"Oh, if only father were here!" she said.
"Out on the range," replied his mother. "He and all of them will come in at the first sign of danger. Everybody knew that the Indians were dissatisfied, but I didn't dream of their coming this way."
"They wanted horses, mother, and they may try and strike the ranch," said Cal.
"I think not," she said, decidedly, "but you must carry the news to Fort Craig."
"You must not pause one minute. Not even to eat. Victoria and I and the servants can bar the stockade and the house, but no Indians will come. If there is really any danger, the sooner the cavalry get here the better. Do you think you've tired Dick?"
"No, mother, but it seems as if I'd rather die than leave you here alone."
"Ride for our safety, my son. Ride steadily. It's a long push for any horse, and Dick must last till you get there."
"Yes, mother," said Cal, "but he can do it."
"Leave your rifle," she added. "You'll not need it, and it's an extra weight."
She did not let him forget to water the red mustang, and while Dick was drinking she packed a small haversack with cold meat and bread for Cal's use on the road.
"Oh, mother, I want to stay and fight for you and Vic--"
"Bring the cavalry! Go!" she said, and it seemed to cost her something to say it.
He hardly knew, after he was in the saddle, in what words he put his good-bye. He saw two faces that watched him as Dick sprang through the gate. It seemed almost as if he had seen them for the last time, and then he thought, again, that perhaps the best hope for Santa Lucia and all in it had been confided to the swift feet of the red mustang.
New Mexico is a wonderful country. It is full of places that are worth going to see, while some of its other places are well worth keeping away from. Down through the territory, east of the middle, runs north and south the main range of the Rocky Mountains. Among them rise the Picos and the Canadian and several other rivers that run away to the south and east. Westerly from the main range, with marvellous valleys between, are the Organ Mountains, made to show what strange shapes vast masses of rock can be broken into. Farther westward is the great valley of the Rio Grande and beyond this arise the Sierra Madre and the Sierra San Juan. It is all a wonderful region, with great plains as well as mountain ranges, and here and there are found remarkable ruins of ancient architecture and every way as remarkable remnants of ancient people. Some of the wide levels are mere deserts of sand and gravel--hot, barren, terrible--but others are rich with pasturage for horses and cattle, as they once were only for innumerable bisons, deer, and antelopes.