44 THE DESERT AND THE ROSE 



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that it is by any means certain that the average white 

 man acting as majordomo would have shown him- 

 self less corrupt or corruptible. The system itself 

 was to blame, and the worst enemy of the old-time 

 majordomo was forced to acknowledge that his was 

 a position difficult indeed to fill to the satisfaction of 

 all concerned. But the lone woman lost nothing — 

 as she loses nothing — by keeping on good terms 

 with Mexicans, official or otherwise; for on the 

 whole they must be credited with more chivalry or 

 good nature, or both, than the white man. Above 

 all was it necessary for the ranchwoman whose land 

 was watered by means of a contra acequia, or cross 

 ditch, to be well considered by her neighbors; for 

 it was so attractively simple for said neighbors to 

 steal the water on its way from the main acequia, 

 and thus a whole day might be wasted in walking 

 to and fro and expostulating with a variety of empty 

 words. Of course the neighbors could be terror- 

 ized, but that proceeding had its drawbacks. Should 

 peaceful means fail, however, which was rarely the 

 case, the reward of being on pleasant terms with 

 the majordomo then materialized. In short, though 

 past days were sometimes troublous, they seldom 

 lacked a certain humorous aspect. As for the "bad 

 years," when the river went dry for any length of 

 time, they were few; and in fourteen years my 

 ranching journal notes but one season in which 

 only two cuttings of alfalfa were harvested. 



To return to the subject of peach orchards: 

 phenomenal is the Spring that comes round without 

 the accompanying wail that "the Valley fruit has 



