"I call you by the only name I know. It was the one you used on the Rio Grande when you sent me on a mission to Pancho Villa."
"Villa! Villa!" repeated Santiago, as though trying to recall something that had passed from his memory. "Villa! Where have I heard that name before?"
"On the Rio Grande is all I can tell you. Do you remember Don Rafael?"
At mention of the name the expression on Santiago's face changed again, this time to one of fiercest rage.
"Don Rafael!" he cried. "Don Rafael! Now I know you! You are Don Rafael. That is why I should kill you!"
"Great Scott, no, I am not Don Rafael!" shouted Billie as Santiago again raised his rifle and the lad perceived that he had to do with a crazy man. "I'm the boy that saved your life when Don Rafael tried to kill you. Don't you remember?"
Again Santiago lowered his weapon, and again there came upon his face that puzzled expression.
"Tell me, Santiago—I mean Prince Iztazil, or whatever you call it, what are you doing here?"
Santiago eyed him suspiciously, but finally laid his rifle across a table in the center of the room and approached nearer the lad.
"Listen!" he said in a whisper. "I am the guardian of the treasure of Montezuma. It is to be used to free Mexico from the Spaniard. He must be driven out. The land belongs to the Aztec."