Bandit Love

"That was rather the equivalent of unfastening the bolt of the rail,

was it not, Myra?" he drawled. "I hope you will now proceed to rescue

me from the slough of despond by telling me that you love me and will

marry me?"

"You said once that I would be a suitable mate for El--er--what's his

name?--El Cojuelo Diablo, isn't it?--your pet brigand, I mean,"

retorted Myra. "Now you are presumably suggesting that I am a fit mate

for a man guilty of attempted murder!"

Don Carlos smiled enigmatically.

"El Diablo Cojuelo is the correct name, Myra," he said in the same

lazy, unmoved tone. "If I fail to conquer you and teach you the

meaning of love, perhaps El Diablo Cojuelo will. Beloved, I should

love to rest my head against your knees and feel your fingers caressing

my hair."

"Don't be so utterly ridiculous!" exclaimed Myra.

"In novels, as you know," went on Don Carlos, paying no heed to her

protest, "the fair heroine usually marries the gallant who rescues her,

or her half-witted brother, or her aged parent, from drowning. You can

give the plot a new turn by marrying me for saving your lover from

drowning. Mr. Standish was good enough to say that it was 'demmed

sporty of me' to rescue him and that he owes me his life. Why not

suggest to him, Myra, that he can best show his gratitude by

surrendering to me his greatest pride and treasure--you?"

"Your audacity is only equalled by your conceit," Myra commented. "Let

me warn you----"

"Let me warn you, you siren, that I shall go to any lengths to win

you," interrupted Don Carlos with sudden passion. "This morning's

incident was a warning to prove to you I am in earnest. Dios! why do

you torture me so? At times you make me hate you almost as much as I

love you!"

He sprang to his feet, picked up the cushion on which he had been

reclining and hurled it overboard, then strode away without another

word, leaving Myra thrilled and more than a little scared.

"It rather looks as if I shall have to take him seriously after all!"

she soliloquised. "I wonder what I should do?"

She was left wondering and sorely perplexed, for within an hour she

found Don Carlos obviously carrying on a violent flirtation with

another girl, and at dinner, at which Tony Standish appeared looking

little the worse for his adventure, he was the life and soul of the

party.