"What are they following you for?" she wanted to know.
Dick told her something of his experiences in the Rio Chama Valley without mentioning that part of them which had to do with Miss Valdés. At the sound of Manuel Pesquiera's name the eyes of the girl flashed. Dick had already noticed that his name was always to her a signal for repression of some emotion. The eyes contracted and hardened the least in the world. Some men would not have noticed this, but more than once Gordon's life had hung upon the right reading of such signs.
"You think that Mr. Pesquiera has hired them to watch you?" she suggested.
"Maybe he has and maybe he hasn't. Some of those willing lads of Miss Valdés don't need any hiring. They want to see what I'm up to. They're not overlooking any bets."
"But they may shoot you."
He looked at her drolly. "They may, but I'll be there at the time. I'm not sleeping on the job, Miss Kate."
"You didn't turn around once yesterday."
"Hmp! I saw them out of the edge of my eyes. And when I turned a corner I always saw them mighty plain. They couldn't have come very close without my knowing it."
"Don Manuel is very anxious to have Miss Valdés win, isn't he?"
Dick observed that just below the eyes two spots were burning in the usually pale cheeks.