“Not exactly, señora. But here is something of real interest to you, something of Soledad––oh, I am sorry!”
“What does it say,––Soledad?”
“See!––I forgot you don’t know the English!”
Troops from the south to rescue Don José Perez from El Gavilan at Soledad turn guns on that survival of old mission days, and level it to the ground. Soledad was suspected as an ammunition magazine for the bandit chief, and it is feared Señor Perez is held in the mountains for ransom, as no trace of him has been found.
“Now you’ve done it,” remarked Kit, and Billie turned beseeching eyes on the owner of Soledad, and repeated miserably––“I am so sorry!”
But Doña Jocasta only lifted her head with a certain disdain, and veiled the emerald eyes slightly.
“So!” she murmured with a shrug of the shoulder. “It is then a bandit he is called in the words of the American newspaper?”
Cap Pike not comprehending the rapid musical Spanish, leaned forward fishing for a coal to light his pipe, noting her voice and watching her eyes.