New-York tribune., 1903-04-08

veranda, grunting loudly every time he passed MS
daughters window Although the day was not
the window was nailed into the easement six inches
massive efe Back a to the nos & e9 sad
'Bueno, has thou come to thy senses? Wilt thou
men cry, Dios de mi almaT and dig their spurs
into their horses, that they may get away the
IN p od ufu f t6o and kHes before ths @ tId
bread and water?'
There, was no reply, and, his back ached. he
resumed his tramp with a snort.
The magnificent leagues of the Rancho del Fuego
were mortsaged to an American. Other possessions
fornia by he United States rancho had been been
@ eoio IN tne year OF the great drouth to pay AmeT1-
the political ambitions of the only Of the house;
prising immigrant from '-Deown East" who smoked
his pipe in the face Of the don and of the amiabe
satia5e demands of the family politician had forced
e 9io Of qon 6 to TO young american the
on which stood the house his father had built in
the of priests and Indians Don Ygnacio had
never seen John Conquest, the who threatened
him with penury. He was friend of his son,
net him once during brief visit to San Francisco.
Refore the night AT the Sss6n an I W6en ba Tanced
five times with Delfna Garlic Conquest had turned
large loan might with profit be advanced upon the
Rancho del Fuego CONQUEST was trader with the
Street Hi He had bronebt o1eI M 1usT tn fb on LAY
city, and built it into fortune. He was not dis
posed to sink any Of it IN ranches that would not
ertheless, Immediately after the ball he offered
to advance the money at a less exorbitant
and the old don was wheedled into putting his name
to papers which he vaguely understood. 4 week
later Conquest wrote and asked him formally for
the hand of his daughter. Delfina, who had liked
entertained at the in which he had knocked
down no less than four couples who had not learned
and businesske % for for lover and refused him with
had all the naughty contempt of the old aristocrat
for what he regarded as the nation of night.
But that was a year ago. Slowly he had been
made TO understand that his daughter the
price of the Rancho del Fuego. Did Delfna
celed and the old adobe house the beautiful rancho
ing vaqueros. its wooded hills its streams. and its
old mission would belong to the Carilos forever
beggars in the land. The old don. having squarely
faced the inevitable. was not slow to make up his
maids and begin her trousseau at once. Delfna,
who inherited ted, her fathers naughty temper. was
scene brought down her little foot and vowed that
She carried to the altar. When her father recov-
cred from his surprise he dispatched vaquero
heir of Del Fuego demonstrated. coaxed. bribed.
threatened and finally thundered. his dissipated
wrath and terror Defna laughed and slammed
once upon his return to San Francisco. got the
truth from him and wrote to Don Ygnacio that he
But on the heels Of his letter came one from En-
rique imporng his father to put Oelfina on bread
and water until she consented to marry the Ameri-
For he will foreclose at once if she does not
know how cold he is. my father-how subtle. how
blood out of us Lock her in her room my father:
starVe her; but do not be driven in your old
The old don greatly alarmed had accepted the
advice to the letter: he had marched his daughter
into her room, nailed down her window. and fed
her on bread and water for the last three days He
was pleased with himself for his unwonted severity
and little suspected that the most delicious confec
tions of the cook found their way through that
nat his daughter was comfortably extended on her
bed re-readug the small library of books she had
C1 in
a trunk
Defna who had too great contempt for bust
and whose Imagination for six months past had
throbbed TO the serenades and din impassioned vows
main in the big dark room these hot days and
turned to his Los Angeles. She had met him dur
ing a long visit he had paid to a neighboring
meriendas and games Her father had hobbled
about after her like any duena put glti without h
self alone Don Ygnaco was too courteous to inter
window. even could he have been sure which OF her
many admirers was beating the air with impas-
i bi, - Ne never guessed this honest old
by Roberto Oviera while his daughter held whfS-
T3itiera DeIfna's Neutrality-suspicious. unmoved by
mar-confessed itself captive to the elegant cabal-
him as soon as lawsuit, concerning his heredi
feionIously appropriated them had been decided in
the curious courts of Cahiornla. or course ne
" And meantime tiir IoOih was Cooi ana
tbs American hooks Interesting. on a second
Outside it was so rot that even the dogs did
not lift their heads to bark at an approaching
aCrsarnan- they Law with swollen tongues hanging
over their teeth. occasionally quivering in feeble
Drotesf At the battalions OF feas which shorten
tb9 Hfa of the California dog The adobe soil
cracked under the pitiless sun. the whltewash on
the outer walls Of the big hopse arose in biisers
Tie waving line of golden hills which encircled
the horizon OF the rancho was dim under the visible
rrI,a Yer dry. Out in the rancheria.
where dweIt the Indian servants of the estate the
it.+fa tro,x,r buts were silent tomhs. The cid
An With a final snort beneath his daughters win
dow went within for siesta
The borseman urged his weary and reektnz