a small whip and replied:

"Our President and General, the illustrious Santa Anna, is extremely
anxious to see him. Secrets of state are not for me. I merely seek to do
my work."

"Then you take this from me," said the Panther, a blunt frontiersman,
"my comrades an' me ain't buyin' our lives at the price of nobody
else's."

"You feel that way about it, do you?"

"That's just the way we feel, and I want to say, too, that I wouldn't
take the word of either you or your Santa Anna. If we was to give up Mr.
Roylston--which we don't dream of doin'--you'd be after us as hot an'
strong as ever."

Urrea's swarthy cheeks flushed again.

"I shall not notice your insults," he said. "They are beneath me. I am a
Mexican officer and gentleman, and you are mere riders of the plains."

"All the same," said the Panther grimly, "if you are goin' to talk you
have to talk with us."

"That is true," said Urrea lightly, having regained complete control of
his temper. "In war one cannot choose his enemies. I make you the
proposition once more. Give us Roylston and go. If you do not accept we
shall nevertheless take him and all of you who do not fall first.
Remember that you are rebels and traitors and that you will surely be