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 He frowned as a new thought came to him.

"But Gilbert Barradell disappeared," he said, "before Falcon had met the lady. Falcon had no reason then"

"Aye," Almayne interrupted, "but since then he has met her. If Barradell is alive and Falcon knows where he is, d'ye think he would be likely to tell us? Not for all the gold in Carolina!"

Lachlan shrugged his shoulders.

"You are getting off the path, Almayne," he answered dryly. "You have nothing to show that Falcon knows where Gilbert Barradell is. Probably Barradell is dead. Probably he was dead months before Jolie Stanwicke came to Charles Town—before Falcon ever saw her. As for the Englishman who disappeared in Concha's country, he might have been Barradell or he might have been someone else, but in any case the chances are that Concha's braves have his scalp."

He pushed back his chair.

"I am sleepy, old friend," he said. "My brain is getting weary. When I asked you to tell me about this Jolie, this Lady Sanguilla, I did not foresee such a puzzle as this. We will meet here to-morrow and go further into the matter. Good-bye till then."

If he was sleepy, the cool night air outside in the empty street quickly dispelled his drowsiness. He wanted to think and he could think more clearly alone. He was not as contemptuous as he had seemed