"
"You have never heard our side," the girl spoke bitterly. "Was it
military need that filched two hundred of our blooded horses from the
ranches? Was it military need that robbed my ailing mother of her pet,
the mare Diablo? Was it military need that gave our finest steeds to
your Alcalde for his pleasure, that enabled half a dozen false officials
to recruit their stables from our caponeras and sell horses in the open
market?" Her eyes blazed. "Senor, it was tyranny and theft, no less. Had
I been a man, like Benito, I, too, should have ridden with Sanchez."
"Can you prove these things?" asked the Commander, sternly.
"Si, senor," said Inez quickly. "It is well known hereabouts. Do not
take my word," she smiled, "I am a woman--a Spaniard, on my mother's
side. Ask your own countrymen--Samuel Brannan, Nathan Spear, William
Leidesdorff."
Hull pulled at his chin reflectively. "Something of this sort I have
already heard," he said, "but I believed it idle gossip.... If your
brother had come to me, instead of riding with the enemy--"
"He is a youth, hot-blooded and impulsive, Senor Commandante." Swiftly,
and to Hull's intense embarrassment, she knelt before him.
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