Daughter of the Sun, by Jackson Gregory The Project Gutenberg eBook, Daughter of the Sun, by Jackson Gregory This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Daughter of the Sun A Tale of Adventure Author: Jackson Gregory Release Date: July 27, 2006 [eBook #18916] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DAUGHTER OF THE SUN*** E-text prepared by Al Haines Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustration. See 18916-h.htm or 18916-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/8/9/1/18916/18916-h/18916-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/8/9/1/18916/18916-h.zip) DAUGHTER OF THE SUN A Tale of Adventure by JACKSON GREGORY (Quién Sabe) Author of Timber Wolf, The Everlasting Whisper, Desert Valley, Etc. [Frontispiece: Zoraida Castelmar, daughter of the Montezumas] Grosset & Dunlap Publishers -------- New York Copyright, 1921, by Charles Scribner's Sons Copyright as "The Treasure of the Hills," 1920, 1921, by Street & Smith TO ZINGARA CONTENTS CHAPTER I. IN WHICH A YOUNG AMERICAN KNOWN AS "HEADLONG" PLAYS AT DICE WITH ONE IN MAN'S CLOTHING WHO IS NOT A MAN II. IN WHICH A SPELL IS WORKED AND AN EXPEDITION IS BEGUN III. OF THE NEW MOON, A TALE OF AZTEC TREASURE AND A MYSTERY IV. INDICATING THAT THAT WHICH APPEARS THE EARTHLY PARADISE MAY PROVE QUITE ANOTHER SORT OF PLACE V. HOW ONE NOT ACCUSTOMED TO TAKING ANOTHER MAN'S ORDERS RECEIVES THE COMMAND OF THE QUEEN LADY VI. CONCERNING THAT WHICH LAY IN THE EYES OF ZORAIDA VII. OF A GIRL HELD FOR RANSOM AND OF A TOAST DRUNK BY ONE INFATUATED VIII. HOW A MAN MAY CARRY A MESSAGE AND NOT KNOW HIMSELF TO BE A MESSENGER IX. WHICH BEGINS WITH A LITTLE SONG AND ENDS WITH TROUBLE BETWEEN FRIENDS X. IN WHICH A MAN KEEPS HIS WORD AND ZORAIDA DARES AND LAUGHS XI. IN WHICH THERE IS MORE THAN ONE LIE TOLD AND THE TRUTH IS GLIMPSED XII. IN WHICH AN OVERTURE IS MADE, AN ANSWER IS POSTPONED AND A DOOR IS LOCKED XIII. CONCERNING WOMAN'S WILES AND WITCHERY XIV. CONCERNING A DIFFICULT SITUATION, RECKLESSLY INVITED XV. OF THE ANCIENT GARDENS OF THE GOLDEN TEZCUCAN XVI. HOW TWO, IN THE LABYRINTH OF MIRRORS, WATCHED DISTANT HAPPENINGS XVII. HOW ONE WHO HAS EVER COMMANDED MUST LEARN TO OBEY XVIII. OF FLIGHT, PURSUIT AND A LAIR IN THE CLIFFS XIX. HOW ONE WHO HIDES AND WATCHES MAY BE WATCHED BY ONE HIDDEN XX. IN WHICH A ROCK MOVES, A DISCOVERY IS MADE AND MORE THAN ONE AVENUE IS OPENED XXI. HOW ONE RETURNS UNWILLINGLY WHITHER HE WOULD WILLINGLY ENTER BY ANOTHER DOOR XXII. REGARDING A NECKLACE OF PEARLS AND CERTAIN PLANS OF TWO WHO WERE MEANT TO BE ONE DAUGHTER OF THE SUN CHAPTER I IN WHICH A YOUNG AMERICAN KNOWN AS "HEADLONG" PLAYS AT DICE WITH ONE IN MAN'S CLOTHING WHO IS NOT A MAN Jim Kendric had arrived and the border town knew it well. All who knew the man foresaw that he would come with a rush, tarry briefly for a bit of wild joy and leave with a rush for the Lord knew where and the Lord knew why. For such was ever the way of Jim Kendric. A letter at the postoffice had been the means of advising the entire community of the coming of Kendric. The letter was from Bruce West, down in Lower California, and scrawled across the flap were instructions to the postmaster to hold it for Jim Kendric who would arrive within a couple of weeks. Furthermore the word URGENT was not to be overlooked. Among the men drawn together in hourly expectation of the arrival of Kendric, one remarked thoughtfully: "Jim's Mex friend is in town." "Ruiz Rios?" someone asked, a man from the outside. "Been here three days. Just sticking around and doing nothing but smoke cigarettes. Looks like he was waiting." "What for?" "Waiting for Jim, maybe?" was suggested. Two or three laughed at that. In their estimation Ruiz Rios might be the man to knife his way out of a hole, but not one to go out of his way to cross the trail made wide and recklessly by Jim Kendric. "A half hour ago," came the supplementary information from another quarter, "a big automobile going to beat the band pulls up in front of the hotel. The Mex is watching and when a woman climbs down he grabs her traps and steers her into the hotel." Immediately this news bringer was the man of the moment. But he had had scant time to admit that he hadn't seen her face, that she had worn a thick black veil, that somehow she just seemed young and that he'd bet she was too darn pretty to be wasting herself on Rios, when Jim Kendric himself landed in their midst. He was powdered with alkali dust from the soles of his boots to the crown of his black hat and he looked unusually tall because he was unusually gaunt. He had ridden far and hard. But the eyes were the same old eyes of the same old headlong Jim Kendric, on fire on the instant, dancing with the joy of striking hands with the old-timers, shining with the man's supreme joy of life. "I'm no drinking man and you know it," he shouted at them, his voice booming out and down the quiet blistering street. "And I'm no gambling man. I'm steady and sober and I'm a regular fool for conservative investments! But there's a time when a glass in the hand is as pat as eggs in a hen's nest and a man wants to spend his money free! Come on, you bunch of devil-hounds; lead me to it." It was the rollicking arrival which they had counted on since this was the only way Jim Kendric knew of getting back among old friends and old surroundings. There was nothing subtle about him; in all things he was open and forthright and tempestuous. In a man's hardened and buffeted body he had kept the heart of a harum-scarum boy. "It's only a step across the line into Old Town," he reminded them. "And the Mexico gents over there haven't got started reforming yet. Blaze the trail, Benny. Shut up your damned old store and postoffice, Homer, and trot along. It's close to sunset any way; I'll
