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There was a silence in which Nina made no movement to pick up the gold; whereupon, Ramerrez repeated a little harshly: "Your share." Slowly the woman rose, picking up the sack as she did so, and with a request that he await her, she made her way over to the bar where she handed it to the Mexican in charge with a few words of instruction.
"Nay," denied Castro, strenuously, "pleanty Mexican vaquero my friend Peralta, Weelejos all weeth Ramerrez so I know where ees." Rance advanced and shot a finger in his face. "You're one of his men yourself!" he cried hotly.
Moreover, Ashby's quick intuition told him that the other's failure to catch the outlaw was not troubling him nearly as much as was the blow which his conceit had probably received at the hands of the Girl. It was, therefore, in an indulgent tone that he said: "No, Rance, not this one nor this time. You mark my words, the woman is through with Ramerrez.
And for the moment she looked all that she was reputed to be a dangerous woman! Receiving no answer, she spoke again. "But you said that you would love me always?" The man flushed. "Did I say that once? What a memory you have!" "And you never meant it?" "I suppose so at the time." "Then you don't love me any more?" Ramerrez made no answer. For some moments Nina sat perfectly still.
Ramerrez laughed uneasily. "It is impossible. The fact is, it is best that this should be our last meeting." And seeing the change that came over her face he went on in more conciliatory tones: "Now, Nina, be reasonable. It is time that we understood each other. This interview must be final." "And you came here to tell me this?" blazed the woman, scowling darkly upon him.
On the other hand, the man who had caused them to fear that a stranger had surprised them, and that they had been trapped, was Ramerrez or Johnson the name that he had assumed for the dangerous work he was about to engage in and they had failed to know him, dressed as he was in the very latest fashion prevailing among the Americans in Sacramento in '49.
Nina eyed him suspiciously; at last she was satisfied that he spoke the truth, but there was still that cold, abstracted manner of his to be explained. However, cleverly taking her cue from him she inquired in business-like tones: "And how about The Polka Saloon the raid on Cloudy Mountain Camp?" A shade of annoyance crossed Ramerrez' face. "I have decided to give that up at least for a time."
In another moment she was again seated at the table with him. "Why did you send for me to meet you here?" she now asked. "Why did you not come to my room surely you knew that there was danger here?" Carelessly, Ramerrez let his eyes wander about the room; no one was paying the slightest attention to them and, apparently, there being nothing to fear, he answered: "From whom?"
A prime factor in Ramerrez' success had from the first been the information which he was able to obtain from the Mexicans, not connected with his band, concerning the places that the miners used as temporary depositories for their gold; and it was information of this sort that led Ramerrez and his men to choose a certain Mexican settlement in the mountains as a base of operations: namely, the tempting fact that a large amount of gold was stored nightly in the Polka Saloon, at the neighbouring camp on Cloudy Mountain.
Ramerrez!" came in whispered tones from Castro. "Speak quickly go on," came likewise in whispered tones from the road agent. "I let them take me according to your bidding," went on Castro. "Careful, Jose, careful," warned his master while stooping to pick up his saddle, which he afterwards laid on the faro table.
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