sit down to a tempting supper of stewed hare and tortillas.  We were officers and caballeros and could not be ignored.  After turning our horses to grass, at his invitation we joined him at supper.  The allowance, though ample for one, was rather short for three, and I thought the Spanish grandiloquent politeness of Gomez, who was fat and old, was not over-cordial.  However, down we sat, and I was helped to a dish of rabbit, with what I thought to be an abundant sauce of tomato.  Taking a good mouthful, I felt as though I had taken liquid fire; the tomato was chile colorado, or red pepper, of the purest kind.  It nearly killed me, and I saw Gomez’s eyes twinkle, for he saw that his share of supper was increased.—­I contented myself with bits of the meat, and an abundant supply of tortillas.  Ord was better case-hardened, and stood it better.  We staid at Gomez’s that night, sleeping, as all did, on the ground, and the next morning we crossed the hill by the bridle-path to the old Mission of San Juan Bautista.  The Mission was in a beautiful valley, very level, and bounded on all sides by hills.  The plain was covered with wild-grasses and mustard, and had abundant water.  Cattle and horses were seen in all directions, and it was manifest that the priests who first occupied the country were good judges of land.  It was Sunday, and all the people, about, a hundred, had come to church from the country round about.  Ord was somewhat of a Catholic, and entered the church with his clanking spars and kneeled down, attracting the attention of all, for he had on the uniform of an American officer.  As soon as church was out, all rushed to the various sports.  I saw the priest, with his gray robes tucked up, playing at billiards, others were cock fighting, and some at horse-racing.  My horse had become lame, and I resolved to buy another.  As soon as it was known that I wanted a horse, several came for me, and displayed their horses by dashing past and hauling them up short.  There was a fine black stallion that attracted my notice, and, after trying him myself, I concluded a purchase.  I left with the seller my own lame horse, which he was to bring to me at Monterey, when I was to pay him ten dollars for the other.  The Mission of San Juan bore the marks of high prosperity at a former period, and had a good pear-orchard just under the plateau where stood the church.  After spending the day, Ord and I returned to Monterey, about thirty-five miles, by a shorter route, Thus passed the month of February, and, though there were no mails or regular expresses, we heard occasionally from Yerba Buena and Sutter’s Fort to the north, and from the army and navy about Los Angeles at the south.  We also knew that a quarrel had grown up at Los Angeles, between General Kearney, Colonel Fremont, and Commodore Stockton, as to the right to control affairs in California.  Kearney had with him only the fragments of the two companies of dragoons, which had come across from New Mexico with him, and