“It desolates me to hear it, for I would have liked this stranger’s company on the journey. But it is imperative that I follow the highway again within an hour or so.”
“I find myself in the same predicament,” the caballero announced.
“It is sad, señor, yet it is true, that we both cannot ride one mule with any degree of speed and comfort.”
“Agreed! Yet, I think, if you are a gentleman of spirit, I will ride south on your mule, and you will wait here a day or two until a horse can be fetched from a rancho.”
“That is a broad statement, señor,” replied the mule’s owner, his face growing dark for an instant.
“I did not mean it in a disrespectful way.”
“You imagine, perhaps, that you are on business of state and that I will surrender my mule because of that? Ordinarily, señor, but not at this time. I have important business at San Diego de Alcalá.”
“And I! If you are wiling to let merit decide between us——”
“Fight you for my own mule? After what I observed in the highway? Give me credit for some wit, kind señor.”
“It will not be necessary to clash blades over a mule.” The caballero bent forward over the table as he spoke, and his eyes held those of the other man. “There are other ways—dice, for instance, or cards!”