"Tell him I have
put a wish upon it; and if he wears it next his heart in the duelo
to-morrow he will win without fail. Tell Jose I shall ask the Blessed
Virgin to-night to let no accident befall him, and that I shall save the
first two dances for him and none other!"
She was not a finished actress, because of her youth. She betrayed by a
glance his way that she spoke for Jack's benefit. And Jack, in the
hardening of his stubborn anger, blew a mouthful of smoke upward into a
ring which the breeze broke almost immediately, and laughed aloud.
Teresita heard, bit her lips cruelly at failing to bring that stubborn
gringo to his feet--and to hers!--and wheeled Tejon close to Manuel and
Carlos. She rode away between the two towards home, and she did not
once look behind her until she had gone so far she feared she could not
see what her blue-eyed one was doing. Then she turned, and her teeth
went together with a click. For Jack was lying just as she had left him,
with his head upon his arm as if he might be asleep.
CHAPTER XXI
FIESTA DAY
Dade, rolling over in bed and at the same moment opening his eyes
reluctantly upon the new day, that he hated, beheld Jack half-dressed
and shaving his left jaw, and looking as if he were committing murder
upon an enemy. Dade watched him idly; he could afford the luxury of
idleness that morning; for rodeo was over, and he was lying between
linen sheets on a real bed, under a roof other than the branches of a
tree; and if his mind had rested as easily as his body, he would have
been almost happy.
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