Ranch Life 109 



person, but like all of us he had his failing: he 

 would flick his tail over the reins. Now it hap- 

 pened that my friend was of a nautical turn, and 

 in his youth he had learned the art of tying 

 wonderful knots. Accordingly, one day, when he 

 was about to take his wife for a drive, he tied down 

 Alcalde's tail so tightly and so securely that not a 

 wiggle was left in it. Now it happened that only 

 that morning my friend's wife had turned on the 

 water, — water, you must understand, is very pre- 

 cious on a ranch in Southern California, — and, alas ! 

 she had neglected to turn it off, being distracted 

 possibly by household cares; so the water had 

 flowed away, leaving the family tank empty and 

 cracking beneath the ardent rays of the sun. Con- 

 ceive if you can the wrath of a husband condemned 

 by a wife's carelessness to pump many hundreds 

 of gallons of water ! You may be sure that he (he 

 was an Englishman) told his unhappy wife she had 

 committed the unpardonable sin, and she, poor soul, 

 apprehending the magnitude of her offence, held 

 her peace (which is remarkable, because she was a 

 daughter of the West) . Perhaps — you may draw 

 your own conclusions — the husband was sorry 

 that he had spoken so harshly, and thought that a 

 drive behind a fast-trotting horse would establish 

 happier relations between two who should be one. 

 Be that as it may, after the drive was over, he be- 

 gan to unharness Alcalde, his wife standing by and 

 talking to him. The traces were unhooked, the 

 breeching straps unbuckled, and then Alcalde was 

 commanded to leave the shafts. But Alcalde, wise 

 as Balaam's ass, never stirred, for he knew that his 



