“Captain,” said Russell to Brotherton, as the men followed the host into the supper room, “let us buy a ranch, marry two of these stunning girls, and lie round in hammocks whilst these Western houris bring us aguardiente and soda.  What an improvement on Byron and Tom Moore!  It is all so unhackneyed and unexpected.  In spite of Dana and Robinson I expected mud huts and whooping savages.  This is Arcadia, and the women are the most elegant in America.”

“Look here, Ned,” said his captain, “you had better do less flirting and more thinking while you are in this odd country.  Your talents will get rusty, but you can rub them up when you get home.  Neither Californian men nor women are to be trifled with.  This is the land of passion, not of drawing-room sentiment.”

“Perhaps I am more serious than you think.  What is the matter?” He spoke to a brother officer who had joined them and was laughing immoderately.

“Do you see those Californians grinning over there?” The speaker beckoned to a group of officers, who joined him at once.  “What job do you suppose they have put up on us?  What do you suppose that mysterious table in the sala means, with its penknives and wooden sticks?  I thought it was a charity bazaar.  Well, it is nothing more nor less than a trick to keep us from whittling up the furniture.  We are all Yankees to them, you know.  Preserve my Spanish!”

The officers shouted with delight.  They marched solemnly back into the sala, and seating themselves in a deep circle about the table, whittled the slugs all over the floor, much to the satisfaction of the Californians.

VI

After the entertainment was over, Russell strolled about the town.  The new moon was on the sky, the stars thick and bright; but dark corners were everywhere, and he kept his hand on his pistol.  He found himself before the long low house of Dona Eustaquia Ortega.  Not a light glimmered; the shutters were of solid wood.  He walked up and down, trying to guess which was Benicia’s room.

“I am growing as romantic as a Californian,” he thought; “but this wonderful country pours its colour all through one’s nature.  If I could find her window, I believe I should serenade her in true Spanish fashion.  By Jove, I remember now, she said something about looking through her window at the pines on the hill.  It must be at the back of the house, and how am I going to get over that great adobe wall?  That gate is probably fastened with an iron bar—­ah!”

He had walked to the corner of the wall surrounding the large yard behind and at both sides of Dona Eustaquia’s house, and he saw, ascending a ladder, a tall figure, draped in a serape, its face concealed by the shadow of a sombrero.  He drew his pistol, then laughed at himself, although not without annoyance.  “A rival; and he has got ahead of me.  He is going to serenade her.”

The caballero seated himself uncomfortably on the tiles that roofed the wall, removed his sombrero, and Russell recognized Fernando Altimira.  A moment later the sweet thin chords of the guitar quivered in the quiet air, and a tenor, so fine that even Russell stood entranced, sang to Benicia one of the old songs of Monterey:—­