The clothes that Josné had made for her fitted Skye extremely well. She twisted and turned in front of the silver framed mirror for a better view of herself and was forced to admit that not even an English tailor could have succeeded better.

The calf-skin boots that he had provided were a little big, but not enough to be uncomfortable. Skye gave Neengai four dollars on top of the price asked for them by their owner.

When she handed the Indian girl the green dollar bills, she thought to herself that this was the first time her money had had any purchasing power since she came to the camp and yet because of it there had been misery, pain, torture and death.

She was often haunted by the thought of Yokseyi with his bloodstained back and it still made her feel sick when she thought of Pedro slumping dead on top of her in the cave, while the sound of the shot from El Diablo’s gun echoed and re-echoed deafeningly in her ears.

So much misery, a man’s life had been lost, and yet she had not parted with one penny.

She thought then that she hated her money. She had never really wanted it and indeed the news of her inheritance had given her more a sense of apprehension than of pleasure. Now she was sure in her own heart that money was a curse.

What had it brought her that she actually wanted? Clothes, jewels and parties and they had always been foreign to her nature.

She had wanted liberty and freedom, but her yacht had brought her only to Mariposa and there she had fallen into the clutches of El Diablo. Perhaps the poor were to be envied, not the rich!

She awoke from her reverie to find that Neengai was waiting for her to finish dressing and that time was passing.

“My green scarf, Neengai,” Skye said and wound it round her neck.

Another scarf of almost the same colour was bound round her head, hiding her fair hair. Knotted over one ear, it gave her the jaunty irresponsible air of a very young pirate.

On top of the handkerchief she set the hat that Josné had brought with the black bombachas and the short jacket. It was of black stiffened leather with a low crown and wide brim and had a strap that fastened under the chin. Skye remembered seeing the grooms of the Argentine polo team wear exactly the same type of hat at Hurlingham Club and she smiled as she set it on her head.