Presently, McTurpin turned and strode away. Windham
looked after the departing gambler. "'Fraid I've spoiled his morning,"
he remarked to Nathan Spear.
"Yes--to chance a knife or bullet in the back," retorted Spear,
uneasily. Their further confidence was drowned in Brannan's
exhortations: "On with the sale, boys," he shouted. "The side show's
over ... with nobody hurt, thank Heaven! What'll you bid for a lot in
the southern part of town? They're a hundred varas square--four times as
big as the others. Not as central, maybe, but in ten years I bet they'll
bring a thousand dollars. What's bid for a south lot, my hearties?"
"Twenty-five dollars," said Inez Windham.
"Oh, come, now, Senorita," cried the auctioneer, intriguingly,
"twenty-five dollars for a hundred-vara lot. Have you no more faith in
San Francisco?"
"Its--all I have...." the girl spoke almost in a whisper.
Brannan frowned. He looked about him threateningly. "Does anyone bid
higher than Miss Windham?" he demanded. There was no response. Brannan's
gavel fell, decisively. "Sold!" he cried, and half a dozen
voices cheered.
Inez Windham made her way to the auctioneer's stand and handed three
banknotes to Alcalde Hyde.
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