“But if I win—­”

“You want to know if I am in a position to support you all for one year if I lose?  I am.  There are cattle enough on the ranch to guarantee that.”

“Well, while these little adventures are interesting, Mr. Farrel, the fact is I’ve always made it a rule not to gamble.”

“Listen to the hypocrite!” his wife almost shouted.  “Gambled every day of his life for twenty-five years on the New York Stock Exchange, and now he has the effrontery to make a statement like that!  John Parker, roll them bones!”

“Not to-day,” he protested.  “This isn’t my lucky day.”

“Well, it’s mine,” the good soul retorted.  “Miguel—­you’ll pardon my calling you by your first name:  Miguel, but since I was bound to do so sooner or later, we’ll start now—­Miguel, I’m in charge of the domestic affairs of the Parker family, and I’ve never known a time when this poor tired old business man didn’t honor my debts.  Roll ’em, Mike, and test your luck.”

“Mother!” Kay murmured reproachfully.

“Nonsense, dear!  Miguel is the most natural gentleman, the first regular young man I’ve met in years.  I’m for him, and I want him to know it.  Are you for me, Miguel?”

“All the way!” Don Mike cried happily,

“There!” the curious woman declared triumphantly.  “I knew we were going to be good friends.  What do I see before me?  As I live, a pair of box cars.”

“Mother, where did you learn such slang?” her daughter pleaded.

“From the men your non-gambling father used to bring home to play poker and shoot craps,” she almost shouted.  “Well, let us see if I can roll two sixes and tie the score.  I can!  What’s more, I do!  Miguel, are these dice college-bred?  Ah!  Old Lady Parker rolls a wretched little pair of bull’s-eyes!”

Don Miguel took the dice and rolled—­a pair of deuces.

“I’m going to make big money operating a boarding-house,” he informed the lady.

“‘Landlord, fill the flowing bowl until it doth flow over,’” she sang gaily.  “John, you owe Miguel twelve thousand dollars, payable at the rate of one thousand dollars a month for twelve months.  Have your lawyer in El Toro draw the lease this afternoon.”

Parker glanced at her with a broad hint of belligerence in his keen gray eyes.

“My dear,” he rasped, “I wish you would take me seriously once in a while.  For twenty-five years I’ve tried to keep step with you, and I’ve failed.  One of these bright days I’m going to strike.”

“I recall three occasions when you went on strike, John, and refused to accept my orders,” the mischievous woman retorted sweetly.  “At the conclusion of the strike, you couldn’t go back to work.  Miguel, three separate times that man has declined to cease money-making long enough to play, although I begged him with tears in my eyes.  And I’m not the crying kind, either.  And every time he disobeyed, he blew up.  Miguel, he came home to me as hysterical as a high-school girl, wept on my shoulder, said he’d kill himself if he couldn’t get more sleep, and then surrendered and permitted me to take him away for six months.  Strange to relate, his business got along very nicely without him.  Am I not right, Kay?”