"_Muchas gracias, capitan_," answered Hooker with heavy irony. "I do not care to!" "But your friend--" protested Manuel del Rey with an insinuating smile. "My friend was in jail," put in Bud; "he was to be shot at sunrise. But _mira, amigo_, I am _not_ in jail, and, furthermore, I do not intend to be." "That is very creditable to you," laughed Del Rey; "but even then you are entitled to enlist." "The country is full of turbulent fellows who have to be caught or killed. Come now, you understand my errand--why make it hard for me?" "No, _señor_," returned Bud grimly, "I know nothing of your errand. But this I do know. I have done nothing for which I can be arrested, and if any man tries to make me join the army--" he hooked his thumb into his belt and regarded the captain fixedly. "Ah, very well," said Del Rey, jerking his waxed _mustachios_, "I will not press the matter. But I understand from one of my men, _señor_, that you are harboring a dangerous criminal here--the same man, perhaps, whom I saw running up the cañon?" He smiled meaningly at this, but Bud was swift to defend his Yaqui. "No, _señor_," he replied, "I have no such criminal. I have a Mexican working for me who is one of the best miners in Sonora, and that is all I know about him." "A Mexican?" repeated Del Rey, arching his eyebrows. "Excuse me, sir, but it is my business to know every man in this district, and he is no Mexican, but a Yaqui. Moreover, he is a fugitive and an outlaw, and if he had not been enlisted with the Federals I should have arrested him when he passed through Fortuna. So I warn you, sir, not to hide him, or you will be liable to the law." "I'm not hiding him," protested Hooker scornfully. "I'm just hiring him as a miner, and any time you want him you can come and get him. He's up in the rocks there somewhere now." "So!" exclaimed the captain, glancing uneasily at the hillside. "I did not think--but many thanks, _señor_, another time will do as well." He reined his horse away as he spoke and, with a jerk of the head to Aragon, rode rapidly down the cañon. Aragon lingered to retrieve his fallen gun-belt and then, seeming to think better of his desire to speak, he made a single vindictive gesture and set spurs to his champing horse. It was merely a fling of the hand, as spontaneous as a sigh or a frown, but in it Hooker read the last exasperation of the Spaniard and his declaration of war to the knife. He bared his strong teeth in reply and hissed out a blighting curse, and then Aragon was gone. That evening, as the darkness came on and the cañon became hushed and still, Bud built a big fire and stood before it, his rugged form silhouetted against the flames. And soon, as quiet as a fox, the Yaqui appeared from the gloom. "Did he come for me," he asked, advancing warily into the firelight, "that _capitan_?" "Yes," answered Bud, "and for me, too. But you must have known him before, Amigo--he seems to be afraid of you."