hide us from the priest if he came here?"

"I would. And I ain't the one to ask questions. If you don't want to see
the priest, it's not Jim Hill that will assist him to find you. Been
there myself."

"Couldn't you get us three horses from my father's corral--the Rancho
Encarnacion?" asked Rafael.

"I could, if you'd go with me; but horse-stealing is just the one thing
I agreed not to do."

"You might go with him, Rafael," said Roldan. "You would get there after
dark if you started now; and even if the vaqueros were not asleep they
would not call your father."

"And I could send a message to my parents," said Rafael, eagerly. "Then
they would not worry. Yes, I will go. The priest would not dare to harm
me while I was with the Senor Hill."

"Oh, the two of us would be a match for even him, if it came to that,"
said Hill. "Well, we'll start right now, there bein' no call for delay.
We'll have to foot it, as my mustang's laid up. If the priest should
turn up here--which ain't likely--jest run up that ladder inter the
garret and pull it after yer. Well, hasta luego, as they say in these
parts. Make yourselves ter home."

XX

"Now," said Roldan, as Rafael and Hill trudged into the perspective of