e had not
the shadow of a doubt that this gift of his made the little valley as surely and wholly mine as if a thousand deeds had testified to the inheritance. He could not understand why he was not the lord and owner of the land which had been handed down to him through a thousand generations, that had been fought for and defended from a time as old, perhaps, as the history of the invader.
Under the madronos my horse stood saddled for a long, hard ride. Good-byes were said, I led my steed a little way, and an Indian woman walked at my side.
Some things shall be sacred. Recital is some times rofanity.
It was a sudden impulse that made me set my horse back on his haunches as he bounded away, un wind my red silk sash, wave a farewell with it, toss it to her, and bid her keep it till my return. In less than forty days, I rested beneath the palms of Central America.
