Toronado is lost, limping in the desert, to Diego's despair. A small boy finds and 'adopts' the normally indomitable stallion

Don Diego and Felipe were puzzling which ancient creature's bones are preserved in natural tar when don Alejandro reports the heir to the Portillo hacienda is none other then- sergeant Jaime Mendoza, an orphan but distantly related. Inliving houseman Torres tells Mendoza the legend of the builder, conquistador Portillo, who hanged himself for a fatal love and according to legend haunts the estate; the pueblo's other gentlemen tell the new don not to worry and accept invitations to his first banquet.