"Is Don Manuel going bear-hunting?" asked Jimmie, with a newly aroused boy interest.
"Yes, Jimmie. One's been bothering him right considerable, and he's going gunning for it," explained Dick.
"Gee! I hope he gets it."
"And I hope he don't," laughed Gordon. "Must you really be going, colonel? Can't I do a thing for you in the refreshment line first? Well, so long. Good hunting for your friend. See him later."
Thus cheerfully did the irrepressible Gordon speed Mr. Ainsa on his way.
That young man had somehow the sense of having been too youthful to cope with the gay Gordon.
* * * * * Valencia Valdés had not ridden far when she met Ramon Ainsa returning from his mission. He was a sunny young fellow, whom she had known since they had been children together.
It occurred to her that he bore himself in a manner that suggested something important on hand. His boyish mouth was set severely, and he greeted her with a punctilio quite unusual. At once she jumped shrewdly to a conclusion.
"Did you bring our mail back with you from Corbett's?" she innocently inquired.
"Yes, señorita."
"Since when have I been 'señorita' to you, Ramon?"
"Valencia, I should say." He blushed.
"Indeed, I should think so. It hasn't been so long since you called me Val."
"Ah! Those happy days!" he sighed.
"Fiddlesticks!" she promptly retorted. "Don't be a goose. You're not in the sere and yellow yet. Don't forget you'll not be twenty-one till next month."
"One counts time not by years, but by its fullness," he said, in the manner of one who could tell volumes if he would.
"I see. And what has been happening of such tremendous importance?"
Mr. Ainsa attempted to twirl his mustache, and was as silent as honor demanded.
"Pooh! It's no secret. Did you find Mr. Gordon at home?"
"At home?" he gasped.
"Well, at Corbett's, then?"
"I didn't know---- Who told you--er----"
"I'm not blind and deaf and dumb, you know."
"But you certainly have a great deal of imagination," he said, recovering himself.
"Not a bit of it. You carried a challenge to this American from Don Manuel. Now, I want to know the answer."
"Really, my dear girl----"
"You needn't try to evade me. I'm going to know, if I stay here all night."
"It's a hold-up, as the Americans say," he joked.
"I don't care what you call it. You have got to tell me, you know."
"But I can't tell you, niña. It isn't mine to tell."
"Anyhow, you can't keep me from guessing," she said, with an inspiration.
"No, I don't see how I can very well," he admitted.