Jose will have the senorita yet for his bride, just as the saints have desired since they played together in the patio and I watched them that they did not run into the corrals to be kicked in the head, perchance, by the mustangs we had there.

Jose, I tell you, has loved her too long to stand now with the sombrero in hand while that arrogant hombre steals her away.

When the shoulder is well--and truly, it was near broken--and when they meet at the rodeo, then you shall see what will happen to your new gringo friend." Valencia did not quarrel with Manuel.

He merely listened and smiled his startlingly sunny smile, and afterwards repeated Manuel's words almost verbatim to Jack.

Later, he recounted as much as he considered politic to Don Andres himself, just to show how bitter Manuel had become and how unjust.