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66 Tamale Ridge by: Chuck Cusimano

We rode towards the Rancho but before we could get two miles from the main gate we were

soon surrounded by armed horsemen.

“Raul,” the Señorita spoke.

“These men are accompanying me to the rancho. Do not point your weapons at them!”

“Pardon, Señorita,” said Raul,

“It is your fathers wish, that you are protected always.”

“Thank you Señor but I am quite safe with these men,” she said.

“We will do as the Señorita wishes. However, Señorita, we will escort you and these men to

the Rancho.”

On the way to the rancho, I told her about the place where I lived.

“Señorita, I live in such a place as you may have never seen before.” I continued,

“The pine trees are so tall there that they touch the sky. There are beautiful Vegas, of the

greenest grass, where the foals play and run. It is in the state of New Mexico. In the mountains

known as the ‘Sangre De Cristos’.”

“It means the ‘Blood of Christ, verdad?” She asked.

“Si, Señorita,” I said and added.

“Where I live there is no desert for many miles.”

“I like this place, where the potrillos run and play in the desert sand,” she said.

“It makes my heart glad to see them playing in the sand. It is here where they learn to run

like the wind,” she said.

We were entering the main gate to the desert ranch. Francisco was standing in the hard packed

dirt in front of the horse corral.

“Do not get off your caballo, gringo,” he said,

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