The Blood of the Conquerors

That became the one clear thing in life to him. Reflections and doubts were alien to his young and primitive spirit. He did not try to l

people would talk," but his will was harder than hers and to a great extent he had his way. He now called on her regularly to

he least, but I want to see you because you can tell such wonderful things about the country.

s standing guard over the family treasure, was seized with a fit of coughing and had to leave the room, and again when her mother was called to the telephone. At such times she shrank away from him at first as though

she surrounded herself with other men as much as ever, and flirted gracefully with all of them, so that he was always feeling the sharp physical pangs of jealousy. Sometimes he felt egotistically sure that she was

med to him that unless he could achieve these things at once, they would never mean anything to him. For money was the one thing that would give him even a chance to win her. It was obviously useless to ask her to marry him poor. He would have not

when he was with her. He pictured himself going to her in a great motor car. Such a car had always been in his imagination the symbol of material strength. He

79] the humiliations they had made him feel. It pushed everything else out of his mind-all consideration of other and possibly more feasible methods

e thought of trying to borrow a few thousand dollars from old Diego, and of leaving the future to luck, but he was too intelligent long to entertain such a scheme. The Don would likely have provided him with the money, and he wo

did not give up hope. He was worried, desperate and bitter, but not beaten. He had st

ad not much ready cash, this must mean either that he had sold land or that he had borrowed from MacDougall, in which case the land had doubtless been given as secu

ter evening, trying to learn how much his uncle was losing. He would have liked to go and stand behind his chair and watch the game, but both etiquette and pride prevented him doing this. On two nights his uncle came out surrounded by a laughing crowd, a little bit tipsy, and was hurried into a cab. Ramon had no chance to speak either to him or

you are here. Come I must talk to you." And steadied by Ramon he led the way to a bench in a

dly. "What do I care? I am a rich man. I have lost a thousand

fiantly. Then he leaned forward in a co

as far as a burro can smell a bear. They are mean, stingy! Ah, my boy! It is not now as it was in the old days. Then money counted for nothing! Then a man could throw away his last dollar and there were always friend

de his head hot. He had never before realized how much broken by age and drink his uncle was.

to his immediate troubles and curse the gringos again for a pack of miserable dollar-mongers, who knew not the meaning of friendship. And again his mind would leap back irrelevantly to some woman he had loved or some man he had killed in the spacious days where his imagination dwelt. Ramon listened eagerly, hoping to learn something definite about the Don's dealings with MacDougall, but t

rchulera is now?" Ra

enty years. I heard that he married a very common wo

ifficulty, and led him outdoors where he looked about in vain for one of the cheap autos that served the town as taxicabs. There were only three or four of them, and none of thes

much of his youth, of how beautiful they were. He told of a slim little creature fifteen years old with big black eyes whom he had bought from her peon father, and of how she had feared him and how he had conquered her and her fear. He told of slave girls he had bought from the Navajos as children and raised for hi

wanted. He had tasted many emotions and known the most poignant delights. And now that he was old and his blood was slow, he stood in the way of others who desired as greatly and were as avid of life as ever he had been. Ramon felt a great bitterness that clutched at his throat and half bli

to keep its sovereignty of life by inculcating blind respect and reverence, and y

was this night full of swift water, which tore at the button willows on the bank and gurgled against the bridge timbers. As they crossed i

g