"Of course she loved you?"

"Ah! that truly did she--else why should she have consented to marry me?
What was I? A poor _cibolero_--at times a hunter and trapper of
beavers, just as I am now? I was possessed of nothing but my horse and
traps; whiles he--_Carrambo! senor_, proud _ricos_ pretended to her
hand!"

It is possible that my countenance may have expressed incredulity. It
was difficult to conceive how the diminutive Mexican--as he appeared
just then in my eyes--could have won the love of such a grand belle as
he was describing Gabriella to be. Still was he not altogether
unhandsome; and in earlier life--before his great misfortune had
befallen him--he might have been gifted with some personal graces. High
qualities, I had heard of his possessing--among others courage beyond
question or suspicion; and in those frontier regions--accursed by the
continual encroachment of Indian warfare, and where human life is every
day in danger--that is a quality of the first class--esteemed by all,
but by none more than those who stand most in need of protection--the
women. Often there as elsewhere--more often than elsewhere--does
courage take precedence of mere personal appearance, and boldness wins
the smile of beauty. It was possible that the possession of this
quality on the part of Pedro Archilete had influenced the heart of the
fair Gabriella. This might explain her preference.

The Mexican must have partially divined my thoughts, as was proved by
the speech that followed. "Yes, _amigo_! more than one rich
_haciendado_ would have been only too happy to have married Gabriella;
and yet she consented to become my wife, though I was just as I am now.
May be a little better looking than at this time; though I can't say
that I ever passed for an Apollo. No--no--_senor_. It was not my good
looks that won the heart of the girl."

"Your good qualities?"

"Not much to boast of, _cavallero_. True, in my youth, I had the name
of being the best horseman in our village--the best _rastreador_--the
most skilful trapper. I could `tail the bull,' `run the cock,' and pick
up a girl's ribbon at full gallop--perhaps a little more adroitly than
my competitors; but I think it was something else that first gained me
the young girl's esteem. I had the good fortune once to save her life--
when, by her own imprudence, she had gone out too far from the village,
and was attacked by a grizzly bear. _Ay de mi_! It mattered not.