“Elena could.”
Kit got up, took one of the candles from the table and walked through the rooms surrounding the patio. Some of them had wooden bars in the windows, but others had iron grating, and he examined these carefully.
“There are two rooms fit for perfectly good jails,” he decided, “so I vote we give this bewitched Don Marto the open door. How many guns can we muster?”
“He promised to give me one, and ammunition.”
“Well, you get it! Get two if you can, but at least get plenty of ammunition. Isidro, will your wife be brave and willing to help?”
The old Indian nodded his head vigorously and smiled. Evidently only a stranger would ask if his Valencia could be brave!
The two brothers came in, and conversation was more guarded until Clodomiro had finished his supper, and gone a little ways home with them to repay them the long wait for comradeship.
When he came back Kit had his plans fairly settled, and had a brief note written to Señora Jocasta Perez, as follows:
Honored Señora:
One chance of safety is yours. Let yourself be persuaded to leave Soledad with Marto. You will be rescued from him by
An American.
“I reckon that will do the trick,” decided Kit. “I feel like a blooming Robin Hood without the merry men,––but the Indians will play safe, even if they are not merry. When can you get this to Elena?”