MOBILE DIGITAL LIBRARY - SOCIETY OF YOUNG NIGERIAN ...

after a while was content to ride with "my soul."Notwithstanding this, I am not ashamed to say that it was my custom, whenever she rodeout, to keep a slinking and distant surveillance of Chu Chu on another horse, until she hadfairly settled down to her pace. A little nod of Consuelo's round black-and-red toreadorhat or a kiss tossed from her riding-whip was reward enough!I remember a pleasant afternoon when I was thus awaiting her in the village. The eternalsmile of the Californian summer had begun to waver and grow less fixed; dust lay thickon leaf and blade; the dry hills were clothed in russet leather; the trade winds wereshifting to the south with an ominous warm humidity; a few days longer and the rainswould be here. It so chanced that this afternoon my seclusion on the roadside wasaccidentally invaded by a village belle—a Western young lady somewhat older thanmyself, and of flirtatious reputation. As she persistently and—as I now have reason tobelieve—mischievously lingered, I had only a passing glimpse of Consuelo riding past atan unaccustomed speed which surprised me at the moment. But as I reasoned later thatshe was only trying to avoid a merely formal meeting, I thought no more about it.It was not until I called at the house to fetch Chu Chu at the usual hour, and found thatConsuelo had not yet returned, that a recollection of Chu Chu's furious pace againtroubled me. An hour passed—it was getting towards sunset, but there were no signs ofChu Chu nor her mistress. I became seriously alarmed. I did not care to reveal my fears to