"Fear the Indians! Well, I should say not! Besides, there are no Indians here to fear, except that wretched Luis who drove my horses, and he has a broken shoulder, the scoundrel! If you understand this creature, child, tell him to be about his business before his master learns of his annoying us." "Old lady's scared, hey? Scared out of her wits. Well, I reckon----" "She is not frightened, but I was a while ago when two Indians were here and crept into the darkness, after conducting themselves in the most mysterious way." The doña spoke in excellent English. Extreme astonishment spread over Brown's features. Then he looked as if his confidence had been painfully abused. "Well, I swanny! Well, I swanny! If this here don't beat the deuce." It was too much for him. His hands sought his thighs again, and he looked incredulously at the girl. "If I do say it, this here beats the deuce!" The man was of type the doña had never met before. However, the humor of the situation came to her and she laughed. "The scamp is a fool, but that's nothing so unusual as to amuse you so," snapped the dueña. "I'm going to try and sleep. I'll let his master know of this. I'd have this fellow shut up on bread and water for ten days, with several whippings for good measure. Ah--h! these wet clothes. I'm glad we're safe, and the horses too." She covered her eyes with the blanket to shut out the firelight. "Does the old lady ketch my talk? I rather thought she saw the joke." "She understands no English." "Mebbe not, but I speak plain United States. It's wonderful to meet one of you folks who knows how to talk straight language." The strangeness of the place and time did not prevent Señorita Mendoza from again being amused. "We certainly speak language--the Spanish language." "That's what I call 'lingo,' plain 'lingo.' But that's neither here nor there. You talk American fine. Of course not as good as I do. You couldn't expect that; but I understand every word you say. "My employer, I take it, is English," Brown went on, "but he talks my talk all right--not as I do of course. I'm glad he's wise as he is that way, for 'ceptin' him, yourself included, I haven't conversed with nobody for months. A man naturally gets just stale, homesick for folks and talking." He seated himself comfortably by the fire, threw on a dried branch or two, then, nursing one knee with his hands clasped together, he looked at the girl. Weeks of unshaven stubble gave his face a grotesque appearance, but Carmelita had a feeling of protection in the presence and friendliness of this serving man. "You speak of the other man as 'captain' and sometimes as 'employer.' That means he is your overseer, does it not?" "Well," in a puzzled way, "he pays me for my time, and I do the work he cuts out for me. That there sums up the relations of me and Cap'n." The dueña stirred in her sleep. "My horses----" she muttered, then was quiet.