invincible spirits. I was glad
I had said nothing of my visit to Carquinez Springs and of seeing his
wife; I determined to avoid it as long as possible; and as he did not
again refer to her, except in the past, it was not difficult. At last
he infected me with his extravagance, and for a while I forgot even the
strangeness of his conduct and his confidences. We walked and talked
together as of old. I understood and enjoyed him perfectly, and it
was not strange that in the end I began to believe that this strange
revelation was a bit of his extravagant acting, got up to amuse me. The
coincidence of his story with my own experience was not, after all,
such a wonderful thing, considering what must have been the nervous
and mental disturbance produced by the earthquake. We dined together,
attended only by Pedro, an old half-caste body-servant. It was easy to
see that the household was carried on economically, and, from a word
or two casually dropped by Enriquez, it appeared that the rancho and
a small sum of money were all that he retained from his former fortune
when he left the El Bolero. The stock he kept intact, refusing to take
the dividend upon it until that collapse of the company should occur
which he confidently predicted, when he would make good the swindled
stockholders. I had no reason to doubt his perfect faith in this.

The next morning we were up early for a breezy gallop over the three
square miles of Enriquez's estate. I was astounded, when I descended to
the patio, to find Enriquez already mounted, and carrying before him,
astride of the horn of his saddle, a small child,--the identical papoose
of my memorable first visit. But the boy was no longer swathed and
bandaged, although, for security, his plump little body was engirt by
the same sash that encircled his father's own waist. I felt a stirring
of self-reproach; I had forgotten all about him! To my suggestion
that the exercise might be fatiguing to him, Enriquez shrugged his
shoulders:--

"Believe me, no! He is ever with me when I go on the pasear. He is not
too yonge. For he shall learn 'to rride, to shoot, and to speak the
truth,' even as the Persian chile. Eet ees all I can gif to him."

Nevertheless, I think the boy enjoyed it, and I knew he was safe with
such an accomplished horseman as his father. Indeed, it was a fine sight
to see them both careering over the broad plain, Enriquez with jingling
spurs and whirling riata, and the boy, with a fac