Page:Caroline Lockhart--The full of the Moon.djvu/154

 great coveys of quail, startling innumerable jack-rabbits from tbei sage-brush and their burrows, or wandered over the mesa listening to the mournful coo of the turtle-doves, and enjoying to the utmost the wonderful colorings of the plains and distant ranges.

Then, when the afternoon's sun beat down upon the sand of the river valley, Mrs. Gallagher sprinkled the dirt floor, closed the door, and Nan, like all of Las Rubertas, lay down upon her sheepskin couch until the coolness of evening crept in upon the blistering day.

She ate the tortillas which Mrs. Gallagher patted out between her hands, and assiduously cultivated a taste for the hot chili-sauce of which Mrs. Gallagher partook with such relish. In the evening she sauntered with the populace in the plaza, or sat in her own doorway listening to the roar of the Rio Grande and the tinkle of guitars.

But her father's letter meant more than the abandonment of the life which had laid a hypnotic spell upon her. It meant that she must come to some decision in regard to Ben.