beauty of Yda Rivas. Less brilliant, per 
 haps, than the coquettish sister, who had in other 
 days so played with the hearts of men as to in 
 volve all the land in turmoil, she was yet far 
 lovelier in so much as beauty may be measured 
 by gentleness and truth. Sancho Gonzales, like 
 his headstrong brother, was not without his better 
 side. One of its features was a capacity to ap 
 preciate in others, to a degree at least, those quali 
 ties of gentle goodness of which in his own person 
 he had never felt the need. When he first saw 
 
 190 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 191 
 
 Yda Rivas he loved her loved her so far as 
 might be possible for one of his reckless, overbear 
 ing nature and, to do him justice, it was her ten 
 der womanliness, as much as the calm beauty of 
 her features, that won from him, for a time at 
 least, a passion that was almost adoration. 
 And, to grudge him nothing, it should be added 
 that, in this case, however much his elder brother 
 may have dwelt upon this point, the thought that 
 Yda would some day share with her sister the 
 wealth in stock and lands of their father never 
 for a moment found lodging in his mind. In his 
 own wild way he was an honest wooer. But ill 
 sped that wooing. 
 
 A gay and dashing figure, gorgeous in costly 
 velvet and flashing with silver trappings, rode 
 Sancho Gonzales that morning from his brother s 
 home to the Casa Rivas. Sky and earth alike 
 were bright above and about him. The petty but 
 harassing warfare of neighbor against neighbor 
 seemed, strangely enough, to have ended. The 
 way had been smoothed for him on his errand, 
 and in the gentle submissiveness the bride he 
 hoped for had already shown to the wishes of her 
 kindred he read every augury of success. If there 
 were a shadow upon his horizon it could be only of 
 his own mental making and Sancho Gonzales 
 nature was not of a character to foster vagaries 
 such as this. 
 
 In after years he remembered regretfully, as 
 one will feel over brightness lost and never to be 
 recalled, just how brilliant with promise that day 
 had been. 
 
192 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 He had ridden alone from his brother s home, 
 for the present his as well, since on the broad 
 tracts where his own cattle-herds ranged there 
 was as yet no dwelling. He had declined the es 
 cort offered him, knowing though he did the in 
 tensity of the feeling still existing against every 
 one of his name among the friends of the lost Her- 
 rera. But in the district lying immediately be 
 tween the houses of his brother and Rivas, whose 
 lands adjoined, he had felt there could be little 
 chance of danger and he was going a-wooing. 
 However the latter circumstance might have in 
 clined other youthful gallants, Gonzales pre 
 ferred, on such an errand, to ride alone. 
 
 It was, then, rather with the vexation of one 
 upon whom unwelcome companionship bid fair to 
 be thrust rather than with any fear of peril that, 
 as his path led him at last out from the defile of 
 the Santa Rosa Mountains into the open plain, 
 spreading widely to the distant and heavily tim 
 bered ridge in the west, he heard behind the sound 
 of following hoofs. With a frown he abruptly 
 reined in his horse and turned to see upon whom 
 his hasty displeasure should be vented. 
 
 As he waited an Indian rode quietly forth from 
 the defile after him, and a glance was all that was 
 necessary to assure Gonzales that the newcomer 
 was not of the many aborigines who, as herdsmen 
 or otherwise, served his brother. 
 
 But if there was nothing familiar, neither was 
 there anything hostile in the aspect of the 
 stranger. Wildly clad he was, indeed, after the 
 fashion of those of the aboriginal dwellers in the 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 193 
 
 land who preferred the domination of the three 
 chiefs, Solano, Sonoma, and Marin, to the mild 
 rule of the Spanish padres at the missions in the 
 south, but it was with every appearance of peace 
 ful intention that the dark-faced horseman rode 
 calmly forward and placed himself by Sancho s 
 side. And his coming was no accident, for he 
 spoke at once as one having an errand and zeal 
 ous to perform it without delay. 
 
 "I seek the Senor Sancho Gonzales," he said in 
 guttural but quite perfect Spanish. 
 
 Gonzales slightly bent his head, already, despite 
 himself, beginning to feel disturbed under the gaze 
 of the piercing black eyes that met his own. 
 
 "I bring back the Sefior s lariat," spoke the 
 Indian again, and quietly flung over Gonzales 
 saddle-horn a long coil of braided rawhide. 
 
 Gonzales knew it in an instant, slight though its 
 points of difference from a score of others might 
 be. It was that which had hurled Francisco Her- 
 rera from his saddle and had been left still noosed 
 about his body. 
 
 When Sancho could lift his guilty eyes the 
 strange messenger who brought the unwelcome 
 token was already riding quietly away, skirting 
 the hills to the northward. 
 
 1 * Diablo ! shouted Gonzales in a sudden frenzy 
 of rage. "Come back to me, you black dog!" 
 
 If the other heard he gave no sign, unless in 
 deed the fact that he spurred his rough pony into 
 a rapid lope might be taken as an indication. 
 
 "Wait! wait!" shouted Gonzales, still in a 
 frenzy of unreasoning anger and only conscious 
 
194 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 that to allow the bearer of his secret to roam 
 abroad as he listed meant he knew not what of 
 deadly vengeance in the future. "Wait!" he 
 shrieked again. "You shall not so escape me!" 
 
 The last words might, indeed, well be more than 
 idle threat, for there were few swifter steeds in 
 the Sonoma valleys than that which Gonzales 
 rode, and the canter of the Indian pony, rapid 
 though it seemed, was as nothing compared with 
 the great bounds of this long-limbed courser. 
 Little more than* a moment would have been 
 needed for Gonzales to overtake the fugitive, if 
 such the latter were but there came an inter 
 ruption. 
 
 Down from the brush-covered hillside suddenly 
 dashed a second stranger horseman, directly in 
 Gonzales path. But no fugitive this, for, so far 
 from fleeing in the track of the special object of 
 Gonzales wrath, the newcomer whirled his horse 
 about and halted squarely across the way of the 
 pursuer. 
 
 Gonzales had but an instant to make his choice 
 between attempting to ride directly over the in 
 truder and drawing his own rein and he did not 
 hesitate. There was that in the dark, sternly 
 marked face before him the fierce eyes glowing 
 from beneath bristling brows, the gleaming teeth, 
 half seen amid a thick mass of wiry beard that 
 moved him not to trifle. And he drew his rein but 
 just in time, for as he flung his struggling steed 
 back upon his haunches and held him so, as mo 
 tionless as might be, the fierce eyes of the wild- 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 195 
 
 faced man before him seemed almost against his 
 own. 
 
 For one moment they remained so, motionless, 
 on Gonzales part almost breathless. Then the 
 stranger lifted a dark, sinewy hand and pointed 
 southward : 
 
 "Go back!" said Sonoma. 
 
 Gonzales went back, and with no word. 
 
 Strangest of wooings that. Gonzales could 
 never claim to have won a look of more than in 
 different toleration from the sad eyes that seemed 
 at times as if they had already looked their last 
 upon earthly hope and joy. But the lover, if he 
 could not understand, failed not to avail himself 
 of an indifference which seemed, in this stage of 
 his courtship at least, to work rather for than 
 against his suit. If she gave him no encourage 
 ment, no promises, neither did she seem to deem it 
 necessary to oppose. And where she could not or 
 would not speak herself, there were those who 
 scrupled not to do so for her, and at the last she 
 suffered it to be so. Who was there now to care? 
 
 Once, indeed, she had almost rebelled and re 
 fused utterly to fulfill the promise the giving of 
 which had now for so long been a source of daily, 
 almost hourly, wonder in her bewildered mind. 
 Alone in her room in the darkness of a December 
 evening, when she had at last succeeded in escap 
 ing from a companionship she was fast beginning 
 to loathe, there floated to her window from some 
 where near, the words of a song she knew. Fran 
 cisco had sung it often in the old days, so, indeed, 
 had many of his one-time comrades, for, simp]e 
 
 14 
 
196 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 as were words and melody, it had once, for a sea 
 son, been upon every one s tongue. That it should 
 be sung again, and here, was not so strange, but 
 in the air as it came from the unseen singer, rising 
 soft and low in the darkness, there seemed a note 
 of the voice of Herrera. 
 
 She knew that the thought was folly, that it 
 could not be ; that the singer, indeed, must be no 
 other than the man she had so lately fled from in 
 the great living-room of the casa yet still she 
 listened ; listened with a madness of yearning for 
 the lost lover of the past which seemed suddenly 
 to drive home in her heart a conviction of how 
 utterly hideous it would be to fill his place with 
 another. How dared that other sing the song 
 that had been his and in a voice so like his 
 own ? She felt that she hated him for it yet she 
 listened, listened with a yearning eagerness that 
 would not allow her to miss a word. 
 
 "Oh, soft be thy rest, dear lady, 
 
 And sweet be thy dreams to-night; 
 No care vex thy breast, dear lady, 
 
 No tears dim thine eyes dark light. 
 Good-night, farewell, till the morrow, 
 
 Good-night, farewell, once again, 
 So siveet in this parting the sorroiv, 
 One lingers to lengthen the pain! 
 So siveet in this parting the sorrow, 
 
 One lingers to lengthen the pain! 
 
 "What though the day fade, dear lady, 
 
 What though the sun s brightness be gone, 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 197 
 
 Not always the shade, dear lady, 
 
 After dark cometh ever the dawn. 
 Good-night, fareivell, till the morrow, 
 
 Good-night, farewell, once again, 
 So sweet in this parting the sorrow, 
 
 One lingers to lengthen the pain! 
 So sweet in this parting the sorrow, 
 
 One lingers to lengthen the pain!" 
 
 The song ended, and Yda, still with that wild 
 hope mad as she knew it to be throbbing in her 
 being, listened with tense eagerness at her open 
 window for a renewal of its melody, but listened 
 in vain. Something of relief came to her at last 
 in a sudden burst of tears, but this expression of 
 her overcharged emotions was as brief as it was 
 violent. Then the calm gentleness of her nature 
 again asserted itself, and with it came a half re 
 morseful feeling for the suitor whom she could 
 not but realize was striving his best to win her 
 favor, discouraging though the results had thus 
 far been and ill-judged as was this, his latest ef 
 fort. She dried her eyes, drew a scarf of lace 
 about her face the better to conceal the traces of 
 her tears, and again sought the main apartment 
 of the casa. 
 
 As she entered it through the doorway nearest 
 her own room, Sancho Gonzales appeared in that 
 opening upon the porch. Long after she remem 
 bered that there was a strange look upon his face 
 and that his brother and her sister again the 
 guests of her father glanced at her oddly. But 
 to nothing of this at the moment did she give heed, 
 
198 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 only walked directly forward to meet Sanclio, 
 saying, with grave sweetness, when they stood to 
 gether in the center of the room : 
 
 "I thank you, Seiior, for your song. It was kind 
 of you so to seek to please me. 
 
 Then, with a bow of wordless good-night, she 
 left him, walking swiftly yet with no appearance 
 of haste, until she had passed from view. And 
 who was to know that in the seclusion of her own 
 room, hidden from all eyes, she flung herself down 
 upon her couch and wept almost until the dawn? 
 
 But, when she had left them, the Gonzales 
 brothers and her sister looked at one another with 
 questioning eyes, in silence, for a time, until San- 
 eho at last muttered hoarsely : 
 
 "I found no one there. What does it mean?" 
 
 Then the elder brother spoke with a directness 
 and emphasis which showed that, whatever doubt 
 might exist in other minds, there was none in his : 
 
 "It means," he said, "that your marriage must 
 be hurried if it is to occur at all." 
 
 When the end came, and they told Yda that 
 Christmas eve was near, and that the holiday fes 
 tival, which it was ever Don Pedro s custom to 
 provide for his friends and dependents upon that 
 occasion, should also serve to celebrate her wed 
 ding, for one moment a sudden wave of sickening, 
 shuddering revulsion swept over her. Then once 
 again came the calm of the old resignation and the 
 old despair. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 THE STRANGE GUESTS WHO CAME UNINVITED, BUT NOT 
 UNWELCOME, TO THE SECOND RIVAS WEDDING 
 
 IN THE blending lights of the Casa Rivas, the 
 one spot of brightness in the night-darkened 
 plain on that Christmas wedding eve, something 
 there seemed suggestive far less of cheer than of 
 isolation and loneliness. There was no moon 
 had there been the clouds must have hidden it, as 
 they did the stars and the broad expanse stretch 
 ing westward from the hills lay black beneath the 
 sky, the darker for the silence everywhere prevail 
 ing, even to the very walls of the casa, within which 
 should have been, on an occasion such as this, so 
 much of joyous merriment. And Ramon Carillo s 
 ghosts of the plain were all abroad strange 
 guests for a wedding festival. They made no 
 sound in their coming, but they gathered thickly 
 in the shadows of the arroyo banks, beneath the 
 moss-hung white oaks, in the shelter of the willow- 
 copses, some, as the night grew older and darker, 
 even beneath the shadow of the casa-walls. But 
 there was no word or whisper, no sound of any 
 kind that gave warning of their presence. 
 
 Yet no filmy, air-formed phantoms these. Shad 
 owy they might be in the darkness, almost noise- 
 
 199 
 
200 THE NINE 8 WORDS OF MORALES 
 
 less in their movements, but to those who had 
 eyes to see, they were an athletic brood of spec 
 ters, strangely human for creatures of the night 
 and the imagination. Some, indeed, shielded their 
 sinewy limbs and stalwart frames from the wintry 
 air with little else save leggings and moccasins 
 and their flowing black hair; others there were 
 muffled in ponchos and sombreros. Now and again 
 from one of these there came a faint clink that 
 seemed to tell of steel against steel. And one by 
 one, in groups of two or three, then in larger com 
 panies, the ghosts moved slowly nearer and near 
 er, but silently still, to the walls of the casa. 
 
 "Answer, my child," said the priest gently. 
 
 But the girl did not speak; indeed she did not 
 seem to hear. 
 
 The groom had made his responses proudly, 
 confidently, with a certain masterfulness of voice 
 and demeanor which had served to accentuate to 
 the last degree the shrinking, almost fearful, tim 
 idity which had been visible in every look, every 
 movement of the white-faced bride since the mo 
 ment her father had led her to her place before 
 the improvised altar. She had shuddered when 
 the service began; as it proceeded she seemed to 
 lose herself in a dull stupor amid which the words 
 that were spoken fell upon her ears, indeed, but 
 with no meaning. For a few moments it had not 
 been her place to speak, and there were those 
 watching who deemed it no disadvantage that she 
 should not seem to note the progress of the cere- 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 201 
 
 mony. But now there were words that must be 
 spoken. 
 
 "Answer, my child," said the priest again, his 
 voice soothing and low and in his dark eyes some 
 thing that seemed like pity. 
 
 She heard him now, and with a sudden shudder 
 lifted her white face, and her glance met his. 
 She saw the feeling in his eyes, but she saw, too, 
 that there was nothing there of what she hoped 
 for only sympathy, encouragement, and gentle, 
 wordless urging that she should tread the path 
 upon which her feet had entered. Her lips trem 
 bled, seeking to form the words for which they 
 waited. 
 
 And then, as her eyes faltered from his own, 
 they fell upon the window before which he stood 
 and, from the midst of the black darkness without 
 and fdr beyond, suddenly flamed an instantaneous 
 flash of fire, extinguished even as it was seen. 
 
 And the bride, with a gasping, inarticulate cry, 
 sank, fainting and whiter than her robes, upon the 
 rug at her feet. 
 
 The priest bent forward with a word of sur 
 prise and pity, her father and her sister together 
 hurried to her side, while the bridegroom, alarmed, 
 yet frowning as if in vexation or impatience, also 
 sought to lend his aid. But Yda, whose faint had 
 lasted but a few seconds, turned from them all as 
 she rose, trembling, to her knees, to gaze again 
 and with wide-open eyes to the darkness without 
 the window. 
 
 "Did you not see? Oh, tell me, did you not 
 see!" she whispered faintly, yet excitedly, her 
 
202 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 lips quivering and her white arms extended al 
 most convulsively before her. 
 
 "See see what?" demanded the younger Gon- 
 zales with an abruptness which seemed brutal in 
 one so near a bridegroom, while his elder brother 
 stared fixedly through the dark window with eyes 
 of gloomy question. 
 
 t What should we see, Donna Yda ? asked San- 
 cho Gonzales again, more gently now, and seeking 
 to take her hand in his. 
 
 But the girl, into whose face had suddenly come 
 a look of piteous confusion, gave him no answer, 
 but after one more lingering, bewildered glance 
 through the dark window beyond, where was now 
 only the still blackness of the December night, 
 dropped her eyes to the foot of the altar with in 
 her mind but one despairing thought : 
 
 "It is only that I am mad only that!" 
 
 i Shall we go on, Donna Yda 1 said the priest, 
 with yet more than his former gentleness. 
 
 She bowed her head. 
 
 "Your answer then, my daughter?" 
 
 But the bridegroom now interrupted with a 
 sudden, frantic cry: 
 
 6 i Look, look ! and it was he who pointed to the 
 window. 
 
 Against the lattice bars was pressed a wild, 
 dark face, strangely bearded and stern, with eyes 
 that glittered fiercely under bristling, overhang 
 ing brows. Only for an instant did those within 
 the room meet their piercing gaze. Then the 
 grim face drew back into the blackness. 
 
 But there followed, and at once, a sudden 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 203 
 
 bursting in of doors, a thunderous sound as of 
 numberless rushing feet, the startled cries of 
 frightened servants everywhere about the house, 
 and then, in through the great doorway of the 
 main room, swept a dark, indistinct mass, amid 
 which, for one second, the gazers caught the 
 dusky gleam of spears. But instantaneously with 
 the bursting in of the wide door came a great rush 
 of wintry air from without. At once every candle 
 was extinguished, plunging the room in darkness. 
 
 But in the black gloom still sounded the rustle 
 of feet, the deep breathings of angry or excited 
 men, and suddenly, at Yda s side, rang out a 
 sharp cry of wild anger, muffled before it was half 
 uttered and succeeded by sounds of a short, fierce 
 struggle. In a moment it ended, but the hurrying 
 footsteps still sounded in the room, though no 
 longer, as it seemed, in the near neighborhood of 
 the altar. Then silence fell again, sudden and 
 complete, and amid it, after a moment, sounded a 
 calm voice, familiar to some who heard, yet seem 
 ing to recall rather a memory of the past than a 
 fact of the present : 
 
 "Repeat the ceremony, good father; begin at 
 the beginning." 
 
 The priest started, gazing blankly about him 
 in the darkness. 
 
 "What mystery is this?" he said at last. 
 "Bring lights." 
 
 "It is better as it is, good father," said the 
 calm voice again. "Proceed." 
 
 "No," said the priest resolutely. "I am no 
 man s tool. I will do nothing blindly." 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 "My word as a man and a caballero, father, 
 that this is done in all honor and justice. And 
 there are other witnesses beside. Is it not so, 
 brothers ? 
 
 And it seemed that half a score of voices an 
 swered at once in the dark room. 
 
 "Yes, we are all witnesses." 
 
 Still the good priest hesitated, loth to act so 
 strangely, yet deeply swayed despite himself with 
 an impression that this which he had been bidden 
 to do was indeed his duty. And while he yet hes 
 itated, to his inexpressible delight there sounded 
 from the darkness beside him the soft voice of 
 Yda, tremulous and faltering, but, if he knew 
 anything of human emotion, full of happiness : 
 
 "If it is for me you fear, father, all is well 
 now." 
 
 For while she spoke, though none might see, 
 loving arms whose touch she knew, even in that 
 darkness, held her closely closely, but so ten 
 derly, loving lips were pressed upon her cheek, 
 and in her ear, so low that none but she might 
 hear, were whispered passionate words : 
 
 "Mi querida! Oh, mi querida! Love of my 
 heart, it is not too late." 
 
 And the priest hesitated no longer. 
 
 "Wilt thou " 
 
 But again he paused, helpless and bewildered. 
 
 "Francisco is the name, father," said the same 
 calm voice which had before spoken. 
 
 "Wilt thou, Francisco," began the priest once 
 more, and now, with no further interruption, con 
 tinuing the services, hastily but fervently, to the 
 
THE NINE "SWORDS OF MORALES 205 
 
 end, bewildered still, but confident and grateful in 
 his kindly heart that a threatened wrong had 
 somehow not been done and that he, walking in 
 blindness though he might be, was yet being made 
 the instrument of right and happiness. 
 
 "Let us have the lights again," said the quiet, 
 directing voice when the final words had been 
 spoken, and it seemed but an instant before from 
 somewhere in the background came a flickering 
 spark which passed swiftly from hand to hand 
 and candle to candle until once more the long 
 room was flooded with light. 
 
 Of the confusion which had seemed to reign but 
 a few moments before there remained no trace 
 now. The crowding throng of dark-faced intrud 
 ers was there no longer. But Carlos Morales and 
 his eight stalwart brothers stood in a quiet group 
 near where the white-faced bride, trembling, tear 
 ful, but smiling in bewildered joy, clung to the 
 sustaining arm of the bridegroom and that 
 bridegroom was Herrera. 
 
 There were dark shadows under his eyes, hol 
 lows in his once firm cheeks, and other signs which 
 spoke of long illness that had brought him near 
 unto death but it was still Herrera, and in the 
 happiness that glowed upon his face it seemed 
 transfigured. 
 
 Ramon Gonzales gazed with gloomy eyes upon 
 these sudden guests of the darkness, though lie 
 seemed to feel no surprise. But in a moment, 
 when his glance had swept slowly over the faces 
 before him, he moved, frowning, a step nearer 
 Carlos Morales and demanded hoarsely: 
 
206 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 " Where is my brother?" 
 
 Carlos glanced silently out through the window 
 and lifted his hand. While they listened, obeying 
 his half-unconscious movement, from the night 
 without seemed to come a sullen thunder of num 
 berless hoofs, already faint and dying away in 
 the distance. 
 
 "I do not think you need fear harm for him, 
 Senor," said Carlos quietly. "Even attempts at 
 midnight murder may be forgiven at times 
 when they fail." 
 
 "I understand you, Senor," said Gonzales with 
 equal calmness, "and you do me wrong. But let 
 that pass. Twice now we have met and twice it 
 has been to my humiliation. But there comes a 
 third day." 
 
 He moved toward the door, but the voice of 
 Rivas arrested him. 
 
 "Let there be peace, Gonzales," he said. "I 
 grow old. Must my children fall from me and 
 from each other through this feud? Let it end." 
 
 "Aye, let it end for you, Don Pedro," said 
 Gonzales quietly. "For me not yet." 
 
 He passed from the room and the door closed 
 after him. 
 
 And then Pancha Pancha the beautiful, the 
 cold-hearted rose in her place and came swiftly 
 forward. No look or word she gave Herrera, but 
 flung her arms about Yda and for one second held 
 her close in an embrace that could mean no mock- 
 ery of love. 
 
 "Yda, Yda!" she whispered, "I am glad, so 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 207 
 
 glad for you, Hermanita, little sister of iny 
 heart!" 
 
 But even as Yda* sought to return her kisses, 
 she drew herself away and hurried from the room. 
 
 There was one who followed, less swiftly, but 
 with her beautiful head held high, and eyes which 
 turned haughtily away from all others within the 
 room Juanita, sole sister of the Gonzales, little 
 more than a child as yet, but lacking nothing in 
 pride. Young Diego Morales, a swift smile light 
 ing his boyishly handsome face, stepped, bowing, 
 before her, and held open the door. But the girl 
 passed through without a turn of the head or so 
 much as a glance in acknowledgment of his cour 
 tesy. 
 
 The smile deepened on Diego s face, but for an 
 instant only; then, as his gaze still followed the 
 graceful figure, into his frank eyes came a 
 strange, glowing look that seemed to speak of 
 something that was neither mirth nor anger. He 
 turned to find the gaze of Carlos and the kindly 
 priest fixed upon him. His eyes sank for a mo 
 ment, and the bronze of his firm young cheek was 
 tinged a deeper hue. 
 
 " Leave them to God and time," said the 
 priest. "To-morrow comes Christ s day, and all 
 its promise is of peace." 
 
 But as that gay wedding-party rode northward 
 the next day there crossed the path something 
 that did not speak of peace. It was a riderless 
 horse, still saddled and bridled, but with that in 
 
208 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 the appearance of the rude equipments which 
 seemed to suggest that he who had lately ridden 
 the animal had not willingly left his seat, Carlos, 
 riding at the moment far in the lead of his caval 
 cade, with but a single companion, checked his own 
 steed and bent his keen eyes upon the rough-haired 
 estray and its makeshift caparison. 
 
 " Pepe s horse, " he said, after a moment s scru 
 tiny. "But where is Pepe?" 
 
 "He has been thrown, perhaps, " suggested 
 Diego, youngest of The Nine. 
 
 But Carlos shook his head. 
 
 "No. In his own awkward fashion there is no 
 better rider. Then, too, he would have followed 
 the horse." 
 
 Diego rose in the saddle and swept a searching 
 glance widely about him. 
 
 "Nothing!" he said. "You fear " 
 
 Carlos nodded gravely. "Yes, there is more 
 than accident in this. The boy has been too good 
 a friend to us and ours. But say nothing to the 
 others. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 HOW PEPE THE INDIAN, FRIEND OF THE MORALES, 
 
 BECAUSE OF THAT FRIENDSHIP CAME 
 
 UPON EVIL FORTUNE 
 
 RESTING the summit of a low-lying knoll, 
 \J almost within the confines of what is now the 
 city of Santa Rosa, there stood in the olden time, 
 as there stands to-day, a great oak. Famed among 
 the first of the Spanish settlers because of its giant 
 size, in latter though still early years it was to win 
 grim place in history as the landmark of the one 
 dark tragedy of the "Bear Flag Insurrection. " 
 Beneath its great limbs Cowie and Fowler died, 
 victims of their own daring and the unleashed fe 
 rocity of their leaderless foes. But that day of 
 racial hate, short-lived as it was savage, was yet 
 far in the future when, beneath those same spread 
 ing branches, Pepe s captors flung down the stolid 
 Indian boy, bound and helpless, to await what 
 further expression of their ill-will might yet be in 
 store for him. Cowie and Fowler, and the terrible 
 fate to be dealt out to them there, were yet un 
 dreamed of, but those who now proposed making 
 the spot the theater of their vengeful malicious 
 ness were in need of no example to urge them on. 
 Pepe knew them, one and all, as the worst of 
 
 209 
 
210 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 the half outlaw supporters of the Gonzales the 
 scum, indeed, of a following the best of which had 
 little claim to commendation. These men had 
 been rather the satellites of the younger than of 
 the elder leader of their faction, for to Sancho 
 Gonzales, because of his own evident disposition, 
 had naturally gravitated the worst of those who 
 supported his own and his brother s quarrel. 
 With him to direct and, in a measure, to control 
 their viciousness, they were bad enough. With 
 out him they had shown themselves on more than 
 one occasion veritable Children of the Pit. And 
 they were without their leader now. 
 
 All this, and what it meant to himself, was work 
 ing slowly but surely into Pepe s sluggish brain 
 as his captors rudely flung him down in a sitting 
 posture by the great tree-trunk, and bound him 
 securely against its gnarled bark with fold after 
 fold of plaited rawhide and horsehair. To do this 
 to their satisfaction they knotted a lariat and a 
 riata together at the ends, and then a pair of the 
 miscreants, with brutal jest and laughter, ran 
 around and around the tree-trunk in opposite di 
 rections, each holding the cord, until there was 
 no longer enough of it left to allow of another cir 
 cuit. Then, with a final tug at the two ends, which 
 resulted in almost crushing in the ribs of the al 
 ready half choked and breathless captive, they 
 knotted what was left unwound securely at the 
 further side of the tree, and far beyond reach of 
 Pepe s hands, even had the latter not been bound. 
 This seemed likely to matter little, however, since, 
 cruelly crushed as he was by the tightly drawn 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 211 
 
 cord, it was not probable that sufficient life would 
 long remain in him even for the thought of escape, 
 to say nothing of an attempt to effect it. 
 
 Pepe bore the torment he was suffering with 
 the calm stoicism of his race, uttering no word and 
 making no attempt to find ever so little relief from 
 the pressure of his bonds. Without doubt he 
 would have died so, speechless and uncomplaining, 
 had no hand been raised in his aid. 
 
 But it was no part of his captors purpose that 
 he should die not yet and one or two of them 
 seemed suddenly to realize that unless some mod 
 eration were used they were likely to lose some 
 thing of the completeness of their vengeance. So 
 with rough, unkindly hands they tugged at the 
 rope where it crossed and recrossed Pepe s 
 breast, and so loosened the coils that he was en 
 abled to breathe, if not with comfort, at least with 
 tolerable ease. Then, with a curse or two by way 
 of temporary farewell, they left him to his medi 
 tations and went to their camp-fire. 
 
 This was but a few rods away, and had been 
 kindled by some of their number on their first ap 
 proach to the spot and while the majority of the 
 band were grouped about Pepe. Located as it 
 was, it placed them in a measure beyond ear-shot 
 of their captive, while at the same time leaving him 
 in sufficiently plain view for them to keep what 
 could easily be made a constant watch upon him 
 without the necessity for placing a special guard 
 a point which, with men as indolent even in ill- 
 doing as these, was of importance. 
 Pepe, sitting stolidly in his bonds, realized that 
 
212 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 his time had come. The fact had been slow in 
 forcing itself into his sluggish brain, but once there 
 it did not fail to be fully accepted and understood 
 in all its grimness. He found it difficult to under 
 stand even now how and why it was that such a 
 fate should come to him thus, but that it con 
 fronted him in fatal certainty he no longer ques 
 tioned. Humble as the lowliest, he had yet played 
 his part in a stirring quarrel, but now that part 
 was ending. Even to his ordinarily unquestioning 
 mind it had seemed a little unfair at first that 
 he, among so many, should be singled out as the 
 special object of so signal a vengeance as every 
 thing went to show was meditated against him. 
 True, he realized, and with a sort of dull pride, 
 that it had more than once fallen to his lot to foil, 
 in a measure at least, some of the plotting of the 
 Gonzales faction, but he knew, too, how much more 
 effective work to the same end had been done by 
 others. And these others were men of such known 
 prominence and importance that even to Pepe it 
 seemed that vengeance upon them rather than on 
 one so humble as himself would have better be 
 come men who claimed to be such in something 
 more than in name. 
 
 Some dim idea of the unfairness of it all worked 
 slowly through the Indian boy s mind, but he gave 
 it no encouragement to linger there. He felt that 
 he was to die, and, since that was certain, to worry 
 about the cause seemed a mere waste of time. He 
 thought little, indeed, upon the life he was leaving, 
 though it had been happy enough in its way, and 
 it is to be feared he dwelt almost as slightly on 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 213 
 
 the life that was to follow. Yet Pepe ranked as a 
 Christian, in name at least, and really had been a 
 believer in his way in the chief and simpler facts of 
 the religion of the Nazarene. His idea of the 
 Hereafter was a somewhat misty compound of the 
 happy hunting-grounds of his fathers belief and 
 the City with the Gates of Pearl, of which he had 
 heard from kindly Spanish padres at long inter 
 vals during his careless, unreflecting life. He did 
 not doubt, in his simply confident soul, that he 
 would fare well in the Hereafter, but how he 
 should reach it was a point which at that moment 
 seemed to him of much greater importance. 
 
 And as if in answer to his unspoken question, 
 almost at this moment one of his captors left his 
 seat by the camp-fire and strolled carelessly toward 
 the bound figure at the tree-trunk. It was Pablo 
 Estrada, already fixed upon in Pepe s mind, and 
 correctly, as the leader of his captors. 
 
 He stood looking at the stolid form before him, 
 and Pepe noted that his lips were drawn away 
 from his white teeth in a way that suggested a 
 wolf about to seize his prey. But the man made 
 no move that hinted at violence, and his tone, when 
 he spoke, was such as he might have employed in 
 making a casual observation to a friend. 
 
 "Pepe," he said, "when next we are betrayed 
 it will be by some one other than you, mi mucha- 
 cho. You see that rope across your chest I mean 
 the riata. When we have had our supper we will 
 place it around your neck and hang you to that 
 limb above you there. That is all for the present, 
 mi hombre." 
 
214 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 He swaggered away without waiting for an an 
 swer, which he probably thought would be long in 
 coming and, indeed, it did not occur to Pepe 
 that any was required. What he had been told 
 was no surprise to him and had given him no 
 shock. He had realized from the moment when 
 he rode heedlessly into the hands of these men 
 that he was in the power of those who, rightly or 
 wrongly, had come to regard him as an important 
 factor in the successes of the foes of their leaders. 
 He had not, it is true, thought that Ramon Gon- 
 zales, or even his fiercer brother, would go so far 
 as to take his life, but when he discovered that 
 neither of the two was with his captors, and that 
 the latter included only the very worst of their 
 leaders party, he had known at once that he need 
 look for no mercy. 
 
 To be told in plain words what his doom was to 
 be, therefore, gave him no shock indeed, when he 
 came fully to realize the exact meaning of what 
 had been said to him, he was conscious of a slight 
 sense of relief. It was not that he had feared a 
 harder death though he knew of whispered tales 
 of half-hidden atrocities with which the names of 
 some at least of these same men had been con 
 nected that might have given him cause for 
 thought. Brought up in great measure, as he had 
 been, among whites, his Indian nature had re 
 mained sufficiently strong to make him careless of 
 personal suffering, but, now that all doubt as to his 
 fate was removed, he became conscious that, while 
 it existed, the uncertainty as to what confronted 
 him had caused him at least a slight measure of 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 215 
 
 uneasiness. It was settled now, the last scene of 
 all was not far off and it was almost with a sigh 
 of relief that Pepe sank back as comfortably as 
 might be in his bonds, prepared to wait in patience 
 for the end. 
 
 And then, as he was gradually passing into such 
 a state of complete quietude as promised soon, de 
 spite what he knew to be before him, to change in 
 sensibly into slumber, a low voice whispered, 
 almost at his ear : 
 
 "Pepe!" 
 
CHAPTEE XXIX 
 
 A FRIEND IN NEED FOR PEPE THE FAITHFUL, AND A 
 SURPRISE FOR THE CAMP OF HIS FOES 
 
 A NOTHEE man than Pepe might have uttered 
 JIJL a cry, have given some sign at least, in his 
 sudden amaze, that must have meant the crushing 
 at once of the hope so strangely born. Perhaps 
 the unknown in the covert behind the great tree- 
 trunk realized this. 
 
 "Pepe," the low voice said again, "attend 
 but do not move." 
 
 The words came quickly, as if he who uttered 
 them feared the result of a sudden motion on the 
 part of the prisoner, should it be noted by his cap 
 tors. But the warning was needless. For one 
 thing, the tightness of the cords, two of which 
 passed across Pepe s neck, made it so; for an 
 other, never since his earliest childhood had he 
 known impulse or emotion sufficiently strong to 
 cause a movement of sudden unpremeditation. It 
 is to be doubted, indeed, if any question, even 
 though one of life or death, could have had such an 
 effect. So, in unmoved stolidity, he kept his posi 
 tion against the rough bark of the oak unchanged 
 by even the slightest effort to alter it and waited. 
 
 And then, one moment later, Pepe felt the 
 
 216 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 217 
 
 loosening of his bonds as cord after cord yielded 
 to the knife of his rescuer, but a graven image 
 could scarcely have shown less movement. 
 Presently the last strand of the rough horsehair 
 riata fell from his throat and lay loose with the 
 rest across his lap. 
 
 He drew one long, deep breath, but otherwise 
 moved not. 
 
 A moment dragged slowly by, while Pepe still 
 sat without motion against the tree-trunk, his 
 bound hands in his lap, his head sunk upon his 
 chest. Then once more he heard the voice which 
 meant so much to him : 
 
 "Are you ready now?" 
 
 "Ready, Senor." 
 
 "Push the ropes below your knees No, no! 
 Wait!" 
 
 The warning came not too soon. A brutal 
 laugh sounded from the group about the camp- 
 fire, and following it some one called the captive s 
 name: 
 
 "Pepe!" 
 
 The Indian did not answer, but he lifted his 
 head a trifle, and glanced toward his captors as if 
 to show that he had heard. 
 
 "Answer, you black dog!" shouted the same 
 voice. * l Do you hear me ? 
 
 "Answer," whispered the voice behind the tree, 
 and "Yes, Senor," said Pepe, with a sullenness 
 which served only to excite more jarring laughter 
 from the group at the fire laughter which prob 
 ably would scarcely have been so ready could those 
 indulging in it have known the real depth and 
 
218 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 strength of the hate and fury which the muttered 
 words gave so little hint of. Then his rude ac- 
 coster spoke again, quietly now, but with a ma 
 levolence of accent indescribable: 
 
 "It is time for supper, Pepe your last supper, 
 muchacho! I will bring it to you. 7 
 
 Pepe scarcely heard the new burst of laughter 
 which accompanied this speech. For once, though 
 no one could have noted the faintest change in 
 his dark face, his heart seemed to stand still. It 
 was no renewed dread of death, rather simple 
 amazement that such a fatal chance as this 
 could be. 
 
 But a warning whisper came quickly from be 
 hind the great oak: 
 
 Sit still ! Wait for my word. 
 
 Already Pablo Estrada, for it was the brutal 
 leader of the party who had spoken, was swiftly 
 approaching, bearing something in his hands. 
 Pepe, his nerves for once quivering in his tough 
 ened frame, was waiting for the word that should 
 bid him do what ? Then, but a yard or two from 
 the captive s feet, Estrada paused and Pepe 
 wondered that he did not cry out, for it seemed im 
 possible, even in the obscurity of the late dusk, 
 that he should not see that the cords were not as 
 they should be, but lying in a loosened mass across 
 the lap of the captive. 
 
 But Pablo seemed not to notice perhaps it was 
 the immediate purpose in his mind that made him 
 careless. Still standing a yard or more from 
 Pepe s feet, he spoke again and even the Indian 
 marvelled at the friendly softness of his tones : 
 
. t, 
 
 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 219 
 
 Are you sure you can eat your supper, Pepe?" 
 Yes, Senor," answered the captive, no hint in 
 stolid voice or look of what thoughts were in his 
 mind. 
 
 "Then eat it," said the tormentor, placing the 
 tortillas he carried upon the ground, only a yard 
 from the captive s feet, but as absolutely beyond 
 his reach, to the mind of his captor, as if they had 
 been miles away. 
 
 Then Pablo turned about and walked, laughing 
 aloud, back to the camp-fire and Pepe heard, 
 close at hand, something which seemed to suggest 
 a respiration, full and deep, such as one might 
 draw after having for a moment forgotten to 
 breathe. 
 
 Pablo s comrades about the fire joined in his 
 hilarity over his excellent jest, but Pepe gave no 
 sign that he heard or cared, and the merriment 
 soon died away. For jesters such as these a joke 
 which seemed to produce no effect upon the in 
 tended victim was not entirely successful and a 
 moment more saw his captors give over the expres 
 sion of their mirth and turn to their rough meal. 
 
 With a movement of his bound hands, Pepe 
 threw the loosened cords below his knees. An 
 other motion, and his feet were free. Then, the 
 natural craft of his race coming to his aid in his 
 need, he had the thought to sink back into his old 
 position of rigid quiet and just in time. For the 
 next instant, as if with a half mechanical impulse, 
 the leader of his captors turned partially as he 
 ate and flung a careless but searching glance at the 
 prisoner. He saw nothing to excite suspicion 
 
220 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 but had he looked again, a second later, he would 
 have gazed on vacant bonds. Only for a moment. 
 Another and, to all appearance, the captive still 
 held his place. 
 
 One, two, three moments passed and then, 
 sharp and clear in the calm night air, sounded the 
 yelp of a coyote from the willow-fringed arroyo in 
 the hollow behind the knoll. 
 
 The man beneath the tree drew a long breath, 
 then checked himself hastily, as he saw that Pablo 
 Estrada had ceased munching the food he held and 
 sat now in an attitude of strained attention, as if 
 waiting for a repetition of the sound that had in 
 terrupted his feast. Had his ears been keen 
 enough to detect that it was not altogether what 
 it seemed! * 
 
 Then at last Pablo s gaze was turned full upon 
 the figure beneath the great oak and almost in 
 stantly he leaped erect with a cry. 
 
 "Diablo!" he screamed; "what wizard work is 
 this!" 
 
CHAPTER XXX 
 
 IN WHICH PEPE S CAPTORS FIND THEMSELVES 
 
 POSSESSED OF ANOTHER AND MUCH MORE 
 
 TROUBLESOME PRISONER 
 
 IN AN instant all Pablo s comrades were on 
 their feet, staring in blank amazement; an 
 other second, and they were rushing in a body to 
 the spot where, apparently, the captive still sat, 
 silent and motionless. 
 
 But when they had reached the tree, with their 
 flaming brands, snatched hastily from the camp- 
 fire, it was to find facing them, erect, his back 
 against the broad trunk and his hand at his armed 
 belt, not the humble if stubborn Indian of a few 
 moments before, but a calm and imperturbable 
 Morales, in whose air and attitude, and in the 
 tones of whose voice, was mocking raillery almost 
 unendurable. 
 
 Senors, said Carlos, I salute you. We have 
 met before, I think. You doubtless remember the 
 occasion certainly you had abundant reason 
 so I need not introduce myself. But you seem 
 surprised that I should have intruded upon you 
 so unceremoniously or is it that you looked for 
 some one else to be taking his ease here rather 
 than I ? Ah, doubtless it is my friend Pepe, the In- 
 
 221 
 
12:22 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 dian, of whom you are thinking. He, you will 
 possibly be annoyed to learn, is far away by now. 
 However, Pepe is an honest Indian though, per 
 haps, that is not much of a recommendation in the 
 present company and he has left you your lariat 
 and riata. See! here they lie. I regret to ob 
 serve that they seem to be in rather bad shape, but 
 doubtless they may be repaired. In any case there 
 4 seems little chance of their being required for the 
 kindly purpose which you, Senor Pablo, so lately 
 spoke of putting them to. True, Pepe, though dis 
 tant, is still within hearing I think those are his 
 hoof-beats now sounding so faintly but it is my 
 horse he is riding, and that means that we will not 
 hear him long. 
 
 Carlos paused for breath, and Pablo, his face 
 black and his voice calm with very fury, broke in : 
 
 "And you you, of all men! dare to tell us, 
 Senor, that you have done this ! Dare to tell us 
 and yet hope " 
 
 "To live to tell it again and to others. But, 
 surely Nay, Senors, let me urge you to keep back 
 and to take your hands from your weapons, for 
 the present at least. Do not be hasty. In the ex 
 citement of the moment some of us might be se 
 riously hurt. Very possibly I might be one of the 
 unfortunates, but I suggest, in all good-fellowship, 
 that there would probably be others. And I sup 
 pose a bandit is no more ready to die than a gen 
 tleman. You observe that my back is pretty well 
 guarded by this good tree, so you must attack me 
 in front, and that, I understand, is somewhat 
 against your principles. Nay, Senors, let me urge 
 
THE NINE SWOBDS OF MORALES 223 
 
 again that you be not hasty ! I was about to add 
 that such an attack is likely to produce inconven 
 ient results. However, in your cases, these are 
 certain to follow in any event. " 
 
 "Results such as what, Senor?" asked Pablo, 
 through his gritting teeth, restraining his com 
 rades with a gesture as if he would fain listen to 
 his enemy s flood of rasping raillery to the end. 
 
 "Such as hanging, for example," said Carlos 
 coolly; "hanging, that is, for those who are unfor 
 tunate enough not to be killed when my brethren 
 and my friends take up the trail of my mur 
 derers supposing you are so very foolish as to 
 become such. You are aware, of course, that Pepe 
 will furnish them all your names, and that there 
 will not be land enough between the seas to hide 
 you, once they know. 
 
 "Ah, now we understand, Seiior," sneered 
 Pablo, "to what all this brave talk has been tend 
 ing. A threat and an offer to kindly spare us if 
 we are willing to spare you. Is not that it, 
 Seiior?" 
 
 Carlos bowed mockingly. 
 
 "That and the wish to give Pepe a sufficient 
 start," he laughed. "He has it now, I think, so 
 there is no harm in owning what you have in your 
 wisdom discovered. And certainly I meant my 
 words as a threat." 
 
 "But it shall not avail with me!" growled 
 Pablo fiercely, moving a step nearer. But in 
 stantly the hand of one of his comrades was on 
 his arm. 
 
 "Nay, but it is all true," he said remonstrating- 
 
224 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 ]y. "The earth would not hide us from those 
 Morales dogs if we killed him and they will know 
 us all. It is one thing to hang the Indian, Pepe; 
 this is very different. " 
 
 Again Carlos made his mocking bow, never, 
 however, taking his eyes from his foes or his hand 
 from his pistol. 
 
 "I fear, Senor Pablo," he said pleasantly, 
 "that all the wisdom of your band is concentrated 
 in this, your follower. You should resign your 
 leadership to him, for your own sake as well as 
 his." 
 
 "Sneer as you will, Senor for the moment," 
 said Pablo sullenly, "but know that not this wise 
 follower s words nor your threats shall make me 
 set you free. 
 
 "We need not do that," eagerly broke in the 
 man who had spoken before. "Let us take him 
 to the Casa Gonzales. Doubt not that he will get 
 his desserts there Don Ramon has a black book 
 against him and we will be free of it all. Is not 
 that best, comrades!" 
 
 The dark look in Pablo s face did not encourage 
 his followers to give too ready an assent, but he 
 was shrewd enough to see which way their 
 opinions lay. Whether or not they would back 
 him, a self-constituted leader, in opposing their 
 own views, the more especially when such opposi 
 tion tended unquestionably to put their necks in 
 danger, seemed more than doubtful. He saw 
 that he must yield. 
 
 "Let it be so, then," he said in sullen anger, 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 225 
 
 adding savagely: "Bind his hands, and let us go 
 at once." 
 
 Carlos smiled in a way that was not pleasant to 
 see. 
 
 "Bring me a horse, " he said quietly, "and I 
 will go with you without trouble. But that man of 
 you who dares attempt to place a bond upon me 
 that man will I kill." 
 
 Again Pablo s frown was black, but though he 
 glanced fiercely at his followers, no man moved to 
 carry out the order he had given. Once more he 
 felt that he must yield. 
 
 * Let him have your horse, then, Juan, he said, 
 * * and you and the others must walk in turn. It is 
 not so far. Place him half way in the line, and 
 do you lead and pick the path. I will ride be 
 hind."- 
 
 "Under your favor, Seiior," said Carlos with 
 cool determination, "you will ride before me or 
 I go not at all. And I give your followers warn 
 ing, here and now, that if I see sign of treachery, 
 you, Seiior, will be the first with cause to re 
 gret it," 
 
 Pablo smiled sourly. "Have your way, 
 Seiior," he said. "You talk bravely, but I do not 
 fear you. 
 
 "Be it so, then," said Carlos. "Do we go 
 now? I am ready." 
 
 So it happened that when, two hours later, eight 
 furious horsemen, armed to the teeth, came plung 
 ing across the arroyo ford and up the oak- 
 
226 THE NINE SWOKDS OF MOEALES 
 
 crowned hillock, it was to find the spot deserted, 
 but a trail, plain even in the starlight, leading 
 from the place up into the foot-hills and unques 
 tionably to the stronghold of Gonzales. 
 
 They followed at once, but the alarm had been 
 given, their coming foreseen, and even on the 
 plain they found that their path was beset with 
 foes. Shout and signal sounded everywhere 
 about them, dusky throngs of horsemen thun 
 dered by, and though no immediate attack was 
 made, the utter folly of the eight men seeking to 
 force their way through the hills unaided to Gon 
 zales stronghold became every instant more and 
 more apparent. It was Diego, youngest of The 
 Nine, who had pressed on most fiercely in the 
 chase, yet it was he who finally called a halt and 
 gathered his brethren about him for council. The 
 conference was brief when it ended the brothers 
 turned their horses and galloped away in the direc 
 tion of their own home. Had they been pursued, 
 and sufficiently closely, those who followed might 
 have noted that when they had passed the first 
 willow-bordered arroyo in their path the eight 
 men had become seven. And the rider who was 
 missing was Diego. 
 
CHAPTER XXXI 
 
 WHICH TELLS HOW YOUNG DIEGO MORALES SEES FIT 
 TO VENTURE HIMSELF WITHIN THE LION S DEN 
 
 IT HAS been said that the home of Ramon Gon- 
 zales was a fortress. Planned by the builder 
 in his earlier and more romantic youth, it stood, 
 castle-like, upon a bold spur of the Santa Rosa 
 Hills, jutting not upon the plain but into the can 
 yon valley along which ran the roadway furnish 
 ing its chief avenue of approach. On one side and 
 across part of the rear the ground rose yet 
 higher, though with so gradual a slope as to af 
 ford little advantage to an assaulting force, could 
 the latter succeed in effecting the necessary cir 
 cuit. From all the other portions of the building 
 the ground fell away steeply, in front descending 
 to the main canyon, at the left and rear to a nar 
 rower and more shallow ravine opening into that 
 before the house. Beyond this lesser gully was a 
 low and narrow ridge, and over this the ground 
 sank again into another rugged depression trend 
 ing away, like that before the house, to the Santa 
 Rosa Plain, though not in the same direction. 
 
 Viewed from the upper side, Gonzales home 
 presented the appearance of a low, one-story 
 square, and was not at all imposing. From be- 
 
 16 227 
 
228 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 low, however, thanks to the nature of the ground, 
 it stood boldly against the sky, a full story higher, 
 and the castle-like appearance of the structure, as 
 observed from this quarter, was intensified by 
 the machicolated parapet cresting the verge of the 
 flat roof, the heavy buttresses bracing the wall, 
 and the tangle of climbing honeysuckles and ivy 
 which half hid the stone facings of the massive 
 adobe square at the lower angle of the building. 
 High up in the rear wall, and near the corner, was 
 a small latticed window, one of the very few to be 
 observed anywhere on the exterior of a structure 
 which depended chiefly for light and air upon the 
 court in the center. 
 
 From his hiding-place in the tangle of honey 
 suckles clustering about the massive corner but 
 tresses Diego Morales gave another and yet more 
 doubtful glance at that little window above him. 
 But the pause was only for a moment. 
 
 "Why should I hesitate!" he thought, shrug 
 ging his broad shoulders. "It is the only one in 
 the whole wall and get in I must." 
 
 He began to climb. 
 
 There was, indeed, no other window on his side 
 of the building the only one on which he had 
 found it possible to approach the Casa Gonzales 
 unseen. It might admit him into the room aye ! 
 into the very presence of his chief foe, but there 
 was at least a chance that it would not. And the 
 necessities of his position were such that he could 
 not afford to be particular. 
 
 Still, as he swung himself swiftly upward, he 
 did not neglect any possible precaution. A bat 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 2:21) 
 
 would scarcely have made less noise, and when 
 his fingers finally rested upon the window-ledge 
 it was with infinite care that he raised his head 
 sufficiently to permit him to glance through the 
 aperture or rather to attempt to do so, for 
 within the room was no light, and he seemed but 
 to be gazing against a solid wall of blackness. 
 
 "Just the same, though," he thought, the idea 
 causing his face to twist into a grimace half 
 amused, half rueful, "this black head of mine 
 must stand out charmingly against the sky. Ca- 
 ramba ! what a target it must be ! 
 
 But there was comfort in the thought that no 
 one was likely to be sitting in a dark room, though 
 the chance remained that the apartment might be 
 a bedchamber and the occupant lying awake. But 
 it would not do to fret over such chances. 
 
 "Now, bless the fool who deemed this window 
 high enough up not to need bars !" thought Diego, 
 as he noted the absence of these adjuncts of so 
 curity. Then, supporting his weight by one 
 strong forearm and elbow, securely resting on the 
 broad masonry ledge, he quietly thrust his knife- 
 blade into the crack between casing and lattice 
 frame and pried the latter outward. Evidently 
 there was no catch, for the first effort was suc 
 cessful. 
 
 One moment Diego hesitated then, narrowing 
 his shoulders as much as might be, he thrust his 
 body forward and inward, gave a vigorous twist 
 or two, and found himself through the window. 
 
 Despite his best efforts, he came down in a heap 
 upon the floor, but the latter was covered with 
 
230 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 some thick, matting-like material, and his fall was 
 neither noisy nor painful. Nevertheless, for a 
 moment or two he remained as he had fallen, 
 breathlessly still in the darkness, waiting for 
 whatever developments there might be. But 
 nothing happened, and, devoutly thankful for the 
 good fortune which had thus far attended him, 
 Diego arose. 
 
 And then, in the intense darkness, utterly with 
 out warning, a strong hand closed suddenly on his 
 throat, and a voice, calm and low-toned, but the 
 grim determination of which was unmistakable, 
 whispered in his ear : 
 
 "Utter a cry move your hands and I stran 
 gle you." 
 
 Even in the awful shock of the sudden surprise 
 Diego s heart bounded with delight. Was ever 
 such luck as this ! 
 
 "Carlos," he managed to whisper, despite the 
 pressure on his throat, "it is I Diego." 
 
 "Diego?" 
 
 "Yes. Take your great paw from my wind 
 pipe. I have come to help you. 
 
 "You mad lad! And I thought you some as 
 sassin Gonzales had hired to do what he did not 
 dare himself. What else could I believe, seeing 
 you creeping in like that? I thought I would give 
 the murderer a surprise." 
 
 "And you did my throat aches yet with that 
 bear s grip." 
 
 "Comfort yourself, little brother," returned 
 Carlos, with the faint chuckle Diego knew so well ; 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 231 
 
 "had I really closed my hand you would not be 
 talking now." 
 
 "Possibly not nor breathing," said Diego. 
 "And you, too," he added, grimly smiling in the 
 darkness, "would have been as dead a caballero 
 as ever had eight inches of steel thrust through 
 him." 
 
 Again Diego felt his brother s great form 
 quiver with mirth, but Carlos only verbal re 
 joinder did not refer to the grim jest. 
 
 "Now that you are here, Hermanito, what is 
 your plan ? 
 
 "I had none in coming only the wish to learn 
 what I could, and the hope to profit by it. But 
 now that I have found you and here it seems 
 simple enough. We have only to drop through 
 the window, and go as I came. 
 
 "You do not think," muttered Carlos, in a tone 
 of injury, "that such a man as I can pass through 
 that crack?" 
 
 "I came through it," said Diego. 
 
 "Ah, yes, Hermanito and you are not a small 
 man. Still you lack many inches of shoulder 
 from being such as I." 
 
 "Perhaps the window may be made larger," 
 whispered Diego, passing his hand over the 
 masonry, in search of some point where his knife- 
 blade might loosen the mortar. 
 
 "Even so," said Carlos, "there are still the 
 guards and how was it, now that I mention 
 them, that they allowed you to pass?" 
 
 "I saw none. It was for that reason I chose 
 this side of the house." 
 
232 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 "Then they were shirking their rascally duty 
 for the moment. They are there four of them. 
 I saw them stationed myself. 
 
 Diego thrust his head out through the window, 
 then drew it suddenly back. 
 
 "You are right," he muttered. "They are 
 there again five of them." 
 
 "Five?" 
 
 "Yes listen!" 
 
 Words spoken in a suppressed but threatening 
 voice came from beneath the window. 
 
 "Remember, you rascals, no more skulking. If 
 Gonzales knew you had left your post he would 
 cut the ears off the four of you. I will not shield 
 you again." 
 
 There was a murmur of what seemed to be rx- 
 cuses and promises, then the sound of departing 
 footsteps. 
 
 Diego looked cautiously forth again. 
 
 "There are four now," he whispered, "just be 
 neath the window." 
 
 "Enough, and more, even supposing us safe 
 through, to prevent our getting away without 
 noise and noise would be fatal." 
 
 Diego swore. 
 
 That must be quite a favorite fancy with Gon 
 zales and his men," added Carlos lightly-* "that 
 matter of cutting off ears. It was so he proposed 
 to treat me." 
 
 Now Diego swore again this time not under 
 his breath the deepest, deadliest oath known to 
 the Spanish tongue, and his hand sought his knife- 
 hilt. 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 233 
 
 "He did not he did not dare!" lie gasped 
 hoarsely. 
 
 "Do it? No. I am alive, am I not, and with 
 no thief s marks upon me? Calm yourself, 
 Hermanito. 
 
 "But the insult that he should dare to 
 threaten it ! " growled Diego, savagely still. 
 
 Oh, threats break no bones, and this he doubt 
 less thought a mild one. Another of his sugges 
 tions is that he will kill me. I should deserve it, 
 too, if I let myself be slaughtered like a rat by 
 the ladrone gang. A Morales slain by a Gon 
 zales ? Bah!" 
 
 "The bandit shall hang for this, when Vallejo 
 hears." 
 
 "And catches him that also is to be consid 
 ered," added Carlos coolly. "And then Gon- 
 zales, lawless though he be in his private quar 
 rels, is not quite a bandit, The rich ranchero, 
 Gonzales, an outlaw? How could such a thing 
 be!" 
 
 Diego swore again. 
 
 "Then, too," resumed Carlos, as calmly as 
 over, "Gonzales, left to himself, is not altogether 
 bad. I did insult him at his wedding Dios 
 knows the rascal gave me cause and I blame him 
 not that he seeks revenge. Yet I cannot but won 
 der what the mad devil will dare do." 
 
 "Nothing, I swear. I " 
 
 "S-s-h! We are speaking too loudly." 
 
 It seemed so, indeed, for now there was a sound 
 of tapping on the door of the room, and Gonzales 
 own voice sounded from the passage without : 
 
234 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 "Seiior Morales, who is that with you?" 
 
 Carlos did not answer. 
 
 "Who is that with you?" repeated the voice, 
 adding, with what seemed a strong note of sar 
 casm: 
 
 "You are not given to talking to yourself, I 
 think, yet I hear your voice. Who is it with 
 you?" 
 
 "I do not choose to converse with jailers," 
 said Carlos haughtily. 
 
 "Ah, the Senor is scornful. Then I must look 
 for myself. Pedro, open the door while I hold 
 the light." 
 
 Diego moved swiftly toward the point whence 
 came the sound of rattling bars, but Carlos caught 
 his arm. 
 
 "Why slay him?" he whispered. "It can do 
 no good." 
 
 "I have another plan. Stay here." 
 
 Carlos obeyed, and an instant later the door 
 opened. 
 
 It swung inward, and Carlos had just a second 
 in which to note that Gonzales stood in the en 
 trance holding a candle, and to decide that Diego, 
 whom he could not see, must be behind the open 
 ing door. Then the flame of his jailer s taper 
 flickered for an instant as if in a current of air 
 from the hinge-crack, and went out. 
 
 In the thick darkness that instantly succeeded, 
 Carlos heard Gonzales say, with a half-uttered 
 curse : 
 
 "Close the door, Pedro, then go for another 
 light." 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 235 
 
 "Si, Senor," said Pedro. 
 
 "Be careful, fool!" broke out the master s 
 voice again, sharply impatient. "What are you 
 pushing against me for ? 
 
 "Indeed, Senor," replied the servitor, humble, 
 yet expostulating, "I thought it was you that 
 pushed me. 
 
 k Folly ! Hurry with the light. 
 
 Then the door closed, and when it opened again, 
 and Gonzales, holding his taper just within the 
 room, glanced hastily but sharply about the apart 
 ment, its only occupant was Carlos, whose grim 
 face was not particularly pleasant just at that mo 
 ment for his jailer to look upon. 
 
CHAPTER XXXII 
 
 HOW DIEGO THE RECKLESS FINDS STRANGE COMPANY 
 IN THE STRONGHOLD OF HIS FOES 
 
 AS ON entering the room, so now on slipping 
 out of it in the darkness, Diego had no espe 
 cial plan. To be caught with Carlos and be com 
 pelled to share his captivity was, of course, to lose 
 all immediate chance of ending it. An escape, if 
 so it could be called, to the interior of his enemy s 
 dwelling did not promise any very extended lease 
 of liberty, but every moment of freedom meant an 
 added chance of something occurring in his favor. 
 And Diego was just at that enthusiastic period of 
 youthful manhood when it is easy to believe in 
 chances. 
 
 But he fully realized that to remain in the pas 
 sageway, dark as it was at the instant he entered 
 it, actually rubbing elbows with both Gonzales and 
 Pedro as he did so, was to be discovered as soon 
 as the second light should be brought. To leave 
 it at once was imperative, and while in doing so it 
 was entirely possible that he might illustrate that 
 homely saying, of which, in its Anglo-Saxon form, 
 he had probably never heard, and step from the 
 frying-pan into the fire, there could be no question 
 that this was the frying-pan. The fire might be 
 
 236 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 237 
 
 behind any one of the doors for which he instantly 
 began feeling along one of the walls, but he must 
 dare the leap. 
 
 He found at last, not a door, but what seemed 
 the entrance of a branch corridor, into which he 
 knew, by the sound of Pedro s shuffling footsteps, 
 that worthy had not entered. Diego, however, 
 lost not an instant in doing so, but a few noiseless 
 strides brought him suddenly to a standstill at the 
 passageway s ending. 
 
 A touch of his hand showed that there was a 
 door before him, and even as he realized this his 
 fingers chanced to rest upon the latch. At the 
 same instant the darkness about him began to 
 grow a trifle less dense and he realized that Pedro 
 or some one else must be approaching along the 
 main corridor with a light. There was no time 
 for hesitation. He lifted the latch, stepped into 
 the room, and closed the door after him. 
 
 Here again was thick darkness, for though he 
 somehow fancied there was a window in the wall 
 opposite, if there at all it was so heavily curtained 
 that the light without could not enter. 
 
 But to stand motionless in the darkness with 
 out making some effort to realize the actual con 
 ditions surrounding him was something alto 
 gether foreign to Diego s disposition, and after a 
 moment he moved softly forward in the direction 
 of the window of his fancy, holding his arm cau 
 tiously extended before him to guard as well as 
 possible against sudden and noisy collisions. 
 
 He had advanced some paces and, according 
 to his calculations, should have been approaching 
 
238 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 the further side of the room, when his heart 
 seemed for an instant to stop beating. His out 
 stretched hand had come suddenly in contact with 
 a human face ! 
 
 Not a man s it was the soft, round cheek of a 
 woman, warm with pulsing life, that his fingers 
 rested on for one brief instant; it was a woman s 
 hand, small but vigorous, which caught his own 
 and flung it aside; it was a woman s voice, too, 
 that would have uttered a startled scream had not 
 Diego, anticipating it with instantaneous thought 
 and action, with swift and resolute rudeness 
 pressed his hand upon the unknown s lips so ef 
 fectively that only a low, gasping murmur was 
 possible. 
 
 With the same motion he had caught her swiftly 
 to him, and it was in his arms, with her head 
 pressed against his breast, that she struggled 
 fiercely, but vainly, to tear loose the strong hands 
 that held her. 
 
 "Senorita! Senorita!" gasped Diego implor 
 ingly how was it that even then he had de 
 termined the title could not be senora? "do not 
 be frightened. I will not harm you upon my 
 soul I will not. But I cannot let you scream. 
 You must be quiet. You must, though you force 
 me to smother you ! 
 
 Still the girl surely only to youth could belong 
 the roundness and the strength of that lithe and 
 vigorous form struggled fiercely in his arms, 
 until Diego, young giant though he was, feared 
 that she must break away in spite of him or at 
 least release herself sufficiently to give that alarm 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 239 
 
 which he knew would be his instant ruin. Impa 
 tient anger began to possess him, though amid it 
 all, as his arms still held her, the heart of the boy 
 was already turning to this strange unseen one 
 with an intensity of emotion that he could not un 
 derstand that only seemed, indeed, to increase 
 his exasperation at her evident and persistent 
 dread of him. 
 
 "Senorita," he muttered again, savagely now, 
 "be quiet! I would not harm you. But I am in 
 the house of my foes, and you shall not betray me 
 though I strangle you ! 
 
 Now she reached out a sudden groping hand in 
 the darkness, caught something and tore at it 
 blindly, and the thick curtain, which hid the win 
 dow Diego had rightly fancied there, was dragged 
 aside. Instantly a bright beam of light from the 
 interior courtyard shone into the room. It fell 
 upon the face so close against the desperate 
 youth s breast and Diego suddenly drew away 
 the hand he had held upon her lips, for it seemed 
 almost profanation to the boy that any part of 
 such loveliness should be so rudely hidden. 
 
 Breathless from the struggle, the girl remained 
 for one instant silent and motionless, and, look 
 ing upon the fair face so near, some mad devil of 
 mischief and new-born passion awoke suddenly in 
 Diego s soul. He bent his head until his flushed 
 cheek almost touched her own. 
 
 "Senorita, Seiiorita!" he whispered, scarcely 
 knowing what he said, "do not, oh, do not fear me. 
 How could I harm you? I love you, Senorita 
 bv this I swear it!" 
 
240 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 And the mad lad pressed his lips to hers. 
 
 Too late he realized his insane folly. With a 
 single fierce effort she flung herself free of his 
 clasping arms. The next instant a cry, shrill 
 and angry, left her lips. 
 
 "Ramon! brother! help me!" 
 
 Diego stepped quietly to the window .and stood 
 there, shamed and despairing, the light falling 
 upon his white face. He heard, almost without 
 emotion, the sound of hurrying feet without the 
 room. 
 
 "I have deserved it," he said aloud, "but, ah, 
 Senorita, you destroy my brother as well as my 
 self." 
 
 The girl, her hand already upon the door, 
 turned suddenly, and if she had not been in the 
 shadow Diego might have noticed a swift change 
 that came over her burning face. 
 
 "Your brother!" she whispered. 
 
 "Yes; I came to save him. And I have thrown 
 away his chance with mine." 
 
 t Then you are one of the mad Morales ? 
 
 "The least of all Diego," said the lad humbly. 
 
 "The maddest of all," corrected the girl, half 
 under her breath and coolly shot the bolt of her 
 door. 
 
 She was only just in time, for some one rattled 
 the latch from without, and Gonzales anxious 
 voice was heard : 
 
 " Nita, let me in, let me in! Why did you 
 scream! Open the door." 
 
 And now Diego had reason to doubt the evi- 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 241 
 
 denee of his own senses, for the girl laughed softly 
 and answered: 
 
 "Go away, brother. It was nothing." 
 
 "Nothing? But you called for help." 
 
 "Did I? Yes, I know that I screamed; but it 
 was only a bad dream. I am awake now." 
 
 "Caramba! And so is the whole house," 
 growled Gonzales discontentedly. 
 
 The girl laughed again, and Diego heard the 
 man without stride away with a step that indi 
 cated more than a little temper. 
 
 Then the strange being who had saved him 
 moved slowly across the room and stood close to 
 Diego s side, the light from the window falling 
 upon them both. Slowly and curiously her dark 
 eyes roved over his athletic young frame, resting 
 at last upon his flushing face. 
 
 "So this," she murmured at last, with just the 
 suggestion of a smile upon her lips, "is the great 
 Diego, youngest of the Nine Swords of Morales." 
 
 Diego writhed at the raillery of look and words, 
 but schooled himself to bear a punishment which 
 he felt he had deserved. 
 
 "There are nine of the Morales brothers, Se- 
 iiorita," he said quietly, "and I am the young 
 est." 
 
 "And maddest," added the girl gravely. 
 
 "And maddest, if it pleases you to think so, 
 Sefiorita." 
 
 "I do think so," said the girl, scorn and anger 
 in her low tones now. " If I thought you one who 
 should be judged as men are judged, do you know 
 what I would do, you insolent boy? I would call 
 
242 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 in my brother and his men and have you 
 whipped. 
 
 Diego s face turned white, and it seemed to the 
 proud-hearted youth that something must burst 
 in his brain. He heard his voice answering the 
 taunt and almost doubted for an instant that it 
 was himself who could speak so quietly. 
 
 "You might call them in and have me killed, 
 Senorita. You could do nothing worse than 
 that." 
 
 The anger died out of her face as she spoke 
 again, but her words were scarcely friendly. 
 
 "I would be glad to release both your brother 
 and yourself if I could, she said. i i Certainly if 
 you are to go free he should also. Such as you 
 should not be without the guidance of their 
 elders." 
 
 The fury of a moment before had died in 
 Diego s breast, but he bit his lip, and the thought 
 flashed through his mind: 
 
 "If only there is ever a chance, my scornful 
 lady, I may teach you I am not quite a child." 
 
 "If only what?" asked the girl, for uncon 
 sciously, in his exasperation, a portion of his 
 thought had been uttered half aloud. 
 
 "If only you would aid me to release my 
 brother, Senorita," said Diego with great meek 
 ness, "I care not for myself." 
 
 "If I release you, it will be much to do," said 
 the girl coldly. "To set your brother free is 
 beyond my power, even if I were minded to in 
 terfere in Ramon s quarrels. You are given to 
 insulting people, you Morales, and your brother 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 243 
 
 was less fortunate or less wise than you, since he 
 chose a man and not a woman for his victim." 
 
 Diego s face grew white, and with a sudden im 
 pulse he moved unsteadily toward the door. The 
 girl caught his arm. 
 
 "What are you doing ?" she whispered. 
 
 "I will give myself up to your brother and his 
 cutthroats. Men are less cruel than women. 7 
 
 "You mad boy! Have I not said I would save 
 you?" 
 
 "I would rather do without your aid, though I 
 perish. 
 
 "Ah, and your brother?" 
 
 Diego paused. 
 
 "You are right," he said coldly, after a mo 
 ment. Until he is freed I must not think of my 
 self. If you will aid me to escape I shall be grate 
 ful, though I warn you, Senorita, that I will use 
 my liberty to foil your brother. 
 
 "That as it shall be. Come." 
 
CHAPTER XXXIII 
 
 DIEGO MORALES EIDES AWAY FROM THE CASA GONZALES 
 WITHOUT HIS BROTHER, AND YET NOT ALONE 
 
 THROUGH what strange, dark passages the 
 girl led him Diego never knew. The one fact 
 remained that she chose her path well, for not once 
 while they threaded the labyrinth of unlighted 
 rooms and corridors did they encounter a human 
 being. Cautiously but unerringly she moved on 
 ward, her firm young hand clasping his, and the 
 warm touch, unconsciously to him, perhaps, every 
 instant softening the fierce anger he had so lately 
 felt toward her. Yet deep in his soul lingered 
 still, as he thought of her insulting words, not 
 only the desire but the purpose of vengeance. 
 
 At last a final door opened, one so narrow that 
 Diego with difficulty squeezed his powerful frame 
 through it, and the two found themselves in the 
 fresh night air upon the rugged hillside sloping 
 steeply down from the lower side of the Casa 
 Gonzales. Here seemed to be no guards, though 
 doubtless some sort of a watch was kept, or sup 
 posed to be, from the parapeted roof of the house, 
 though this approach might well be deemed prac 
 tically inaccessible. 
 
 "There is not one chance in a thousand that we 
 
 244 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 245 
 
 will be seen in crossing to the ravine," said Nita, 
 answering his unspoken thought. "Once in the 
 woods there and the rest should be easy. 
 
 "Yes, my horse is there, " said Diego, "if only 
 I knew a safer path to ride away on than that 
 which I followed in coming. 
 
 "Once you are mounted I will show you," said 
 the girl. i Now, come. We must move quickly. 
 
 Hand in hand they sped across the open space, 
 and it was but the task of a moment to gain the 
 shadow and the shelter of the thick woods which 
 fringed the bank of the arroyo beyond. Then 
 Diego became the guide, and a moment more saw 
 them standing beside the great black horse which 
 had borne him on this thus far fruitless errand of 
 rescue. 
 
 Nita, half feeling with her slender hands, half 
 seeing in the faint light that flickered through the 
 branches, noted that a large handkerchief was 
 bound loosely about the animal s mouth and nos 
 trils, manifestly as a discouragement to neighing. 
 She turned to Diego with the faint smile that he 
 knew was on her lips, though he could not see it. 
 
 "You are not a bandit, Senor," she said. "Oh, 
 surely not! yet you know bandit tricks." 
 
 Diego wisely refrained from answering, busy 
 ing himself instead in unhooking from the saddle 
 and buckling upon his athletic person the great 
 Mexican saber, such as all his brothers wore. 
 Nita watched him silently as he clasped the 
 straps about him, making only one comment when 
 the task had been completed. 
 
 "I understand," she said gravely. "You left 
 
246 THE NINE SWOEDS OF MORALES 
 
 the sword here because it would have been in the 
 way when you were stealing into my brother s 
 house like a midnight robber." 
 
 "That was the reason, Senorita," said Diego 
 hoarsely, almost grinding his teeth, while the 
 faint feeling of shame and relenting that had been 
 rising within him because of a plan that had 
 sprung into existence in his mind died away, 
 leaving the old vengeful purpose. Yet at the last 
 moment he made one effort against himself. 
 
 "Seiiorita," he said, "I am ready to go. I 
 thank you for your kindness, and I would forget 
 your cruelty if I could. But, letting that pass, 
 may I not hope that you will pardon that in me 
 which was ill done, and, so pardoning, lend me 
 your aid in releasing my brother?" 
 
 Perhaps the words sounded forced and formal, 
 as, indeed, they were. In any case they failed of 
 their effect. 
 
 "Senor," said the girl coldly, "over the ridge 
 to the left lies your safest way. One moment will 
 take you into the path. The road is smooth, and 
 even in the darkness you may make what speed 
 you choose. Go, now, while I am in the mood to 
 let you. For your brother, I make no promises, 
 but if you wish to try another effort in his behalf 
 send some other of his brethren. Surely, they 
 are not all silly boys." 
 
 Diego sprang into his saddle. 
 
 "That is your last word, Senorita ?" he said 
 hoarsely. 
 
 "My last for you yes." 
 
THE NINE SWOEDS OF MORALES 247 
 
 "By the swords of the Morales, you are wrong! 
 Learn that from the silly boy!" 
 
 And then, before she could so much as guess 
 his meaning, he had stooped from the saddle, 
 caught her under the arms, and swung her up be 
 fore him. 
 
 Let me go ! Let me go ! " she gasped, strug 
 gling fiercely but vainly in the arms that held her 
 like a ring of steel. "Madman! you will repent 
 of this!" 
 
 "Perhaps but I will not let you go. This 
 way, you said, lies my path? It is yours, too, 
 Senorita. Beware how you struggle as we ride. 
 A fall might be your death." 
 
 "Wretch, you will not dare?" 
 
 i Will I not ? You do not know me, Senorita 
 not yet. But you will have time to learn before 
 we part." 
 
 She bent fiercely backward, and Diego knew 
 that her purpose was to strike him in the face. 
 He laughed and clasped her closer. 
 
 "Ah, do not rage so, Senorita. I know that I 
 am acting badly, but then nothing very good can 
 come from a wretch, a madman, and a silly boy. 
 And let me beg that you do not scream, for that 
 may bring enemies and bullets our way, and I 
 would not have you harmed." 
 
 The instant reply of the half-maddened girl was 
 a shrill scream which rang wildly and far through 
 the still night air. Before its echoes had died 
 away almost innumerable cries answered it from 
 the walls and woods of the hacienda. 
 
 "Caramba! What a swarm of bandits they 
 
248 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 keep here!" growled Diego, with a short, fierce 
 laugh. "But it will never do to stay and count 
 them. So my good horse, vamos!" 
 
 "Help! help me! men of Gonzales!" screamed 
 the girl again. 
 
 Nita ! where are you ? What is it f " cried a 
 voice from the flat roof of the casa, and Diego 
 checked his impatient steed yet another moment, 
 for he knew the tones. 
 
 "Gonzales! is it you?" he shouted. 
 
 ".Yes, it is I; who is it that calls?" 
 
 "Morales Diego Morales. Your sister is 
 here with me. In an hour she will be with my 
 people. Should you wish her at home again send 
 your message by my brother. But, let him come 
 to harm"- and now Diego s voice took on a tone 
 of savagery which would have sounded oddly in 
 deed to any one who could have seen the broad 
 smile upon his face let him come to harm, and 
 we will send you the Senorita s head! Vamos, 
 Pedrocito ! 
 
 The impatient steed reared and plunged, then 
 darted forward with a thunderous power and 
 swiftness which might have augured speedy dis 
 aster had a less perfect rider sat in the saddle 
 and a less sure hand been on the reins. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIV 
 
 TELLING OF PERILS AND ALSO OF CERTAIN STRANGE 
 EXPERIENCES WHICH BEFELL DIEGO ON THE WAY 
 
 THE girl no longer struggled. A horsewoman 
 herself from childhood, she knew that a fall 
 now would mean almost inevitable death, and Die 
 go was no longer under the necessity of devoting 
 all his attention to her. He held her firmly but 
 lightly before him, not suffering her to rest heavily 
 upon the saddle, and finding, even under these odd 
 circumstances, a keen pleasure in realizing that 
 there was strength enough in his athletic young 
 arm to save her from what might easily have been 
 the great physical discomfort of this wild ride. 
 
 The path which they were following, though 
 reasonably clear of obstacles, at times descended 
 steeply, but Diego made no effort to check the 
 progress of his sure-footed steed. He knew that 
 he would be pursued by those who would ride 
 even more recklessly than himself, and that until 
 he should have left the hills and the narrow can 
 yon pathway upon which there was no chance of 
 concealment it behooved him not to tarry. Once 
 out on the broad plains lying between the So 
 noma range and the Russian River, there might 
 be a chance of his eluding his pursuers in the 
 
 249 
 
250 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 darkness. Here there was none and he rode 
 madly on. 
 
 At last, however, he drew rein and suddenly. 
 The girl in his arms was weeping. 
 
 "Ah, Senorita," he murmured, remorsefully, 
 imploringly, "do not do that. Reproach me, 
 revile me, if you will perhaps I deserve it but 
 do not break my heart with your tears. 
 
 There was no reply in words, but the slender 
 form in his arms still quivered, and the sobbing 
 sighs that so went to his heart did not cease. 
 
 "Oh, Senorita, what can I do!" said the lad 
 again, half desperate now. "I cannot let you 
 go Carlos still in your brother s hands. That 
 would be his ruin. But surely, surely you do not 
 fear me. That mad threat you must know it 
 was but a wild jest. Indeed, I almost laughed as 
 I uttered it. Harm you you, mi querida! 
 Rather would I die." 
 
 Now the girl straightened suddenly in the 
 saddle. 
 
 "Listen!" she said, in a voice of low eagerness. 
 
 From somewhere behind them came the clatter 
 of galloping hoofs. 
 
 "They are coming," she said, dashing away 
 her tears. "They will overtake you!" 
 
 "And you will be glad, Senorita 1 You do not 
 answer. Ah, that is better. At least you spare 
 me that unkindness, and I thank you. But the 
 horses will be swift that catch my Pedrocito, even 
 with his double burden. And, Senorita, let me 
 swear once more that in my care you have noth- 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OP MORALES 251 
 
 ing in this world to fear. While I live there shall 
 no harm come near you." 
 
 Once more he gave the willing steed the rein, 
 and again they plunged forward in the darkness. 
 Diego knew that the pursuers must be very close 
 upon him now, but his heart beat with a sensation 
 of half mad delight, for he could not but think 
 that it was no longer an inert, wholly unwilling 
 burden that he bore. Surely, surely, he told him 
 self, there was just a suggestion in the pressure 
 of her arms against him that seemed to tell of 
 fading enmity. 
 
 But even as the bewildering, entrancing thought 
 took final shape in his mind it was dashed there 
 from with a shock, for a sight came suddenly be 
 fore his eyes which convinced him that now was 
 no time for dreams such as these. 
 
 Into the blaze of a camp-fire suddenly swept 
 Diego s flying steed as he rounded a curve the 
 last in the canyon pathway before it opened out 
 into the broad stretch of the Santa Rosa plains. 
 About the fire were grouped nearly a half-score of 
 armed men, and Diego knew without telling that it 
 was one of Gonzales outposts, stationed here to 
 guard the approach to his stronghold. The young 
 Morales had not looked for it his approach to his 
 brother s prison had been otherwise made, and he 
 had deemed the words of his own captive, spoken 
 before she became such, a warrant for believing 
 this outlet from the hills unguarded. For one 
 brief instant there flashed through his mind the 
 thought that even from the first she had meant to 
 betray him. 
 
252 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 He cast it resolutely from him as all unworthy, 
 but, as if she had divined the thought, she spoke, 
 and in her voice was what seemed a strange min 
 gling of horror and pleading: 
 
 "I did not know! Oh, I did not know. But 
 you will never believe me ! 
 
 "Mi querida!" murmured Diego passionately, 
 but he had time to say no more, for already a 
 sharp challenge rang out and the men by the fire 
 sprang into the path to bar his way. 
 
 And then, before even his quick wits could act, 
 tJie voice of the girl in his arms sounded, quick 
 and imperious : 
 
 k Make way for us, caballeros ! Do you not 
 know Xita Gonzales?" 
 
 The men drew aside, but doubtfully. They well 
 knew the haughty voice that addressed them, but it 
 was strange to see the willful young maid of the 
 hacienda riding in such manner at this hour of 
 the night. Had she been alone in the saddle, or 
 even seated behind her male companion in the 
 fashion favored by less daring female riders than 
 she was known to be, there would have been little 
 to wonder at. But to see her thus was something 
 that seemed passing strange. 
 
 Still, there was no mistaking the voice whose 
 imperious orders every man there had in times 
 past learned that it was well to obey, and in the 
 uncertain light none recognized the man who rode 
 with her, stranger as ho was to most of them. So 
 they drew back, hesitatingly at first, and then rap 
 idly, the more so that the great black horse came 
 plunging forward with scarcely a slackening in 
 
THE XiXE SWORDS OF MOEALES 253 
 
 liis speed and no apparent intention of pausing 
 for any obstacle, human or otherwise. In an in 
 stant the picket was passed, not so swiftly, 
 though, that the firelight did not for the fraction 
 of a second flash full upon Diego s face and make 
 its features plain to the one man in the little 
 group of guards who had chanced to meet him in 
 the days before the beginning of the feud between 
 the families of Morales and Gonzales. 
 
 "Caramba!" shouted the man, as the horse 
 swept by and Diego knew he had been recog 
 nized. 
 
 It does not matter, he said aloud ; l the oth 
 ers will be up with them in a moment and then all 
 would be known. A pleasant talk they will give 
 the guards, too," he added, laughing, not alto 
 gether at the humor of the thought, but likewise 
 because of the fact that the broad, free plains 
 were now before him, his horse, still fresh and vig 
 orous, beneath him, and most joyous thought of 
 all in his arms that lovely and already madly 
 loved hostage, whom, in the proud exuberance of 
 youthful hope, he told himself he should never 
 part with now never, though a thousand hostile 
 brothers intervened, if only in his devotion could 
 be found a cure for the hot anger that his own 
 wild acts had awakened. 
 
 Her voice, calm and quiet now, interrupted the 
 glowing dreams. 
 
 "They knew you, Sefior?" 
 
 "Aye, Donna Nita. But what matter since we 
 are by and that we are, thanks to your quick 
 thought and generous deed. Oh, why did you do 
 
254 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 it, mi querida? Do you want to make me mad for 
 you? Did I not love you enough even in your 
 hate and scorn ?" 
 
 i Silly boy ! And you had not known me until 
 an hour ago ! 
 
 "An hour is it only that? Ah, querida, it is 
 in that hour I have begun to live." 
 
 "Oh, peace! I tried to aid you because I had 
 said this path was unguarded. I would not have 
 you think I had betrayed you. 
 
 "And that was all?" 
 
 "Yes that was all." 
 
 Diego laughed joyously. 
 
 "Ah, that I will not believe vain though I be 
 to doubt it. You do not love me no, why should 
 you? But your hate is gone, is it not? And for 
 the rest, the years stretch before us, and you and 
 I are young, and with me, at least, will be patience 
 as lasting as my life. Oh, Nita, Nita! I stole 
 you away to help my brother, but now now, if 
 my heart could rule my will, not a thousand broth 
 ers could buy my hostage from me. 
 
 "But there are those behind who will not buy. 
 Ride ride ! you mad boy, if you would live to see 
 the dawn!" 
 
 She was right. Intoxicated with his dream of 
 love and longing, he had not kept his horse at the 
 full speed of which the animal was capable, and 
 now, glancing back, he saw, streaming over the hil 
 lock which had concealed their first approach, a 
 strong body of horsemen, dusky in the shadows 
 of the night, but already so near that there was 
 no chance of his escaping their eyes. Even as he 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 255 
 
 noted them a chorus of shrill and triumphant 
 
 shouts told him that such a hope was already vain. 
 
 "Caramba!" he muttered, "have I let them 
 come so near! But there is a long way between 
 seeing and taking those my Pedrocito bears. Is 
 it not so, muchacho?" 
 
 The great black horse, plunging forward now 
 at a terrific rate of speed, as if his double burden 
 were nothing but a jest, tossed his head in con 
 fident answer, and went rushing onward through 
 the night, while in a moment the cries of the pur 
 suers, changing from shouts of triumph to curses 
 of rage, proved that they had already noted the 
 hopelessness of the chase. But other and more 
 threatening sounds were to come, for an instant 
 later a scattering volley of carbine shots rang out 
 behind and told yet more clearly of the pursuers 
 wrath and desperation. 
 
 "That is a threat only," laughed Diego. "They 
 would not dare risk injury to you. Do not fear, 
 mi querida. Even though some mad fool took 
 aim " 
 
 "Even then?" said the girl, as he paused. 
 
 "Why speak of it no one will dare," said 
 Diego, a little confusedly, and urged Pedrocito to 
 yet greater speed. 
 
 "Ah, look, look!" suddenly cried the girl. 
 
 Diego did not need the warning. He, too, had 
 seen, and for the first time a sensation not of fear, 
 but of desperation, came into his brave young 
 heart. 
 
 "They muster thick, indeed," he muttered be 
 tween his grinding teeth. "Who would have 
 
250 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 thought your brother had his scouts so far 
 afield?" 
 
 From positions on both sides of the course he 
 had marked out for himself across the plains to 
 his home upon the Russian River, strong bodies of 
 horsemen were riding swiftly toward each other 
 in such a manner as to completely bar his way. 
 
CHAPTER XXXV 
 
 A GREAT SURPRISE AND A GREATER JOY COME TO DIEGO 
 MORALES AXD THE STORY ENDS 
 
 THERE came into Diego s being at one and the 
 same instant a conviction that he must die 
 and an intense longing to live. Never before 
 that he remembered had he measured the chances 
 of life and death. It was not that he had no love 
 for the one, no natural dread for the other. It 
 was rather the pure carelessness of youth that 
 had made him heedless of both. But now there 
 was that throbbing in his heart, that burning 
 in his brain, which in an instant, as it seemed, had 
 altered all. Life was so worth the living! Youth 
 and strength, with the glowing hopes of future 
 years, were so glorious! The girl in his arms 
 was so beautiful and because she was there, so 
 riven from her home by his reckless hands, there 
 remained for him now no chance of escape or of 
 pardon only the hope of a brave man s death. 
 
 Half involuntarily Diego checked his horse and 
 glanced for a moment backward and forward, as if 
 measuring and comparing the strength of the two 
 bodies of foes so fatally closing in upon him. 
 ; Bide on, ride on!" said the girl eagerly. 
 
 257 
 
 . . 
 
258 THE NINE SWOEDS OF MORALES 
 
 "Behind is only death for you ! Before there may 
 be yet a hope. 
 
 "A slight one, Nita; yet I must take it," said 
 the lad sternly. "But you, mi querida," and the 
 deep tones grew tender and yearning, "you are 
 free from me now. 
 
 The girl raised herself suddenly in the saddle as 
 if to look into his eyes. 
 
 " You mean " 
 
 "I mean that we part here, Nita. My mad 
 dream is already ended," said Diego sadly. 
 
 "Yes, we must part," said the girl, a little 
 coldly. "If you hope to dash through them I 
 would be but a clog upon you. You are safer 
 alone. 
 
 "You know you wrong me now, Nita," said the 
 boy, his low voice full of sad pride. "But you 
 must not share my peril." 
 
 "Yet you laughed when they fired upon us 
 upon me." 
 
 "They fired from behind then," said Diego 
 simply. "I was between you and their bullets. 
 But I cannot shield you from attack on every 
 side." 
 
 "Ride on," said the girl, her head bent on her 
 breast and her voice sounding low and muffled. 
 
 "Not with you. Quick, Nita! They are al 
 most here." 
 
 6 i I care not. I will not leave you not now. 
 
 " Nita!" 
 
 She did not answer in words, but in the dusky 
 half-light she lifted her head as he bent his, and 
 their lips met in a kiss of passionate betrothal. 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 259 
 
 Peril or doom might be impending, but for that 
 one instant of wild forgetfulness the world ex 
 isted for them alone. 
 
 One second only then Diego lifted his glowing 
 face, and his low voice sounded deep and full, like 
 that of one who knew that only triumph could be 
 before him. 
 
 "Sit close, my darling, as we come among them. 
 They have yet something to learn of this brave 
 horse we ride ! 
 
 "Give the cry of my brother s men Gon- 
 zales! when you reach them," said Nita, as 
 Pedrocito once more darted forward. "It should 
 stay them for an instant, and that instant may see 
 us through their line." 
 
 Diego pressed her more closely to his breast as 
 a sign he understood, but made no answer in 
 words. Indeed, there was no time. 
 
 Like a solid wall the horsemen before him 
 closed together, and if he had hoped to dart di 
 rectly through them he must have seen in an 
 instant that such a plan could not be carried out. 
 But if he could persuade them that such was his 
 purpose, something, at least, would be gained for 
 the sudden dash sidewise and past, which was the 
 sole and terribly simple plan that seemed left to 
 him. So he rode directly forward, drawing his 
 sombrero brim low down in front, for torches be 
 gan to blaze among the crowd before him, and he 
 had no mind that his foemen should know him 
 for a Morales until the last moment. 
 
 Now he was almost upon the waiting troop, and 
 
 18 
 
260 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 the time for Nita s simple stratagem seemed to 
 have come. 
 
 "Gonzales ! he shouted, swinging his horse sud 
 denly to the left, while a touch of the spur and a 
 twitch of the bit caused the trained animal to lunge 
 out fiercely to right and left with flying hoofs and 
 gleaming teeth. 
 
 But a cry of rage answered a cry mingled with 
 fierce laughter. 
 
 i t Gonzales T " some one shouted. No robber 
 of that name passes here !" 
 
 Instantly the horsemen enveloped him on every 
 side, and the light of the flaring torches shone on 
 naked sabres and the fierce faces of angry men. 
 
 Then Diego threw back his head with one short 
 burst of wild laughter. 
 
 The Morales ! " he shouted. l The Morales ! 
 
 l Diego ! cried a half-dozen of his brothers at 
 once ; and the brandished swords dropped and the 
 fierce faces grew bright and eager. 
 
 "Yes, it is Diego but though I be no true 
 Gonzales, those are who follow me; so look to 
 your arms." 
 
 "Bah !" said Jose Morales, next youngest of the 
 nine to Diego. "We have here a hundred men 
 our own people, our brother De Guerra s follow 
 ers, and Herrera s cutthroats Francisco him 
 self the wildest of the lot." 
 
 Young Herrera laughed aloud at this graphic 
 description of his followers and himself. 
 
 "But Caramba! who is this you have with 
 you?" said Miguel Morales, riding nearer and 
 peering closely at the muffled face and figure held 
 
t 
 
 THE NINE SWOEDS OF MORALES 261 
 
 so closely in Diego s arms. "Surely, surely it is 
 not Carlos wounded dead?" 
 
 "No, it is not Carlos, " said Diego gently, smil 
 ing in the darkness, "but he is well safe, too, 
 my brothers, for I have here a hostage for him." 
 
 And then he bent his head and whispered, so 
 low that only one listener heard: 
 
 "A hostage that I will never give up never, 
 never while I live !" 
 
 And he never did. Gonzales, secretly glad, per- 
 -haps, of an excuse for not carrying out threats 
 and plans made in the heat of passion, released 
 Carlos the next morning, and the chief of the 
 Morales rode unharmed to the home of his people. 
 There strange news awaited him news that 
 caused him at once to remount his steed and, for 
 bidding escort or company, ride calmly back to 
 the prison he had quitted. Gonzales greeted him 
 with a face of blank amazement. 
 
 "I am come," said Carlos gravely, waiting for 
 no questions, "to redeem my honor. I could not 
 send back the hostage. The Senorita Nita Gon 
 zales is no more." 
 
 Gonzales, the best and truest sentiment of whose 
 heart was his love for his madcap sister, turned 
 white as death and covered his face with his hands. 
 
 "No, no! It is not so bad as that," said Carlos 
 with instant remorse. Forgive me that I allowed 
 myself so much of vengeance. Your sister is alive 
 and well but she is no longer Juanita Gonzales. 
 
 The other gazed at Carlos with bewildered eyes. 
 
262 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 "I do not understand, " he said hoarsely. 
 
 "Others must explain more fully than I," said 
 Carlos ; but certain it is that those mad children 
 rode not to my home last night, but to the priest 
 and to-day there is no Nita Gonzales." 
 
 And then, while the man who had been his bitter 
 foe stared at him helplessly, as if half incapable 
 of comprehending his meaning, Carlos silently 
 extended his hand. Gonzales grasped it, and a 
 slow light seemed to dawn in his face, driving the 
 doubt and gloom away. 
 
 The wedding of Manuel de Guerra and Dolores 
 Morales, strangely delayed as it had been, was 
 marked by unanticipated distinction and splendor. 
 Two other unions, undreamed of when Manuel and 
 Dolores first plighted their troth, had immediately 
 preceded it, and the brides, fairest among So 
 noma s daughters of the time save for Dolores her 
 self, lent their lovely presence to her nuptials. 
 Pancha Gonzales, though nursing no grievance, 
 deemed it better to be absent, but her husband, 
 silent but not sullen, was there, having ridden to 
 the Casa Morales at the head of all that was best 
 in his following. The welcome given him was 
 everything he could have wished. Bygones were 
 bygones, and no one made the mistake of referring 
 ever so slightly to the past. For the rest, the 
 guests who had vainly gathered for the same fes 
 tival months before came again, not one failing, 
 and with them many a caballero whom faction 
 feeling or the desire to be neutral had on the 
 earlier occasion kept away. Old Rivas was there 
 and the three Carillos with them Berryessas, 
 
THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 263 
 
 Pacliecos, Castros, Alvarados, and a host of others. 
 Finally crowning distinction from the little 
 garrison at the Sonoma Pueblo came a gorgeously 
 uniformed aide-de-camp bearing to bride and 
 groom the felicitations and wedding-gifts of gal 
 lant Vallejo. And so, amid every evidence of 
 restored peace, every prospect of future happi 
 ness, with brides for bridesmaids a strange fea 
 ture, but one upon which all concerned insisted 
 Dolores and Manuel were made one. 
 
 So the feud ended. Sancho Gonzales, though 
 he might have remained unmolested in Sonoma, so 
 far at least as his late enemies were concerned, 
 chose rather to betake himself and his disappoint 
 ments to Mexico. With him went Pablo Estrada 
 and a few others of those who could well be 
 spared, and their departure removed whatever 
 chance might otherwise have existed of a renewal 
 of hostilities. Of this, however, the likelihood 
 would in any case have been slight. Commandant 
 Vallejo, genial as brave, the extreme smallness 
 of whose military following had rendered impos 
 sible anything like forcible efforts to suppress the 
 disorders involving so many powerful families, 
 now eagerly seized the opportunity afforded him. 
 Accompanied by his wife, the beautiful Benicia, 
 sister of the Carillos, he made a state progress 
 from rancho to rancho in the lately disturbed 
 district, everywhere being received with the re 
 spect and honor due his official position and his 
 high personal qualities. The late enemies again 
 became rivals, but only in determining which could 
 do most to efface the memory of the lawlessness 
 
264 THE NINE SWORDS OF MORALES 
 
 that had passed. Foremost in such efforts, as was, 
 indeed, but fitting in one who had been the chief 
 offender, was Ramon Gonzales. In all that he 
 did he was seconded earnestly by his wife, still 
 "Pancka the Beautiful," but in whose strangely 
 softening disposition he began at last to see 
 ground for a hope which sometimes seemed almost 
 to drive him mad with happiness. Willingly and 
 generously, in his changed spirit, he made such 
 reparation as was possible to those who had suf 
 fered in the raids of which he had been the original 
 instigator, using to this end the wealth that was 
 his so lavishly that even his late opponents were 
 moved to urge him to moderation. For the rest, 
 there was no room for malice in the hearts of 
 either Manuel or Francisco, while Diego Morales 
 eight great brothers gave to Juanita, from the 
 moment she became their sister, a love so true and 
 chivalrous as swept from her kinsmen s minds, 
 at once and forever, the last lingering traces of 
 enmity. 
 
 Then once more the caballeros of valley and 
 plain rode abroad as they listed, free and un 
 challenged. Once more spur-bells and bridle- 
 chains jingled merrily as of old, stripped of the 
 muffling cords of buckskin. Once more every home 
 was an open hostel, every wayfarer an honored 
 guest who came and went unquestioned. And once 
 more, everywhere throughout the length and 
 breadth of beautiful Sonoma, was brotherhood and 
 peace. 
 
 THE END 
 
908940 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY