e barn. From the
accoutrement in this room he also selected the most pretentious-looking
saddle. It was a heavy stock saddle, with German silver mountings and
saddle bags covered with black bear fur. A small red and black Navajo
blanket served as a saddle pad and he found a fine Navajo bridle, too,
woven of black horsehair, with a big hand-hammered silver buckle on each
cheek.

He had the old Mexican who acted as caretaker for the ranch drive all of
the ranch horses into the corral, and chose a spirited roan mare for a
saddle animal. He always rode a roan horse when he could get one because a
roan mustang has more spirit than one of any other colour.

The most modern part of his equipment was his weapon. He did not want to
carry one openly, so he had purchased a small but highly efficient
automatic pistol, which he wore in a shoulder scabbard inside his shirt
and under his left elbow.

When his preparations were completed he rode straight to the town of
Alfego where the powerful Solomon had his establishment, dismounted under
the big cottonwoods and strolled into the long, dark cluttered _adobe_
room which was Solomon Alfego's store. Three or four Mexican clerks were
waiting upon as many Mexican customers, with much polite, low-voiced
conversation, punctuated by long silences while the customers turned the
goods over and over in their hands. Ramon's entrance created a slight
diversion. None of them knew him, for he had not been in that country for
years, but all of them recognized that he was a person of weight and
importance. He saluted all at once, lifting his hat, with a cordial "_Como
lo va, amigos_," and then devoted himself to an apparently interested
inspection of the stock. This, if conscientiously done, would have
afforded a week's occupation, for Solomon Alfego served as sole merchant
for a large territory and had to be prepared to supply almost every human
want. There were shelves of dry goods and of hardware, of tobacco and of
medicines. In the centre of the store was a long rack, heavily laden with
saddlery and harness of all kinds, and all around the top of the room,
above the shelves, ran a row of religious pictures, including popes,
saints, and cardinals, Mary with the infant, Christ crucified and Christ
bearing the cross, all done in bright colours and framed, for sale at
about three dollars each.

It was not long before word of the stranger's arrival reached Alfego in
his little office behind the s