For a brief space of time the woman looked at him as if she would ferret out his innermost thoughts; at length, she said with a shrug of the shoulders:
“Few here are to be thoroughly trusted. The woman you were with—she knows you?”
“I never met her but once before,” was his laconic rejoinder.
Nina eyed him suspiciously; at last she was satisfied that he spoke the truth, but there was still that cold, abstracted manner of his to be explained. However, cleverly taking her cue from him she inquired in business-like tones:
“And how about The Polka Saloon—the raid on Cloudy Mountain Camp?”
A shade of annoyance crossed Ramerrez’ face.
“I have decided to give that up—at least for a time.”
Again Nina regarded him curiously; when she spoke there was a suspicious gleam in her eyes, though she said lightly:
“Perhaps you’re right—it will not be an easy job.”
“Far from it,” quickly agreed the man. “But the real reason is, that I have planned to go below for a while.”