The swaying ceased and the arms dropped as the old woman turned swiftly.
"Neither, Señorita, but I would learn the truth," she responded solemnly. "Last night I beheld a thing which passed my understanding, but of it only evil can come, and I would know it now."
"What did you see?" asked Billie, seating herself on a moss-grown log. "What was this evil thing, Tia Juana?"
"I went to the hacienda of the Señor Wiley." The old woman announced simply. "He had harmed my José, child of my blood, and I would have taken revenge upon him."
"Tia Juana, that was wrong!" Billie cried. "I have told my father and he will see that justice is done. You—you found him?"
Tia Juana nodded and her thin lips compressed.
"Behind the casito where the carro is stored I came upon him in the shadow. Beside him was a figure I could not see, to whom he talked low and quickly, with many gestures. Me he did not see, and I waited. Then in a moment, Señorita, the figure moved so that the moonlight fell upon him. It was that messenger of the Evil One, De Soria."
"John Sawyer?" the girl repeated in a hushed tone.
"So you know him, Señorita." The old woman's lip curled. "Before your coming, or ever a rooftree was raised in Limasito, he was Juan De Soria, son of thieves and black of heart as his master's skin."
The girl shivered.