Page:Stewart Edward White--The Rose Dawn.djvu/361

Rh flected with grim amusement, he was due for a long visit. But if they did manage to accomplish the miracle of commanding that much credit, it would get them nowhere. Boyd's confidence, after all, rested on the bank. He knew positively his power there. He knew positively that the officials would dare sell to nobody but himself. Let them try it!

Nevertheless, he wished he could call at the bank for five minutes!

six o'clock one evening at the end of the eighth day, Boyd, pacing up and down the veranda smoking a solitary cigar, saw a horseman draw rein under the big cottonwood at the edge of the road. A moment later Chino stepped from some mysterious concealment. The horseman conversed with him a moment, handed him a letter, and rode off the way he had come, without giving Boyd an opportunity to see who he was. That evening Corbell casually informed him that they would be returning to Arguello the following morning.

They drove back together in Corbell's high trap. Evidently it was no longer considered worth while to guard him. The other members of the Sociedad had vanished; they did not even appear at breakfast. Boyd did not enquire of them; nor did Corbell volunteer any information. As a matter of fact they were already well on toward Arguello, having started on horseback across the short cut trail long before daylight.

The long drive was made almost in silence. Corbell seemed entirely interested and occupied in the tooling of his fine team around the curves and narrow places of the pass; while Boyd remained wrapped in his thoughts. As they struck out on the level road below the grade on the Arguello side, he said:

"I wish to say again, Mr. Corbell, that I consider this whole performance an inexcusable outrage. And I wish to warn you that I shall determine what legal steps are possible and shall pursue them with the ultmost vigour."

"As to that you must suit yourself, Mr. Boyd," rejoined Corbell, gravely. "I can speak for my associates as well as myself in saying that we accept full responsibility before any jury that