But he had to see for himself and make much over the little blister that the flame of a match revealed to him. For they were both very much in love, and, in consequence, bubbling over with the foolishness that is the greatest inherited wisdom of the ages.
But though her lover had acquiesced so promptly to her demand for a full account of his adventures since leaving her, that young man had no intention of offering an unexpurged edition of them. It was his hope that O’Halloran would storm the prison during the night and effect a rescue. If so, good; if not, there was no need of her knowing that for them the new day would usher in fresh sorrow. So he gave her an account of his trial and its details, told her how he had been convicted, and how Colonel Onate had fought warily to get the sentence of execution postponed in order to give their friends a chance to rescue them.
“When Megales remanded me to prison I wanted to let out an Arizona yell, Curly. It sure seemed too good to be true.”
“But he may want the sentence carried out some time, if he changes his mind. Maybe in a week or two he may take a notion that—” She stopped, plainly sobered by the fear that the good news of his return might not be final.
“We won’t cross that bridge till we come to it. You don’t suppose our friends are going to sit down and fold their hands, do you? Not if I’ve got Mike O’Halloran and young Valdez sized up right. Fur is going to begin to fly pretty soon in this man’s country. But it’s up to us to help all we can, and I reckon we’ll begin by taking a preliminary survey of this wickiup.”
Wickiup was distinctly good, since the word is used to apply to a frail Indian hut, and this cell was nothing less than a tomb built in the solid rock by blowing out a chamber with dynamite and covering the front with a solid sheet of iron, into which a door fitted. It did not take a very long investigation to prove to Bucky that escape was impossible by any exit except the door, which meant the same thing as impossible at all under present conditions. Yet he did not yield to this opinion without going over every inch of the walls many times to make sure that no secret panel opened into a tunnel from the room.
“I reckon they want to keep us, Curly. Mr. Megales has sure got us real safe this time. I’d be plumb discouraged about breaking jail out of this cage. It’s ce’tainly us to stay hitched a while.”
About dark tortillas and frijoles were brought down to them by the facetious turnkey, who was accompanied as usual by two guards.
“Why don’t my little birdies sing?” he asked, with a wink at the soldiers. “One of them will not do any singing after daybreak to-morrow. Ho, ho, my larks! Tune up, tune up!”
“What do you mean about one not singing after daybreak?” asked the girl, with eyes dilating.