"And I took it away from Aragon," continued Bud, "while he was digging some more chunks out of our mine. So that is your idea of being true as steel, is it? You've done noble by me and Kruger, haven't you? Yes, you've been a good pardner, I don't think!" "Well, don't throw me down, Bud!" pleaded Phil. "There's some mistake somewhere. Her father must have found it and taken it away! I'd stake my life on it that Gracia would never betray me!" "Well, think it over for a while," suggested Bud, edging his words with sarcasm. "I'm going up to the hotel!" "No; come back!" cried De Lancey, clamoring at the bars. "Come on back, Bud! Here!" he said, thrusting his hand out through the heavy irons. "I'll give you my word for it--I won't see her again until we get our title! Will that satisfy you? Then give me your hand, pardner--I'm sorry I did you wrong!" "It ain't me," replied Hooker soberly, as he took the trembling hand; "it's Kruger. But if you'll keep your word, Phil, maybe we can win out yet. I'm going up to find the _comisario_." A brief interview with that smiling individual and the case of Phil De Lancey was laid bare. He had been engaged in a desperate rivalry with Manuel del Rey for the hand of Gracia Aragon, and his present incarceration was not only for singing rag-time beneath the Aragon windows, but for trying to whip the captain of the _rurales_ when the latter tried to place him under arrest. And De Lancey was the prisoner not of the _comisario_, but of the captain of the _rurales_. Sore at heart, Bud rode up through the Mexican quarters to the _cuartel_ of the _rurales_, but the captain was inexorable. "No, _señor_," he said, waving an eloquent finger before his nose, "I cannot release your friend. No, _señor_." "But what is he charged with," persisted Bud, "and when is his trial? You can't keep him shut up without a trial." At this the captain of the _rurales_ lifted his eyebrows and one closely waxed _mustachio_ and smiled mysteriously. "_Y como no?_" he inquired. "And why not? Is he not a Mexican citizen?" "Well, perhaps he is," thundered Bud, suddenly rising to his full height, "but I am not! I am an American, Señor Capitan, and there are other Americans! If you hold my friend without a trial I will come and tear your jail down--and the _comisario_ will not stop me, either!" "Ah!" observed the dandy little captain shrugging his _mustachio_ once more and blinking, and while Hooker raged back and forth he looked him over appraisingly. "One moment!" he said at last, raising a quieting hand. "These are perilous times, _señor_, in which all the defenders of Fortuna should stand together. I do not wish to have a difference with the Americans when Bernardo Bravo and his men are marching to take our town. No, I value the friendship of the valiant Americans very highly--so I will let your friend go. But first he must promise me one thing--not to trouble the Señor Aragon by making further love to his daughter!"