“That’s true,” observed Miguel thoughtfully. “Trenzini wanted to marry that niece of yours, Claudia, didn’t he?”
“Yes. But Marcos has been polite to her a few times, and she thinks she can get him.”
“Perhaps she will. I have no objection,” sneered Miguel. “But he will not be ruler of Joyalita after to-day, so perhaps she won’t want him then.”
“Yes, she will,” was Don Solado’s quick reply. “I believe the girl would be fool enough to marry him if he were utterly ruined—if he would have her. Young women of her kind never have any sense, it seems to me.”
“Well, that is of no consequence,” shrugged Miguel. “I’ll give orders for Lieutenant Trenzini to take twenty troopers and go and meet this automobile with Marcos and his men. That’s what you mean, I suppose?”
“Yes.”
“Very well, then. Go on with your preparations for the council, and I will show myself in the public square again, after I get Trenzini off. We’ll beat Marcos yet.”
CHAPTER X.
THE AMBUSH IN THE PASS.
“We are about fifteen miles on the Carita side of the border line,” remarked Nick Carter, as he sat in his big car outside Mala’s hotel in Paron, waiting for Phillips to bring out the few things he had left in the house. “We shall be able to get to Penza easily before noon.”
“If we don’t have a breakdown,” observed Patsy.