Diego busied himself around the corral and bunkhouse the next day. In mid-afternoon, when he looked up, he saw Sarafina Bell riding down the path toward the corral. Dismounting, she came to stand by the fence across from him. She was young, slim, graceful, and pretty, he thought, grown up a lot since their childhood play together.

“My father sent me to tell you he has met with the other men whose horses were stolen. They say chasing after the Indians is useless.”

Diego set down the pitchfork he had been mucking wet straw and manure with, and came to her side of the corral fence. “Don Nicholas sent you all the way out here to tell me that?”

She smiled at him. “Would you like to ride along the beach with me. I’m lonely on the ranch. My father is always busy. I thought… If you want me to leave I will.”

“Wait while I saddle a horse. It would be nice to ride with you.”

Together, they rode down onto the beach and then along the water’s edge. The strand was no more than 20 meters wide, with cliffs that rose above it, shutting it off from the land above. Shorebirds and gulls were their only company, save for a wedge of pelicans that flew in a low formation just offshore searching for fish.

Dismounting after several miles, they sat together on a low hummock to talk.

“Are you glad to be back from Boston?” Diego asked her.

“Of course I’m happy to be home with my father again,” Sarafina said. She looked at him with a shy smile. “Are you glad I’m back?”

He was surprised by her question. He thought for a moment, then told her, “I am glad.”

“Would you like to spend more time with me? Could we ride together again?”

Diego couldn’t identify the feeling he had, but it was pleasant. “I would like that. I remember how we used to play together when we were children.” “We are grown up now, Diego,” she said. “We’re not children any longer.”