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death?  Mount; every one of you; and follow me!〃



The men hesitated; but for only a moment。  Clarence had a fine

assortment of Spanish epithets; expletives; and objurgations;

gathered in his rodeo experience at El Refugio; and laid them about

him with such fervor and discrimination that two or three mules;

presumably with guilty consciences; mistaking their direction;

actually cowered against the stockade of the corral in fear。  In

another moment the vacqueros had hastily mounted; and; with Clarence

at their head; were dashing down the road towards Santa Inez。  Here

he spread them in open order in the grain; on either side of the

track; himself taking the road。



They did not proceed very far。  For when they had reached the

gradual slope which marked the decline to the second terrace;

Clarence; obeying an instinct as irresistible as it was

unaccountable; which for the last few moments had been forcing

itself upon him; ordered a halt。  The casa and corral had already

sunk in the plain behind them; it was the spot where the lasso had

been thrown at him a few evenings before!  Bidding the men converge

slowly towards the road; he went on more cautiously; with his eyes

upon the track before him。  Presently he stopped。  There was a

ragged displacement of the cracked and crumbling soil and the

unmistakable scoop of kicking hoofs。  As he stooped to examine them;

one of the men at the right uttered a shout。  By the same strange

instinct Clarence knew that Peyton was found!



He was; indeed; lying there among the wild oats at the right of the

road; but without trace of life or scarcely human appearance。  His

clothes; where not torn and shredded away; were partly turned inside

out; his shoulders; neck; and head were a shapeless; undistinguishable

mask of dried earth and rags; like a mummy wrapping。  His left boot

was gone。  His large frame seemed boneless; and; except for the

cerements of his mud…stiffened clothing; was limp and sodden。



Clarence raised his head suddenly from a quick examination of the

body; and looked at the men around him。  One of them was already

cantering away。  Clarence instantly threw himself on his horse; and;

putting spurs to the animal; drew a revolver from his holster and

fired over the man's head。  The rider turned in his saddle; saw his

pursuer; and pulled up。



〃Go back;〃 said Clarence; 〃or my next shot won't MISS you。〃



〃I was only going to inform the senora;〃 said the man with a shrug

and a forced smile。



〃I will do that;〃 said Clarence grimly; driving him back with him

into the waiting circle; then turning to them he said slowly; with

deliberate; smileless irony; 〃And now; my brave gentlemen;knights

of the bull and gallant mustang hunters;I want to inform YOU that

I believe that Mr。 Peyton was MURDERED; and if the man who killed

him is anywhere this side of hell; I intend to find him。  Good!  You

understand me!  Now lift up the body;you two; by the shoulders;

you two; by the feet。  Let your horses follow。  For I intend that

you four shall carry home your master in your arms; on foot。  Now

forward to the corral by the back trail。  Disobey me; or step out of

line and〃  He raised the revolver ominously。



If the change wrought in the dead man before them was weird and

terrifying; no less distinct and ominous was the change that; during

the last few minutes; had come over the living speaker。  For it was

no longer the youthful Clarence who sat there; but a haggard;

prematurely worn; desperate…looking avenger; lank of cheek; and

injected of eye; whose white teeth glistened under the brown

mustache and thin pale lips that parted when his restrained breath

now and then hurriedly escaped them。



As the procession moved on; two men slunk behind with the horses。



〃Mother of God!  Who is this wolf's whelp?〃 said Manuel。



〃Hush!〃 said his companion in a terrified whisper。  〃Have you not

heard?  It is the son of Hamilton Brant; the assassin; the duelist;

he who was fusiladed in Sonora。〃  He made the sign of the cross

quickly。  〃Jesus Maria!  Let them look out who have cause; for the

blood of his father is in him!〃





CHAPTER VII。





What other speech passed between Clarence and Peyton's retainers was

not known; but not a word of the interview seemed to have been

divulged by those present。  It was generally believed and accepted

that Judge Peyton met his death by being thrown from his half…broken

mustang; and dragged at its heels; and medical opinion; hastily

summoned from Santa Inez after the body had been borne to the

corral; and stripped of its hideous encasings; declared that the

neck had been broken; and death had followed instantaneously。  An

inquest was deemed unnecessary。



Clarence had selected Mary to break the news to Mrs。 Peyton; and the

frightened young girl was too much struck with the change still

visible in his face; and the half authority of his manner; to

decline; or even to fully appreciate the calamity that had befallen

them。  After the first benumbing shock; Mrs。 Peyton passed into that

strange exaltation of excitement brought on by the immediate

necessity for action; followed by a pallid calm; which the average

spectator too often unfairly accepts as incongruous; inadequate; or

artificial。  There had also occurred one of those strange

compensations that wait on Death or disrupture by catastrophe: such

as the rude shaking down of an unsettled life; the forcible

realization of what were vague speculations; the breaking of old

habits and traditions; and the unloosing of half…conscious bonds。

Mrs。 Peyton; without insensibility to her loss or disloyalty to her

affections; nevertheless felt a relief to know that she was now

really Susy's guardian; free to order her new life wherever and

under what conditions she chose as most favorable to it; and that

she could dispose of this house that was wearying to her when Susy

was away; and which the girl herself had always found insupportable。

She could settle this question of Clarence's relations to her

daughter out of hand without advice or opposition。  She had a

brother in the East; who would be summoned to take care of the

property。  This consideration for the living pursued her; even while

the dead man's presence still awed the hushed house; it was in her

thoughts as she stood beside his bier and adjusted the flowers on

his breast; which no longer moved for or against these vanities; and

it stayed with her even in the solitude of her darkened room。



But if Mrs。 Peyton was deficient; it was Susy who filled the popular

idea of a mourner; and whose emotional attitude of a grief…stricken

daughter left nothing to be desired。  It was she who; when the house

was filled with sympathizing friends from San Francisco and the few

near neighbors who had hurried with condolences; was overflowing in

her reminiscences of the dead man's goodness to her; and her own

undying affection; who recalled ominous things that he had said; and

strange premonitions of her own; the result of her ever…present

filial anxiety; it was she who had hurried home that afternoon;

impelled with vague fears of some impending calamity; it was she who

drew a picture of Peyton as a doting and almost too indulgent

parent; which Mary Rogers failed to recognize; and which brought

back vividly to Clarence's recollection her own childish

exaggerations of the Indian massacre。  I am far from saying that she

was entirely insincere or merely acting at these moments; at times

she was taken with a mild hysteria; brought on by the exciting

intrusion of this real event in her monotonous life; by the

attentions of her friends; the importance of her suffering as an

only child; and the advancement of her position as the heiress of

the Robles Rancho。  If her tears were near the surface; they were at

least genuine; and filmed her violet eyes and reddened her pretty

eyelids quite as effectually as if they had welled fr

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