ersett, made up a good
set of judges on our special fitness for the different contests, and we
were finally picked in this order: Enrique Lopez was to rope; Pasquale
Arispe was to ride; to Theodore Quayle fell the chance of handling the
lance, while I, being young and nimble on my feet, was decided on as the
rider in the ten-mile relay race.

In this contest I was fortunate in having the pick of over three hundred
and fifty saddle horses. They were the accumulation of years of the best
that Las Palomas bred, and it was almost bewildering to make the final
selection. But in this I had the benefit of the home judges, and when
the latter differed on the speed of a horse, a trial usually settled the
point. June Deweese proved to be the best judge of the ranch horses, yet
Uncle Lance never yielded his opinion without a test of speed. When the
horses were finally decided on, we staked off a half-mile circular track
on the first bottom of the river, and every evening the horses were sent
over the course. Under the conditions, a contestant was entitled to use
as many horses as he wished, but must change mounts at least twenty
times in riding the ten miles, and must finish under a time limit of
twenty-five minutes. Out of our abundance we decided to use ten mounts,
thus allotting each horse two dashes of a half mile with a rest between.

The horse-breaking ended a few days before the appointed time. Las
Palomas stood on the tiptoe of expectancy over the coming tourney. Even
Miss Jean rode--having a gentle saddle horse caught up for her use, and
taking daily rides about the ranch, to witness the practice, for she was
as deeply interested as any of us in the forthcoming contests. Born to
the soil of Texas, she was a horsewoman of no ordinary ability, and rode
like a veteran. On the appointed day, Las Palomas was abandoned; even
the Mexican contingent joining in the exodus for Shepherd's, and only a
few old servants remaining at the ranch. As usual, Miss Jean started by
ambulance the afternoon before, taking along a horse for her own saddle.
The white element and the vaqueros made an early start, driving a
_remuda_ of thirty loose horses, several of which were outlaws, and a
bell mare. They were the picked horses of the ranch--those which we
expected to use in the contests, and a change of mounts for the entire
outfit on reaching the martial field. We had herded the horses the night
before, and the vaqueros were halfway to the ferr