_"A man is hurt here. Can you in quiet help him to San Juan?"_
An arrow and a cross were the only signature.
Teresa watched Ana questioningly. Letters to women were rare in San Juan, where few women could read; it must be of a death, or something of great importance.
But Ana told nothing, only ordered the boy to go to Ysadora for some lunch before he started back, and to tell Doña Refugia that all was well at San Juan. Though Doña Teresa listened closely, that was all she could hear that was said, and then she knew, of course, that Ana did not intend to remain a widow. She had a lover who wrote letters, an Americano perhaps; the Mexicans did not trouble themselves with such useless learning, now that the old padres were gone.
Ana sat quietly on the veranda for a little while, speaking of matters in general, and then arose languidly and confessed she wished she had gone with Raquel. A ride to the beach was better than to stay shut up in the town. Now that the vigilantes had gone, women would dare ride abroad without growing gray with fear.
"Ai! it is not far you would ride, Ana Mendez. You are like other women when it comes to riding alone these days."
"Her mother was not of this country, or she would not be so bold," returned Teresa, tartly. "Men have little liking for women as strong as themselves."
"Alas for me!" laughed Ana, "for I tell you now I am going to copy after her. She makes the other women look like sheep. If she would go with me, I would ride to the San Joaquin ranch this night and have no fear."
"You grow like a child, Ana, as you get more years. Your letter makes you young again--so?"
But Ana was out of the gate, and crossing the plaza with a light springy step, as if indeed the days of girlhood had come back. In her eyes was a smile, but back of the smile was a light of new determination. All at once she seemed to have found herself: he was in danger, and had called her.
At the Mission she found the Indian boy with a dish of frijolles.
"How did the letter come?" she asked, but he did not know. It was found under the door, and it had frightened Doña Refugia, and she wanted it out of the house when the men were away. She thought it, maybe, was a demand for money, such as the outlaws had sent Señor Eduardo Downing, and she asked Ana for the love of God to send word back quick what it meant.