a word but took the outfit.  As it was late in the day when the delivery was made, the double outfit remained in the same camp that night, and with the best wishes, bade each other farewell in the morning.  Nearly a month had passed since Deweese and I had left Las Palomas for the Rio San Juan, and, returning with the herd, had met our own outfit at the Rio Grande.  During the interim, before the ranch outfit had started, the long-talked-of tournament on the Nueces had finally been arranged.  The date had been set for the fifth of June, and of all the home news which the outfit brought down to the Rio Grande, none was as welcome as this.  According to the programme, the contests were to include riding, roping, relay races, and handling the lance.  Several of us had never witnessed a tournament; but as far as roping and riding were concerned, we all considered ourselves past masters of the arts.  The relay races were simple enough, and Dan Happersett volunteered this explanation of a lance contest to those of us who were uninitiated:—­

“Well,” said Dan, while we were riding home from the Ganso, “a straight track is laid off about two hundred yards long.  About every forty yards there is a post set up along the line with an arm reaching out over the track.  From this there is suspended an iron ring about two inches in diameter.  The contestant is armed with a wooden lance of regulation length, and as he rides down this track at full speed and within a time limit, he is to impale as many of these rings as possible.  Each contestant is entitled to three trials and the one impaling the most rings is declared the victor.  That’s about all there is to it, except the award.  The festivities, of course, close with a dance, in which the winner crowns the Queen of the ball.  That’s the reason the girls always take such an interest in the lancing, because the winner has the choosing of his Queen.  I won it once, over on the Trinity, and chose a little cripple girl.  Had to do it or leave the country, for it was looked upon as an engagement to marry.  Oh, I tell you, if a girl is sweet on a fellow, it’s a mighty strong card to play.”

Before starting for the Rio Grande, the old ranchero had worked our horse stock, forming fourteen new manadas, so that on our return about the only work which could command our attention was the breaking of more saddle horses.  We had gentled two hundred the spring before, and breaking a hundred and fifty now, together with the old remudas, would give Las Palomas fully five hundred saddle horses.  The ranch had the geldings, the men had time, and there was no good excuse for not gentling more horses.  So after a few days’ rest the oldest and heaviest geldings were gathered and we then settled down to routine horse work.  But not even this exciting employment could keep the coming tournament from our minds.  Within a week after returning to the ranch, we laid off a lancing course, and during every spare hour the knights of Las Palomas might be seen galloping over the course, practicing.  I tried using the lance several times, only to find that it was not as easy as it looked, and I finally gave up the idea of lancing honors, and turned my attention to the relay races.