open court, and into a living-room carpeted with
Navajo rugs, at the end of which was a great open fireplace bearing a
Spanish motto across it.

Large windows, set three feet deep in the thick adobe walls, were filled
with flowers or padded with sofa pillows for seats. One of these his
hostess indicated to the limping man.

"If you will be seated here for the present, sir, your room will be
ready very soon."

A few minutes later the fisherman found himself in a large bedroom. He
was seated in an easy-chair before a crackling fire of _pinon_ knots.

A messenger had been dispatched for a doctor, Senorita Yuste had told
him, and in the meantime he was to make himself quite at home.

CHAPTER IV

AT THE YUSTE HACIENDA

The wrench to the fisherman's knee proved more serious than he had
anticipated. The doctor pronounced it out of the question that he should
be moved for some days at least.

The victim was more than content, because he was very much interested in
the young woman who had been his rescuer, and because it gave him a
chance to observe at first hand the remains of the semifeudal system
that had once obtained in New Mexico and California.

It was easy for him to see that Senorita Maria Yuste was still
considered by her dependents as a superior being, one far removed from
them by the divinity of caste that hedged her in. They gave her service;
and she, on her part, looked out for their needs, and was the patron
saint to whom they brought all their troubles.

It was an indolent, happy life the peons on the estate led, patriarchal
in its nature, and far removed from the throb of the money-mad world.
They had enough to eat and to wear. There was a roof over their heads.
There were girls to be loved, dances to be danced, and guitars to be
strummed. Wherefore, then, should the young men feel the spur of an
ambition to take the world by the throat and wring success from it?

It had been more years than he could remember since this young American
had taken a real holiday except for an occasional fishing trip on the
Gunnison or into Wyoming. He had lived a life of activity. Now for the
first time he learned how to be lazy. To dawdle indolently on one of the
broad porches, while Miss Yuste sat beside him and busied herself over
some needlework, was a sensuous delight that filled him with content. He
felt that he would like to bask there in the warm sunshine forever.
After all, why should he pursue wealth