"My peon, senors," announced the haciendado, itching to be at him. "You maltreat him."
"And why not?" demanded the Jefe.
"Because he is mine to maltreat, and I wish to do it myself."
The peon crawled and squirmed to the Jefe's feet and begged and entreated not to be given up. But he begged for mercy where was no mercy.
"Certainly, senor," the Jefe said to the haciendado. "We give him back to you. We must uphold the law, and he is your property. Besides, we have no further use for him. Yet is he a most excellent peon, senor. He has done what no peon has ever done in the history of Panama. He has told the truth twice in one day."
His hands tied together in front of him and hitched by a rope to the horn of the overseer's saddle, the peon was towed away on the back-track with a certain ap
