"I tell you where my gold is!" cried Joe. "You take what you like, I don't care! You give me what you like ... I know you for one fair man. That way we save it. Any other way, they get me; they burn me with fire; they break my teeth and my fingers; they make me tell! And they get it all. Taggart and Gallup and Deveril and...." He broke off, half whimpering, cursing them with all the eloquence of the Latin tongue. Clearly Standing hesitated. Then, amazing them all, but with his own mind clear, he said bluntly: "Clear out! It's your game. I don't want to know anything about it." "_It's down in Light Ladies' Gulch!_" screamed Joe. "Not two mile from Big Pine! I lied to them ... a big pine, with crooked roots sticking out ... a washout.... Last year I make mistake; I think down under the Red Cliffs. But this time I find ... four miles the other side...." "Why, you shrivelled-souled...." Then suddenly Standing caught himself up short; there came a new look into his eyes; he shouted, catching Joe by the shoulder: "_Light Ladies' Cañon!_ Just across from Big Pine? Only a mile or two!" "As God hears me, Señor!" Standing broke into sudden laughter. He clapped Joe upon the shoulder so that the little man staggered and paled under the jovial blow. "With bells on! With bells, Mexico! By high Heaven.... Here, you, Winch! On the run, back to headquarters. Take Joe with you; mount guard over him night and day with a rifle. No man to have a word with him. And wait for me. And, all the while, Bill Winch, _keep your mouth shut_!" Winch, with one arm out as a brace against a pine, stiffened. "I guess I know how to take orders, Mr. Standing," he said, and his tone sounded angry. "You don't need...." Him also Standing smote on the shoulder. "Why, God bless you, Bill Winch, you're the only man on earth I'd trust! Those last words weren't necessary.... You're right and I apologize for them! But now, go! Go, I tell you; I'll do anything you say; I'll use your poison on me three times a day.... I'll eat it, if you say so! Only hit the high spots and keep Mexicali under cover until I come! No matter when or how long; there's your job ... old friend!" Billy Winch, galvanized, went hopping to his horse; he flipped after his own fashion up into the saddle; he loosened the rifle in its holster strapped conveniently; he called to Joe: "Quick does it, Mexico! We're on our way!" Bruce Standing watched them ride away among the trees and stood laughing! He had succeeded in puzzling two men; most of all had he set Lynette wondering.... CHAPTER XXII "I want a good long drink of fresh water," said Standing. "And you, after this lunch of ours, will be thirsty. Let's go down to the creek; down there, by the waterfall, after we've drunk, I want to talk with you."