Then Carmelita's peon gave rein to his horses. They sprang from the ground and rushed onward. For an instant the two carretas ran together, each splendid horse, straight-backed, ears low, nostrils distended, striking his feet in unison with his fellows. Soon the Hernandez team began to slip backward foot by foot. "Diablo! Diablo!" thundered Hernandez. "Peon, urge your horses! Use the whip!" The Hernandez Indian dug his spurs into his mount, and cruelly flayed the leaders. The other carreta yet more quickly moved ahead. Already the Mendoza wheeler was abreast the Hernandez leader. Above the roar of the vehicles sounded the plaudits of the caballeros. "Viva! Viva, Mendoza! Viva the California horses! Viva the Señorita Mendoza!" A stone the size of a walnut caught in the hind shoe of Mendoza's wheeler. The steady pace of his horses broke. The Hernandez animals pressed on. "Swing out, boy, swing out! Sweep in from the side!" exulted Hernandez. "Victory for the Mexican horses!" The driver turned his team. "Bueno, boy, bueno! Now straight ahead! Loose the rein! Let 'em go!" The Mendoza postilion bent affectionately over his horse. "Fly, Mercurio! Fly! for the doña's sake!" He unstrung his whiplash. It burned the leaders with living fire. They leaped forward, the tremendous stride flinging the pebbles from the wheeler's hoof. Along the roadway the horses sped, lessening the Hernandez advantage at every bound. After them poured the yelling, gesticulating crowd. A hundred paces only remained. The shouting ceased, the tenseness of the moment closing every throat. The Mendoza carreta overtook the other, passed it, and reached the goal two lengths ahead. Carmelita was the queen of the day! With a flourish the Doña Carmelita's postilion drew up before the pavilion at the merienda ground, Mendoza and Captain Morando assisting the breathless, excited girl to alight. Caballero and carreta whirled into the open space around her. "Hail! Hail, to the queen of the merienda!" arose on all sides. She bowed right and left in acknowledgment. On one side of the building stood a dais whence the queen ruled her loyal subjects. "Come, little one," her father said. "Your ladies of honor will accompany you to your throne." Lolita and Alfreda walked with her to the dais, then curtsied in deference. "Your wishes, queen of the merienda?" they asked. "For one hour let matron, maid, and man gather blackberries for the feast. Then all shall come to luncheon in the pavilion, not forgetting to bring the fruits of their labor. For the afternoon my command is that all enjoy themselves to the full." Thus briefly spoke the ruler of the day; after which she took her willow basket and hastened to gather berries, as did her maids of honor and everyone else.