All this was gratifying to young Wells, and like a congenial fellow, he produced and showed the old hunter a new gun, the very latest model in the market, explaining its good qualities through his interpreter.  Tiburcio handled it as if it were a rare bit of millinery, but managed to ask its price and a few other questions.  Through his companion, Wells then engaged the old hunter’s services for the following day; not that he expected to hunt, but he wanted to acquaint himself with the boundaries of the land and to become familiar with the surrounding country.  Naming an hour for starting in the morning, the two men shook hands and bade each other good-night, each using his own language to express the parting, though neither one knew a word the other said.  The first link in a friendship not soon to be broken had been forged.

Tiburcio was on hand at the appointed hour in the morning, and being joined by the two Americans they rode off up the stream.  It was October, and the pecans, they noticed, were already falling, as they passed through splendid groves of this timber, several times dismounting to fill their pockets with nuts.  Tiburcio frequently called attention to fresh deer tracks near the creek bottom, and shortly afterward the first game of the day was sighted.  Five or six does and grown fawns broke cover and ran a short distance, stopped, looked at the horsemen, and then capered away.

Riding to the highest ground in the vicinity, they obtained a splendid view of the stream, outlined by the foliage of the pecan groves that lined its banks as far as the eye could follow either way.  Tiburcio pointed out one particular grove lying three or four miles farther up the creek.  Here he said was a cabin which had been built by a white man who had left it several years ago, and which he had often used as a hunting camp in bad weather.  Feeling his way cautiously, Wells asked the old hunter if he were sure that this cabin was on and belonged to the grant.  Being assured on both points, he then inquired if there was anything to hinder him from occupying the hut for a few months.  On the further assurance that there was no man to dispute his right, he began plying his companions with questions.  The interpreter told him that it was a very common and simple thing for men to batch, enumerating the few articles he would need for this purpose.

They soon reached the cabin, which proved to be an improvement over the ordinary jacal of the country, as it had a fireplace and chimney.  It was built of logs; the crevices were chinked with clay for mortar, its floor being of the same substance.  The only Mexican feature it possessed was the thatched roof.  While the Americans were examining it and its surroundings, Tiburcio unsaddled the horses, picketing one and hobbling the other two, kindled a fire, and prepared a lunch from some articles he had brought along.  The meal, consisting of coffee, chipped venison, and a thin wafer bread made from corn and reheated over coals, was disposed of with relish.  The two Americans sauntered around for some distance, and on their return to the cabin found Tiburcio enjoying his siesta under a near-by pecan tree.