THE PRINCESS AND THE PUMAThere had to be a king and queen, of course. The king was a
terrible old man who wore six-shooters and spurs, and shouted in
such a tremendous voice that the rattlers on the prairie would run
into their holes under the prickly pear. Before there was a royal
family they called the man "Whispering Ben." When he came to own
50,000 acres of land and more cattle than he could count, they
called him O'Donnell "the Cattle King."
The queen had been a Mexican girl from Laredo. She made a good,
mild, Colorado-claro wife, and even succeeded in teaching Ben to
modify his voice sufficiently while in the house to keep the dishes
from being broken. When Ben got to be king she would sit on the
gallery of Espinosa Ranch and weave rush mats. When wealth became
so irresis
