“Not until to-morrow evening. I’ll speak to your father about you,” said Don Secundini.
When Oshda saw where they were, he rode up to the tree. He said, “You cannot walk home through these cattle. Drop down behind me on my horse.”
First Yappa, then Shecol, dropped down on the horse. Yappa put her arms around Oshda, and Shecol put his arms around Yappa. In this way they did not fall off as they rode home.
After supper Oshda said, “Good-by. I have to watch with the cattle until midnight.”
The cattle were restive, for they were in a strange place. All of a sudden an owl gave a screech from a tree in the midst of the herd. The cattle became frightened and began to run toward Oshda. There were so many of them and they were coming so fast that Oshda knew he would be run over if he rode toward them, so he turned his horse and rode as fast as he could ahead of them.
When he got a little ahead, he began to turn the herd toward the left. He did not try to turn the whole big herd at once, but only to make the front ones run crosswise. The other herders helped him, and soon more of the cattle began to run toward the left.
After a little the whole herd were running round in a circle. The herders let the cattle run round and round as long as they liked, but by and by the cattle got so dusty and tired and dizzy that they stopped running of their own accord. The herders then drove them back again, for they were no longer afraid.
When the cattle were safely back, Oshda said, “We must keep singing or whistling all night. That will let the cattle know that some one is near them, and they will not be so easily frightened.”
So all the rest of the night the darkness was filled with the sound of singing, and the cattle were quiet. Oshda and the herders with him watched until midnight; then others came out to relieve them.
Meanwhile, the people at the Robles’ adobe had been having a gay time, for they had a barbecue under the spreading grape vines when they first went to the house, and in the evening they had a dance.