"The vaqueros are making a mock of thy bravery and thy skill!" Manuel declared, with more passion than truth.

"They would see thee beaten, in fight as well as in love--" The stiffening of Jose's whole figure stopped Manuel short but not dissatisfied, for he saw there was no need that he should speak a single word more upon the subject.
"They shall see him try, unless he is a coward." The voice of Jose was muffled by the rage that filled him.
So it came to pass that Manuel saddled his best mustang within an hour and rode away to the north.

And when Valencia strolled artlessly to the Pacheco fire and asked for him, Jose hesitated perceptibly before he replied that Manuel had gone home with a message to the foreman there.
Valencia grinned his widest when he heard that, and over two cigarettes he pondered the matter.

Being a shrewd young man with an instinct for nosing out mysteries, he flung all uncertainty away with the stub of his second cigarette and sought Dade.
He found him standing alone beside a deep, still pool, staring at the shadows and the moon-painted picture in the middle, and looking as if his thoughts were gone on far journeys.

Valencia was too full of his news to heed the air of absolute detachment that surrounded Dade.