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The er of El Orobo Rancho was an American named Grayson He was a tall, wiry man whose education had been acquired principally in the cow cas one does NOT learn to love nor trust a greaser As a result of this early training Grayson was peculiarly unfitted in soe an American ranch in Mexico; but he was a just man, and so if his vaqueros did not love him, they at least respected him, and everyone as or possessed the latent characteristics of a wrongdoer feared him

Perhaps it is not fair to say that Grayson was in any way unfitted for the position he held, since as a matter of fact he was an ideal ranch foreman, and, if the truth be known, the sio would have been sufficient to have won him the hatred of the Mexicans orked under him--not in the course of their everyday relations; but when the fires of racial animosity were fanned to flame by some untoward incident upon either side of the border

Today Grayson was particularly rabid The er upon the cause of it, as no less a person than his boss

It seeence could have conceived and then carried out the fool thing which the boss had just done, which was to have co Mexico, bringing--and this was the worst feature of it--his daughter with him And at such a time! Scarce a day passed without its ru perpetrated upon Aravity of these acts increased From mere insult they had run of late to assault and even to ht

Pesita had openly sworn to rid Mexico of the gringo--to kill on sight every American who fell into his hands And what could Grayson do in case of a determined attack upon the rancho? It is true he had a hundred men--laborers and vaqueros, but scarce a dozen of these were Americans, and the rest would, aluinity in case of trouble

To add to Grayson's irritability he had just lost his bookkeeper, and if there was one thing more than any other that Grayson hated it was pen and ink The youth had been a "lunger" from Iowa, a fairly nice little chap, and entirely suited to his duties under any other circumstances than those which prevailed in Mexico at that time He was in mortal terror of his life every e of cowardice and resigned The day previous he had been bundled into a buckboard and driven over to the Mexican Central which, at that ti trains--occasionally--between Chihuahua and Juarez