The girl had looked at him as scornfully as the rest, but there had been his sense that there was someone behind her mask who did not belong in that company and now, as he ran swiftly, sure that the woman was Lola, it mastered him and summoned up his chivalry.
Before Stone reached him the tall musician stooped and kissed her full on the lips. Then he drew back with a volley of foul oaths. She had made her teeth meet in his lips. He flung her away against the adobe wall and struck at her fiercely as she shrank with a wild cry of fear.
Stone caught the descending arm on his own and Padilla whirled.
"Que quieres?" he shouted. "A Gringo lover?" His blow came with his words. Stone ducked it. As he countered he heard a commotion back of them in the alley. The girl had fled. A fist grazed his cheek and then his own got home. The Mexican dropped like a pole-axed ox.
