“Juan, too, was scared. He was sure something go bad, very bad, at the _hacienda_. And so he is go down to the place and look all around, but he is see nobody--they are all gone, the _vaqueros_ and the women. “And then Juan go into the house. There he find Don Pedro dying with _la viruela_, the smallpox, _Señor_! with nobody to care for him but Chiquita, and one old woman that was call for the joke, La Bonita, the beautiful, because she have the pest long before and was, oh, so ugly! Ah! the face of Don Pedro! It was horrible; it made Juan to grow sick! “But Juan stay and help the women. At first the boy he was afraid, but he loved Chiquita, and soon the pest he forgot. “Well, _Señor_, soon and sure the end was. In five days Don Pedro he was dead. And Juan and La Bonita they bury him, with nobody to help. Chiquita her heart is break. She cry and cry and cry, but Juan he knew it was not all for that her father was dead. She would not tell Juan, but he knew. The coward _Inglés_ that have run away--for him also were the tears. “A few days more and Chiquita too, was take sick with the pest. This time it was not the black smallpox--but it is bad, very bad. _Jesu!_ How the old woman and the boy they make the fight for Chiquita! And Chiquita she is not die--she get well. Her face it is scar--so bad is it scar that La Bonita herself is not less beautiful than the poor Chiquita. And Juan he is afraid--for some day she will know, so he take away from the house all the bright things and the mirrors and tell La Bonita the young _Señorita_ must not know. And the old woman she understand, ah! too well she understand. She remember the sorrow of the day she herself first saw the scar of her face, and she is careful of Chiquita. “When Chiquita she could once more walk about and breathe the sweet air of the pines, everywhere with her went Juan. Once again it was Juan--always Juan. “When Chiquita she grew strong again, as before the pest came, the poor boy he might have been happy, but for one thing--tears, tears, always tears in the eyes of Chiquita! And Juan he knew they were not all for Don Pedro. Always in her mind that cursed Milord! Her heart it still ache for the coward Englishman. “Long walks Chiquita and Juan they take together. She could again ride, but never did she ask for her mustang. She for riding cared no more. Always, you see, she is think of the Englishman. And Juan, he know why she wished not to ride, and his heart it was lead. “But Juan was kind, so very kind to Chiquita. Always he loved her, and the scar of the face made to him no difference. But every day does he fear the time when she must know. That time, so much does he fear it, that the brooks he would not let her cross; he was afraid that in them her face she might see; yet still did he know sure that sometime she must see it.