Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1940-08-01
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CHAPTER I

Ox1f1x Gxs 4
The site of the rancho could not
have been more happily chosen. For
miles the landscape lay like a park
in gently rolling hills and wide
spreading valleys. The soil was car
peted with nutritious grasses for
Don Alfredo's herds, and nature pro-
vided for spring and summer an I'M
failing profusion of wild flowers that
turned the broad fields into riot of
purple and gold, imperial in beauty.
Overlooking this inviting prospect
rose the wooded foothills, like the
frame of picture, dignified in the
distance by the heights of the ma
jestic Sierras.
The ranch house had been built on
an elevation that commanded a view
of both the ocean and the hill coun-
try.
Don Alfredo had developed the
rancho and built the ranch house to
welcome his Spanish bride, now
Dona Juana, the mother of his chill
dren, two little girls of six and eight
years and one older brother. Dona
Juana had brought from Spain
the culture and traditions of Spanish
centuries, and at the preside in
San Diego, in the gatherings at the
rancho, or when a more formal fes-
tivity called for baille in town
Dona Juana was notable among
beautiful women for gaiety and
charm.
In her necessarily crude Califor-
mia surroundings, far from the state
ly repose of Estramadura and Ma
drid, Dona Juana confessed to only
one feeling of uneasiness: that was
what her devoted Don Alfredo
termed an Unreasonable" fear of
mountain Indians, who at long in
tervals made forays on the ranches
to steal horses.
It was only gradually that she
overcame this fear. But the sun
shine and the peace of her imme-
diate surroundings, the care she de-
voted to her children and the al
ways affectionate solicitude of her
husband, were powerful sedatives
for her peace of mind.
It was thus that the years of moth
erhood passed for Dona Juana. Her
own maid was an alert mission In
dian named Monica. Monica, like
her mistress, was of an apprehen-
sive temperament; she had even
less confidence in the Sierra Indians
than Dona Juana herself.
The older of the two girls had
grown to be eight when her mother
made ready for a little house party,
a valecito casero. On the day be-
fore the invitations were sent out
by messenger, Monica came to her
mistress with disquieting news.
Dona Juana was seated in the patio
facing the garden. The two children
were gathering flowers.
The elder ran to her mother with
a pretty bloom and a question.
what is this one, Madre mia?"
''That, Carmelita, is a Mariposa,
a beautiful flower. I am glad you
found one"
Before Teresa, the younger girl,
could bring a rival for her sisters
posy Monica came running down
from the house. She ignored her
pets, the little girls, and spoke in
low tones to her mistress.
Dona Juana started. "Where did
you hear this?" she asked.
"From Manuelo, the cook. You
know, sonora, he has boy, Yosco.
I do not trust that boy. Manuelo is
honest-he has warned us before.
I think Yosco gets his news secretly
from a renegade mission Indian and
tells his father"
"When does Manuelo say the at
tack will take placer"
''He does not know-but soon."
Dona Juana left Monica with the
children and returned to the house.
She found Don Alfredo in his office,
cleaning his carbine for a hunt.
Alfredo" said his wife, Monica
tells me an Indian outbreak is COM
ing. You know, they always attack
the outlying ranches first. Monica
thinks we should go in at once to the
preside, Alfredo, and stay till the
danger is over"
Don Alfredo showed Impotence
monica is always bringing some
cock-and-bull story about an attack.
She had the same story year ago,
and there was no attack"
"True, Alfredo. But we learned
afterward they were frightened
away by the bonfires Don Santiago
built and by the noise he made"
Her husband scoffed. "And are
these the savages we are to run
away from, who are scared by bon
fires and by the noise Don Santiago
makes at Tia Juana when he is half
drunk? 1t is nonsense, Juana; pay
no attention to these old wives
tales" But Don Alfredo's assurance
did not set his wife's forebodings at
rest. She abandoned her plans
for the house party.
On the evening of the following
Saturday-Monica's first alarm had
come on Monday-the Indian woman
came to her mistress and Don Al
fredo, begging them to heed her.
With tears in her ewes she told them