im was that he was a lovable vagabond. From the last letter, it was
clear that he had promised to marry the girl during the Christmas week
just past, but he had asked for a postponement on the ground that the
drouth had prevented him from selling his beeves.

When Uncle Lance made the discovery, during a cow hunt the fall before,
of the correspondence between Scales and the Florida girl, he said to us
around the camp-fire that night: "Well, all I've got to say is that that
girl down in Florida is hard up. Why, it's entirely contrary to a girl's
nature to want to be wooed by letter. Until the leopard changes his
spots, the good old way, of putting your arm around the girl and
whispering that you love her, will continue to be popular. If I was to
hazard an opinion about that girl, Aaron, I'd say that she was ambitious
to rise above her surroundings. The chances are that she wants to get
away from home, and possibly she's as much displeased with the young men
in the orange country as I sometimes get with you dodrotted cow hands.
Now, I'm not one of those people who're always harping about the youth
of his day and generation being so much better than the present. That's
all humbug. But what does get me is, that you youngsters don't profit
more by the experience of an old man like me who's been married three
times. Line upon line and precept upon precept, I have preached this
thing to my boys for the last ten years, and what has it amounted to?
Not a single white bride has ever been brought to Las Palomas. They
can call me a matchmaker if they want to, but the evidence is to the
contrary." This was on the night after we passed Shepherd's, where
Scales had received a letter from the Florida girl. But why he should
accompany the hunt now to Remirena, unless the old ranchero proposed
reforming him, was too deep a problem for me.

On leaving for Wilson's, there was the usual bustle; hounds responding
to the horn and horses under saddle champing their bits. I had hoped
that permission to go over to the Frio and San Miguel would be given
John and myself, but my employer's mind was too absorbed in something
else, and we were overlooked in the hurry to get away. Since the
quarrying of the rock had commenced, my work had been overseeing the
native help, of which we had some fifteen cutting and hauling. In
numerous places within a mile of headquarters, a soft porous rock
cropped out. By using a crowbar with a tempered chisel point, th