"Sweet señorita, what man with a heart and eyesight could resist
falling in love with so beautiful a woman?" he responded. "Perhaps I
shall fall in love with you myself and refuse to surrender you, no
matter how great a ransom is offered. For years I have been seeking my
ideal, but not one of the many women I have captured in my time pleased
me enough to make me wish to keep her. You may be different."
Before Myra could find words to reply, the car came to a sudden stop,
the door was flung open and a gruff voice growled out a question in
Spanish which Cojuelo answered in the same language.
"We will alight now, señorita, and take a little riding exercise," he
said to Myra. "I know you are an expert horsewoman, for I was near you
this morning when you were riding with Don Carlos, and I know you will
have no difficulty in sitting a mule although you are not in riding
dress. Only mules can negotiate the paths that lead to my mountain
nest. Come!"