"Was that why you offered a hundred dollars' reward for the arrest of these same men?" came his indolent, satiric reply.
"Don Manuel offered the reward," she told him haughtily.
An impish smile was in his eyes. "At your suggestion, he tells me. And I understand you insisted on paying the bill, Miss Valdés."
"Why should he pay it? The men worked for me. They were brought up on my father's place. They are my responsibility, not his," she claimed with visible irritation.
"And now they're my responsibility, too—until I land them in the penitentiary," he added cheerfully.
From his pocket he took a billbook and selected two fifty-dollar bills. These he offered to Valencia.
She stood very straight. "You owe me nothing, sir."
"I owe you the hundred dollars you paid to get hold of Sebastian. And I'm going to pay it."
"I don't acknowledge the debt. I wanted Sebastian for his sake, not yours. Certainly I shall not accept the money."
"Just as you say. It isn't mine. Care if I smoke again?" he asked genially.