The conversation during breakfast was artfully directed by the host to avoid the dangerous shoals, though the padre constantly kept an eye on Juana as she passed back and forth. As we arose from the table and were passing to the gallery, Uncle Lance nudged the priest, and, poking Don Blas in the ribs, said: “Isn’t Juana a stunning fine cook? Got up that breakfast herself. There isn’t an eighteen-year-old girl in Texas who can make as fine biscuits as she does. But Las Palomas raises just as fine girls as she does horses and cattle. The rascal who gets her for a wife can thank his lucky stars. Don Blas, you ought to have me for _padrino_. Your uncle and the padre here are too poky. Why, if I was making a match for as fine a girl as Juana is, I’d set the river afire before I’d let an unfavorable answer discourage me. Now, the padre and I are going for a short walk, and we’ll leave you here at the house to work out your own salvation. Don’t pay any attention to the mistress, and I want to tell you right now, if you expect to win Juana, never depend on old fogy _padrinos_ like your uncle and Father Norquin. Do a little hustling for yourself.” The old ranchero and the priest were gone nearly an hour, and on their return looked at another site in the rear of the Mexican quarters. It was a pretty knoll, and as the two joined us where we were repairing a windmill at the corrals, Father Norquin, in an ecstasy of delight, said: “Well, my children, the chapel is assured at Las Palomas. Don Lance wanted to build it over in the encinal, with twice as nice a site right here in the rancho. We may need the building for a school some day, and if we should, we don’t want it a mile away. The very idea! And the master tells me that a chapel has been the wish of his sister for years. Poor woman—to have such a brother. I must hasten to the house and thank her.” No sooner had the padre started than I was called aside by my employer. “Tom,” said he, “you slip around to Tia Inez’s _jacal_ and tell her that I’m going to send Father Norquin over to see her. Tell her to stand firm on not letting Juana leave the ranch for the Mission. Tell her that I’ve promised the padre a chapel for Las Palomas, and rather than miss it, the priest would consign the whole Travino family to endless perdition. Tell her to laugh at his scoldings and inform him that Juana can get a husband without going so far. And that you heard me say that I was going to give Fidel, the day he married her daughter, the same number of heifers that all her brothers got. Impress it on Tia Inez’s mind that it means something to be born to Las Palomas.”