with a large family and no coyotes in sight. Wow! This steak is good."

"Not very, I think. It's tough."

"I have good teeth."

She permitted him to eat in silence for several minutes, and when he
had disposed of the steak, she asked,

"You live in the San Gregorio valley?"

He nodded.

"We have a ranch there also," she volunteered. "Father acquired it
recently."

"From whom did he acquire it?"

"I do not know the man's name, but the ranch is one of those old
Mexican grants. It has a Spanish name. I'll try to remember it." She
knitted her delicate brows. "It's Pal-something or other."

"Is it the Palomares grant?" he suggested.

"I think it is. I know the former owner is dead, and my father
acquired the ranch by foreclosure of mortgage on the estate."

"Then it's the Palomares grant. My father wrote in his last letter
that old man Gonzales had died and that a suit to foreclose the
mortgage had been entered against the estate. The eastern edge of that