THE DESERT AND THE ROSE 157 



ly, after submitting my books to searching investi- 

 gation, found that my estimate of 40% on my in- 

 vestment was absolutely correct. I will by omitting 

 many details contrive to keep myself within bounds 

 on this poultry question. Good adobe houses suf- 

 ficient for a beginning were already on the ground, 

 and whatever may be said to the contrary, adobe 

 houses gave me no trouble ; on the contrary, for they 

 provided warmth in winter and being kept clean 

 never harbored vermin. So good did I find them 

 that in due course I built more. Large corrals, 

 divided for future necessities, had to be erected. 

 Usually, though not invariably, the fowls had the 

 run of the ranch. 



Disgusted with a job lot of feathered objects 

 left on my hands, and guided by some modicum of 

 working sense, I at once committed numerous night- 

 mares of roosters to the fleshpot and then sought 

 light to illumine my hen darkness. But alack ! light 

 was there none in my vicinity. And my soul craved 

 thoroughbreds. 



'Thoroughbreds ? !" shrieked the neighbors in 

 chorus. "Thoroughbreds won't do any good in 

 this climate !" 



Why not? quoth I to myself. I was ignorant, 

 yes ; but a dry sunny clime, whose rainy season oc- 

 curs mostly in summertime — what was the matter 

 with it for thoroughbreds ? Nothing, I decided, and 

 promptly set to work, but with modest initiatory 

 outlay. That first spring I sent away to a big east- 

 ern fancier for two young, large-eight pounders — 

 to be accurate— tB lack Minorca roosters, acting on 



