tly. "I have just dreamt that
the shadow of a man came between you and a woman! I can't see their
faces, but they are there!"

"Bah!" returned the Captain, rising to his feet and stretching wide his
arms, preparatory to saddling his horse. "'Tis only the _aguardiente_,
Jose!"

"Ah! do not jest, _Capitan_! Three times have I dreamed this dream--the
shadow comes ever nearer!"

III

The _Fiesta_, the "Feast of the Corn," had been declared, and there was
dancing and feasting, and song and laughter on the lips of men as
Captain Forest and Jose rode into Santa Fe late the following morning
and turned their horses' heads in the direction of the _Posada de las
Estrellas_, the Inn of the Stars, which was situated just outside the
principal entrance to the town.

The low gray adobe walls of the houses fronting directly upon the narrow
winding streets leading to and from the plaza were gay with the blossoms
of the pink and scarlet geranium, honeysuckle, and gorgeous magenta of
the bougainvillea and golden cups of the trumpet-vine.

Pigeons fluttered from the house-tops to the streets, or hovered about
the plaza and bosky _alamedas_ of poplar, pepper and eucalyptus trees in
search of stray grains of corn. Humming-birds and butterflies flashed
their wings and gorgeous plumage in the sunshine as they darted in and
out among the foliage in the _patios_ and gardens at the rear of the
houses, luxuriant with fruit and flowers as was attested by the orange
and lemon, pomegranate and fig trees, heavy with ripening fruit and the
delicately mingled perfume of orange and lemon blossoms, hyacinth,
jasmine and Castilian rose.

Through the center of the town, beneath the walls of the half-ruined
convent, flowed the little river, Santa Maria, at whose banks young
girls and women were wont to wash their linen and beat it out on the
large, smooth stones which lay strewn along the water's edge. The notes
of the wood-dove and oriole mingling with the silvery voice of the
river, fell in rhythmical cadences upon the ears of the inhabitants who
rested in the shady seclusion of their _patios_ and gardens during the
hour of the _siesta_; rolling and smoking _cigarillos_ as they leisurely
discussed the latest bit of news or gossip over their black coffee,
_mescal_ and _tequila_, or engaged in a game of _moles_.

There had been much rain that season, the best of reasons why the people
should give thanks to the heavens and the fields receiv