"Was I?"

"And your game was to rob me of my jewels," Cervera angrily added, with
her eyes emitting a gleam as fiery as the blazing gems at which she
pointed. "That was your game, you renegade!"

"Do you think so?"

"I know so!"

Nick hoped she did.

"And all I regret is," added the vixenish Spaniard, "that the bullet of
my watchman did not end your villainous life."

"We can end it now, señora, if you say the word," put in Matthew Stall,
with grim readiness.

Nick never accepted such scenes as this at their face value, for he had
witnessed many a similar game of bluff. This one might be all right and
on the level, he reasoned, yet there still existed the possibility that
he was recognized, and that these remarks implying the contrary were
only a part of some well-laid plan.

"If you think I'm a thief, why don't you hand me over to the police?" he
shrewdly demanded.

The ruse worked. For a moment Cervera was caught with no ready reply,
and Nick promptly decided that he was known, hence could not well be