the man who attempted to rob me and I knew him!" In this room Maxwell
received his friends, transacted business, allowed the Indian chiefs to
sit by the fire or to sleep wrapped in blankets on the hard wood floor
or to interchange ideas in their sign language with his visitors who
would sit up all night through, fascinated by the Indian guests. If Kit
Carson happened to be at the Maxwell ranch his bed was always on the
floor of this very room and invariably had several Indian chiefs in the
room with him. The Indians loved Kit Carson and liked to see him victor
over the games at the card table.

Although Lucien Maxwell was a northerner, Mrs. Maxwell was a Mexican and
with all the Mexican etiquette presided over her house. The dining rooms
and kitchen were detached from the main house. One of the latter for the
male portion of their retinue and guests of that sex and another for the
women members. It was a rare thing to see a woman about the Maxwell
premises, though there were many. Occasionally one would hear the quick
rustle or get a hurried view of a petticoat (rebosa) as its wearer
appeared for an instant before an open door. The kitchen was presided
over by dark-faced maidens bossed by experienced old cronies. Women were
not allowed in the dining rooms during meal hours.

The dining tables were profuse with solid silver table-service. The
table cloths were of the finest woven flosses. At one time when I was
there Maxwell took me to the "loom shed" where he had two Indian women
at work on a blanket. The floss and silk the women had woven into the
blanket cost him $100 and the women had worked on it one year. It was
strictly waterproof. Water could not penetrate it in any way, shape,
form or fashion.

Maxwell was a great lover of horse-racing and liked to travel over the