Without an instant's hesitation Dave flung himself past Rosa and
through the inner door.
José Sanchez met him with a shout; the shock of their collision
overbore the lighter man, and the two went down together, arms and legs
intertwined. The horse-breaker fired his revolver blindly--a deafening
explosion inside those four walls--but he was powerless against his
antagonist's strength and ferocity. It required but a moment for Law to
master him, to wrench the weapon from his grasp, and then, with the aid
of José's silk neck-scarf, to bind his wrists tightly.
From the front of the little house came the crash of a door violently
slammed as Rosa profited by the diversion to save herself.
When finally José stood, panting and snarling, his back to the wall,
Dave regarded him with a sinister contraction of the lips that was
almost a grin.
"Well," he said, drawing a deep breath, "I see you didn't go to the
east pasture this morning."
"What do you want of me?" José managed to gasp.
There was a somewhat prolonged silence, during which Dave continued to
stare at his prisoner with that same disquieting expression. "Why did
you kill Don Eduardo?" he asked.
"I? Bah! Who says I killed him?" José glared defiance. "Why are you
looking at me? Come! Take me to jail, if you think that will do any
good."
"It's lucky I rode to Las Palmas this morning. In another hour you
would have been across the Rio Grande--with Rosa and all her fine
clothes, eh? Now you will be hanged. Well, that is how fortune goes."
The horse-breaker tossed his head and shrugged with a brave assumption
of indifference; he laughed shortly. "You can prove nothing."
"Yes," continued Dave, "and Rosa will go to prison, too. Now--suppose I
should let you go? Would you help me? In ten minutes you could be
safe." He inclined his head toward the muddy, silent river outside.
"Would you be willing to help me?"
José's brows lifted. "What's this you are saying?" he inquired, eagerly.
"I would only ask you a few questions."
"What questions?"
"Where is Señora Austin?"