But they wouldn't
tell us any romantic love-stories; they were all about horses.'
STORY OF JUAN DE DIOS.
'In early days, when Americans were coming in to Santa Barbara, there
were many cattle-buyers among them; and there were large bands of
robbers all over the country who were ready to pounce on these
travellers on their way to the great cattle ranchos, kill them, and
steal their money and clothes, as well as their horses and trappings.
No one could understand how the robbers got such accurate information
of the movements of the travellers, unless they had a spy somewhere
near the Mission, where they often stopped for rest and refreshment.
'Now, there was a certain young Indian vaquero in the employ of the
padres at La Mission de la Purisima. He was a wonderful horseman,
and greatly looked up to by his brother vaqueros, because he was so
strong, alert, and handsome, and because he was always dressed
elegantly in rich old Spanish embroideries and velvets, given to him,
he said, by men for whom he had done great services.
'One day a certain traveller, a Spanish official of high degree, came
from Monterey to wed his sweetheart, the daughter of the richest
cattle-owner in all the country round. His spurs and bit and bridle
were of solid silver; his jaquima (halter) was made of a hair rope
whose strands had been dyed in brilliant colours; his tapaderos
(front of the stirrups), mochilas (large leather saddle flaps), and
sudaderos (thin bits of leather to protect the legs from sweat), were
all beautifully stamped in the fashion used by the Mexicans; his
saddle blankets and his housings were all superb, and he wore a broad
sombrero encircled with a silver snake and trimmed with silver lace.
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