Simpson had so
calmly appropriated to his own use.

"He is honest," Don Andres asserted more than once on the ride home,
perhaps in self-justification for his soft dealing. "He is honest;
and when he sees that the land is mine, he will pay; or if he does
not pay, he will go--and tilled acres and a cabin will not harm me.
Valencia, if he marries the daughter of Carlos (as the senora says
will come to pass), will be glad to have a cabin to live in apart from
the mother of his wife, who is a shrew and will be disquieting in any
man's household. Therefore, Senor Hunter, you may order the peons to
assist the big hombre and his beautiful senora, that they may soon
have a hut to shelter them from the rains. It is not good to see so
gentle a woman endure hardship within my boundary. Many tules, they
will need," he added after a minute, "and it is unlikely that the
Senor Seem'son understands the making of a thatch. Diego and Juan are
skillful; and the tules they lay upon a roof will let no drop of rain
fall within the room. Order them to assist."

"I shall tell Margarita to bake many little cakes," cried Teresita,
riding up between her father and Dade, that she might assist in the
planning. "And madre mia will give me coffee and sugar for the pretty
senora. So soft is her voice, like one of my pigeons! And her hair is
more beautiful than the golden hair of our Blessed Lady at Dolores.
Oh, if the Blessed Virgin would make me as beautiful as she, and as
gentle, I should--I should finish the altar cloth immediately, which I
began two years ago!"

"Thou art well enough as thou art," comforted her father, trying
to hide his pride in her under frowning brows, and to sterilize the
praise with a tone of belittlement.

"I love that pretty senora," sighed Teresita, turning in the saddle to
glance wistfully back at the meager little camp. "She shall have the
black puppy Rosa gave me when last I was at the Mission San Jose. But
I hope," she added plaintively, like the child she was at heart, "she
will make that big, ugly beast they called Tige be kind to her; and
the milk must be warm to the finger when Chico is fed. To-night, Senor
Allen, you shall teach me Americano words that I may say to the senora
what is necessary, for the happiness of my black puppy. I must learn
to say that her name is Chico, and that the milk must be warm to the
finger, and that the big dog must be kind."

CHAPTER XI

AN ILL WIND

A wind rose in t