tness of the ceremony,
having a better view of it than most of the spectators, from being the
head and shoulders taller than any. Need we say this towering personage
was the big Tejano? Cris looked on delightedly, proud of his comrade
and _protege_, with the beautiful bride he had won and was wedding. For
all it failed to shake his own faith in single blessedness. In his eyes
there was no bride so beautiful as the "Land of the Lone Star," no wife
so dear as its wild "purairas." And to them after a time he returned,
oft around the camp-fire entertaining his companions of the chase with
an account of his adventures in the Mexican valley--how he had there
figured in the various roles of jail-bird, scavenger, friar, and last of
all as one of the Free Lances.

THE END.

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