kindly to the Mexican: "Now, please, tell us quietly and calmly
what you mean."

"Dhat Senorita Ham-mon'--"

"No, no! Begin at the beginning. Don't accuse Rhoda any more. Let
us hear all about how you came to know about the treasure, and why
you think it is yours."

"Dhat I tell you soon," said the girl quickly. "My modder an' me--"

"Who are you? What is your name?" asked Nan.

"Juanita O'Harra."

"Why! that's both Mexican and Irish," gasped Nan.

"My fader a gre't, big Irisher-man--yes!" said Juanita. "He marry
my modder in Honoragas. She have fine hacienda from her papa--yes.
She--"

But to put it in more understandable English, as Nan and Rhoda did
later when they talked it over with Bess and Grace Mason, Juanita
O'Harra told a very interesting--indeed, quite an exciting--story
about Lobarto and the lost treasure the bandit chief had carried
into the Rose Ranch region.

Juanita's mother had married the Irish contractor who had died when
the girl was small. Six years and more before she told this tale to
the interested Nan and Rhoda, Lobarto became a scourge of the