"I love another. I'm betrothed to O'Reilly, the American--and he's
coming back to marry me."

De Castano twisted himself laboriously out of his chair and
waddled toward the door. He was purple with rage and
mortification. On the threshold he paused to wheeze: "Very well,
then. Go! I'm done with both of you. I would have lent you a hand
with this rascal Cueto, but now he will fall heir to your entire
property. Well, it is a time for bandits! I--I--" Unable to think
of a parting speech sufficiently bitter to match his
disappointment, Don Mario plunged out into the sunlight, muttering
and stammering to himself.

Within an hour the twins were on their way up the Yumuri, toward
the home of Asensio and Evangelina; for it was thither that they
naturally turned. It was well that they had made haste, for as
they rode down into the valley, up the other side of the hill from
Matanzas came a squad of the Guardia Civil, and at its head rode
Pancho Cueto.




V

A CRY FROM THE WILDERNESS


New York seemed almost like a foreign city to Johnnie O'Reilly
when he stepped out into it on the morning after his arrival. For