"It wouldn't make you mad to fill your pockets, Headlong, would it?" he asked. "Bulgin' full? And you wouldn't mind a scrap or two and a blow or two in the job, would you?" "Watch your step, Twisty, old timer," said Kendric. "Rios has been talking revolution to you, has he? Sometimes an uprising down here is a nasty mess that it's easier to get into than out of again. And, if we get our hooks on the loot that brought us down here, why should we want to mix it with the federal government?" Barlow began tugging at his forelock. "I'm up a tree, Jim," he muttered at last. "Clean up a tree." "Then look out you light on your feet instead of on your head when you decide to come down. It would be easy to make a mistake right now." "Yes, easy; dead easy.--Old Headlong counseling caution!" Barlow laughed but with little genuine mirth. "I want a straight talk with you, Twisty," said Kendric soberly. "I for one don't like the lay-out here and I'm going to break for the open. You and I have fallen among a pack of damned thieves, to draw it mild. It strikes me we'd better understand each other." "Right!" cried Barlow eagerly. "Let's talk straight from the shoulder." But events, or rather Zoraida Castelmar who sought to usurp destiny's prerogatives here, ruled otherwise. There came a quiet rap at the door, then the voice of one of the housemaids, saying: "La Señorita Zoraida desires immediately to speak with Señor Barlow." Barlow, just easing himself into a chair, jumped up. "Coming," he called. Kendric, too, sprang up, his hand locking hard upon Barlow's arm. "Twisty," he said, "hold on a minute. The house isn't on fire." "Well?" Barlow's impatience glared out of his eyes. "What is it?" "I've got a very large, life-sized suspicion that it would be just as well if you sent back word you couldn't come. At least, not until we've had our talk." "She said immediately," said Barlow. And then, "You don't want me to see her? Why?" "Because, it you want to know, she isn't good for you. She'll seek to draw you in on this fool scheme of hers, and if you don't look out you'll do just what she says do. There never was a mere woman like her. She's uncanny, man! She will give you the same line of mad talk she gave me, she will make you the same sorts of offers----" "You've seen her then? Tonight? While I was out with Rios you were with her?" "Yes. And not because I found any pleasure in her company, either." Barlow jerked free, laughing his disbelief, his look at once unpleasant and suspicious. "Tell that to the marines," he jeered. He threw the door open and went out. In the hall Kendric could hear his steps sounding quick and eager. Kendric returned to his chair, perplexed. Then again he sprang up, throwing out his hands, shaking his shoulders as though to rid them of a troublesome weight. "Too much thinking isn't good for a man," he told himself lightly. "The game's made; let her roll!"