"Are there any heirs?"

"None that we have been able to discover."

The girl thoughtfully traced a pattern on the tablecloth with the tine
of her fork.

"How will it be possible for you to acquire that horse, Panchito, for
me, dearest?" she queried presently.

"I have a deficiency judgment against the Rancho Palomar," he
explained. "Consequently, upon the expiration of the redemption period
of one year, I shall levy an attachment against the Farrel estate. All
the property will be sold at public auction by the sheriff to satisfy
my deficiency judgment, and I shall, of course, bid in this horse."

"I have decided I do not want him, father," she informed him half
sadly. "The ex-soldier is an old boyhood chum of the younger Farrel
who was killed, and he wants the horse."

He glanced at her with an expression of shrewd suspicion.

"As you desire, honey," he replied.

"But I want you to see to it that nobody else outbids him for the
horse," she continued, earnestly. "If some one should run the price up
beyond the limits of his purse, of course I want you to outbid that
some one, but what I do not desire you to do is to run the price up on
him yourself. He wants the horse out of sentiment, and it isn't nice