52 



RAMBLES AFTER SPORT. 



for the wagon, where we took our dinner, and after a 

 cigar we returned to the ranch, bringing Master Bruin 

 with us. I almost forgot to mention that we had cut off 

 the paws of the dead one, as they are very good eating ; 

 the rest of " Bar '' is not worth its salt. 



Mrs. Glasse, of immortal memory, said, "first catch 

 your hare;^^ well, anyhow we had done that, and now the 

 thing was what to do with him. My doubts on this 

 were soon settled, for the vaqueros, while we were at 

 supper, came in and told us to have a look at him. On 

 going out we found that they had got the net and 

 lassos off him, and there he was as right as ever, only 

 in a small corral. He certainly looked a splendid beast, 

 as he walked round gnashing his teeth and trying the 

 palisades. There was no fear of his getting out, though 

 it was rather uncomfortable to ,speculate on the chances 

 of war in case he did. However, T slipped a couple 

 of bullets into my gun, and a fresh cartridge into 

 my carbine, in case anything should turn up. My 

 friends despatched a small army of peons with the 

 news to the neighbouring rancheros, and in the even« 

 ing they came trooping in ; hj midnight I should say, 

 about fifty had assembled, and a very pretty sight 

 they made, with their mettlesome steeds and splendid 

 caparisons. 



What a night that was ! I never saw anything like 

 tbe amount of gold that was scattered about; bets of 

 100 dols. were common, and stakes of 1000 dols. or 200?. 

 were several times lost and won in the course of the 

 evening. Knives were frequently drawn; but happily 

 no bloodshed took place. I had in my breeches pocket 

 a pair of Derringer ioz. pistols, with which I had made 

 aip my mind to shoot anyone instantly who tried his 



