him by unscrupulous jockeys, by which he was outrageously defrauded of
immense sums.

He was fond of cards, as I have said, both of the purely American game
of poker, and also of old sledge, but rarely played except with personal
friends, and never without stakes. He always exacted the last cent he
had won, though the next morning, perhaps, he would present or loan his
unsuccessful opponent of the night before five hundred or a thousand
dollars, if he needed it; an immensely greater sum, in all probability,
than had been gained in the game.

The kitchen and dining-rooms of his princely establishment were detached
from the main residence. There was one of the latter for the male
portion of his retinue and guests of that sex, and another for the
female, as, in accordance with the severe, and to us strange, Mexican
etiquette, men rarely saw a woman about the premises, though there were
many. Only the quick rustle of a skirt, or a hurried view of a reboso,
as its wearer flashed for an instant before some window or half-open
door, told of their presence.

The greater portion of his table-service was solid silver, and at his
hospitable board there were rarely any vacant chairs. Covers were laid
daily for about thirty persons; for he had always many guests, invited
or forced upon him in consequence of his proverbial munificence, or
by the peculiar location of his manor-house which stood upon a
magnificently shaded plateau at the foot of mighty mountains, a short
distance from a ford on the Old Trail. As there were no bridges over
the uncertain streams of the great overland route in those days, the
ponderous Concord coaches, with their ever-full burden of passengers,
were frequently water-bound, and Maxwell's the only asylum from the
storm and flood; consequently he entertained many.

At all times, and in all seasons, the group of buildings, houses,
stables, mill, store, and their surrounding grounds, were a constant
resort and loafing-place of Indians. From the superannuated chiefs, who
revelled lazily during the sunny hours in the shady peacefulness of the
broad porches; the young men of the tribe, who gazed with covetous eyes
upon the sleek-skinned, blooded colts sporting in the spacious corrals;
the squaws, fascinated by the gaudy calicoes, bright ribbons, and
glittering strings of beads on the counters or shelves of the large
store, to the half-naked, chubby little pappooses around the kitchen
doors, waiting with expec