ee--the vaquero already
alluded to carrying one of them clear, and laying it at the feet of his
smiling sweetheart.

A new thought seemed now to have entered the mind of Carlos, and he was
seen riding into the lists, evidently about to take part in the next
race.

"It will be some time before I can be present at another fiesta,"
remarked he to Don Juan. "Day after to-morrow I start for the plains.
So I'll take all the sport I can out of this one."

An innovation was now introduced in the game. The bird was buried in
the ground; and its long neck and sharp-pointed bill showed that it was
no cock, but a snow-white "gruya," one of the beautiful species of
herons common in these regions. Its fine tapering neck was not soiled
with soap, but left in its natural state. In this case the chances of
failure lay in the fact that, loosely buried as it was, the gruya would
not allow its head to be approached by a hand, but jerked it from side
to side, thus rendering it no easy matter to get hold of it.

The signal being given, away went the string of horsemen! Carlos was
among the last, but on coming up he saw the white bending neck still
there. His hand was too quick for the bird, and the next moment it was
dragged from the yielding sand, and flapping its snowy wings over the
withers of his horse.

It required not only speed on the part of Carlos, but great adroitness,
to pass the crowd of horsemen, who now rushed from all points to
intercept him. Here he dashed forward--there reined up--anon wheeled
round a rider, and passed behind him; and, after a dozen such
manoeuvres, the black horse was seen shooting off towards the
turning-post alone. This passed, he galloped back to the goal, and
holding up his prize, unstained and intact, received the applause of the
spectators.

There was a good deal of guessing and wondering as to who would be the
recipient of the trophy. Some girl of his own rank, conjectured the
crowd; some poblana or ranchero's daughter. The cibolero did not seem
in haste to gratify their curiosity; but, after a few minutes, he
astonished them all, by flinging the gruya into the air, and suffering
it to fly off. The bird rose majestically upward, and then, drawing in
its long neck, was seen winging its way toward the lower end of the
valley.

It was observed that before parting with the bird Carlos had plucked
from its shoulders the long gossamer-like feathers that distinguish the
heron species.