Not for nothing does he hold the medalla oro." "Gracias, Don Andres.

I shall remember," said Jack, and walked away to the stables.
He felt that the heart of Don Andres Picardo was warring with his intelligence.

That although his wide outlook and his tolerance would make friends of the gringos and of the new government--and quite sincerely--still, the heart of him was true Spanish; and the fortunes of his own blood-kin would send it beating fast or slow in sympathy, while his brain weighed nicely the ethics of the struggle.

Jack was not much given to analyzing the inner workings of a man's mind and heart, but he carried with him a conviction that it was so.
He hunted up Diego, and found him putting a deal of gratuitous labor upon the silver trimmings of the new saddle.

Diego being the peon in whose behalf Jack had last winter interfered with Perkins, his gratitude took the form of secret polishings upon the splendid riding-gear, the cleaning of Jack's boots and such voluntary services.