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ME LIT A9 8 RUSE
127
' 'Where is Pedro ?" angrily demanded the sheriff.
"Pedro !" with exquisite surprise. "How should I know?"
"Where did you leave him when you put on his coat and sombrero V9 asked a deputy, stripping her of the coat.
"That I shall not tell," she replied, folding her arms defiantly.
"You'll come along and you'll tell before we get thru with you!" declared the man.
Melita tossed him an exasperating smile over her shoulder as she climbed into the saddle. They turned into the road and retraced their steps, the men keeping a sharp lookout for their quarry, and Melita no less on the alert for far different reasons. She prayed that Pedro might have seized the opportunity to get to one of the trails that made a short cut across the mountains into Mexico. She could truthfully assert her ignorance of his whereabouts, and her exultation over the part she had played in frustrating the gringos expressed itself in fre
quent ripples of taunting laughter that deepened the red of the sheriff's sunburnt cheeks.
The opportunity that Melita had assigned to knock at Pedro 's door was vanquished on the threshold by an unwitting circumstance. The sheriff's party had passed his hiding-place and ridden out of sight. His pulse-beat was calming down to normal, and he pulled himself together to make a dash for the trail nearby. He stepped to the door, but precipitately retreated and crushed himself into the angle of the wall. A young girl was within a few feet of the barn, intent upon gathering eggs. He listened to her steps, drawing nearer and nearer. Oh, if she would only pass on ! Sharply upon the rectangle of sunlight let in by the doorway fell her shadow. One step more and she was upon the sill ! With a startled gasp, she sprang backward.
"Be quiet! Dorit make a noise, please !" pleaded Pedro, following her out. She screamed. He sprang upon
MELITA TOSSED HIM AN EXASPERATING SMILE