e
fiesta and the prize that was offered, and the reiteration that it was
but sport.

One should picture the whole valley for the background; a sunken
paradise of greenery, splotched with color, made alive with bird-songs
and racing cloud-shadows on the grass; with the wooded slopes of the
Santa Cruz mountains closing in upon the west and sheltering it from the
sweeping winds from off the ocean, and the grassy hills rising high and
rugged on the east, giving rich pasturage to the cattle and all the wild
things that fed there.

When it was complete--that picture--then might one weep to be there in
the midst of it all! For there would be much laughter, and the
love-making would make young pulses beat fast to think upon. There would
be dancing, and the tinkle of guitars and mandolins, and a harp or two
to beat a harmonious surf-song beneath the waves of melody. There would
be feasting, with whole beeves roasted over pits which the peons were
already digging in their dreams; with casks of wine from the don's own
vineyard to wash down the juicy morsels. There would be all that
throughout one long, moonlit night, with the day of sports to think back
upon. And through the night they would talk of the duelo riata between
two men who loved one little senorita who laughed much and cared little,
said certain wise senoras, and nodded their heads while they said it.

What if some hearts were bitter over the prospect? From Santa Barbara,
even, were they coming to the fiesta! (Gustavo had the news from a peon
who came straight through from Paso Robles on an errand for his master.)

What if Dade, thinking and thinking until his brain was dizzy, lay long
hours awake in his blankets and stared up at the star-sprinkle in the
purple night-sky, trying to find a path that would lead to peace? The
senorita lay awake also, thinking smilingly that she had nearly finished
the embroidery upon the bodice she meant to wear, and that the pretty
senora had promised to do her black hair in a new and wonderful way that
should smart with envy the eyes of all the other senoritas when they
saw; and that the senora her mother had reluctantly promised that she
should wear the gold chain with the rubies glowing along every little
thumb-length of it; thinking also, perhaps, of how she had made the
Senor Jack's eyes grow dark and then flash anger-lights, when she
taunted him again about going to the wise old woman at the Mission San
Jose for a charm to make