It was Reinaldo’s turn to look black, but he devoted himself ostentatiously to Prudencia, who beamed like a child with a stick of candy.  Chonita rode between Don Juan de la Borrasca and Adan.  Her face was calm, but it occurred to me that she was growing careless of her sovereignty, for her manner was abstracted and indifferent; she seemed to have discarded those little coquetries which had sat so gracefully upon her.  Still, as long as she concealed the light of her mind under a bushel, her beauty and Lorleian fascination would draw men to her feet and keep them there.  Every man but Estenega and Alvarado was as gay of color as the wild flowers had been, and the girls, as they cantered, looked like full-blown roses.  Chonita wore a dark-blue gown and reboso of thin silk, which became her fairness marvelously well.

“Dona Chonita, light of my eyes,” said Don Juan, “thou art not wont to be so quiet when I am by thee.”

“Thou usually hast enough to say for two.”

“Ay, thou canst appreciate the art of speech.  Hast thou ever known any one who could converse with lighter ease than I and thy brother?”

“I never have heard any one use more words.”

“Ay! they roll from my tongue—­and from Reinaldo’s—­like wheels downhill.”

She turned to Adan:  “They will be happy, you think,—­Reinaldo and Prudencia?”

“Ay!”

“What a beautiful wedding, no?”

“Ay!”

“Life is always the same with thee, I suppose,—­smoking, riding, swinging in the hammock?”

“Ay!”

“Thou wouldst not exchange thy life for another?  Thou dost not wish to travel?”

“No,—­sure.”

She wheeled suddenly and galloped over to her father and Alvarado, her caballeros staring helplessly after her.

When we arrived at the rancho the bullocks were already swinging in the pits, the smell of roast meat was in the air.  We dismounted, throwing our bridles to the vaqueros in waiting; and while Indian servants spread the table, the girls joined hands and danced about the pit, throwing flowers upon the bullocks, singing and laughing.  The men watched them, or amused themselves in various ways,—­some with cockfights and impromptu races; others began at once to gamble on a large flat stone; a group stood about a greased pole and jeered at two rival vaqueros endeavoring to mount it for the sake of the gold piece on the top.  One buried a rooster in the ground, leaving its head alone exposed; others, mounting their horses, dashed by at full speed, snatching at the head as they passed.  Reinaldo distinguished himself by twisting it off with facile wrist while urging his horse to the swiftness of the east wind.

“I am going to dare more than Californian has ever dared before,” said Estenega to me, as we gathered at length about the table-cloth.  “I am going to get Dona Chonita off by herself in that little canon and have a talk with her.  Now, do you stand guard.”