Large windows, set three feet deep in the thick adobe walls, were filled
with flowers or padded with sofa pillows for seats. One of these his
hostess indicated to the limping man.

"If you will be seated here for the present, sir, your room will be
ready very soon."

A few minutes later the fisherman found himself in a large bedroom. He
was seated in an easy-chair before a crackling fire of _piñon_ knots.

A messenger had been dispatched for a doctor, Señorita Yuste had told
him, and in the meantime he was to make himself quite at home.




CHAPTER IV

AT THE YUSTE HACIENDA


The wrench to the fisherman's knee proved more serious than he had
anticipated. The doctor pronounced it out of the question that he should
be moved for some days at least.

The victim was more than content, because he was very much interested in
the young woman who had been his rescuer, and because it gave him a
chance to observe at first hand the remains of the semifeudal system
that had once obtained in New Mexico and California.