“Most beautiful señorita, I am going out with this Señor Lopez to meet the men of the mission,” he said. “’Twill be lonesome, nevertheless, until I am again with you. This evening, señorita, we shall take a walk in the orchard, with your duenna dodging about our heels, and at such a time a man may talk of things other than business.”
He lurched forward as if to kiss her again, but she avoided him and stepped back to bow.
“Señor,” she said, “I dislike to mar your welcome, yet there is a thing that should receive attention at once.”
“And that——?” he questioned.
“Has not Señor Lopez told you of Captain Fly-by-Night and his boast? The man is here, has been here for several days, though he is treated as a nothing.”
“Captain Fly-by-Night? Here?”
“He has received a teepee and supplies from gentiles, and is camped down by the creek. His presence is an insult to me, señor, but we had decided to do nothing about the matter until your arrival. In the orchard last evening he was even bold enough to speak to me, and his words were words of—love. Shall this be allowed to pass?”
“He is camped down by the creek, eh?”
“He is, señor,” Lopez put in.
“Captain Fly-by-Night, you said?”