"It _isn't_ Walter!" exclaimed Grace.

"Speak! What do you want? Who are you?" demanded the courageous
Rhoda.

"No shoot, Thenorita!" gasped a frightened voice from the looming
figure. "I go!"

In a moment he was gone. He had disappeared around the corner of
the boulder.

"For mercy's sake!" gasped Bess, "what does that mean?"

"Who was it?" asked Nan again.

"A Mexican. But he wasn't one of our boys," said Rhoda. "I never
heard his voice before. Besides, if he had been from the ranch he
would not have acted so queerly. I don't like it."

"Do you think he means us harm?" queried Nan.

"I don't know what he means; but I mean him harm if he comes
fooling around us again," declared Rhoda. "I never heard of such
actions. Why! nine times out of ten he would have been shot first
and the matter of who he was decided afterward."

"Why, Rhoda! how awfully wicked that sounds. You surely would not
shoot a man!" Bess Harley's tone showed her horror.

"I don't know what I would do if I had to. There was something