ir relations to one another, was not to be
measured by the conventions or limited standards of a tamer race of men
hedged about by superficial traditions and born and reared remote from
the heart of nature beneath the roofs of houses. It was the cold, hard
earth and equally cold and unrelenting stars that had nurtured Chiquita
from earliest childhood, and to apply the petty restraints and
conventions of modern society to her was like clipping the wings of an
eagle and then expecting it to fly.

Ordinarily, life is dull enough without civilized man's efforts to
reduce it to positive boredom, and although Chiquita's escapades had
acted like a slap in the face, they had nevertheless done much to arouse
the spirit of the otherwise sleepy old town. Her presence was fresh and
invigorating as the north wind. Moreover, the very ones who criticised
her most in secret, were usually the first to come to her for advice
when in trouble. For who was so wise as the strange, beautiful woman?

True, it cost something to be hated as cordially as one was admired,
nevertheless, Padre Antonio rightly conjectured that there was not a
woman in Santa Fe who would not willingly exchange places with his ward
were she able to. So, like the sensible man that he was, he only smiled
at idle gossip and continued to watch with increasing interest the
transformation of his protegee.

VI

Captain Forest had taken quarters at the _Posada_ for an indefinite
period; at least until he learned the whereabouts of his friend, Dick
Yankton, who had accompanied him on his former expeditions.

He had been aroused at an early hour by the cackling of affrighted fowl
and the voices and footsteps of _peons_ as they came and went in the
_patio_, their jests and laughter mingling with snatches of song. Not
being able to sleep, he arose, and after a hasty toilet, stepped out
upon the veranda, bright with the morning sunlight. Save for his
presence, the place was deserted; the empty chairs standing about just
as their occupants of the previous evening had left them, a proof that
he was the first of the guests to be abroad.

"I wonder where Dick is?" he soliloquized, leisurely descending the
veranda steps and turning into the pathway that led to the garden at the
rear of the house and thence to the corrals, whither he directed his
steps for a look at his horse to see whether he had been properly cared
for during the night. As he disappeared around the corner