“Am I to understand that Miss Hillgrove was discussed by this outlaw and his companions?”
“Yes,” said Natachee. “The Lizard told Sonora Jack all that he knew and perhaps more. I am asking you so that we may know how much of the Lizard’s story is true.”
In a few words Hugh related how the Pardners had found Marta when the girl was little more than a baby.
“I knew the story in a general way and the Lizard told it substantially as you have. But here is the amazing thing--Sonora Jack knows more about these two old prospectors and their partnership daughter than even you know.”
Hugh Edwards was speechless with astonishment.
“When the Lizard first mentioned Miss Hillgrove’s name, it was in connection with you, and Sonora Jack only laughed and made a coarse jest. But when the Lizard went on to tell of her relationship to Bob and Thad, the outlaw was so excited that he almost shouted. He asked question after question--her age--how long she and the Pardners had been in the Cañada del Oro--where they came from--everything--and as the Lizard answered, the outlaw would translate to his Mexican companion, who was as excited as Sonora Jack himself. And when the Lizard had told him all he could, the two talked together in Mexican a long time. I cannot repeat all that was said but Sonora Jack cried many times: ‘It is the same girl, Jose, the very same--Jesu Cristo! what luck--what marvelous luck!’
“One thing is certain--this outlaw in some way expects to make a fortune through the old Pardners and their girl. I do not know how. But Sonora Jack said to the Mexican that whether they found the lost mine or not, their coming to the Cañada del Oro was certain now to make them both rich.”
“Is it possible,” asked Hugh, “that Thad and Bob were one time in any way mixed up with this Sonora Jack?”
“I thought of that,” returned Natachee, “and the next day I watched to see if the outlaws went to the Pardners. They did--they spent nearly two hours talking with Miss Hillgrove and her fathers. Then they went with Thad and Bob down to their mine, leaving the girl at the house. They were with the Pardners over an hour.”
Hugh Edwards was greatly disturbed by what Natachee had learned. His first fear, that the stranger who had talked with him was an officer, was as nothing compared with his fear now for Marta. All night he pondered over the situation with scarce an hour of sleep. When morning came he told the Indian that he was going back to his old cabin to be near the girl--prison or no prison.