A messenger was at once sent on ahead to inform Señor Sarasta of the time at which the party would arrive, and he met them at the upper end of the valley. The meeting was an affecting one. After embracing his daughter the Mexican threw his arms round Will with as much affection as if he had been his father.
"I did not think," he said, when the first emotion was over, "when I left you in charge that the duty would be such an onerous one, but you have nobly fulfilled your trust, most nobly, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart."
On arriving at the hacienda they found that great efforts had been made to remove all signs of the visit of the Apaches. Donna Sarasta had been buried in the little chapel near the house. The broken and torn-up shrubs had been replaced, and although inside the rooms were bare, for the furniture had been hacked to pieces by the red-skins, everything was spotlessly clean. Will did not enter with Señor Sarasta into the house, but went straight to the stables with the vaqueros and saw his horse and Zona cared for. When he went to the house, Don Sarasta and Juan went out to him.
"We have been talking together, Will," the Mexican said, "and the result is this: I do not know what your sentiments may be, but I have ascertained those of my daughter. We have been as one family for seven or eight months. We all wish that we shall continue to be so in reality, and I now offer you formally the hand of my daughter, Donna Clara Sarasta, in marriage. I know that I can intrust her happiness to you, and the match will afford both myself and Juan the most lively satisfaction."
"It would be altogether beyond my hopes, señor," Will said, greatly moved. "I will not deny that I have from the first had a profound admiration for your daughter, but I should never have spoken of it, seeing that I am at present a penniless man, and am, indeed, much below the age at which we think of marriage in the States."
The Mexican smiled. "According to Spanish law, and our own policy, the legal age for marriage is fourteen for the man and twelve for the woman, and although it is not often that marriages take place quite so young as that, they are very frequent when the man is sixteen and the girl fourteen or fifteen; therefore, that is no obstacle whatever."
"Then, señor, I accept your generous offer most gladly and thankfully, and shall consider myself the most fortunate man alive in winning such a bride as Donna Clara."
"Well, you had better go in and tell her so," the señor said. "I think that that will be more in accordance with your American customs than for me to go in and formally hand her over to you."
Three months later a double marriage took place at San Diego. Don Sarasta settled a large sum of money upon his daughter, and, with Juan's cordial assent, arranged that at his death the hacienda and ranch, and, indeed, all of his property, should become the joint property of his son and daughter, with power to make any future division of it that they might think fit. After remaining a week at San Diego, Will sailed with his wife to Panama, crossed the isthmus, and took ship to New York, where he astounded his father and mother by presenting to them his wife, and mentioning casually that she had a fortune of $200,000, and was joint heiress to estates and property worth at least $2,000,000, which caused Mr. Harland, senior, to acknowledge that Will's mania for the sea had not turned out so badly after all.