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the porch and watched her fade out of sight in the moonlight.

"'She'll come running back scared to death in a minute,' remarked Pete.

"'I'm not so sure,' I replied.

"We waited a long time.

"'She'll never go through with it,' argued Pete. 'She's a brave girl but she hasn't the nerve to go all alone to Billy the Kid's grave at midnight.'

"'That's the hour when ghosts are said to walk.'

"'She'll pick up a pebble somewhere to fool me and offer it as her proof and claim my ten dollars. You'll see.'

"Pete chuckled.

"She was gone so long we began to grow uneasy. Then at last we heard footsteps. Directly we made out her dim figure in the moonlight coming back.

"'She seems to be carrying something,' said Pete.

"'Yes. What can it be?'

"'The Lord knows.'

"Laughing merrily, Paulita stepped on the porch and shoved some strange looking object into Pete's arms.

"'Here's your proof,' she said. 'Now give me my ten dollars.'

"Pete carried the object into the lighted parlour to see what proof she had brought. And what do you suppose it was?"

Don Manuel Abreu shook with laughter.

"It was," says he, "the little wooden cross that had stood at the head of Billy the Kid's grave. No possible mistake about it, either. There was his name painted on it."

When Don Manuel's sprightly anecdote is repeated to her, Mrs. Jaramillo smiles with a slightly embarrassed air.