Tarancalous Creek ran almost due east, and rancho Santa Maria was located near its source, depending more on its wells for water supply than on the stream which only flowed for a few months during the year.  Where the watering facilities were so limited the rodeo was an easy matter.  A number of small round-ups at each established watering point, a swift cutting out of everything bearing the Las Palomas brand, and we moved on to the next rodeo, for we had an abundance of help at Santa Maria.  The work was finished by the middle of the afternoon.  After sending, under five or six men, our cut of several hundred cattle westward on our course, our outfit rode into rancho Santa Maria proper to pay our respects.  Our wagon had provided an abundant dinner for our assistants and ourselves; but it would have been, in Mexican etiquette, extremely rude on our part not to visit the rancho and partake of a cup of coffee and a cigarette, thanking the ranchero on parting for his kindness in granting us the rodeo.

So when the last round-up was reached, Don Mateo and Uncle Lance turned the work over to their corporals, and in advance rode up to Santa Maria.  The vaqueros of our ranch were anxious to visit the rancho, so it devolved on the white element to take charge of the cut.  Being a stranger to Santa Maria, I was allowed to accompany our segundo, June Deweese, on an introductory visit.  On arriving at the rancho, the vaqueros scattered among the jacals of their amigos, while June and myself were welcomed at the casa primero.  There we found Uncle Lance partaking of refreshment, and smoking a cigarette as though he had been born a Senor Don of some ruling hacienda.  June and I were seated at another table, where we were served with coffee, wafers, and home-made cigarettes.  This was perfectly in order, but I could hardly control myself over the extravagant Spanish our employer was using in expressing the amity existing between Santa Maria and Las Palomas.  In ordinary conversation, such as cattle and ranch affairs, Uncle Lance had a good command of Spanish; but on social and delicate topics some of his efforts were ridiculous in the extreme.  He was well aware of his shortcomings, and frequently appealed to me to assist him.  As a boy my playmates had been Mexican children, so that I not only spoke Spanish fluently but could also readily read and write it.  So it was no surprise to me that, before taking our departure, my employer should command my services as an interpreter in driving an entering wedge.  He was particular to have me assure our host and hostess of his high regard for them, and his hope that in the future even more friendly relations might exist between the two ranches.  Had Santa Maria no young cavalier for the hand of some daughter of Las Palomas?  Ah! there was the true bond for future friendships.  Well, well, if the soil of this rancho was so impoverished, then the sons of Las Palomas must take the bit in their teeth and come courting to Santa Maria.  And let Dona Gregoria look well to her daughters, for the young men of Las Palomas, true to their race, were not only handsome fellows but ardent lovers, and would be hard to refuse.