e
Mexicans easily channeled the rock into blocks, eighteen by thirty
inches, splitting each stone a foot in thickness, so that when hauled to
the place of use, each piece was ready to lay up in the wall. The ranch
house at headquarters was built out of this rock, and where permanency
was required, it was the best material available, whitening and
apparently becoming firmer with time and exposure.

I had not seen my sweetheart in nearly a month, but there I was, chained
to a rock quarry and mule teams. The very idea of Gallup and the
profligate Scales riding to hounds and basking in the society of
charming girls nettled me. The remainder of the ranch outfit was under
Deweese, building the new corrals, so that I never heard my own tongue
spoken except at meals and about the house. My orders included the
cutting of a few hundred rock extra above the needs of the chapel, and
when this got noised among the help, I had to explain that there was
some talk of building a stone cottage, and intimated that it was for
Juana and Fidel. But that lucky rascal was one of the crew cutting rock,
and from some source or other he had learned that I was liable to need
a cottage at Las Palomas in the near future. The fact that I was acting
_segundo_ over the quarrying outfit, was taken advantage of by Fidel
to clear his skirts and charge the extra rock to my matrimonial
expectations. He was a fast workman, and on every stone he split from
the mother ledge, he sang out, "Otro piedra por Don Tomas!" And within a
few minutes' time some one else would cry out, "Otro cillar por Fidel y
Juana," or "Otro piedra por padre Norquin."

A week passed and there was no return of the hunters. We had so
systematized our work at the quarry that my presence was hardly needed,
so every evening I urged Cotton to sound the mistress for permission
to visit our sweethearts. John was a good-natured fellow who could be
easily led or pushed forward, and I had come to look upon Miss Jean as
a ready supporter of any of her brother's projects. For that reason her
permission was as good as the master's; but she parried all Cotton's
hints, pleading the neglect of our work in the absence of her brother.
I was disgusted with the monotony of quarry work, and likewise was John
over building corrals, as no cow hand ever enthuses over manual labor,
when an incident occurred which afforded the opportunity desired. The
mistress needed some small article from the store at Shepher