"
"Oh yes. I remember him." With steady fingers Dave shook some
tobacco into a cigarette-paper. He felt Alaire's eyes upon him,
and they were eloquent of inquiry, but he did not meet them.
Jose frowned. "No one at La Feria has seen him, and in Pueblo
there was not a word. It is strange."
"Panfilo was in bad company when I saw him." Law finished rolling
his cigarette and lit it, still conscious of Alaire's questioning
gaze. "He may have had trouble."
"He was a good man," the horse-breaker asserted. "If he is dead--"
The Mexican's frown deepened to a scowl.
"What then?"
Jose significantly patted the gift revolver at his hip. "This
little fellow will have something to say."
Dave looked him over idly, from head to heel, then murmured: "You
would do well to go slow, compadre. Panfilo made his own
quarrels."
"We were like brothers, and I do not know of any quarrels. But I
shall find out. It begins to look bad for somebody. After he left
that charco there is--nothing. Where did he go? Whom did he
encounter? Rosa will ask me those questions. I am not given to
boasting, senor, but I am a devilish bad man in my way."
XV
THE TRUTH ABOUT PANFILO
Nothing more was said during the luncheon, but when Alaire had
finished eating and her two employees had begun their meal, she
climbed the bank of the arroyo ostensibly to find a cool spot.
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