“It is sad, _señor_, yet it is true, that we both cannot ride one mule with any degree of speed and comfort.” “Agreed! Yet, I think, if you are a gentleman of spirit, I will ride south on your mule, and you will wait here a day or two until a horse can be fetched from a rancho.” “That is a broad statement, _señor_,” replied the mule’s owner, his face growing dark for an instant. “I did not mean it in a disrespectful way.” “You imagine, perhaps, that you are on business of state and that I will surrender my mule because of that? Ordinarily, _señor_, but not at this time. I have important business at San Diego de Alcalá.” “And I! If you are wiling to let merit decide between us----” “Fight you for my own mule? After what I observed in the highway? Give me credit for some wit, kind _señor_.” “It will not be necessary to clash blades over a mule.” The caballero bent forward over the table as he spoke, and his eyes held those of the other man. “There are other ways--dice, for instance, or cards!” There was silence for a moment, and then the owner of the mule threw himself backward in a gale of loud laughter, and the soldiers in the corner looked up in astonishment. “Dice? Cards?” he cried. “You would play me for my own mule? It is amusing! And what would I stand to win, _señor_?” “What you will--money, such jewels as I have on my person----” “A note of promise to pay, perhaps?” “Not so, _señor_, since to give you that I would of a necessity be obliged to disclose my name.” “I understand. It appears that there are two of us not anxious to disclose names. Did we not have passes from his excellency, we might have trouble with our friend the ensign here. You would play me--stake gold and jewels against my poor mule, eh? My journey is urgent, _señor_, but never have I refused to play.” “Then you agree?” “I do _señor_, except that you wait for half an hour. I never throw dice or flip a card while exhausted. In the meantime we can converse. It would avail me nothing, I suppose, to ask your business at San Diego de Alcalá?” “No more than for me to ask yours, _señor_,” replied the caballero, smiling. The mule’s owner sipped at his wine. “Quite so!” he said, thoughtfully. “Then let us talk of affairs at the other end of El Camino Real. I understand that his excellency is coming along the highway soon.” The ensign sat up straight on his stool, all attention, and regarded the speaker closely. The neophyte’s eyes narrowed an instant, and he drew nearer the table, pretending to be of service, listening intently at every word. “His excellency coming? This is news!” the ensign exclaimed. “I heard it rumoured before I left San Francisco de Asis. A tour of inspection, I believe. Ha! Perhaps, officer, you can solve me that riddle? ’Tis said he makes the journey within a month. A tour of inspection, eh? With a couple of hundred soldiers at his heels?” The neophyte dropped a wine cup. “Clumsy idiot!” the ensign growled. CHAPTER II