ed because he
knew the most wonderful stories and was always willing to tell them.

There were field-workers, and wood-cutters, and even fishermen. The huts
where they all lived were huddled together like a little village, and
the village, and the country for miles and miles around, and the big
house, and the little chapel beside it, and the schoolhouse, and
everything else on that great hacienda, belonged to Senor Fernandez.

It almost seemed as if the workers all belonged to Senor Fernandez, too,
for they had to do just what he told them to, and there was no other
place for them to go and nothing else for them to do if they had wanted
ever so much to change.

All the people, big and little, loved the fiesta of San Ramon. They
thought the priest's blessing would cause the hens to lay more eggs, and
the cows to give more milk, and that it would keep all the creatures
well and strong.

Though it was a feast day, most of the men had gone away from their
homes early, when Pancho did; but the women and children in all the
little cabins were busy as bees, getting themselves and their animals
ready to go in procession to the place where the priest was to bless
them.

As soon as breakfast was eaten, Dona Teresa said to Tonio: "Go now, my
Tonio, and make Tonto beautiful! His coat is rough and full of burs, and
he will make a very poor figure to show the priest unless you give him a
good brushing. Only be careful of his hind legs. You know Tonto is
sometimes very wild with his hind legs. It is strange to me that his
front ones should be so much more tame, but it seems to be the nature of
the poor creature."

[Illustration]

Tonio went to Tonto's shed and brought him out and tied him to a tree.
Then he brushed his coat and took out the burs, and braided the end of
his tail, and even made a wreath of green leaves and hung it over his
left ear. And Tonto seemed to know that it was San Ramon's Day, for he
never kicked at all, and brayed only once, when Tonio pulled a very
large bur out of his ear.

II

While Tonio was making Tonto beautiful, Tita swept the ground under the
fig tree and sprinkled it with water, and washed and put away the few
dishes they had used.

Her mother was very busy meanwhile, grinding the corn for tortillas. You
see, every single meal they had tortillas. It was their bread, and their
meat too, most of the time, so it would never do to miss getting the
corn ground, not even if it were the great