ion, the ranch was set in
order for an occasion of more than ordinary moment. Fidel and Juana were
impatient to be married, and the master and mistress had decided that
the ceremony should be performed the day after the dedication, and all
the guests of the ranch should remain for the festivities. The padre,
still in command, dispatched a vaquero to the Mission, announcing the
completion of the chapel, and asking for a brother priest to bring out
certain vestments and assist in the dedicatory exercises. The Indian
scare was subsiding, and as no word had come from the rangers confidence
grew that the worst was over, so we scattered in every direction
inviting guests. From the Booths on the Frio to the Wilsons of Ramirena,
and along the home river as far as Lagarto, our friends were bidden in
the name of the master and mistress of Las Palomas.

On my return from taking the invitations to the ranches north, the
chapel was just receiving the finishing touches. The cross crowning the
front glistened in fresh paint, while on the interior walls shone cheap
lithographs of the Madonna and Christ. The old padre, proud and jealous
as a bridegroom over his bride, directed the young friar here and there,
himself standing aloof and studying with an artist's eye every effect
in color and drapery. The only discordant note in the interior was the
rough benches, in the building of which Father Norquin himself had
worked, thus following, as he repeatedly admonished us, in the footsteps
of his Master, the carpenter of Galilee.

The ceremony of dedication was to be followed by mass at high noon. Don
Mateo Gonzales of Santa Maria sent his regrets, as did likewise Don
Alejandro Travino of the Mission, but the other invited guests came
early and stayed late. The women and children of the outlying ranchitas
had not yet returned to their homes, and with our invited guests made an
assembly of nearly a hundred and fifty persons. Unexpectedly, and within
two hours of the appointed time for the service to commence, a cavalcade
was sighted approaching the ranch from the west. As they turned in
towards headquarters, some one recognized the horses, and a shout of
welcome greeted our ranger guests of over two weeks before. Uncle Lance
met them as if they had been expected, and invited the lieutenant and
his men to dismount and remain a few days as guests of Las Palomas. When
they urged the importance of continuing on their journey to report to
the gove