He twisted in the saddle and sent leaden answer to the spiteful
barking of the guns

Mrs. Jerry took the señorita's hand and smiled up at her

"An accident it must appear to those who watch"




_The Gringos_




CHAPTER I

THE BEGINNING OF IT


If you would glimpse the savage which normally lies asleep, thank God,
in most of us, you have only to do this thing of which I shall tell
you, and from some safe sanctuary where leaden couriers may not bear
prematurely the tidings of man's debasement, watch the world below.
You may see civilization swing back with a snap to savagery and
worse--because savagery enlightened by the civilization of centuries
is a deadly thing to let loose among men. Our savage forebears were
but superior animals groping laboriously after economic security and
a social condition that would yield most prolifically the fruit of all
the world's desire, happiness; to-day, when we swing back to something