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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/491-h.zip b/491-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e267c9e --- /dev/null +++ b/491-h.zip diff --git a/491-h/491-h.htm b/491-h/491-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d0fdc10 --- /dev/null +++ b/491-h/491-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8599 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of Rezanov, by Gertrude Atherton +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: small ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Rezanov, by Gertrude Atherton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Rezanov + +Author: Gertrude Atherton + +Posting Date: February 12, 2010 [EBook #491] +Release Date: April, 1996 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REZANOV *** + + + + +Produced by Judith Boss. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +REZANOV +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +GERTRUDE ATHERTON +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +With an Introduction by +<BR> +WILLIAM MARION REEDY +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +INTRODUCTION +</H3> + +<P> +A long list of works Gertrude Atherton has to her credit as a writer. +She is indisputably a woman of genius. Not that her genius is +distinctively feminine, though she is in matters historical a +passionate partisan. Most of the critics who approve her work agree +that in the main she views life with somewhat of the masculine spirit +of liberality. She is as much the realist as one can be who is +saturated with the romance that is California, her birthplace and her +home, if such a true cosmopolite as she can be said to have a home. In +all she has written there is abounding life; her grasp of character is +firm; her style has a warm, glowing plasticity, frequently a rhythm +variously expressive of all the wide range of feeling which a writer +must have to make his or her books living things. She does no less +well in the depiction of men than in the portraiture of women. All +stand out of their vivid environment distinctly and they are all +personalities of power—even, occasionally, of "that strong power +called weakness." And they all wear something of a glory imparted to +them by the sympathy of their creator and interpreter. High upon any +roster of our best American writers we must enroll the name of Mrs. +Atherton. +</P> + +<P> +Of all her books I like best this "Rezanov," though I have not found +many to agree with me. It is not so pretentious as others more +frequently commended. It is a simple story, almost one might say an +incident or an anecdote. It is not literally sophisticated. For me +that is its unfailing charm. I find in it not a little of the strange, +primeval quality that makes me think of "Aucassin and Nicolette." For +it is not so much a novel as an historical idyl, not to be read without +a persisting suffusion of sympathy and never to be remembered without a +recurring tenderness. Remembered, did I say? It is unforgettable. +There are few books of American origin that resist so well the passing +of the years, that take on more steadily the glamour of "the +unimaginable touch of time." "Rezanov" is a classic, or I miss my +guess. This, though it was first published so recently as 1906. +</P> + +<P> +The story has the merit of being, to some extent historically, and +wholly artistically, true. For the matter-of-facts Mrs. Atherton +provides a bibliography of her authorities. Those authorities I have +not read, nor should others. Sufficient unto me is the authority of +the novel itself splendidly demonstrated and established in the high +court of the reader's head and heart by the author's visualizing +veritism. Not twenty pages have you turned before you know this +Rezanov, privy councilor, grand chamberlain, plenipotentiary of the +Russo-American company, imperial inspector of the extreme eastern and +northwestern dominions of his imperial majesty Alexander the First, +emperor of Russia—all this and more, a man. He comes out of mystery +into the softly bright light of California, in strength and shrewdness +and dignity and personal splendor. And there is amidst it all a pathos +upon him. He commands your affection even while suggesting a doubt +whether the man may not be overwhelmed in the diplomat, the intriguer. +The year is 1806. The monstrous apparition of Napoleon has loomed an +omen of the doom of ancient authority and the shattering of nations in +Europe. That faithless, incalculable idealist Alexander, plans he knows +not what of imperial glory in the Eastern and Western world. Rezanov +is his servant, a man of ambition, perhaps in all favor at court, +desirous of doing some great service for his master. He dreams of +dominion in this sun-soaked land so lazily held in the lax grasp of +Spain. He has come from failure. He had been to Japan with presents +to the emperor, was received by minor officials with a hospitality that +poorly concealed the fact that he was virtually a prisoner, and then +dismissed without admission to the audience he sought with the mikado. +He had gone then to bleak, inhospitable Sitka, to find the settlement +there in a plague of scurvy and starvation only slightly mitigated by +vodka. Down the coast then he sailed to the Spanish settlement for +food for the settlement. He comes to that place where in his vision he +sees arise that city of the future which we know now as San Francisco. +Masterful man that he is, he feels that here some great thing awaits +him. The Spaniards are wary of him. They will not trade with him, but +they receive him courteously and they are fascinated by his +self-possessed, well-poised but withal so gracious personality. The +life there at the time is a sort of lotus-eating existence. It is a +piece of Spain translated to a more luscious, a lovelier land, +overlooking beautiful seas and perilous. Into the dolce far niente +Rezanov enters with some surrender to its softening spell, but with the +courtier's prudence. +</P> + +<P> +And he meets the girl, Concha Arguello. He sees her in the setting of +burning and sweet Castilian roses—a girl who has had the benefit of +education, who keeps the graces of old Madrid in this realm beyond sea, +a burgeoning bud of womanhood, daughter of the commandante. The doom +of both is upon them at once. They have drunk the poisoned cup. +Rezanov resists the first approaches of the delightful delirium, +remembering Russia, his duty, his ambition, the poor starving men of +the Sitka factory. At a party he dances with Concha and they both know +that for each there is none other. So in that setting so wild, so +strange, so remote, so lovely for the old world grace that is made +native there by this bright, deep, fond girl, the high gods proceed to +have their will upon the two. The little community life pulses around +them the faster because they are there. Their love becomes a motive in +the diplomatic drama which has for end, first, the securing of food for +those famishing folk at Sitka, and beyond that, possibly the seizing of +the region for Russia, lest that new young power of the West, the +United States, preempt the rich domain. Concha would help the Russian +to those ends immediate which he reveals to her, and succeeds. He +tells her of Russia and his mighty position there. He would have her +for his wife, his helper in the vast imperial affairs at the Russian +capitol, his princess in his palace, augmenting his official and +personal distinction. She shares his vision, rising to all the heights +it unfolds in a splendid future. Child she is, but she is transformed +into a woman by the prospect not of her own pleasure, but of +participation in splendid achievement with this man so keen, so supple, +yet so firm in high purpose. And as the prospect opens to her desire +and his there looms the obstacle. They cannot marry, for Rezanov is a +heretic. And now the passion flames. This child woman will go with +him. Ah, but the church, the king of Spain, will they permit? And the +Czar! Rezanov will see to it that the Czar will clear the way for them +through power exercised at Rome and at Madrid. Conditioned upon this, +the girl's parents consent. +</P> + +<P> +These lovers prate very little of love. Their desire runs too deep for +mere speech. It is a desire made up of as much spiritual as carnal +fire. It is fierce but steady in ecstacy and agony, indistinguishable +the one from the other. Rezanov, man of the great world, it purifies. +Concha it strengthens and makes indomitable. They will abide delay. +They will endure in faith and hope—the faith and hope both dimmed by +the vague and unshakable intuition or premonition that fate has marked +them for derision. Nevertheless, they will endure. +</P> + +<P> +There is a meeting on a path that overlooks where the white seas strike +their tents. It is a meeting of little action, of few words. It is +tense with the almost inexpressible, but at its end, confronting the +doubtful future, realizing that when Rezanov goes he may not return, +this girl tells him: "I will give myself to you forever, how much or +little that may mean here on earth. Forever!" And then that scene in +the moonlight amid the scent of the Castilian roses, when Concha, as +signal of her trust in her lover, lifts the little wisps of hair that +conceal her ears and shows them to him—it throbs with passionate +purity in memory yet. +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov sails away to Sitka with provisions, thence to Siberia, and +then begins the long ride over endless versts of land, across streams +in icy flood, in rain and cold and snow towards the capitol and the +Czar. Delays, disasters to vehicles and horses and the maddening +lengthening of time. From drenchings and freezing comes the fever that +calls for more speed. Krasnoiarsk is reached. The fever mounts, the +traveler must stop and rest and be cared for. His visions commingle +his objective and his memories ... CONCHA! ... The snowy steppes and +the inky rivers.... His servant enters the room in the inn ... Why +... "Where has Jon found Castilian roses in this barren land?" ... "and +his unconquerably sanguine spirit flared high before a vision of +eternal and unthinkable happiness" ... Castilian roses! Concha +Arguello waits among them, immortal, sainted in her purity and +fidelity, ministering to her poor Indians, her face alight with +unquenchable memory and with surety of an eventual everlasting tryst. +Those Castilian roses! They perfume forever one's memories of this +pair, puissant in faith, in this novel that is a poem and a shrine of +that love which lives when death itself is dead. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +WILLIAM MARION REEDY +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +REZANOV +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H3> + +<P> +As the little ship that had three times raced with death sailed past +the gray headlands and into the straits of San Francisco on that +brilliant April morning of 1806, Rezanov forgot the bitter +humiliations, the mental and physical torments, the deprivations and +dangers of the past three years; forgot those harrowing months in the +harbor of Nagasaki when the Russian bear had caged his tail in the +presence of eyes aslant; his dismay at Kamchatka when he had been +forced to send home another to vindicate his failure, and to remain in +the Tsar's incontiguous and barbarous northeastern possessions as +representative of his Imperial Majesty, and plenipotentiary of the +Company his own genius had created; forgot the year of loneliness and +hardship and peril in whose jaws the bravest was impotent; forgot even +his pitiable crew, diseased when he left Sitka, that had filled the +Juno with their groans and laments; and the bells of youth, long still, +rang in his soul once more. +</P> + +<P> +"It is the spring in California," he thought, with a sigh that curled +at the edge. "However," life had made him philosophical; "the moments +of unreasonable happiness are the most enviable no doubt, for there is +neither gall nor satiety in the reaction. All this is as enchanting +as—well, as a woman's promise. What lies beyond? Illiterate and +mercenary Spaniards, vicious natives, and boundless ennui, one may +safely wager. But if all California is as beautiful as this, no man +that has spent a winter in Sitka should ask for more." +</P> + +<P> +In the extent and variety of his travels Rezanov had seen Nature more +awesome of feature but never more fair. On his immediate right as he +sailed down the straits toward the narrow entrance to be known as the +Golden Gate, there was little to interest save the surf and the masses +of outlying rocks where the seals leapt and barked; the shore beyond +was sandy and low. But on his left the last of the northern mountains +rose straight from the water, the warm red of its deeply indented +cliffs rich in harmony with the green of slope and height. There was +not a tree; the mountains, the promontories, the hills far down on the +right beyond the sand dunes, looked like stupendous waves of lava that +had cooled into every gracious line and fold within the art of +relenting Nature; granted ages after, a light coat of verdure to clothe +the terrible mystery of birth. The great bay, as blue and tranquil as +a high mountain lake, as silent as if the planet still slept after the +agonies of labor, looked to be broken by a number of promontories, +rising from their points far out in the water to the high back of the +land; but as the Juno pursued her slanting way down the channel Rezanov +saw that the most imposing of these was but the end of a large island, +and that scattered near were other islands, masses of rock like the +castellated heights that rise abruptly from the plains of Italy and +Spain; far away, narrow straits, with a glittering expanse beyond; +while bounding the whole eastern rim of this splendid sheet of water +was a chain of violet hills, with the pale green mist of new grass here +and there, and purple hollows that might mean groves of trees crouching +low against the cold winds of summer; in the soft pale blue haze above +and beyond, the lofty volcanic peak of a mountain range. Not a human +being, not a boat, not even a herd of cattle was to be seen, and +Rezanov, for a moment forgetting to exult in the length of Russia's +arm, yielded himself to the subtle influence abroad in the air, and +felt that he could dream as he had dreamed in a youth when the courts +of Europe to the boy were as fabulous as El Dorado in the immensity of +ancestral seclusions. +</P> + +<P> +"It is like the approach to paradise, is it not, Excellency?" a +deferential voice murmured at his elbow. +</P> + +<P> +The plenipotentiary frowned without turning his head. Dr. Langsdorff, +surgeon and naturalist, had accompanied the Embassy to Japan, and +although Rezanov had never found any man more of a bore and would +willingly have seen the last of him at Kamchatka, a skilful dispenser +of drugs and mender of bones was necessary in his hazardous voyages, +and he retained him in his suite. Langsdorff returned his polite +tolerance with all the hidden resources of his spleen; but his +curiosity and scientific enthusiasm would have sustained him through +greater trials than the exactions of an autocrat, whom at least he had +never ceased to respect in the most trying moments at Nagasaki. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Rezanov. "But I wonder you find anything to admire in such +unportable objects as mountains and water. I have not seen a living +thing but gulls and seal, and God knows we had enough of both at Sitka." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah, your excellency, in a land as fertile as this, and caressed by a +climate that would coax life from a stone, there must be an infinite +number of aquatic and aerial treasures that will add materially to the +scientific lore of Europe." +</P> + +<P> +"Humph!" said Rezanov, and moved his shoulder in an uncontrollable +gesture of dismissal. But the spell of the April morning was broken, +although the learned doctor was not to be the only offender. +</P> + +<P> +The Golden Gate is but a mile in width and the swift current carried +the Juno toward a low promontory from the base of which a shrill cry +suddenly ascended. Rezanov, raising his glass, saw that what he had +taken to be a pile of fallen rocks was a fort, and that a group of +excited men stood at its gates. Once more the plenipotentiary on a +delicate mission, he ordered the two naval officers sailing the ship to +come forward, and retired to the dignified isolation of the cabin. +</P> + +<P> +The high-spirited young officers, who would have raised a gay hurrah at +the sight of civilized man had it not been for the awe in which they +held their chief, saluted the Spaniards formally, then stood in an +attitude of extreme respect; the Juno was directly under the guns of +the fort. +</P> + +<P> +One of the Spaniards raised a speaking trumpet and shouted: +</P> + +<P> +"Who are you?" +</P> + +<P> +No one on the Juno, save Rezanov, could speak a word of Spanish, but +the tone of the query was its own interpreter. The oldest of the +lieutenants, through the ship's trumpet, shouted back: +</P> + +<P> +"The Juno—Sitka—Russian." +</P> + +<P> +The Spanish officer made a peremptory gesture that the ship come to +anchor in the shelter given by an immense angle of the mainland, of +which the fort's point was the western extreme. The Russians, as +befitted the peaceful nature of their mission, obeyed without delay. +Before their resting place, and among the sand hills a mile from the +beach, was a quadrangle of buildings some two hundred feet square and +surrounded by a wall about fourteen feet high and seven feet thick. +This they knew to be the Presidio. They saw the officers that had +hailed them gallop over the hill behind the fort to the more ambitious +enclosure, and, in the square, confer with another group that seemed to +be in a corresponding state of excitement. A few moments later a +deputation of officers, accompanied by a priest in the brown habit of +the Franciscan order, started on horseback for the beach. Rezanov +ordered Lieutenant Davidov and Dr. Langsdorff to the shore as his +representatives. +</P> + +<P> +The Spaniards wore the undress uniform of black and scarlet in which +they had been surprised, but their peaked straw hats were decorated +with cords of gold or silver, the tassels hanging low on the broad +brim; their high deer-skin boots were gaily embroidered, and bristled +with immense silver spurs. The commanding officer alone had invested +himself with a gala serape, a square of red cloth with a bound and +embroidered slit for the head. Leading the rapid procession, his left +hand resting significantly on his sword, he was a fine specimen of the +young California grandee, dark and dashing and reckless, lithe of +figure, thoroughbred, ardent. His eyes were sparkling at the prospect +of excitement; not only had the Russians, by their nefarious +appropriation of the northwestern corner of the continent and a recent +piratical excursion in pursuit of otter, inspired the Spanish +Government with a profound disapproval and mistrust, but a rumor had +run up the coast that made every sea-gull look like the herald of a +hostile fleet. This was young Arguello's first taste of command, and +life was dull on the northern peninsula; he would have welcomed a +declaration of war. +</P> + +<P> +Davidov and Langsdorff had come to shore in one of the JUNO'S canoes. +The conversation was held in Latin between the two men of learning. +</P> + +<P> +"Who are you and whence come you?" asked the priest. +</P> + +<P> +Langsdorff, who had been severely drilled by the plenipotentiary as to +text, replied with a profound bow: "We are Russians engaged in +completing the circumnavigation of the globe. It was our intention to +go directly to Monterey and present our official documents, as well as +our respects, to your illustrious Governor, but owing to contrary winds +and a resultant scarcity of provisions, we were under the necessity of +putting into the nearest harbor. The Juno is navigated by Lieutenant +Davidov and Lieutenant Khovstov, of the Imperial Navy of Russia; by +gracious permission associated with the Marine of the Russo-American +Company." He paused a moment, and then swept out his trump card with a +magnificent flourish: "Our expedition is in command of His Excellency, +Privy Counsellor and Grand Chamberlain Baron Rezanov, late Ambassador +to the Court of Japan, Plenipotentiary of the Russo-American Company, +Imperial Inspector of the extreme eastern and northwestern American +dominions of His Imperial Majesty, Alexander the First, Emperor of all +the Russias, whose representatives in these waters he is." +</P> + +<P> +The Spaniards were properly impressed as the priest translated with the +glibness of the original; but Arguello, who announced himself as +Commandante ad interim of the Presidio of San Francisco during the +absence of his father at Monterey, nodded sagely several times, and +then held a short conference in Spanish with the interpreter. The +priest turned to the Russians with a smile as diplomatic as that which +Rezanov had drilled upon the ugly ingenuous countenance of his medicine +man. +</P> + +<P> +"Our illustrious Governor, Don Jose Arrillaga, received word from the +court of Spain, now quite two years ago, of the sailing in 1803 from +Kronstadt of the ships Nadeshda and Neva, in command of Captain +Krusenstern and Captain Lisiansky, the former having on board the +illustrious Ambassador to Japan, the Privy Counsellor and Chamberlain +de Rezanov. It was expected that these ships would touch at more than +one of His Most Holy Catholic Majesty's vast dominions, and all +viceroys and gobernador proprietarios were alike instructed to receive +the exalted representatives of the mighty Emperor of Russia with +hospitality and respect. But we cannot understand why his excellency +comes to us so late and in so small a ship, rather than in the state +with which he sailed from Europe." +</P> + +<P> +"The explanation is simple, my father. The original ships, from a +variety of circumstances, were, upon our arrival at Kamchatka, at the +conclusion of the embassy to Japan, under the necessity of returning at +once to Europe. His Imperial Majesty, Alexander the First, ordered the +Chamberlain and plenipotentiary, the representative of imperial power +in the Russo-American possessions, to remove to the Juno for the +purpose of visiting the Kurile and Aleutian Islands, Kadiak and the +northwestern coast of America." The Tsar had never heard of the Juno, +but as Rezanov was practically his august self in these far-away +waters, there was enough of truth in this statement to appease the +conscience of a subordinate. +</P> + +<P> +The Spaniards were satisfied. Lieutenant Arguello begged that the +emissaries would return to the ship and invite the Chamberlain and his +party to come at once to the Presidio and do it the honor to partake of +the poor hospitality it afforded. An officer galloped furiously for +horses. +</P> + +<P> +A few moments later they were still more deeply impressed by the +appearance of their distinguished visitor as he stood erect in the boat +that brought him to shore. In full uniform of dark green and gold +lace, with cocked hat and the splendid order of St. Ann on his breast, +Rezanov was by far the finest specimen of a man the Californians, +themselves of ampler build than their European ancestors, had ever +beheld. Of commanding stature and physique, with an air of highest +breeding and repose, he looked both a man of the great world and an +intolerant leader of men. His long oval face was thin and somewhat +lined, the mouth heavily moulded and closely set, suggestive of sarcasm +and humor; the nose long, with arching and flexible nostrils. His eyes, +seldom widely opened, were light blue, very keen, usually cold. Like +many other men of his position in Europe, he had discarded wig and +queue and wore his short fair hair unpowdered. +</P> + +<P> +It was a singularly imposing but hardly attractive presence, thought +young Arguello, until Rezanov, after stepping on shore and bowing +formally, suddenly smiled and held out his hand. Then the +impressionable Spaniard "melted like a woman," as he told his sister, +Concha, and would have embraced the stranger on either cheek had not +awe lingered to temper his enthusiasm. But Rezanov never made a +stauncher friend than Louis Arguello, who vowed to the last of his days +that the one man who had fulfilled his ideal of the grand seigneur was +he that sailed in from the North on that fateful April morning of 1806. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H3> + +<P> +As Rezanov, heading the procession with young Arguello, entered the +wide gates of the Presidio, he received an impression memorably +different from that which led earlier travelers to describe it +inclemently as a large square surrounded by mud houses, thatched with +reeds. It is true that the walls were of adobe and the roofs of tule, +nor was there a tree on the sand hills encircling the stronghold. But +in this early springtime—the summer of the peninsula—the hills showed +patches of verdure, and all the low white buildings were covered by a +network of soft dull green and archaic pink. The Castilian rose, full +and fluted, and of a chaste and penetrating fragrance, hung singly and +in clusters on the pillars of the dwellings, on the barracks and +chapel, from the very roofs; bloomed upon bushes as high as young +trees. The Presidio was as delicately perfumed as a lady's bower, and +its cannon faced the ever-changing hues of water and island and hill. +</P> + +<P> +As the party approached, heads of all ages appeared between the vines, +and there was a low murmur of irrepressible curiosity and delight. +</P> + +<P> +"We do not see many strangers in this lonely land," said Arguello +apologetically. "And never before have we had so distinguished a guest +as your excellency. It was always a gala day when ever a Boston +skipper came in with a few bales of goods and a complexion like the +hides we sold him. Now, alas! they are no longer permitted to enter +our ports. Governor Arrillaga will have none of contraband trade and +slaying of our otter. And as for Europeans other than Spaniards, save +for an English sea captain now and then, they know naught of our +existence." +</P> + +<P> +But Rezanov had not come to California on the impulse of a moment. He +replied suavely: "There you are mistaken. Your illustrious father, Don +Jose Mario de Arguello, is well known to us as the most respected, +eminent and influential character in the Californias. It was my +intention, after paying a visit of ceremony to his excellency, Governor +Arrillaga, to come to San Francisco for the sole purpose of meeting a +man whose record has inspired me with the deepest interest. And we +have all heard such wonderful tales of your California, of its beauty, +its fertility, of the beneficent lives of your missionaries—so +different from ours—and of the hospitality and elegance of the +Spaniards, that it has been the objective point of my travels, and I +have found it difficult to curb my impatience while attending to +imperative duties elsewhere." +</P> + +<P> +"Ay! senor!" exclaimed the young Californian. "What you say fills me +with a pride I cannot express, and I can only regret that the reports +of our poor habitations should be so sadly exaggerated. Such as our +possessions are, however, they are yours while you deign to remain in +our midst. This is my father's house. I beg that you will regard it +as your own. Burn it if you will!" he cried with more enthusiasm than +commonly enlivened the phrases of hospitality. "He will be proud to +know that a lifetime of severe attention to duty and of devotion to his +King have won him fame abroad as well as at home. He has risen to his +present position from the ranks, but he is of pure Spanish blood, not a +drop of Indian; and my mother was a Moraga, of the best blood of +Spain," he added artlessly. "As to the beauty and variety of our +country, senor, of course you will visit our opulent south; but—" +They had dismounted at the Commandante's house in the southeast corner +of the square. Arguello impulsively led Rezanov back to the gates and +pointed to the east. "I have crossed those mountains and the mountains +beyond, Excellency, and seen fertile and beautiful valleys of a vast +extent, watered by five rivers and bound far, far away by mountains +covered with snow and gigantic trees. The valley beyond the southern +edge of the bay, where the Missions of Santa Clara and San Jose are, is +also rich, but those between the ranges is an empire; and one day when +the King sends us more colonists, we shall recompense Spain for all she +has lost." +</P> + +<P> +"I congratulate you!" Rezanov, indifferent to his host's ancestral +tree, had lifted an alert ear. His quick incisive brain was at work. +"I should like to stretch my legs over a horse for a week at a time, +and even to climb your highest mountains. You may imagine how much +exercise a man may get on a vessel of two hundred and six tons, and it +is thirty-two days since I left Sitka. To look upon a vast expanse of +green—to say nothing of possible sport—after a winter of incessant +rain and impenetrable forests—what a prospect! I beg you will take me +off into the wilderness as soon as possible." +</P> + +<P> +"I promise you the Governor shall not withhold his consent—and there +are bear and deer—quail, wild duck—your excellency will enjoy that +beautiful wild country as I have done." Arguello was enchanted at the +prospect of fresh adventure in the company of this fascinating +stranger. "But we are once more at our poor abode, senor. I beg you +to remember that it is your own." +</P> + +<P> +They ascended the steps of the piazza, suddenly deserted, and it seemed +to Rezanov that every sense in his being quivered responsively to the +poignant sweetness of the Castilian roses. He throbbed with a sudden +exultant premonition that he stood on the threshold of an historic +future, with a pagan joy in mere existence, a sudden rush of desire for +the keen wild happiness of youth. Such is the elixir of California in +the north and the spring. +</P> + +<P> +They entered a long sala typical of its day and of many to come; +whitewashed walls hung with colored prints of the Virgin and saints; +horsehair furniture, matting, deep window seats; and a perennial +coolness. The Chamberlain (his court title and the one commonly +attached to his name) made himself as comfortable as the slippery chair +would permit, and Arguello went for his mother. +</P> + +<P> +Langsdorff, who had lingered on the piazza with the priest, entered in +a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"The good padre tells me that this rose of Castile is the only imported +flower in California," he cried, with enthusiasm, for although not a +botanist, there was a bump between his eyes as big as a child's fist +and he had a nose like the prow of a toy ship. "Many cuttings were +brought from Spain—" +</P> + +<P> +"What difference does it make where it came from?" interrupted Rezanov +testily. "Is it not enough that it is beautiful, but it must have a +pin stuck through it like some poor devil of a butterfly?" +</P> + +<P> +"Your excellency has also the habit to probe into things he deems +worthy of his attention," retorted the offended scientist; but he was +obliged to closet his wrath. An inner door opened and the host +reappeared with his mother and a fair demonstration of her virtues. +She was a very large woman dressed loosely in black, but she carried +herself with an air of complete, if somewhat sleepy, dignity, and it +was evident that her beauty had been great. Her full face had lost its +contours, but time had spared the fine Roman nose and the white skin, +that birthright of the high-bred Castilian. Arguello presented his +family ceremoniously as the guest of honor rose and bowed with formal +deference. +</P> + +<P> +"My mother, Dona Ignacia Arguello, your excellency, who unites with me +in praying that you will regard our home as yours during your sojourn +in the north. My sister, Maria de la Concepcion Marcella Arguello, and +my little sisters, Ana Paula and Gertrudis Rudisinda. My brothers: +Gervasio—soldado distinguido of the San Francisco Company; Santiago, a +cadet in the same company; Francesco and Toribio, whose presence at the +table I beg you will overlook, for when we are so fortunate as to be +all together, senor, we cannot bear to be separated. My oldest +brother, alas—Ignacio—is studying for holy orders in Mexico, and my +sister Isabel visits at the Presidio of Santa Barbara. I beg that you +will be seated, Excellency." And he continued the introduction to the +lesser luminaries, with equal courtesy but fewer periods. +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov exchanged a few pleasant words with his smiling hostess before +she returned to her distracted maids preparing the dinner; but his eyes +during Arguello's declamation had wandered with a singular fidelity to +the beautiful face of the eldest daughter of the house. She had +responded with a humorous twinkle in her magnificent black eyes and not +a hint of diffidence. As she entered the room his brain had flashed +out the thought: "Thank heaven for a pretty girl after these three +abominable years!" Possibly his pleasure would have been salted with +pique had he guessed that her thought was the twin of his own. He was +the first man of any world more considerable than the petty court of +the viceroy of Mexico that had visited California in her time, and +excellent as she found his tall military figure and pale cold face, the +novelty of the circumstance fluttered her more. +</P> + +<P> +Dona "Concha" Arguello was the beauty of California, and although her +years were but sixteen her blood was Spanish, and she carried her tall +deep figure and fine head with the grace and dignity of an accomplished +woman. She had inherited the white skin and delicate Roman-Spanish +profile of the Moragas, but there was an intelligent fire in her eyes, +a sharp accentuation of nostril, and a full mobility of mouth, +childish, half-developed as that feature still was, that betrayed a +strong cross-current forcing the placid maternal flow into rugged and +unexplored channels, while assimilating its fine qualities of pride and +high breeding. Gervasio and Santiago resembled their sister in +coloring and profile, but lacked her subtle quality of personality and +divine innocence. Luis was more the mother's son than the +father's—saving his olive skin; a grandee, modified by the +simplicities of a soldier's life, amiable and upright. Dona Ignacia +recognized in Concha the quintessence of the two opposing streams, and +had long since ceased to impose upon a girl who had little else but her +liberties, the conventional restrictions of the Spanish maiden. Concha +had already received many offers of marriage and regarded men as mere +swingers of incense. Moreover, her cultivated mind was filled with +ideals and ideas far beyond anything California would yield in her day. +</P> + +<P> +As Rezanov, upon Dona Ignacia's retreat, walked directly over to her, +she smilingly seated herself on a sofa and swept aside her voluminous +white skirts. She was not sure that she liked him, but in no doubt +whatever of her delight at his advent. +</P> + +<P> +Her manners were very simple and artless, as are the manners of most +women whom Nature has gifted with complexity and depth. +</P> + +<P> +"It is now two years and more that we have been excited over the +prospect of this visit," she said. "But if you will tell me what you +have been doing all this time, I, at least, will forgive you; for you +will never be able to imagine, senor, how I long to hear of the great +world. I stare at the map, then at the few pictures we have. I know +many books of travel by heart; but I am afraid my imagination is a poor +one, for I cannot conjure up great cities filled with people—thousands +of people! DIOS DE MI ALMA! A world where there is something besides +mountains and water, grain fields, orchards, forests, earthquakes, and +climate? Will you, senor?" +</P> + +<P> +"For quite as many hours as you will listen to me. I propose a +compact. You shall improve my Spanish. I will impart all I know of +Europe—and of Asia—if your curiosity reaches that far." +</P> + +<P> +"Even of Japan?" There was a wicked spark in her eye. +</P> + +<P> +"I see you already have some knowledge of the cause of my delay." His +voice was even, but a wound smarted. "It is quite true, senorita, that +the first embassy to Japan, from which we hoped so much, was a +humiliating failure, and that I was played with for six months by a +people whom we had regarded as a nation of monkeys. When my health +began to suffer from the long confinement on shipboard—we had +previously been fourteen months at sea—and I asked to be permitted to +live on shore while my claims to an audience were under consideration, +I was removed with my suite to a cage on a strip of land nearly +surrounded with water, where I had less liberty and exercise than on +shipboard. Finally, I had a ridiculous interview with a 'great man,' +in which I accomplished nothing but the preservation of what personal +dignity a man may while sitting on his heels; the superb presents of +the Tsar were returned to me, and I was politely told to leave. Japan +wanted neither the friendship of Russia nor her gimcracks. That, +senorita, is the history of the first Russian Embassy—for the +tentative visit of Adam Lanxmann, twelve years before, can be dignified +by no such title—to Oriental waters. It is to be hoped that Count +Golofkin, who was to undertake a similar mission to China, has met with +a better fate." +</P> + +<P> +Underneath the polished armour of a man who was a courtier when he +chose and the dominating spirit always, he was hot and quick of temper. +His light cold eyes glowed with resentment at the dancing lights in +hers, as he cynically gave her a bald abstract of the unfortunate +mission. He reflected that commonly he would have fitted a different +mask to the ugly skull of fact, but this young barbarian, as he chose +to regard her, excited the elemental truth in him, defying him to +appear at his worst. He was astonished to see her eyes suddenly soften +and her mouth tremble. +</P> + +<P> +"It must have been a hateful experience—hateful!" Her voice, +beginning on its usual low soft note, rose to a hoarse pitch of +indignation. "I should have killed somebody! To be a man, and strong, +and caressed all one's life by fortune—and to be as helpless as an +Indian! Madre de dios!" +</P> + +<P> +"I shall take my revenge," said Rezanov shortly; but the wound closed, +and once more he became aware of the poignant sweetness of Castilian +roses. Concha wore one in her soft dusky hair, and another where the +little round jacket of white linen, gaily embroidered with pink, met on +her bosom. But if sentiment tempted him he was quickly poised by her +next remarks. She uttered them in a low tone, although the animated +conversation of the rest of the party would have permitted the two on +the sofa to exchange the vows of love unheard. +</P> + +<P> +"But what a practice for your diplomatic talents, Excellency! Poor +California! At least let me be the first to hear what you have come +for?" Her voice dropped to a soft cooing note, although her eyes +twinkled. "For the love of God, senor! I am so bored in this life on +the edge of the world! To see the seams and ravelings of a diplomatic +intrigue! I have read and heard of many, but never had I hoped to link +my finger in anything subtler than a quarrel between priest and +Governor, or the jealousy of Los Angeles for Monterey. I even will +help you—if you mean no harm to my father or my country. And I am not +a friend to scorn, senor, for my blessed father is as wax in my hands, +the dear old Governor adores me, and even Padre Abella, who thinks +himself a great diplomat, and is watching us out of the corner of his +eye, while I make him believe you pay me so many compliments my poor +little head turns round—Bueno senor!" As she raised her voice she +plucked the rose from her dress and tossed it to Rezanov. Then she +lifted her chin and pouted her childish lips at the ironical smile of +the priest. +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov was close to betraying his surprise; but as he cherished a +belief that the souls of all pretty women went to school to the devil +before entering upon earthly enterprise, he wondered that he had been +open to the illusion of complete ingenuousness in a descendant of one +of the oldest and subtlest civilizations of earth. Within that +luminous shell of youth there were, no doubt, whispering memories of +men and women steeped in court intrigue from birth, of triumphant +beauties that had lived for love and their power over the passions of +men as ardent as himself. It was quite possible that she might be as +useful as she desired. But his impulses were in leash. He merely +looked and murmured his admiration. +</P> + +<P> +"Better ask, what chance have I, a defenceless man, who has not seen a +charming woman for three years, against such practised art? If you can +hoodwink a Spanish priest, and manipulate a Governor who has won the +confidence of the most suspicious court in Europe, what fortune for a +barbarian of the north? Less than with Japan, I should think." +</P> + +<P> +He divested the rose of its thorns and many tight little buds, and +thrust the stem underneath the star of St. Ann. She lifted her chin +again and tossed her head. +</P> + +<P> +"You do not trust me, but you will. I fancy it will be before +long—for it is quite true that the Californians are not so easily +outwitted. And—even did I not help you, I would not—I vow, +senor!—betray you. Is it true that Russia is at war with Spain?" +</P> + +<P> +"What?" +</P> + +<P> +"Have you not heard? It was for that we were all so excited this +morning. We thought your ship might be the first of a fleet." +</P> + +<P> +"I have heard no such rumor, and you may dismiss it. Russia is too +much occupied with Napoleon Bonaparte, who has had himself crowned +Emperor, and by this time is probably at war with half Europe—" +</P> + +<P> +She interrupted him with flashing eye. The pink in her cheeks had +turned red. The thin nostrils of her pretty Roman nose fluttered like +paper. "Ah!" she exclaimed, again with that note of hoarseness in her +voice. "There is a great man, not a mere king on a throne his +ancestors made for him. Papa hates him because he has seized a throne. +AY YI! DIOS, but you should hear the words fly when we go to war +together. But I do not care that"—she snapped her firm white +fingers—"for all the Bourbons that are in Europe. Bonaparte! Do you +know him? Have you seen him?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have seen him insult poor Markov, our ambassador to France, when I +can assure you that he looked like neither a demi-god nor a gentleman. +When you have improved my Spanish I will tell you many anecdotes of +him. Meanwhile, am I to assume that you reserve your admiration for +the man that carves his career in defiance of the rusty old machinery?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do! I do! My father was of the people, a poor boy. He has risen +to be the most powerful of all Californians, although the King he +adores never makes him Gobernador Proprietario. I tell him he should +be the first to recognize the genius and the ambitions of a Bonaparte. +The mere thought horrifies him. But in me that same strong plebeian +blood makes another cry, and if my father had but enough men at his +back, and the will to make himself King of the Californias—Madre de +Dios! how I should help him!" +</P> + +<P> +"At least I know her better than she knows me," thought Rezanov, as the +inner door was thrown open and another bare room with a long table +laden with savory food on a superb silver service was revealed. "And +if I know anything of women, I can trust her—for as long as she may be +necessary, at all events." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +III +</H3> + +<P> +"Santiago!" whispered Concha. "Do not go down to the ship. Take me +for a walk. I have much to say." +</P> + +<P> +Santiago, who had not been asked to form one of the escort upon the +return of the Russians to the Juno for the night, felt injured and +sulky and deigned no reply. +</P> + +<P> +"If you do not, I'll not braid your hair to-morrow," said his sister, +giving his arm a little shake; and he succumbed. The luxuriant tresses +of the male Arguellos were combed and braided and tied with a ribbon +every morning by the women of the family, and Concha's fingers were the +gentlest and deftest. And Concha and Santiago were more intimate than +even the rest of that united family. They had studied and read +together, were equally dissatisfied with their narrow existence, +ambitious for a wider experience. Santiago consoled himself with cards +and training roosters for battle, and otherwise as a man may. He was +but fifteen, this haughty, severe-looking young hidalgo, but while in +some respects many years older than his sister, in others he was +younger, for he possessed none of her illuminating instinct. +</P> + +<P> +She led him through a postern gate, round the first of the dunes, and +they were alone in a waste of sand. She demanded abruptly: +</P> + +<P> +"What do you think of our illustrious visitor?" +</P> + +<P> +"I like him. He would wring your neck if you got in his way, but has a +kind heart for those that call him master. I like that sort of a man. +I wish he would take me away with him." +</P> + +<P> +"He shall—one of these days. Santiago mio, let me whisper—" She +pulled his ear down to her lips. "He will marry me. I feel it. I +know it. He has talked to me the whole day. He has told me grave +secrets. Not even to you would I reveal them. So many have loved +me—why should not he? I shall live in St. Petersburg, and see all +Europe!—thousands of people—Dios mio! Dios mio!" +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed!" Santiago, still unamiable, responded to this confidence with +a sneer. "You aspire very high for a little girl of the wilderness, +without fortune, and only half a coat-of-arms, so to speak. Do you +know that this Rezanov—Dr. Langsdorff has told us all about him—is a +great noble, one of the ten barons of Russia, and a Chamberlain in +accordance with a decree of Peter the Great that court titles should be +bestowed as a reward for distinguished services alone? He got a +fortune in his youth by marriage with a daughter of Shelikov—that +Siberian who founded the Russian colonies in America. The wife died +almost immediately, but the Baron's influence remained with +Shelikov—for his influence at court was even greater—and after the +older man's death, with his mother-in-law, who is uncommonly clever. +Shelikov's schemes were but little sketches beside Rezanov's, who from +merely a courtier and a gay blood about town developed into a great man +of business, with an ambition to correspond. It was he who got the +Imperial ukase that gave the Russian-American Company its power to +squeeze all the other fur hunters and traders out of the northeast, and +made Rezanov and everybody belonging to it so rich your head would swim +if I told you the number of doubloons they spend in a year. Nobody has +ever been so clever at managing those old beasts of autocrats as he. +They think him merely the accomplished courtier, a brilliant +dilettante, a condescending patron of art and letters, a devotee of +pleasure, and all the time he is pulling their befuddled old brains +about to suit himself. The Tsar Paul was a lunatic and they murdered +him, but meanwhile he signed the ukase. The Tsar Alexander, who is not +so bad nor so silly as the others, thinks there is no man so clever as +Rezanov, who addresses him personally when sending home his reports. +Do you know what all that means? Your plenipotentiary is not only a +Chamberlain at court, a Privy Councillor, and the Tsar himself on this +side of the world, but when his inspections and reforms are concluded, +and he is one of the wealthiest men in Russia, he will return to St. +Petersburg and become so high and mighty that a princess would snap at +him. And you aspire! I never heard such nonsense." +</P> + +<P> +"His excellency told me much of this," replied Concha imperturbably. +"And I am sure that he cares nothing for princesses and will marry whom +he most admires. He would not say, but I know he cared nothing for +that poor little wife, dead so long ago. It was a mariage de +convenance, such as all the great world is accustomed to. He will love +me more than all the fine ladies he has ever seen. I feel it. I know +it! And I am quite happy." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you love him?" asked Santiago, looking curiously at his sister's +flushed and glowing face. It seemed to him that she had never looked so +young. "Many have loved you. I had begun to think you had no heart +for men, no wish for anything but admiration. And now you give your +heart in a day to this Russian—who must be nearly forty—unasked." +</P> + +<P> +"I have not thought of my heart at all. But I could love him, of +course. He is so handsome, so kind, so grand, so gay! But love is for +men and wives—has not my mother said so? Now I think only of St. +Petersburg! of Paris! of London! of the beautiful gowns and jewels I +shall wear at court—a red velvet train as long as a queen's, and all +embroidered with gold, a white veil spangled with gold, a head-dress a +foot high studded with jewels, ropes of diamonds and pearls—I made him +tell me how the great ladies dressed. Ah! there is the pleasure of +being a girl—to think and dream of all those beautiful things, not of +when the wife must live always for the husband and children. That +comes soon enough. And why should I not have all!—there is so little +in life for the girl. It seems to me now that I have had nothing. +When he asks me to marry him he will tell me of the fine things I shall +have and the great sights I shall witness—the ceremonies at court, the +winter streets—with snow—snow, Santiago!—where the great nobles +drive four horses through the drifts like little hills, and are wrapped +in furs like bears! The grand military parades—how I shall laugh when +I think of our poor little Presidios with their dozen officers +strutting about—" She stopped abruptly and bursting wildly into tears +flung herself into her brother's arms. "But I never could leave you! +And my father! my mother! all! all! Ay, Dios de mi alma! what an +ingrate I am! I should die of homesickness! My Santiago! My +Santiago!" +</P> + +<P> +Santiago patted her philosophically. "You are not going to-morrow," he +reminded her. "Don't cross your bridges until you come to them. That +is a good proverb for maids and men. You might take us all with you, +or spend every third year or so in California. No doubt you would need +the rest. And meanwhile remember that the high and mighty Chamberlain +has not yet asked for the honor of an alliance with the house of +Arguello, and that your brother will match his best fighting cock +against your new white lace mantilla from Mexico, that he is not +meditating any project so detrimental to his fortunes. Console +yourself with the reflection that if he were, our father and the +priests, and the Governor himself, would die of apoplexy. He is a +heretic—a member of the Greek Church! Hast thou lost thy reason, +Conchita? Dry your eyes and come home to sleep, and let us hear no +more of marriage with a man who is not only a barbarian of the north +and a heretic, but so proud he does not think a Californian good enough +to wash his decks." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IV +</H3> + +<P> +It was long before Rezanov slept that night. The usual chill had come +in from the Pacific as the sun went down, and the distinguished visitor +had intimated to his hosts that he should like to exercise on shore +until ready for his detested quarters; but Arguello dared not, in the +absence of his father, invite the foreigner even to sleep in the house +so lavishly offered in the morning; although he had sent such an +abundance of provisions to the ship that the poor sailors were deep in +sleep, gorged like boa-constrictors; and he could safely promise that +while the Juno remained in port her larder should never be empty. He +shared the evening bowl of punch in the cabin, then went his way +lamenting that he could not take his new friends with him. +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov paced the little deck of the Juno to keep his blood in stir. +There was no moon. The islands and promontories on the great sheet of +water were black save for the occasional glow of an Indian camp-fire. +There was not a sound but the lapping of the waves, the roar of distant +breakers. The great silver stars and the little green stars looked +down upon a solitude that was almost primeval, yet mysteriously +disturbed by the restless currents in the brain of a man who had little +in common with primal forces. +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov was uneasy on more scores than one. He was annoyed and +mortified at the discovery—made over the punch bowl—that the girl he +had taken to be twenty was but sixteen. It was by no means his first +experience of the quick maturity of southern women—but sixteen! He +had never wasted a moment on a chit before, and although he was a man +of imagination, and notwithstanding her intelligence and dignity, he +could not reconcile properties so conflicting with any sort of feminine +ideal. +</P> + +<P> +And the pressing half of his mission he had confided to her! No man +knew better than he the value of a tactful and witty woman in the +political dilemmas of life; more than one had given him devoted +service, nor ever yet had he made a mistake. After several hours spent +in the society of this clever, politic, dissatisfied girl he had come +to the conclusion that he could trust her, and had told her of the +lamentable condition of the creatures in the employ of the +Russian-American Company; of their chronic state of semi-starvation, of +the scurvy that made them apathetic of brain and body, and eventually +would exterminate them unless he could establish reciprocal trade +relations with California and obtain regular supplies of farinaceous +food; acknowledged that he had brought a cargo of Russian and Boston +goods necessary to the well-being of the Missions and Presidios, and +that he would not return to the wretched people of Sitka, at least, +without a generous exchange of breadstuffs, dried meats, peas, beans, +barley and tallow. Not only had he no longer the courage to witness +their misery, but his fortune and his career were at stake. His entire +capital was invested in the Company he had founded, and he had failed +in his embassy to Japan—to the keen mortification of the Tsar and the +jubilation of his enemies. If he left the Emperor's northeastern +dominions unreclaimed and failed to rescue the Company from its +precarious condition, he hardly should care to return to St. Petersburg. +</P> + +<P> +Dona Concha had listened to this eloquent harangue—they sat alone at +one end of the long sala while Luis at the other toiled over letters to +the Governor and his father advising them of the formidable honor of +the Russian's visit—in exactly the temper he would have chosen. Her +fine eyes had melted and run over at the moving tale of the sufferings +of the servants of the Company—until his own had softened in response +and he had impulsively kissed her hand; they had dilated and flashed as +he spoke of his personal apprehensions; and when he had given her a +practical explanation of his reasons for coming to California she had +given him advice as practical in return. +</P> + +<P> +He must withhold from her father and the Governor the fact of his +pressing need; they were high officials with an inflexible sense of +duty, and did all they could to enforce the law against trading with +foreigners. He was to maintain the fiction of belting the globe, but +admit that he had indulged in a dream of commercial relations—for a +benefit strictly mutual—between neighbors as close as the Spanish and +Russians in America. This would interest them—what would not, on the +edge of the world?—and they would agree to lay the matter, reinforced +by a strong personal plea, before the Viceroy of Mexico; who in turn +would send it to the Cabinet and King at Madrid. Meanwhile, he was to +confide in the priests at the Mission. Not only would their sympathies +be enlisted, but they did much trading under the very nose of the +government. Not for personal gain—they were vowed to a life of +poverty; but for their Indian converts; and as there were twelve +hundred at the Mission of San Francisco, they would wink at many things +condemnable in the abstract. He had engaged to visit them on the +morrow, and he must take presents to tempt their impersonal cupidity, +and invite them to inspect the rest of his wares—which the Governor +would be informed his Excellency had been forced to buy with the Juno +from the Yankee skipper, D'Wolf, and would rid himself of did +opportunity offer. +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov had never received sounder advice, and had promptly accepted +it. Now, as he reflected that it had been given by a girl of sixteen, +he was divided between admiration of her precocity and fear lest she +prove to be too young to keep a secret. Moreover, there were other +considerations. +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov, although in his earlier years he had so far sacrificed his +interests and played into the hands of his enemies, in avoiding the too +embarrassing partiality of Catherine the Great, had nevertheless held a +high place at court by right of birth, and been a man of the world +always; rarely absent from St. Petersburg during the last and least +susceptible part of the imperial courtesan's life, the brief reign of +Paul, and the two years between the accession of Alexander and the +sailing of the Nadeshda. Moreover, there was hardly another court of +importance in Europe with which he was not familiar, and few men had +had a more complete experience of life. And the life of a courtier, a +diplomat, a traveller, noble, wealthy, agreeable to women by divine +right, with active enemies and a horde of flatterers, in daily contact +with the meaner and more disingenuous corners of human nature, is not +conducive to a broad optimism and a sweet and immutable Christianity. +Rezanov inevitably was more or less cynical and blase', and too long +versed in the ways of courts and courtiers to retain more than a +whimsical tolerance of the naked truth and an appreciation of its +excellence as a diplomatic manoeuvre. Nevertheless, he was by nature +too impetuous ever to become under any provocation a dishonest man, and +too normally a gentleman to deviate from a certain personal code of +honor. He might come to California with fair words and a very definite +intention of annexing it to Russia at the first opportunity, but he was +incapable of abusing the hospitality of the Arguellos by making love to +their sixteen-year-old daughter. Had she been of the years he had +assumed, he would have had less scruple in embarking upon a flirtation, +both for the pastime and the use he might make of her. A Spanish +beauty of twenty, still unmarried, would be more than his match. But a +child, however precocious, inevitably would fall in love with the first +uncommon stranger she met; and Rezanov, less vain than most men of his +kind, and with a fundamental humanity that was the chief cause in his +efforts to improve the condition of his wretched promuschleniki, had no +taste for the role of heart-breaker. +</P> + +<P> +But the girl had proved her timeliness; would, if trustworthy, be of +further use in inclining her father and the Governor toward such of his +designs as he had any intentions of revealing; and, weighing carefully +his conversations with her, he was disposed to believe that she would +screen and abet him through vanity and love of intrigue. After the +dinner, in the seclusion of the sala, he had taken pains to explore for +the causes of her mental maturity. Concha had told him of Don Jose +Arguello's ambition that his children in their youth should have the +education he had been forced to acquire in his manhood; he had taught +them himself, and notwithstanding his piety and the disapproval of the +priests, had permitted them to read the histories, travels, and +biographies he received once a year from the City of Mexico. Rezanov +had met Madame de Stael and other bas bleus, and given them no more of +his society than politeness demanded, but although astonished at the +amount of information this young girl had assimilated, he found nothing +in her manner of wearing her intellectual crown to offend his +fastidious taste. She was wholly artless in her love of books and of +discussing them; and nothing in their contents had disturbed the +sweetest innocence he had ever met. Of the little arts of coquetry she +was mistress by inheritance and much provocation, but her unawakened +inner life breathed the simplicity and purity of the elemental roses +that hovered about her in his thoughts. Her very unsusceptibility made +the game more dangerous; if it piqued him—and he aspired to be no more +than human—he either should have to marry her, or nurse a sore spot in +his conscience for the rest of his life; and for neither alternative +had he the least relish. +</P> + +<P> +He dismissed the subject at last with an impatient shrug. Perhaps he +was a conceited ass, as his English friends would say; perhaps the +Governor would be more amenable than she had represented. No man could +forecast events. It was enough to be forearmed. +</P> + +<P> +But his thoughts swung to a theme as little disburdening. His needs, +as he had confided to Concha, were very pressing. The dry or frozen +fish, the sea dogs, the fat of whales, upon which the employees of the +Company were forced to subsist in the least hospitable of climes, had +ravaged them with scorbutic diseases until their numbers were so +reduced by death and desertion that there was danger of depopulation +and the consequent bankruptcy of the Company. Since June of the +preceding year until his departure from New Archangel in the previous +month, he had been actively engaged in inspection of the Company's +holdings from Kamchatka to Sitka: reforming abuses, establishing +schools and libraries, conceiving measures to protect the fur-bearing +animals from reckless slaughter both by the promuschleniki and +marauding foreigners; punishing and banishing the worst offenders +against the Company's laws; encouraging the faithful, and sharing +hardships with them that sent memories of former luxuries and pleasures +scurrying off to the realms of fantasy. But his rule would be +incomplete and his efforts end in failure if the miserable Russians and +natives in the employ of the Company were not vitalized by proper food +and cheered with the hope of its permanence. +</P> + +<P> +In Santiago's story of the Russian visitor's achievements and status +there was the common mingling of truth and fiction the exalted never +fail to inspire. Rezanov, although he had accomplished great ends +against greater odds, was too little of a courtier at heart ever to +have been a prime favorite in St. Petersburg until the accession of a +ruler with whom he had something in common. A dissolute woman and a +crack-brained despot were the last to appreciate an original and +independent mind, and the seclusion of Alexander had been so complete +during the lifetime of his father that Rezanov barely had known him by +sight. But the Tsarovitz, enthusiastic for reform and a passionate +admirer of enterprise, knew of Rezanov, and no sooner did he mount his +gory throne than he confirmed the Chamberlain in his enterprise, and +two years later made him a Privy Counsellor, invested him with the +order of St. Ann, and chose him for the critical embassy to the verdant +realm with the blind and gateless walls. +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov had conquered so far in life even less by address than by the +demonstration of abilities very singular in a man of his birth and +education. When he met Shelikov, during the Siberian merchant-trader's +visit to St. Petersburg in 1788, he was a young man with little +interest in life outside of its pleasures, and a patrimony that enabled +him to command them to no great extent and barely to maintain the +dignity of his rank. Shelikov's plan to obtain a monopoly of the fur +trade in the islands and territories added by his Company to Russia, +possibly throughout the entire possession, thus preventing the +destruction of sables, seals, otters, and foxes by small traders and +foreigners, interested him at once; or possibly he was merely +fascinated at first by the shrewd and dauntless representative of a +class with which he had never before come in contact. The accidental +acquaintance ripened into intimacy, Rezanov became a partner in the +Shelikov-Golikov Company, and married the daughter of his new friend. +After the death of his father-in-law, in 1795, his ambitions and +business abilities, now fully awake, prompted him to obtain for himself +and his partners rights analogous to those granted by England to the +East India Company. Shelikov had won little more than half the power +and privileges he had solicited of Catherine, although he had +amalgamated the two leading companies, drawn in several others, and +built ships and factories and forts to protect them. And if the +regnant merchants made large fortunes, the enterprise in general +suffered from the rivalries between the various companies, and above +all from lack of imperial support. +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov, his plans made, brought to bear all the considerable influence +he was able to command, called upon all his resources of brain and +address, and brought Catherine to the point of consenting to sign the +charter he needed. Before it was ready for the imperial signature she +died. Rezanov was forced to begin again with her ill-balanced and +intractable son. Natalie Shelikov, his famous mother-in-law, the old +shareholders of the Company, and the many new ones that had subscribed +to Rezanov's ambitious project, gave themselves up to despair. For a +time the outlook was dark. The personal enemies of Rezanov and the +bitter and persistent opponents of the companies threw themselves +eagerly into the scale with tales of brutality of the merchants and the +threatened extirpation of the fur-bearing animals. Paul announced his +attention to abolish all the companies and close the colonies to +traders big and little. +</P> + +<P> +But the enemy had a very subtle antagonist in Rezanov. Apparently +dismissing the subject, he applied himself to gaining a personal +ascendancy over the erratic but impressionable Tsar. No one in the +opposing camp could compare with him in that fine balance of charm and +brain which was his peculiar gift, or in the adroit manipulation of a +mind propelled mainly by vanity. He studied Paul's moods and +character, discovered that after some senseless act of oppression he +suffered from a corresponding remorse, and was susceptible to any plan +that would increase his power and add lustre to his name. The +commercial and historic advantages of prosperous northeastern +possessions were artfully instilled. At the opportune moment Rezanov +laid before him a scheme, mature in every detail, for a great company +that would add to the wealth of Russia, and convince Europe of the +sound commercial sense and immortal wisdom of its sovereign. Without +more ado he obtained his charter. +</P> + +<P> +This momentous instrument granted to the "Russian-American Company +under our Highest Protection," "full privileges, for a period of twenty +years on the coast of northwestern America, beginning from latitude 55 +degrees north, and including the chain of islands extending from +Kamchatka northward, and southward to Japan; the exclusive right to all +enterprises, whether hunting, trading, or building, and to new +discoveries; with strict prohibition from profiting from any of these +pursuits, not only to all parties who might engage in them on their own +responsibility, but also to those who formerly had ships and +establishments there, except those who have united with the new +Company." All private traders who refused to join the Company were to +be allowed to sell their property and depart in peace. +</P> + +<P> +Thus was formed the first of the Trusts in America; and the United +States never has had so formidable a menace to her territorial +greatness as this Russian nobleman who paced that night the wretched +deck of the little ship he had bought from one of her skippers. +Perturbed in mind at his recent failures and immediate prospects, he +was no less determined to take California from the Spaniards either by +absorption or force. +</P> + +<P> +On his way from New Archangel to San Francisco he had met with his +second failure since leaving St. Petersburg. It was his intention to +move the Sitkan colony down to the mouth of the Columbia River; not +only pressed by the need of a more beneficent soil, but as a first +insidious advance upon San Francisco Bay. Upon this trip it would be +enough to make a survey of the ground and bury a copper plate +inscribed: "Possession of the Russian Empire." The Juno had +encountered terrific storms. After three desperate attempts to reach +the mouth of the river, Rezanov had been forced to relinquish the +enterprise for the moment and hasten with his diseased and almost +useless crew to the nearest port. It was true that the attempt could +be made again later, but Rezanov, sanguine of temperament, was +correspondingly depressed by failure and disposed to regard it as an +ill-omen. +</P> + +<P> +An ambassador inspired by heaven could have accomplished no more with +the Japanese at that mediaeval stage of their development than he had +done, and the most indomitable of men cannot yet control the winds of +heaven; but sovereigns are rarely governed by logic, and frequently by +the favorite at hand. The privilege of writing personally to the Tsar, +in his case, meant more and less than appeared on the surface. It was +a measure to keep the reports of the Company out of the hands of the +Admiralty College, its bitterest enemy, and always jealous of the Civil +Service. Nevertheless, Rezanov knew that he had no immediate reason to +apprehend the loss of Alexander's friendship and esteem; and if he +placed the Company, in which all the imperial family had bought shares, +on a sounder basis than ever before, and doubled its earnings by +insuring the health of its employees, he would meet, when in St. +Petersburg again, with practically no opposition to his highest +ambitions. These ambitions he deliberately kept in a fluid state for +the present. Whether he should aspire to great authority in the +government, or choose to rule with the absolute powers of the Tsar +himself these already vast possessions on the Pacific—to be extended +indefinitely—would be decided by events. All his inherited and +cultivated instincts yearned for the brilliant and complex +civilizations of Europe, but the new world had taken a firm hold upon +his humaner and appealed more insidiously to his despotic. Moreover, +Europe, torn up by that human earthquake, Napoleon Bonaparte, must lose +the greater half of its sweetness and savor. All that, however, could +be determined upon his return to St. Petersburg in the autumn. +</P> + +<P> +But meanwhile he must succeed with these Californians, or they might +prove, toy soldiers as they were, more perilous to his fortunes than +enemies at court. He could not afford another failure; and news of +this attempt and an exposition of all that depended upon it were +already on the road to the capital of Russia. +</P> + +<P> +He had known, of course, of the law that forbade the Spanish colonies +to trade with foreign ships, but he had relied partly upon the use he +could make of the orders given by the Spanish King at the request of +the Tsar regarding the expedition under Krusenstern, partly upon his +own wit and address. But although the royal order had insured him +immediate hospitality and saved him many wearisome formalities, he had +already discovered that the Spanish on the far rim of their empire had +lost nothing of their connate suspicion. Rather, their isolation made +them the more wary. Although they little appreciated the richness and +variousness of California's soil, and not at all this wonderful bay +that would accommodate the combined navies of the world, pocketing +several, the pious zeal of the clergy in behalf of the Indians, and the +general policy of Spain to hold all of the western hemisphere that +disintegrating forces would permit, made her as tenacious of this vast +territory she had so sparsely populated as had she been aware that its +foundations were of gold, conceived that its climate and soil were a +more enduring source of wealth than ever she would command again. If +Rezanov was not gifted with the prospector's sense for ores—although +he had taken note of Arguello's casual reference to a vein of silver +and lead in the Monterey hills—no man ever more thoroughly appreciated +the visible resources of California than he. Baranhov, chief-manager +of the Company, had talked with American and British skippers for +twenty years, and every item he had accumulated Rezanov had extracted. +To-day he had drawn further information from Concha and her brothers; +and their artless descriptions as well as this incomparable bay had +filled him with enthusiasm. What a gift to Russia! What an +achievement to his immortal credit! The fog rolled in from the Pacific +in great white waves and stealthily enfolded him, obliterated the sea +and the land. But he did not see it. Apprehension left him. Once +more he fell to dreaming. In the course of a few years the Company +would attract a large population to the mouth of the Columbia River, be +strong enough to make use of any favorable turn in European politics +and sweep down upon California. The geographical position of Mexico, +the arid and desolate, herbless and waterless wastes intervening, would +prohibit her sending any considerable assistance overland; and, all +powerful at court by that time, he would take care that the Russian +navy inspired Spain with a distaste for remote Pacific waters. He had +long since recovered from the disappointment induced by the orders +compelling him to remain in the colonies. The great Company he had +heretofore regarded merely as a source of income and a means of +advancing his ambitions, he now loved as his child. Even during the +marches over frozen swamps and mountains, during the terrible winter in +Sitka when he had become familiar with illness and even with hunger, +his ardor had grown, as well as his determination to force Russia into +the front rank of Commercial Europe. The United States he barely +considered. He respected the new country for the independent spirit +and military genius that had routed so powerful a nation as Great +Britain, but he thought of her only as a new and tentative civilization +on the far shores of the Atlantic. After some experience of travel in +Siberia, and knowing the immensity and primeval conditions of +north-western America, he did not think it probable that the little +cluster of states, barely able to walk alone, would indulge in dreams +of expansion for many years to come. He had heard of the projected +expedition of Lewis and Clarke to the mouth of the Columbia, +but—perhaps he was too Russian—he did not take any adventure +seriously that had not a mighty nation at its back. And as it was +almost the half of a century from that night before the American flag +flew over the Custom House of Monterey, there is reason to believe that +Russian aggression under the leadership of so energetic and resourceful +a spirit as Nicolai Petrovich de Rezanov was in a fair way to make +history first in the New Albion of Drake and the California of the +incompetent Spaniard. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +V +</H3> + +<P> +The Russians were to call at the house of the Commandante on their way +to the Mission, and Concha herself made the chocolate with which they +were to be detained for another hour. It was another sparkling +morning, one of the few that came between winter and summer, summer and +winter, and made even this bleak peninsula a land of enchantment before +the cold winds took the sand hills up by their foundations and drove +them down to Yerba Buena, submerging the battery and every green thing +by the way; or the great fogs rolled down from the tule lands of the +north and in from the sea, making the shivering San Franciscan forget +that not ten miles away the sun was as prodigal as youth. For a few +weeks San Francisco had her springtime, when the days were warm and the +air of a wonderful lightness and brightness, the atmosphere so clear +that the flowers might be seen on the islands, when man walked with +wings on his feet and a song in his heart; when the past was done with, +the future mattered not, the present with its ever changing hues on bay +and hill, its cool electrical breezes stirring imagination and pulse, +was all in all. +</P> + +<P> +And it was in San Francisco's springtime that Concha Arguello made +chocolate for the Russian to whom she was to give a niche in the +history of her land; and sang at her task. She whirled the molinillo +in each cup as it was filled, whipping the fragrant liquid to froth; +pausing only to scold when her servant stained one of the dainty +saucers or cups. Poor Rosa did not sing, although the spring attuned +her broken spirit to a gentler melancholy than when the winds howled +and the fog was cold in her marrow. She had been sentenced by the last +Governor, the wise Borica, to eight years of domestic servitude in the +house of Don Jose Arguello for abetting her lover in the murder of his +wife. Concha, thoughtless in many things, did what she could to +exorcise the terror and despair that stared from the eyes of the Indian +and puzzled her deeply. Rosa adored her young mistress and exulted +even when Concha's voice rose in wrath; for was not she noticed by the +loveliest senorita in all the Californias, while others, envious and +spiteful to a poor girl no worse than themselves, were ignored? +</P> + +<P> +Concha's cheeks were as pink as the Castilian roses that grew even +before the kitchen door and were quivering at the moment under the +impassioned carolling of a choir of larks. Her black eyes were full of +dancing lights, like the imprisoned sun-flecks under the rose bush, and +never had indolent Spanish hands moved so quickly. +</P> + +<P> +"Mira! Mira!" she cried to the luckless Rosa. "That is the third time +thou hast spilt the chocolate. Thy hands are of wood when they should +be of air. A soft bit of linen to clean them, not that coarse rag. +Dios de mi alma! I shall send for Malia." +</P> + +<P> +"For the love of Mary, senorita, have pity!" wailed Rosa. +"There—see—thanks to the Virgin I have poured three cups without +spilling a drop. And this rag is of soft linen. Look, Dona Concha, is +it not true?" +</P> + +<P> +"Bueno; take care thou leavest not one drop on a saucer and I will +forgive thee—do not kiss my hand now, foolish one! How can I whirl +the molinillo? Be always good and I will burn a candle for thee every +time I go to the Mission. The Russians go to the Mission this morning. +Hast thou seen the Russians, Rosa?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have seen them, senorita. Did I not serve at table yesterday?" +</P> + +<P> +"True; I had forgotten. What didst thou think of them?" +</P> + +<P> +"What matters it to such great folk what a poor Indian girl thinks of +them? They are very fair, which may be the fashion in their country; +but I am not accustomed to it; and I like not beards." +</P> + +<P> +"His excellency wore no beard—he who sat on my mother's right and +opposite to me." +</P> + +<P> +"He is very grand, senorita; more grand than the Governor, who after +all has red hair and is old. He is even grander than Don Jose, whom +may the saints preserve; or than the padres at the mission. Perhaps he +is a king, like our King and natural lord in spain. (El rey nuestro y +senor natural.) Is he a king, senorita?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, but he should be. Rosa, thou mayest have my red cloak that came +from Mexico—last year. I have a new one and that is too small. I had +intended to give it to Ana Paula, but thou art a good girl and should +have a gay mantle for Sunday, like the other girls. I have also a red +ribbon for thy hair—" +</P> + +<P> +Rosa spilt half the contents of the chocolate pot on the floor and +Concha gave her a sound box on the ear. However, she did not dismiss +her, a sentence for which the trembling girl prepared herself. +</P> + +<P> +"Make more—quickly!" cried the lady of caprice. "They come. I hear +them. But this is enough for the first. Make the rest and beat with +the molinillo as I have done, and Malia will bring all to the corridor." +</P> + +<P> +She ran to her room and her mirror. Both were small, the room little +more luxurious than the cell of a nun. But the roses hung over the +window, the birds had built in the eaves, and over the wall the sun +shone in. In one corner was an altar and a crucifix. If the walls +were rough and white, they were spotless as the hands that shook out +and then twisted high the fine dusky masses of hair. When a fold had +been drawn over either ear, in the modest fashion of the California +maid and wife, and the tall shell comb had fastened the rest, Concha +instead of finishing the headdress with her long Spanish pins, divested +the stems of two half-blown roses of their thorns and thrust them +obliquely through the knot. Her dress was of simple white linen made +with a very full skirt and little round jacket, but embroidered by her +own deft fingers with the color she loved best. She patted her frock, +rolled down her sleeves, and went out to the "corridor" to stand +demurely behind her mother as the Russians, escorted by Father Ramon +Abella, rode into the square. +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov had intended merely to pay a call of ceremony upon the +hospitable Arguellos, but after he had dismounted and kissed the hands +of the smiling senora and her beautiful daughter he was nothing loath +to linger over a cup of chocolate. +</P> + +<P> +It was served out there in the shade of the vines. Rezanov and Concha +sat on the railing, and the man stared over his cup at the girl with +the roses touching her cheeks and ruffling her hair. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you like chocolate, senor?" asked Concha, who was not in the +intellectual mood of yesterday. "I made it myself—I and my poor Rosa." +</P> + +<P> +"It is the most delectable foam I have ever tasted. I am interested to +know that it has the solid foundation of a name. What is the matter +with your Rosa?" +</P> + +<P> +"She is an unfortunate. Her lover killed his wife, and it is said that +she is not innocent herself. The lover serves in chains for eight +years, and she is with us that we may make her repent and keep her from +further sin. She is unhappy and will marry the man when his punishment +is over. I am very sorry for her." +</P> + +<P> +"Fancy you living close to a woman like that! I find it detestable." +</P> + +<P> +"Why?—if I can do her good—and make her happy, sometimes?" +</P> + +<P> +"Does she ever talk about her life—before she came here?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no; she is far too sad. Once only, when I told her I would pray +for her in the Mission Church, she asked me to burn a candle that her +lover might serve his sentence more quickly and come out and marry her. +Will you light one for her to-day, senor?" +</P> + +<P> +"With the greatest pleasure; if you really want your maid to marry a +man who no doubt will murder her for the sake of some other woman." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, surely not! He loves her. I know that many men love more than +once, but when they are punished like that, they must remember." +</P> + +<P> +"Is it true that you are only sixteen? Is that an impertinent +question? I cannot help it. Those years are so few, and so much +wisdom has gone into that little head." +</P> + +<P> +"Sixteen is quite old." Concha drew herself up with an air of offended +dignity. "Elena Castro, who lives on the other side, is but eighteen +and she has three little ones. The Virgin brought them in the night +and left them in the big rosebush you see before the door—one at a +time, of course. Only the old nurse knew; the Virgin whispered it +while she was saying a prayer for Elena; and early in the morning she +came and found the dear little baby and put it in Elena's arms. I am +the godmother of the first—Conchitita. In Santa Barbara, where we +lived for some years, Anita Amanda Carillo, the friend of Ana Paula, is +married, although she is but twelve and sits on the floor all day and +plays with her dolls. She prays every night to the Virgin to bring her +a real baby, but she is not old enough to take care of it and must +wait. Twelve is too young to marry." Concha shook her head. Her eyes +were wise, and Rezanov noted anew that her mouth alone was as young as +her years. "My father would not permit such a thing. I am glad he is +not anxious we should marry soon. I should love to have the babies, +though; they are so sweet to play with and make little dresses for. +But my mother says the Virgin does not bring the little ones to good +girls—poor Rosa had one but it died—until their parents find them a +husband first. I have never wanted a husband—" Concha darted a swift +glance over her shoulder, but Santiago was in the clutches of the +learned doctor and wishing that he knew no Latin; "so I go every day +and play with Elena's babies, which is well enough." +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov listened to this innocent revelation with the utmost gravity, +but for the first time in many years he was conscious of a novel +fascination in a sex to which he had paid no niggard's tribute. In his +world the married woman reigned; it was doubtful if he had ever had ten +minutes' conversation with a young girl before, never with one whose +face and form were as arresting as her crystal purity. He was +fascinated, but more than ever on his guard. As he rode over the sand +hills to the Mission she clung fast to his thoughts and he speculated +upon the woman hidden away in the depths of that lovely shell like the +deep color within the tight Castilian buds that opened so slowly. He +recalled the personalities of the young officers that surrounded her. +They were charming fellows, gay, kindly, honest; but he felt sure that +not one of them was fit to hold the cup of life to the exquisite young +lips of Concha Arguello. The very thought disposed him to twist their +necks. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VI +</H3> + +<P> +The Mission San Francisco de Assisi stood at the head of a great valley +about a league from the Presidio and facing the eastern hills. Behind +it, yet not too close, for the priests were ever on their guard against +Indians more lustful of loot than salvation, was a long irregular chain +of hills, breaking into twin peaks on its highest ridge, with a lone +mountain outstanding. It was an imposing but forbidding mass, as steep +and bare as the walls of a fortress; but in the distance, north and +south, as the range curved in a tapering arc that gave the valley the +appearance of a colossal stadium, the outlines were soft in a haze of +pale color. The sheltered valley between the western heights and the +sand hills far down the bay where it turned to the south, was green +with wheat fields, and a small herd of cattle grazed on the lower +slopes. The beauty of this superbly proportioned valley was further +enhanced by groves of oaks and bay trees, and by a lagoon, +communicating with an arm of the bay, which the priests had named for +their Lady of Sorrows—Nuestra Senora de los Dolores. The little sheet +of water was almost round, very green and set in a thicket of willows +that were green, too, in the springtime, and golden in summer. Near +its banks, or closer to the protecting Mission—on whose land grant +they were built—were the comfortable adobe homes of the few Spanish +pioneers that preferred the bracing north to the monotonous warmth of +the south. Some of these houses were long and rambling, others built +about a court; all were surrounded by a high wall, enclosing a garden +where the Castilian roses grew even more luxuriantly than at the +Presidio. The walls, like the houses, were white, and on those of Don +Juan Moraga, a cousin of Dona Ignacia Arguello, the roses had been +trained to form a border along the top in a fashion that reminded +Rezanov of the pink edged walls of Fiesole. +</P> + +<P> +The white red-tiled church and the long line of rooms adjoining were +built of adobe with no effort at grandeur, but with a certain noble +simplicity of outline that harmonized not only with the lofty reserve +of the hills but with the innocent hope of creating a soul in the +lowest of human bipeds. The Indians of San Francisco were as +immedicable as they were hideous; but the fathers belabored them with +sticks and heaven with prayer, and had so far succeeded that if as yet +they had sown piety no higher than the knees, they had trained some +twelve hundred pairs of hands to useful service. +</P> + +<P> +On the right was a graveyard, with little in it as yet but rose trees; +behind the church and the many spacious rooms built for the consolation +of virtue in the wilderness was a large building surrounding a court. +Girls and young widows occupied the cells on the north side, and the +work rooms on the east, while the youths, under the sharp eye of a lay +brother, were opposite. All lived a life of unwilling industry: +cleaning and combing wool, spinning, weaving, manufacturing chocolate, +grinding corn between stones, making shoes, fashioning the simple +garments worn by priest and Indian. Between the main group of +buildings and the natural rampart of the "San Bruno Mountains" was the +Rancheria, where the Indian families lived in eight long rows of +isolated huts. +</P> + +<P> +In spite of vigilance an Indian escaped now and again to the mountains, +where he could lie naked in the sun and curse the fetich of +civilization. As the Russians approached, a friar, with deer-skin +armor over his cassock, was tugging at a recalcitrant mule, while a +body-guard of four Indians stood ready to attend him down the coast in +search of an enviable brother. The mule, as if in sympathy with the +fugitive, had planted his four feet in the earth and lifted his voice +in derision, while the young friar, a recruit at the Mission, and far +from enamored of his task, strained at the rope, and an Indian pelted +the hindquarters with stones. Suddenly, the mule flung out his heels, +the enemy in the rear sprawled, the rope flew loose, the beast with a +loud bray fled toward the willows of Dolores. But the young priest was +both agile and angry. With a flying leap he reached the heaving back. +The mule acknowledged himself conquered. The body-guard trotted on +their own feet, and the party disappeared round a bend of the hills. +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov laughed heartily and even the glum visage of Father Abella +relaxed. +</P> + +<P> +"It is a common sight, Excellency," he said. "We are thankful to have +a younger friar for such fatiguing work. Many a time have I belabored +stubborn mules and bestrode bucking mustangs while searching for one of +these ungrateful but no doubt chosen creatures. It is the will of God, +and we make no complaint; but we are very willing, Father Landaeta and +I, that youth should cool its ardor in so certain a fashion while we +attend to the more reasonable duties at home." +</P> + +<P> +They were dismounted at the door of the church. The horses were led off +by waiting Indians. The soldiers on guard saluted and stepped aside, +and the party entered. Two priests in handsome vestments stood before +the altar, but the long dim nave was empty. The Russians had been told +that a mass would be said in their honor, and they marched down the +church and bent their knees with as much ceremony as had they been of +the faith of their hosts. When the short mass was over, Rezanov +bethought himself of Concha's request, and whispering its purport to +Father Abella was led to a double iron hoop stuck with tallow dips in +various stages of petition. Rezanov lit a candle and fastened it in an +empty socket. Then with a whimsical twist of his mouth he lit and +adjusted another. +</P> + +<P> +"No doubt she has some fervent wish, like all children," he thought +apologetically. "And whether this will help her to realize it or not, +at least it will be interesting to watch her eyes—and mouth—when I +tell her. Will she melt, or flash, or receive my offering at her +shrine as a matter of course? I'll surprise her to-night in the middle +of a dance." +</P> + +<P> +He deposited a gold piece among the candles on the table and followed +Father Abella through a side door. A corridor ran behind the long line +of rooms designed not only for priests but for travellers always sure +of a welcome at these hospitable Missions. Father Abella shuffled +ahead, halted on the threshold of a large room, and ceremoniously +invited his guests to enter. Two other priests stood before a table +set with wine and delicate confections, their hands concealed in their +wide brown sleeves, but their unmatched physiognomies—the one lean and +jovial, the other plump and resigned—alight with the same smile of +welcome. Father Abella mentioned them as his coadjutor Father Martin +Landaeta, and their guest Father Jose Uria of San Jose; and then the +three, with the scant rites of genuine hospitality, applied themselves +to the tickling of palates long unused to ambrosial living. Responding +ingenuously to the glow of their home-made wines, they begged Rezanov +to accept the Mission, burn it, plunder it, above all, to plan his own +day. +</P> + +<P> +"I hope that I am to see every detail of your great work," replied the +diplomatic guest of honor. "But at your own leisure. Meanwhile, I beg +that you will order one of your Indians to bring in the little presents +I venture to offer as a token of my respect. You may have heard that +the presents of his Imperial Majesty were refused by the Mikado of +Japan. I reserved many of them for possible use in our own +possessions, particularly a piece of cloth of gold. This I had +intended for our church at New Archangel, but finding the priests there +more in need of punishment than reward, I concluded to bring it here +and offer it as a manifest of my admiration for what the great +Franciscan Order of the Most Holy Church of Rome has accomplished in +the Californias. Have I been too presumptuous?" +</P> + +<P> +The priests all wore the eager expressions of children. +</P> + +<P> +"Could we not see them first?" asked Father Landaeta of his superior; +and Father Abella sent a servant with an order to unload the horse and +bring in the presents. +</P> + +<P> +Not a vestige of reserve lingered. Priests and guests sat about the +table eating and drinking and chatting as were they old friends +reunited, and Rezanov extracted much of the information he desired. +The white population—"gente de razon"—of Alta California, the +peculiar province of the Franciscans—the Jesuits having been the first +to invade Baja California, and with little success—numbered about two +thousand, the Christianized Indians about twenty thousand. There were +nineteen Missions and four Presidial districts—San Diego, close to the +border of Baja California, Santa Barbara, Monterey, and San Francisco. +Each Mission had an immense grant of land, or rancho—generally fifteen +miles square—for the raising of live stock, agricultural necessities, +and the grape. At the Presidio of San Francisco there were some seventy +men, including invalids; and the number varied little at the other +military centres, Rezanov inferred, although there was a natural effort +to impress the foreigner with the casual inferiority of the armed force +within his ken. Cattle and horses increased so rapidly that every few +years there was a wholesale slaughter, although the agricultural yield +was enormous. What the Missions were unable to manufacture was sent +them from Mexico, and disposed of the small salaries of the priests; +the "Pious Fund of California" in the city of Mexico being +systematically embezzled. The first Presidio and Mission were founded +at San Diego in July of 1769; the last at San Francisco in September +and October of 1776. +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov's polite interest in the virgin country was cut short by the +entrance of two Indians carrying heavy bundles, which they opened upon +the floor without further delay. +</P> + +<P> +The cloth of gold was magnificent, and the padres handled it as +rapturously as had their souls and fingers been of the sex symbolized +while exalted by the essence of maternity, in whose service it would be +anointed. Rezanov looked on with an amused sigh, yet conscious of +being more comprehending and sympathetic than if he had journeyed +straight from Europe to California. It was not the first time he had +felt a passing gratitude for his uncomfortable but illuminating sojourn +so close to the springs of nature. +</P> + +<P> +The priests were as well pleased with the pieces of fine English cloth; +and as their own homespun robes rasped like hair shirts, they silently +but uniformly congratulated themselves that the color was brown. +</P> + +<P> +Father Abella turned to Rezanov, his saturnine features relaxed. +</P> + +<P> +"We are deeply grateful to your excellency, and our prayers shall +follow you always. Never have we received presents so timely and so +magnificent. And be sure we shall not forget the brave officers that +have brought you safely to our distant shores, nor the distinguished +scholar who guards your excellency's health." He turned to Langsdorff +and repeated himself in Latin. The naturalist, whose sharp nose was +always lifted as if in protest against oversight and ready to pounce +upon and penetrate the least of mysteries, bowed with his hand on his +heart, and translated for the benefit of the officers. +</P> + +<P> +"Humph!" said Davidov in Russian. "Much the Chamberlain will care for +the prayers of the Catholic Church if he has to go home with his cargo. +But he has a fine opportunity here for the display of his diplomatic +talents. I fancy they will avail him more than they did at +Nagasaki—where I am told he swore more than once when he should have +kowtowed and grinned." +</P> + +<P> +"I shouldn't like to see him grin," replied Khostov, as they finally +started for the outbuildings. "If he could go as far as that he would +be the most terrible man living. Were it not for the fire in him that +melts the iron just so often he would be crafty and cruel instead of +subtle and firm. He is a fortunate man! There were many fairies at +his cradle! I have always envied him, and now he is going to win that +beautiful Dona Concha. She will look at none of us." +</P> + +<P> +"We will doubtless meet others as beautiful at the ball to-night," said +Davidov philosophically. "You are not in love with a girl who has +barely spoken to you, I suppose." +</P> + +<P> +"She had almost given me a rose this morning, when Rezanov, who was +flattering the good Dona Ignacia with a moment of his attention, turned +too soon. I might have been air. She looked straight through me. +Such eyes! Such teeth! Such a form! She is the most enchanting girl I +have ever seen. And he will monopolize her without troubling to notice +whether we even admire her or not. Pray heaven he does not break her +heart." +</P> + +<P> +"He is honorable. One must admit that, if he does fancy his own will +was a personal gift from the Almighty. Perhaps she will break his. I +never saw a more accomplished flirt." +</P> + +<P> +"I know women," replied the shrewder Khostov. "When men like Rezanov +make an effort to please—" He shrugged his shoulders. "Some men are +the offspring of Mars and Venus and most of us are not. We can at +least be philosophers. Let us hope the dinner will be excellent." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VII +</H3> + +<P> +It proved to be the most delicate and savory repast that had excited +their appetites this side of Europe. The friars had their consolations, +and even Dona Ignacia Arguello was less gastronomic than Father +Landaeta. Rezanov, whose epicurianism had survived a year of dried +fish and the coarse luxuries of his managers, suddenly saw all life in +the light of the humorist, and told so many amusing versions of his +adventures in the wilderness, and even of his misadventure with Japan, +that the priests choked over their wine, and Langsdorff, who had not a +grain of humor, swelled with pride in his chance relationship to a man +who seemed able to manipulate every string in the human network. +</P> + +<P> +"He will succeed," he said to Davidov. "He will succeed. I almost +hoped he would not, he is so indifferent—I might almost say so +hostile—to my own scientific adventures. But when he is in this mood, +when those cold eyes brim with laughter and ordinary humanity, I am +nothing better than his slave." +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov, in reply to an entreaty from Father Uria to tell them more of +his mission and of the strange picture-book country they had never +hoped to hear of at first hand, assumed a tone of great frankness and +intimacy. "We were, with astounding cleverness, treated from the first +like an audience in a new theatre. After we had solemnly been towed by +a string of boats to anchor, under the Papen mountains, all Nagasaki +appeared to turn out, men, women and children. Thousands of little +boats, decorated with flags by day and colored lanterns by night, and +filled with people in gala attire, swarmed about us, gazed at us +through telescopes, were so thick on the bay one could have traversed +it on foot. The imperial sailors were distinguished by their uniforms +of a large blue and white check, suggesting the pinafores of a +brobdingnagian baby. The barges of the imperial princes were covered +with blue and white awnings and towed to the sound of kettledrums and +the loud measured cries of the boatmen. At night the thousands of +illuminated lanterns, of every color and shade, the waving of fans, the +incessant chattering, and the more harmonious noise that rose +unceasingly above, made up a scene as brilliant as it was juvenile and +absurd. In the daytime it was more interesting, with the background of +hills cultivated to their crests in the form of terraces, varied with +rice fields, hamlets, groves, and paper villas encircled with little +gardens as glowing and various of color as the night lanterns. When, +at last, I was graciously permitted to have a residence on a point of +land called Megasaki, I was conveyed thither in the pleasure barge of +the Prince of Fisi. There was place for sixty oarsmen, but as one of +the few tokens of respect, I was enabled to record for the comfort of +the mighty sovereign whose representative I was, the barge was towed by +a long line of boats, decorated with flags, the voices of the rowers +rising and falling in measured cadence as they announced to all Japan +the honor about to be conferred upon her. I sat on a chair of state in +the central compartment of the barge, and quite alone; my suite +standing on a raised deck beyond. Before me on a table, marvellously +inlaid, were my credentials. I was surrounded by curtains of sky-blue +silk and panels of polished lacquer inwrought with the Imperial arms in +gold. The awning of blue and white silk was lined with a delicate and +beautiful tapestry, and the reverse sides of the silken partitions were +of canvas painted by the masters of the country. The polished floor +was covered by a magnificent carpet woven with alarming dragons whose +jaws pointed directly at my chair of state. And such an escort and +such a reception, both of ceremony and of curiosity, no Russian had +ever boasted before. Flags waved, kettledrums beat, fans were flung +into my very lap to autograph. The bay, the hills, were a blaze of +color and a confusion of sound. The barracks were hung with tapestries +and gay silks. I, with my arms folded and in full uniform, my features +composed to the impassivity of one of their own wooden gods, was the +central figure of this magnificent farce; and it may be placed to the +ever-lasting credit of the discipline of courts that not one of my +staff smiled. They stood with their arms folded and their eyes on the +inlaid devices at their feet. +</P> + +<P> +"When this first act was over and I was locked in for the night and +felt myself able to kick my way through the flimsy walls, yet as +completely a prisoner as if they had been of stone, I will confess that +I fell into a most undiplomatical rage; and when I found myself played +with from month to month by a people I scorned as a grotesque mixture +of barbarian and mannikin, I was alternately infuriated, and consumed +with laughter at the vanity of men and nations." +</P> + +<P> +His voice dropped from its light ironical note, and became harsh and +abrupt with reminiscent disgust. "And the end of it all was failure. +The superb presents of the Tsar were rejected. These presents: coats +of black fox and ermine, vases of fossil ivory and of marble, muskets, +pistols, sabers, magnificent lustres, table services of crystal and +porcelain, tapestries and carpets, immense mirrors, a clock in the form +of an elephant, and set with precious stones, a portrait of the Tsar by +Madame le Brun, damasks, furs, velvets, printed cotton, cloths, +brocades of gold and silver, microscopes, gold and silver watches, a +complete electrical machine—presents in all, of the value of three +hundred thousand roubles, were returned with scant ceremony to the +Nadeshda and I was politely told to leave. +</P> + +<P> +"But the mortification was the least of my worries. The object of the +embassy was to establish not only good will and friendship between +Russia and Japan, for which we cared little, but commercial intercourse +between this fertile country and our northeastern and barren +possessions. It would have been greatly to the advantage of the +Japanese, and God knows it would have meant much to us." +</P> + +<P> +Then Rezanov having tickled the imaginations and delighted the +curiosity of the priests, began to play upon their heartstrings. His +own voice vibrated as he related the sufferings of the servants of the +Company, and while avoiding the nomenclature and details of their +bodily afflictions, gave so thrilling a hint of their terrible +condition that his audience gasped with sympathy while experiencing no +qualms in their own more fortunate stomachs. +</P> + +<P> +He led their disarmed understandings as far down the vale of tears as +he deemed wise, then permitted himself a magnificent burst of +spontaneity. +</P> + +<P> +"I must tell you the object of my mission to California, my kind +friends!" he cried, "although I beg you will not betray me to the other +powers until I think it wise to speak myself. But I must have your +sympathy and advice. It has long been my desire to establish relations +between Russia and Spain that should be of mutual benefit to the +colonies of both in this part of the western hemisphere. I have told +you of the horrible condition and needs of my men. They must have a +share in the superfluities of this most prodigal land. But I make no +appeal to your mercy. Trade is not founded on charity. You well know +we have much you are in daily need of. There should be a bi-yearly +interchange." He paused and looked from one staring face to the other. +He had been wise in his appeal. They were deeply gratified at being +taken into his confidence and virtually asked to outwit the military +authorities they detested. +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov continued: +</P> + +<P> +"I have brought the Juno heavy laden, my fathers, and for the +deliberate purpose of barter. She is full of Russian and Boston goods. +I shall do my utmost to persuade your Governor to give me of his corn +and other farinaceous foods in exchange. It may be against your laws, +and I am well aware that for the treaty I must wait, but I beg you in +the name of humanity to point out to his excellency a way in which he +can at the same time relieve our necessities and placate his +conscience." +</P> + +<P> +"We will! We will!" cried Father Abella. "Would that you had come in +the disguise of a common sea-captain, for we have hoodwinked the +commandantes more than once. But aside from the suspicion and distrust +in which Spain holds Russia—with so distinguished a visitor as your +excellency, it would be impossible to traffic undetected. But there +must be a way out. There shall be! And will your excellency kindly +let us see the cargo? I am sure there is much we sadly need: cloth, +linen, cotton, boots, shoes, casks, bottles, glasses, plates, shears, +axes, implements of husbandry, saws, sheep-shears, iron wares—have you +any of these things, Excellency?" +</P> + +<P> +"All and more. Will you come to-morrow?" +</P> + +<P> +"We will! and one way or another they shall be ours and you shall have +breadstuffs for your pitiable subjects. We have as much need of Europe +as you can have of California, for Mexico is dilatory and often +disregards our orders altogether. One way or another—we have your +promise, Excellency?" +</P> + +<P> +"I shall not leave California without accomplishing what I came for," +said Rezanov. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VIII +</H3> + +<P> +Concha boxed Rosa's ears twice while being dressed for the ball that +evening. It was true that excitement had reigned throughout the +Presidio all day, for never had a ball been so hastily planned. Don +Luis had demurred when Concha proposed it at breakfast; officially to +entertain strangers not yet officially received exceeded his authority. +Concha, waxing stubborn with opposition, vowed that she would give the +ball herself if he did not. Business immediately afterward took the +Commandante ad. in. down to the Battery at Yerba Buena. Before he left +he gave orders that the large hall in the barracks, where balls usually +were held, should be locked and the key given up to no one but himself. +He returned in the afternoon to find that Concha had outwitted him. +The sala of the Commandante's house was very large. The furniture had +been removed and the walls hung with flags, those of Spain on three +sides, the Russian, borrowed by Santiago from the ship, at the head of +the room. Concha laughed gaily as Luis stormed about the sala rasping +his spurs on the bare floor. +</P> + +<P> +"Whitewashed walls for guests from St. Petersburg!" she jeered, as Luis +menaced the flags. "We have little enough to offer. Besides—what +more wise than to flaunt our flag in the face of the Russian bear? +Their flag, of course, is a mere idle compliment. Let me tell you two +things, Luis mio: this morning I invited the Russians to dance +to-night, and told Padre Abella to ask all our neighbors of the Mission +besides; and Rafaella Sal helped me to drape every one of those flags. +When I told her you might tear them down, she vowed that if you did she +would dance all night with the Bostonian." +</P> + +<P> +Luis lifted his shoulders and mustache to express an attitude of +contemptuous resignation, but his face darkened, and a moment later he +left the room and strolled up the square to the grating of Rafaella Sal. +</P> + +<P> +Concha well knew that the frank gray eyes of the Bostonian—all +citizens of the United States were Bostonians in that part of the +world, for only Boston skippers had the enterprise to venture so +far—were for no one but herself. But his face was bony and freckled, +and his figure less in height and vigor than her own. He was rich and +well-born, but shy and very modest. Concha Arguello, La Favorita of +California, was for some such dashing caballero as Don Antonio Castro +of Monterey, or Ignacio Sal, the most adventurous rider of the north. +Meanwhile he could look at her and adore her in secret, and Dona +Rafaella Sal was very kind and danced as well as himself. He never +dreamed that he was being used as a stalking horse to keep alive in the +best match in the Californias the jealous desire for exclusive +possession that had animated him in 1800 when he had applied through +the Viceroy of Mexico for royal consent to his marriage with the +Favorita of her year. That was six years ago and never a word had come +from Madrid. Luis was faithful, but men were men, and girls grew older +every day. So the wise Rafaella was alternately indifferent and +alluring, the object of more admiration than a maid could always repel, +yet with wells of sentiment that only one man could discover. And the +American was patient, and even had he known, would not in the least +have minded the use she made of him. He still could look at Concha +Arguello. +</P> + +<P> +William Sturgis had sailed in one of his father's ships, now six years +ago, from Boston in search of health. The ship in a dense fog had gone +on the rocks in the straits between the Farallones and the Bay of San +Francisco. He alone, and after long hours of struggle with the wicked +currents, not even knowing in what direction land might be, was flung, +senseless, on the shore below the Fort. For the next month he was an +invalid in the house of the Commandante. Fortunately, his papers and +money were sewn in an oilskin belt and his father's name was well known +in California. Moreover, there never was a more likable youth. His +illness interested all the matrons and maids of the Presidio in his +fate; when he recovered, his good dancing and unselfishness gave him a +permanent place in the regard of the women, while his entire absence of +beauty, and his ability to hold his own in the mess room, established +his position with the men. +</P> + +<P> +In due course word of his plight reached Boston, and a ship was +immediately despatched, not only to bring the castaway home, but with +the fine wardrobe necessary to a young gentleman of his station. But +the same ship brought word of his father's death—his mother had gone +long since—and as there were brothers enamored of the business he +hated, he decided to remain in the country that had won his heart and +given him health. For some time there was demur on the part of the +authorities; Spain welcomed no foreigners in her colonies. But Sturgis +swore a mighty oath that he would never despatch a letter uninspected +by the Commandante, that he would make no excursions into the heart of +the country, that he would neither engage in traffic nor interfere in +politics. Then having already won the affections of the Governor, he +was permitted to remain, even to rent an acre of land from the Church +in the sheltered Mission valley, and build himself a house. Here he +raised fruit and vegetables for his own hospitable table, chickens and +game cocks. Books and other luxuries came by every ship from Boston; +until for a long interval ships came no more. One of these days, when +the power of the priests had abated, and the jealousy which would keep +all Californians landless but themselves was counterbalanced by a great +increase in population, he meant to have a ranch down in the south +where the sun shone all the year round and he could ride half the day +with his vaqueros after the finest cattle in the country. He should +never marry because he could not marry Concha Arguello, but he could +think of her, see her sometimes; and in a land where a man was neither +frozen in winter nor grilled in summer, where life could be led in the +open, and the tendency was to idle and dream, domestic happiness called +on a feebler note than in less equable climes. In his heart he was +desperately jealous of Concha's favored cavaliers, but it was a +jealousy without hatred, and his kind, earnest, often humorous eyes, +were always assuring his lady of an imperishable desire to serve her +without reward. Of course Concha treated him with as little +consideration as so humble a swain deserved; but in her heart she liked +him better than either Castro or Sal, for he talked to her of something +besides rodeos and balls, racing and cock-fights; he had taught her +English and lent her many books. Moreover, he neither sighed nor +languished, nor ever had sung at her grating. But she regarded him +merely as an intelligence, a well of refreshment in her stagnant life, +never as a man. +</P> + +<P> +"Rose," she said, as she caught her hair into a high golden comb that +had been worn in Spain by many a beauty of the house of Moraga, and +spiked the knot with two long pins globed at the end with gold, while +the maid fastened her slippers and smoothed the pink silk stockings +over the thin instep above; "what is a lover like? Is it like meeting +one of the saints of heaven?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, senorita." +</P> + +<P> +"Like what, then?" +</P> + +<P> +"Like—like nothing but himself, senorita. You would not have him +otherwise." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, stupid one! Hast thou no imagination? Fancy any man being well +enough as he is! For instance, there is Don Antonio, who is so +handsome and fiery, and Don Ignacio, who can sing and dance and ride as +no one else in all the Californias, and Don Weeliam Sturgis, who is +very clever and true. If I could roll them into one—a tamale of corn +and chicken and peppers—there would be a man almost to my liking. But +even then—not quite. And one man—what nonsense! I have too much +color to-night, Rosa." +</P> + +<P> +"No, senorita, you have never been so beautiful. When the lover comes +and you love him, senorita, you will think him greater than our natural +king and lord, and all other men poor Indians." +</P> + +<P> +"But how shall I know?" +</P> + +<P> +"Your heart will tell you, senorita." +</P> + +<P> +"My heart? My father and my mother will choose for me a husband whom I +shall love as all other women love their husbands—just enough and no +more. Then—I suppose—I shall never know?" +</P> + +<P> +"Would you marry at your parents' bidding, like a child, senorita? I +do not think you would." +</P> + +<P> +Concha looked at the girl in astonishment, but with a greater +astonishment she suddenly realized that she would not. Even her little +fingers stiffened in a rush of personality, of passionate resentment +against the shackles bound by the ages about the feminine ego. Her +individuality, long budding, burst into flower; her eyes gazed far +beyond her radiant image in the mirror with a look of terrified but +dauntless insight; then moved slowly to the girl that sat weeping on +the floor. +</P> + +<P> +"I know not what thy sin was," she said musingly. "But I have heard it +said thou didst obey no law but thine own will—and his. Why should +the punishment have been so terrible? Thou hast sworn to me thou didst +not help to murder the woman." +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot tell you, senorita. You will never know anything of sin; but +of love—yes, I think you will know that, and before very long." +</P> + +<P> +"Before long?" Concha's lips parted and the nervous color she had +deprecated left her cheeks. "What meanest thou, Rosa?" Her voice rose +hoarsely. +</P> + +<P> +And the Indian, with the insight of her own tragedy, replied: "The +Russian has come for you, senorita. You will go with him, far away to +the north and the snow. These others never could win your heart; but +this man who looks like a king, and as if many women had loved him, and +he had cared little— Oh, senorita, Carlos was only a poor Indian, but +the men that women love all have something that makes them +brothers—the Great Russian and the poor man who goes mad for a moment +and kills one woman that he may live with another forever. The great +Russian is free, but he is the same, senorita—he too could kill for +love, and such are the men we women die for!" +</P> + +<P> +Concha, ambitious and romantic, eager for the brilliant life the advent +of this Russian nobleman seemed to herald, had assured Santiago that he +would love her; but they had been the empty words of the Favorita of +many conquests; of love and passion she had known, suspected, nothing. +As she watched Rosa, huddled and convulsed, little pointed arrows flew +into her brain. Girls in those old Spanish days went to the altar with +a serene faith in miracles, and it was a matter of honor among those +that preceded their friends to abet the parents in a custom which +assuredly did not err on the side of ugliness. Concha had a larger +vocabulary than other Californians of her sex, for she had read many +books, and if never a novel, she knew something of poetry. Sturgis had +filled the sala with the sonorous roll of his favorite masters and it +had pleased her ear; but the language of passion had been so many +beautiful words, neither vibrating nor lingering in her consciousness. +But the rude expression of the miserable woman at her feet, whose sobs +grew more uncontrollable every moment, made it forever impossible that +she should prattle again as she had to Santiago and Rezanov in the last +day and night; and although she felt as if straining her eyes in the +dark, her cheeks burned once more, and she rose uneasily and walked to +the window. +</P> + +<P> +She returned in a moment and stood over Rosa, but her voice when she +spoke had lost its hoarseness and was cold and irritated. +</P> + +<P> +"Control thyself," she said. "And go and bathe thine eyes. Wouldst +look like a tomato when it is time to pass the dulces and wines? And +think no more of thy lover until he can come out of prison and marry +thee." She drew herself away as the woman attempted to clutch her +skirts. "Go," she said. "The musicians are tuning." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +IX +</H3> + +<P> +"The sash, Excellency?" Jon longed to see his master in full regalia +once more, and after all, was not this an embassy of a sort? But +Rezanov, who already regarded his reflection with some humor, shook his +head. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll go as far as decency permits, for no one is so impressed by +external magnificence as the Spaniard. But full dress uniform and +orders are enough; an ambassador's sash and they might suspect I took +them for the children they are. Children are not always fools. My +stock is too tight. Remember that I am to dance, and am too tall for +most women's pretty little ears. And I doubt if an ear is less thirsty +for being so provocatively screened." +</P> + +<P> +Jon, a "prince" whose family had fallen upon evil days long since, but +whose thin, clever fingers were no mean inheritance, unwound and +readjusted the folds of soft batiste, that most becoming neck vesture +man has ever worn. He fain would have pressed the matter of the sash, +but Rezanov, most indulgent of masters to this devoted servant, was +never patient of insistence. Jon also regretted the powdered wig and +queue, which he privately thought more befitting a fine gentleman than +his own hair, even though the latter were thick and bright. He said +tentatively: +</P> + +<P> +"I notice these Californians still wear the hair long; and with their +gay ribbons and showy hats look much better no doubt than if they +followed a fashion of which it would seem they had not heard—and +perhaps do not admire. I ventured to pack two of your excellency's +wigs when we were leaving St. Petersburg—" +</P> + +<P> +"Good heavens, no!" cried Rezanov, rising to his feet and casting a +last impatient glance at the mirror. "When a man has escaped from a +furnace does he run back of his own accord? My brain would cook under +a wig in this climate, and I need all my wits—for more reasons than +one." And he went up on deck. +</P> + +<P> +There, while awaiting his horses and escort, he had another glimpse of +the happy Arcadian life of the Californians. Over the sand hills +through which he had floundered twice that day rode young men in gala +attire, a maiden, her attire as brilliant as the sunset along the +western summits, on the saddle before them. These saddles were heavy +with silver, the blanket beneath was embroidered with both silver and +gold. Gay light laughter floated out on the cool evening breeze to the +little ship in the harbor. +</P> + +<P> +"It has been a good day," thought Rezanov, lowering his glass. "It is +like her to arrange so charming a finale." +</P> + +<P> +When he arrived at the Presidio the guitars were tinkling and the sala +was full of eager and somber faces. The Californians had come early, +determined to witness the arrival of the Russians. Very pretty most of +the girls were, and by no means a bevy of brunettes. There was hair of +every shade of brown, looped over the ears, drawn high and confined by +the high comb and the long pins; and Rafaella Sal, with her red hair +and gray eyes, was still celebrated as a beauty, although no longer in +her first youth—she was twenty-two, and should have been a matron and +mother long since! But she looked very handsome and coquettish in her +daring yellow frock that no other red head would have dared to wear, +and she displayed three ropes of Baja California pearls; one strand +being the common possession. The matrons, young and old, wore heavy +satins or brocades, either red or yellow, but the maids were in +flowered silks, sometimes with coquettish little jacket, generally with +long pointed bodice and full flowing skirt. Concha's frock was made in +this fashion, but quite different otherwise; an aunt in the City of +Mexico being mindful at whiles of the cravings of relatives in exile. +It was of a soft shimmering white stuff covered with gold spangles and +cut to reveal her young neck and arms. She stood at the head of the +room with her mother as Rezanov entered, and he noticed for the first +time how tall she was. She held herself proudly; mischievous twinkle, +nor child-like trust, nor flashing coquetry possessed her eyes; these, +even more star-like than usual, nevertheless looked upon her guests +with a dignified composure. Her lips, her skin, were luminous. In +this well-cut evening gown he saw that her figure was superb; and that +she could command stateliness as well as vivacity moved her toward a +pedestal in his regard that had been occupied by few and never for long. +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov, in his splendid uniform and blazing orders, filled the sala +with his presence as he walked past the rows of bright critical eyes +toward his hostesses. The young lips of the maids parted with delight +and the men frowned. For the first time William Sturgis felt the +sickness of jealousy instead of its not unagreeable pain. Davidov and +Khostov, both handsome and well-bred young men, were also in full naval +uniform, and by no means ignored; while Langsdorff, in the severe black +of the scholar, was an admirable foil. +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov, wondering at the subtle change in Concha, bowed ceremoniously +and murmured: "You will give me the first dance, senorita?" +</P> + +<P> +"Certainly, Excellency. Are you not the guest of honor?" +</P> + +<P> +She motioned to the Indian musicians, fiddles and guitars fairly leaped +to position, and in a moment Rezanov enjoyed the novel delusion of +encircling a girl's floating wraith. +</P> + +<P> +"We can waltz, you see! Are you not surprised?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is but one accomplishment the more. I feared a preference for your +native dances, but ventured to hope you would teach me." +</P> + +<P> +"They are easy to learn. You will watch us dance the contra-danza +after this." +</P> + +<P> +"With whom do you dance it?" +</P> + +<P> +Her black eyelashes were very thick; he barely caught the glance she +shot him. +</P> + +<P> +"The Russian bear growls," she said lightly. "Did you expect to dance +every dance with me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I came for no other purpose." +</P> + +<P> +"You would have several duels to fight to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +"I have no objection." +</P> + +<P> +"You have fought others, then?" Her voice was the softer with the +effort to turn its edge. +</P> + +<P> +"No more than most men, I suppose. May I ask how many have been fought +for you?" +</P> + +<P> +"My memory is no better than yours. Why should I burden it with +trifles?" +</P> + +<P> +"True. It doubtless is charged with matters far more serious than the +desires of mere men. Tell me, senorita, what is your dearest wish?" +He had bent his head and fixed his powerful gaze on her stubborn +lashes. As he hoped, she raised startled eyes in which an angry +glitter dawned. +</P> + +<P> +"My dearest wish? If I had one should I tell you? Why do you ask me +such a question?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because I lit a candle at the Mission to-day that you might realize +it," he answered, smiling. +</P> + +<P> +To his surprise he saw a flash of terror in her eyes before she dropped +them, and felt her shiver. But she answered coldly: +</P> + +<P> +"You have wasted a candle, senor. I have never had a wish that was not +instantly gratified. But I thank you for the kind thought. Will you +finish this waltz with my friend, and the fiancee of Luis, Rafaella +Sal? She has quarrelled with Luis, I see; Don Weeliam is dancing with +Carolina Xime'no, and she cares to waltz with no one else. Pardon me +if I say that no one has ever waltzed as well as your excellency, and I +must not be selfish." +</P> + +<P> +"I will release you if you are tired, but otherwise I shall do myself +the honor to waltz with your friend later." +</P> + +<P> +"I must look after my other guests," she said coldly; and he was led +with what grace he could summon to the fair but sulky Rafaella. +</P> + +<P> +"How am I to help flirting with that girl?" he thought as he +mechanically guided another light and graceful partner through the +crowded room. "If she were one girl I might resist. But since eleven +o'clock yesterday morning she has been three. And if she was twenty +yesterday, twelve this morning, she is twenty-eight to-night, and this +might be a court ball in Madrid. I shall leave the day after I bring +the Governor to terms." +</P> + +<P> +He sat beside Dona Ignacia during the contra-danza and found the scene +remarkably brilliant and animated considering the primitive conditions. +In addition to the bright flags on the wall and the vivid colors of the +women, the officers of the Presidio and forts wore full dress uniform, +either white coats with red velvet vest, red pantaloons and sash, or +white trousers and scarlet coat and waistcoat faced with green. The +young men from the Mission wore small clothes of a black silk, fastened +at the knee with silver buckles, and white silk stockings; two +gentlemen from Monterey wore the evening costume of the capital, +dove-colored small clothes, with white silk waistcoat and stockings, +and much fine lawn and lace. The room was well lighted by many wicks +stuck in lumps of tallow. The Indian musicians, soldiers recruited +from a superior tribe in the Santa Clara valley, were clad almost +entirely in scarlet, and danced sometimes as they played; and Indian +girls, in short red skirts and snow-white smocks open at the throat, +their long hair decorated with flowers and ribbons, already passed +about wine and dulces. The windows were open. The sweet night air +blew in. +</P> + +<P> +The contra-danza was not unlike the square dances of England except +that it was far more graceful, and the men rivalled the women in their +supple glidings and bendings, doublings and swayings. Concha danced +with Ignacio Sal, Rafaella with William Sturgis; their pliant grace, as +facile as grain rippling before the wind, would have put the best +ballet in Europe to the blush. Concha's skirts swept Rezanov's feet, +her little slippers twinkled before his admiring eyes, and he lost no +sinuous turn or undulation of her beautiful figure; but she never +vouchsafed him a glance. +</P> + +<P> +When the dance finished his host introduced him to the prettiest of the +girls and he paid them as many compliments as their heads would stand. +He even took some trouble to talk to them, if only to fathom the +sources of their unlikeness to Concha Arguello. He concluded that the +gulf that separated her from these charming, vivacious, shallow young +girls was not dug by education alone. Individualities were rare enough +in Europe; out here, in earthly, but sparsely settled paradises, they +must be rarer still; but that one had wandered into the lovely shell of +Concha Arguello he no longer doubted. The fact that it had developed +haphazardly, with little or no help from her sentience, and was still +fluid and uncertain, but multiplied her in interest and charm. The +women to whom he was accustomed knew themselves, consequently were no +riddle to a man of his experience, but here he had an odd sense of +having entered into a compact in the dark with a girl who might one day +symbolize some high and impassioned ideal he had cherished in the days +before ideals had been cast aside with the negative virtues that bred +them. +</P> + +<P> +As he coolly studied the good looks of the young caballeros and the +plain intellectual face and slight little figure of the Bostonian, +noted the utter indifference with which they were treated by the +Favorita of Presidio and Mission, he felt a sudden rush of arrogance, a +youthful tingling of nerves, the same prophetic sense of imminent +happiness and power that his first contact with the light electrical +air and the beauty of the country had induced. After all, he was but +forty-two. Life on the whole had been very kind to him. And, although +he did not realize it as yet, his frame, blighted by the rigors of the +past three years, was already sensible to a renewal of juice and sap. +He admitted that he was more interested than he had been for many +years, and that if he was not in love, he tingled with a very natural +masculine desire for an adventure with a pretty girl. +</P> + +<P> +But he was by no means a weak man, and his mind counted the cost even +while his imagination hummed. He had almost decided to bid Dona +Ignacia an abrupt good-night, pleading fatigue, which his pallor +indorsed, when the door of the dining-room was thrown open to the +liveliest of fiddling, and a white hand with a singular suggestion of +tenacity both in appearance and clasp took possession of his arm. +</P> + +<P> +"My mother has gone to Gertrudis Rudisinda, who is crying," said +Concha. "It is my pleasure to lead your excellency in to supper." +</P> + +<P> +They sat side by side at the head of the long table almost covered by +the massive service of silver and loaded with evidences of Dona +Ignacia's generosity and skill; chickens in red rice and gravy, +oysters, tamales, dulces, pastries, fruits and pleasant drinks. Luis, +with Rafaella Sal dimpling and sparkling at his side, and now quite +resigned to the semi-official nature of the ball, rose and drank the +health of the distinguished guest in long and flowery praises. Rezanov +responded in briefer but no less felicitous vein, and concluded by +remarking that the only rift in the lute of his present enchanting +experience was the fear that whereas he had nearly died of starvation +several times during the past three years, he was now threatened with a +far more ignominious end, so delicious and irresistible were the +temptations that beset the wayfarer in this most hospitable land. Both +speeches were gaily applauded, the conversation became animated and +general, and Concha dropped her voice to the attentive ear beside her. +</P> + +<P> +"You were very successful to-day at the Mission, Excellency." +</P> + +<P> +"May I ask how you know?" +</P> + +<P> +"I never saw anything so serenely—arrogantly, perhaps would be a truer +description—triumphant as your bearing when you walked down our humble +sala to-night. You looked like Caesar returned from Gaul; but I +suppose that all great conquests are merely the sum of many small ones." +</P> + +<P> +"I do not regard the friendship of so shrewd a man as Father Abella a +trifling conquest. And according to yourself, dear senorita, it is +essential to the success of a mission upon which many lives and my own +honor depend." +</P> + +<P> +"Is it really so serious?" she asked with a faint sneer. +</P> + +<P> +He drew himself up stiffly and his light eyes glowed with anger. "It +is a subject I never should have thought of introducing at a festivity +like this," he said suavely. "May I be permitted to compliment you, +senorita, upon your marvellous grace in the contra-danza? It quite +turned my head, and I am delighted to hear that you will dance alone +after supper." +</P> + +<P> +Her face had flushed hotly. She dropped her eyes and her voice +trembled as she replied: "You humiliate me, senor, and I deserve it. +I—my poor Rosa told me something of her great tragedy while dressing +me, and for the moment other things seemed unimportant. What is hunger +and court favor beside a broken heart and a desolate life? But that of +course is the attitude of an ignorant girl." She raised her eyes. +They were soft, and her voice was softer. "I beg that you will forgive +me, senor. And be sure that I take an even deeper interest in your +great mission than yesterday. I have thought much about it, and while +I have told my mother nothing, I have expressed certain peevish hopes +that a ship would not come all the way from Sitka without taking a hint +more than one Boston skipper must have given, and brought us many +things we need. She is quite excited over the prospect of a new shawl +for herself, and of sending several as presents to the south; besides +many other things: cotton, shoes, kitchen utensils. Have you any of +these things, Excellency?" +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov stared at her face, barely tinted with color, dully wondering +why it should be so different from the one roguish, pathetically +innocent, that had haunted him all day. He asked abruptly: +</P> + +<P> +"Which is the friend whose little ones you envy? You have made me wish +to see them and her?" +</P> + +<P> +"That is Elena—beside Gervasio." She indicated a young woman with +soft, patient, brown eyes, the dignity of her race and the sweetness of +young motherhood, who would have looked little older than herself had +it not been for an already shapeless figure. "I can take you to-morrow +to see them if you wish." +</P> + +<P> +She had cast down her eyes and her face was white. Still he groped on. +</P> + +<P> +"Pardon me if I say that I am surprised your parents should permit such +a woman as this Rosa to attend you. Why should your happy life be +disturbed by the lamentations of an abandoned creature—who can do you +no good, and possibly much harm?" +</P> + +<P> +Still Concha did not raise her eyes. "I do not think poor Rosa would +do anyone harm. But perhaps it were as well she went elsewhere. We +have had her long enough. I have taken a dislike to her. I reproach +myself bitterly, but I cannot help it. I should like never to see her +again." +</P> + +<P> +"What has she told you?" Concha glanced up swiftly. His eyes were +blazing. She felt quite certain that he rolled a Russian oath under +his tongue, and she made a slight involuntary motion toward him, her +lips trembling apart. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing," she murmured. "I do not know—I do not know. But I no +longer wish her near me. She—life is very strange and terrible, senor. +You know it well—I, so little." +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov felt his breath short and his hands cold. For a moment he made +no reply. Then he smiled charmingly and said in the conventional tone +that was ever at his command: "Of course you know little of life in +this Arcadia. One who hopes to be numbered among the best of your +friends prays that you never may. Yes, senorita, life is +strange—strangely commonplace and disillusionizing—but sometimes +picturesque. Believe me when I say that nothing stranger has ever +befallen me than to find out here on the lonely brink of a continent +nearly twenty thousand versts from Europe, a girl of sixteen with the +grand manner, and an intellect without the detestable idiosyncrasies of +the fashionable bas bleus I have hitherto had the misfortune to +encounter." +</P> + +<P> +She was tapping the table slowly with her fork, and he noted that her +soft, childish mouth was set. "No doubt you are quite right to put me +off," she said finally, and in a voice as even as his own. "And my +intellect would do me little good if it did not teach me to ignore +mysteries I can never hope to fathom. There is no such thing as life +in your sense in this forgotten corner of the world, nor ever will be +in my time. If you come back and visit us twenty years hence you will +find me fat and worn like Elena, and busy every minute like my +mother—unless, indeed, I marry Don Weeliam Sturgis and become a great +lady in Boston. It would not be so mean a fate." +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov darted a look of angry contempt at the pale young man who was +eating little and miserably watching the handsome pair at the head of +the table. "You will not marry him!" he said briefly. +</P> + +<P> +"I could do far worse." Concha's lashes framed an adorable glance that +sent the blood to the hair of the sensitive youth. "You have no idea +how clever and good he is. And—Madre de Dios!—I am so tired of +California." +</P> + +<P> +"But you are a part of it—the very symbol of its future, it seems to +me. I wish I had a sculptor in my suite. I should make him model you, +label the statue 'California,' and erect it on the peak of that big +island out there." +</P> + +<P> +"That is very poetical, but after all, you are only saying that I am a +pretty savage with an education that will be more common in the next +generation. It is little consolation for an existence where the most +exciting event in a lifetime is the arrival of a foreign ship or the +inauguration of a governor." And once more she smiled at Sturgis. He +raised his glass impulsively, and she hers in gay response. A moment +later she gave the signal to leave the table. Rezanov followed her back +to the sala chewing the cud of many reflections. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +X +</H3> + +<P> +Concha had eaten no supper. As she entered the sala she clapped her +hands, the guests ranged themselves against the wall, the musicians, +livelier than ever, flew to their instruments; with the drifting, +swaying movement she could assume at will, she went slowly, absently, +to the middle of the room. Then she let her head drop backward, as if +with the weight of her hair, and Rezanov, vaguely angry, expected one +of those appeals to the senses for which Spanish women of another sort +were notorious. But Concha, after tapping the floor alternately with +the points and the wooden heels of her slippers, for a few moments, +suddenly made an imperious gesture to Ignacio Sal. He sprang to her +side, took her hand, and once more there was the same monotonous +tapping of toes and heels. Then they whirled apart, bent their lithe +backs until their brows almost touched the floor in a salute of mock +admiration, and danced to and from each other, coquetry in the very +tilt of her eyebrows, the bare semblance of masculine indulgence on his +eager, passionate face. Suddenly to the surprise of all, she snapped +her fingers directly under his nose, waved her hand, turned her back, +and made a peremptory gesture to that other enamoured young swain, +Captain Antonio Castro of Monterey. Don Ignacio, surprised and +discomfited, retired amidst the jeers of his friends, and Concha, with +her most vivacious and gracious manner, met Castro half way, and, +taking his hand, danced up and down the sala, slowly and with many +improvisations. Then, as they returned to the center of the room and +stepped lightly apart before joining in a gay whirl, she snapped her +fingers under HIS nose, made a gesture of dismissal over her shoulder, +and fluttered an uplifted hand in the direction of Sturgis. Again +there was a delighted laughter, again a discomforted knight and a +triumphant partner. +</P> + +<P> +"Concha always gives us something we do not expect," said Santiago to +Rezanov, whose eyes were twinkling. "The other girls dance El Son and +La Jota very gracefully—yes. But Conchita dances with her head, and +the musicians and the partner, when she takes one, have all they can do +to follow. She will choose you, next, senor." +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov turned cold, and measured the distance to the door. "I hope +not!" he said. "I should hate nothing so much as to make an exhibition +of myself. The dances I know—that is all very well—but to +improvise—for the love of heaven help me to get out!" +</P> + +<P> +But Santiago, who was watching his sister intently, replied: "Wait a +moment, Excellency. I do not think she will choose another. I know by +her feet that she intends to dance El Son—in her own way, of +course—after all." +</P> + +<P> +Concha circled about the room twice with Sturgis, lifted him to the +seventh heaven of expectancy, dismissed him as abruptly as the others. +Lifting her chin with an expression of supreme disdain for all his sex, +she stood a moment, swaying, her arms hanging at her sides. +</P> + +<P> +"I am glad she will not dance with Weeliam," muttered Santiago. "I +love him—yes; but the Spanish dance is not for the Bostonian." +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov awaited her performance with an interest that caused him some +cynical amusement. But in a moment he had surrendered to her once more +as a creature of inexhaustible surprise. The musicians, watching her, +began to play more slowly. Concha, her arms still supine, her head +lifted, her eyes half veiled, began to dance in a stately and measured +fashion that seemed to powder her hair and dissolve the partitions +before an endless vista of rooms. Rezanov had a sudden vision of the +Hall of the Ambassadors in the royal palace at Madrid, where, when a +young man on his travels, he had attended a state ball. There he had +seen the most dignified beauties of Europe dance at the most formal of +its courts. But Concha created the illusion of having stepped down +from the throne in some bygone fashion to dance alone for her subjects +and adorers. +</P> + +<P> +She raised her arms, barely budding at the top, with a gesture that was +not only the poetry of grace but as though bestowing some royal favor; +when she curved and swayed her body, again it was with the lofty +sweetness of one too highly placed to descend to mere seductiveness. +She glided up and down, back and forth, with a dreamy revealing motion +as if assisting to shape some vague impassioned image in the brain of a +poet. She lifted her little feet in a manner that transformed boards +into clouds. There were moments when she seemed actually to soar. +</P> + +<P> +"She is a little genius!" thought Rezanov enthusiastically. "Anything +could be made of a woman like that." +</P> + +<P> +It was not her dancing alone that interested him, but its effect on her +audience. The young men had begun with audible expressions of +approval. They were now shouting and stamping and clapping. Suddenly, +as once more she danced back to the very center of the room, her bosom +heaving, her eyes like stars, her red lips parted, Don Ignacio, long +since recovered from his spleen, invaded his pocket and flung a handful +of silver at her feet. It was a signal. Gold and silver coins, +chains, watches, jewels, bounced over the floor, to be laughingly +ignored. Rezanov looked on in amazement, wondering if this were a part +of the performance and if he should follow suit. But after a glance at +the faces of the young men, lost to everything but their passionate +admiration for the unique and beautiful dancing of their Favorita, and +when Sturgis, after wildly searching in his pockets, tore a large pearl +from the lace of his stock, he doubted no longer—nor hesitated. +Fastened by a blue ribbon to the fourth button of his closely fitting +coat was a golden key, the outward symbol of his rank at court. He +detached it, then made a sudden gesture that caught her attention. For +a moment their eyes met. He tossed her the bauble, and mechanically +she lifted her hand and caught it. Then she laughed confusedly, +shrugged her shoulders, bowed graciously to her audience, and signalled +to the musicians to stop. Rezanov was at her side in a moment. +</P> + +<P> +"You must be tired," he said. "I insist that you come out on the +veranda and rest." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well," she said indifferently; "it is quite time we all went out +to the air. Santiago mio, wilt thou bring my reboso—the white one?" +</P> + +<P> +Santiago, more flushed than his sister at her triumphs, fetched the +long strip of silk, and Rezanov detached her from her eager court and +led her without. Elena Castro followed closely, yet with a cavalier of +her own that her friend might talk freely with this interesting +stranger. The night air was cool and stimulating. The hills were +black under the sparks of white fire in the high arch of the California +sky. In the Presidio square were long blue shadows that might have +been reflections of the smoldering blue beyond the stars. Rezanov and +Concha sat on the railing at the end of the "corridor." +</P> + +<P> +"It is a custom—all that very material admiration?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"A very old one, but not too often followed. Otherwise we should not +prize it. But when some Favorita outdoes herself then she receives the +greatest reward that man can think of—gold and silver jewels. We do +not dare to return the tributes in common fashion, but they have a way +of appearing where they belong as soon as their owners are supposed to +have forgotten the incident. As you are not a Californian, senor, I +take the liberty of returning this without any foolish subterfuge." +She handed him his contribution. "I thank you all the same. It was a +spontaneous act, and I am very proud." +</P> + +<P> +He accepted the key awkwardly, not daring to press it upon her, with +the obvious banalities. But he felt a sudden desire to give her +something, and, nothing better offering, he gathered half a dozen roses +and laid them on her lap. +</P> + +<P> +"I was disappointed that you did not wear your roses to-night," he +said. "I associate them with you in my thoughts. Will you put one in +your hair?" +</P> + +<P> +She found a place for two and thrust another in the neck of her gown. +The rest she held closely in her hands. Then he noticed that she was +very white, and again she shivered. +</P> + +<P> +"You are cold and tired," he murmured, his eyes melting to hers. "It +was entrancing, but I hope never to see you give so much of yourself to +others again." His hand in arranging the reboso touched hers. It +lingered, and she stared up at him, helplessly, her eyes wide, her lips +parted. She reminded him of a rabbit caught in a trap, and he had a +sudden and violent revulsion of feeling. He rose and offered his arm. +"I should be a brute if I kept you talking out here. Slip off and go +to bed. I shall start the guests, for I am very tired myself." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XI +</H3> + +<P> +He did not talk with her again for several days. He called in state, +but remained only a few moments. His officers went to several impromptu +dances at the Presidio and Mission, but he pleaded fatigue, natural in +the damaged state of his constitution, and left the ship only for a +gallop over the hills or down the coast with Luis Arguello. +</P> + +<P> +But he had never felt better. At the end of a week his pallor had +gone, his skin was tanned and fresh. Even his wretched crew were +different men. They were given much leave on shore, and already might +be seen escorting the serving-women over the hills in the late +afternoon. Rezanov gave them a long rope, although he knew they must +be germinating with a mutinous distaste of the Russian north; he kept +strict watch over them and would have given a deserter his due without +an instant's pause. +</P> + +<P> +The estafette that had gone with Luis' letters to Monterey had taken +one from Rezanov as well, asking permission to pay a visit of ceremony +to the Governor. Five days later the plenipotentiary received a polite +welcome to California, and protest against another long journey; the +humble servant of the King of Spain would himself go to San Francisco +at once and offer the hospitality of California to the illustrious +representative of the Emperor of all the Russias. +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov was not only annoyed at the Governor's evident determination +that he should see as little as possible of the insignificant military +equipment of California, but at the delay to his own plans for +exploration. He knew that Luis would dare take him upon no expedition +into the heart of the country without the consent of the Governor, and +he began to doubt this consent would be given. But he was determined +to see the bay, at least, and he no sooner read the diplomatic epistle +from Monterey than he decided to accomplish this part of his purpose +before the arrival of the Governor or Don Jose. He knew the material +he had to deal with at the moment, but nothing of that already, no +doubt, on its way to the north. +</P> + +<P> +Early in the morning after the return of the courier he wrote an +informal note to Dona Ignacia, asking her to give him the honor of +entertaining her for a day on the Juno, and to bring all the young +people she would. As the weather was so fine, he hoped to see them in +time for chocolate at nine o'clock. He knew that Luis, who was +pressingly included in the invitation, had left at daybreak for his +father's rancho, some thirty miles to the south. +</P> + +<P> +There was a flutter at the Presidio when the invitation of the +Chamberlain was made known. The compliment was not unexpected, but +there had been a lively speculation as to what form the Russian's +return of hospitality would take. Concha, whose tides had thundered +and ebbed many times since the night of her party, submerging the happy +inconsequence of her sixteen years, but leaving her unshaken spirit +with wide clarified vision, felt young to-day from sheer reaction. She +would listen to no protest from her prudent mother and smothered her +with kisses and a torrent of words. +</P> + +<P> +"But, my Conchita," gasped Dona Ignacia, "I have much to do. Thy +father and his excellency come in two days. And perhaps they would not +approve—before they are here!—to go on the foreign ship! If Luis +were not gone! Ay yi! Ay yi!" +</P> + +<P> +"We go, we go, madre mia! And his excellency will give you a shawl. I +feel it! I know it! And if we go now we disobey no law. Have they +ever said we could not visit a foreign ship when they were not here? +We are light-headed, irresponsible women. And if they should not let +us go! If the Governor and the Russian should disagree! Now we have +the opportunity for such a day as we never have had before. We should +be imbeciles. We go, madre mia, we go!" +</P> + +<P> +So it proved. At a few minutes before nine the Senora Arguello, clad +in her best black skirt and jacket, a red shawl embroidered with yellow +draped over her bust with unconquerable grace, and a black reboso +folded about her fine proud head, rode down to the beach with Ana Paula +on the aquera behind and Gertrudis Rudisinda on her arm. The boys +howled on the corridor, but the good senora felt she could not too +liberally construe the kind invitation of a chamberlain of the Russian +Court. +</P> + +<P> +Behind her rode Concha, in white with a pink reboso; Rafaella Sal, +Carolina Xime'no, Herminia Lopez, Delfina Rivera, the only other girls +at the Presidio old enough to grace such an occasion; Sturgis, who +happened to have spent the night at the Presidio, Gervasio, Santiago +and Lieutenant Rivera. Castro had returned to Monterey, Sal was +officer of the day, and the other young men had sulkily declined to be +the guests of a man who looked as haughty as the Tsar himself and +betrayed no disposition to recognize in Spain the first nation of +Europe. But no one missed them. The girls, in their flowered muslins +and bright rebosos, the men in gay serapes and embroidered botas, +looked a fine mass of color as they galloped down to the beach and +laughed and chattered as youth must on so glorious a morning. Even +Sturgis, always careful to be as nearly one with these people as his +different appearance and temperament would permit, wore clothes of +green linen, a ruffled shirt, deer-skin botas and sombrero. +</P> + +<P> +Three of the ship's canoes awaited the guests, and as not one of the +women had ever set foot in a boat, there was a chorus of shrieks. Dona +Ignacia murmured an audible prayer, and clutched Gertrudis Rudisinda to +her breast. +</P> + +<P> +"Madre de Dios! The water! I cannot!" she muttered. But Santiago +took her firmly by one elbow, Sturgis by the other, Davidov caught up +the children with a reassuring laugh, and in a moment she was trembling +in the middle of the canoe. Concha had already leaped into the second +and waved a careless little salutation to the Juno. Her eyes sparkled. +Her nostrils fluttered. She felt indifferent to everything but the +certain pleasure of the day. Rezanov was sure to be charming. What +mattered the morrow, and possible nights of doubt, despair, hatred of +life and wondering self-contempt? +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov awaited the canoes in the prow of the ship. He wore undress +uniform and a cap instead of the cocked hat of ceremony which had +excited their awe. He too tingled with a sense of youthful gaiety and +adventure. As he helped his guests up the side of the vessel and +listened to the delightful laughter of the girls, saw the dancing eyes +of even the haughty and reserved Santiago, he also dismissed the morrow +from his thoughts. +</P> + +<P> +As Dona Ignacia was hauled to the deck, uttering embarrassed apologies +for bringing the two little girls, Rezanov protested that he adored +children, patted their heads and told off a young sailor to amuse them. +</P> + +<P> +Four tables on the deck were set with coffee, chocolate, Russian tea, +and strange sweets that the cook had fashioned from ingredients to +which his skilful fingers had long been strangers. +</P> + +<P> +Dona Ignacia sat beside the host, and when she had tried both the tea +and the coffee and had demanded the recipe of the sweets, he said +casually: "After breakfast I shall ask you to go down to the cabin for +a few moments. I bought the cargo with the Juno, and find there are +several articles which I shall beg as a great favor to present to my +kindest hostesses and the young girls she has been good enough to bring +to my ship. Shawls and ells of cotton and all that sort of thing are +of no use to a bachelor, and I hope you will rid me of some of them." +</P> + +<P> +Dona Ignacia lost all interest in the breakfast, and presently, +murmuring an excuse, was escorted by Langsdorff down to the cabin. +When the light repast was over, Rezanov made a signal to several +sailors who awaited commands, and they sprang to the anchor and sails. +</P> + +<P> +"We are going to have a cruise," announced the host to his guests. +"The bay is very smooth, there is a fine breeze, we shall neither be +becalmed nor otherwise the sport of inclement waters. I know that most +of you have never seen this beautiful bay and that you will enjoy its +scenery as much as I shall." +</P> + +<P> +He moved to Concha's side and dropped his voice. "This is for you, +senorita," he said. "You want change, variety, and I have planned to +give you all that I can in one day. I expect you to be happy." +</P> + +<P> +"I shall be," she said dryly, "if only in watching a diplomat get his +way. You will see every corner of our bay, and I shall have the +delightful sensation of doing something for which I cannot be held +responsible." +</P> + +<P> +He laughed. "I am quite willing that you should understand me," he +said. "But it is true that I thought as much of you as of myself." +</P> + +<P> +In a few moments the ship was under way. Santiago and Sturgis had gone +down to the cabin to reassure Dona Ignacia, who uttered a loud cry as +the Juno gave a preliminary lurch. Gervasio and Rivera had opened +their eyes as Rezanov abruptly unfolded his plan, but dropped them +sleepily before the delight of the girls. After all, it was none of +their affair, and what was a bay? If they requested him, as a point of +honor, to refrain from examining the battery of Yerba Buena with his +glass, their consciences would be as light as their hearts. +</P> + +<P> +As Rezanov stood alone with Concha in the prow of the ship and +alternately cast softened eyes on her intense, rapt face, and shrewd +glances on the ramifications of the bay, he congratulated himself upon +his precipitate action and the collusion of nature. They were sailing +east, and would turn to the north in a moment. The mountain range bent +abruptly at the entrance to the bay, encircling the immense sheet of +water in a chain of every altitude and form: a long hard undulating +line against the bright blue sky; smooth and dimpled slopes as round as +cones, bare but for the green of their grasses; lofty ridges tapering +to hills in the curve at the north but with blue peaks multiplying +beyond. There were dense forests in deep canyons on the mountainside, +bare and jagged heights, the graceful sweep of valleys, promontories +leaping out from the mainland like mammoth crocodiles guarding the bay. +The view of the main waters was broken by the largest of the islands, +but far away were the hills of the east and the soft blue peaks behind. +And over all, hills and valley and canyon and mountain, was a bright +opalescent mist. Green, pink, and other pale colors gleamed as behind +a thin layer of crystal. Where the sun shone through a low white cloud +upon a distant slope there might have been a great globe of iridescent +glass illuminated within. The water was a light, soft, filmy yet +translucent blue. Concha gazed with parted lips. +</P> + +<P> +"I never knew before how wonderful it was," she murmured. "I have been +taught to believe that only the south is beautiful, and when we had to +come here again from Santa Barbara it was exile. But now I am glad I +was born in the north." +</P> + +<P> +"I have watched the light on these hills and islands, and what I could +see of the fine lines of the mountains ever since I came, and were +there but villas and castles, these waters would be far more beautiful +than the Lake of Como or the Bay of Naples. But I am glad to see trees +again. From our anchorage I had but a bare glimpse of two or three. +They seem to hide from the western winds. Are they so strong, then?" +</P> + +<P> +"We have terrible winds, senor. I do not wonder the trees crouch to +the east. But I must tell you our names." She pointed to the largest +of the islands, a great bare mass that looked as had it been, when +viscid, flung out in long folds from a central peak, concaving here and +there with its own weight. Its southern point was on a line with a +point of mainland far to the west, and its northern, from their vantage +looking to be but a continuation of the curve of the mainland, finished +an arc of almost perfect proportions, whose deep curve was a tumbled +mass of hills and one great mountain. "That is Nuestra Senora de los +Angeles, and it opens a triple jaw, Luis has told me, at Point +Tiburon—you will soon see the straits between. The big rock over +there is Alcatraz, and farther away still is Yerba Buena—that looks +like a camel on its knees." +</P> + +<P> +But Rezanov was examining the scene before him. The lines of this bay +within a bay were superb, and in its wide embrace, slanting from Point +Tiburon toward an inner point two miles opposite was another island, as +steep as Alcatraz, but long and waving of outline, with a glimpse of +trees on its crest. Rezanov, while he lost nothing of the picturesque +beauty surrounding him, was more deeply interested in noting the many +foundations, sheltered and solid, for fortifications that would hold +these rich lands against the fleets of the world. Never had he seen so +many strategic advantages on one sheet of water. The islands farther +south he had examined through his glass from the deck of the Juno until +he knew every convolution they turned to the west. +</P> + +<P> +Concha was directing his attention to the tremendous angular peak +rising above the tumbled hills. "That is Mount Tamalpais—the mountain +of peace. It was named by the Indians, not by us. Sometimes it is like +a great purple shadow, and at others the clouds fight about it like the +ghosts of big sea gulls." They were sailing past the rounded end of the +western inner point of the little bay. It was almost detached from the +bare ridge behind and half covered with oaks and willow trees. "That +is Point Sausalito. I have often looked at it through the glass and +longed for a merienda in the deep shade." She turned to Rezanov with +lips apart. "Could we not—oh, senor!—have our dinner on shore?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is only for you to select the spot. We can sail many miles before +it is time for dinner, and you may find a place even more to your +liking. I fancy we can not go far here. It looks swampy and shallow. +Nothing could be less romantic than to stick in the mud." +</P> + +<P> +"May I ask," said Concha demurely, "how you dare to run the risks of an +unknown sheet of water? I have heard it said that there is more than +one rock and shoal in this bay." +</P> + +<P> +"I am not as rash as I may appear," replied Rezanov dryly, but smiling. +"In 1789 there was a chart of this bay, taken from a Spanish MSS., +published in London; and I bought it there when I ran up from the +Nadeshda—anchored at Falmouth—three years ago. Davidov, who, you may +observe, is steering, oblivious to the charms of even Dona Carolina, +knows every sounding by heart." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" Concha shrugged her shoulders. "The Governor, too, is very +clever. It will be a drawn battle. Perhaps I shall remain neutral +after all. It would be more amusing." The ship was turning, and she +waved her hand to the island between the deep arc of the hilly coast. +"I have heard so much of the beauty of that island," she said, "that I +have called it La Bellissima, but I never hoped to see anything but the +back of its head, from which the wind has blown all the hair. And now +I shall. How kind of you, senor!" +</P> + +<P> +"How easily you are made happy!" he said, with a sigh. "You look like +a child." +</P> + +<P> +"To-day I shall be one; and you the kind fairy god-father," she added, +with some malice. "How old are you, senor?" +</P> + +<P> +"Forty-two." +</P> + +<P> +"That is twenty-six years older than myself. But your excellency might +pass for thirty-five," she added politely. "We have all said it. And +now that you are not so pale you will soon look younger—and even more +triumphant than when you came." +</P> + +<P> +"I have never felt so triumphant as on this morning, dear senorita. I +had not hoped to give you so much pleasure." +</P> + +<P> +Her cheeks were as pink as her reboso, her great black eyes were +dancing. Her hands strained at the railing. "I shall see La +Bellissima! La Bellissima!" she cried. +</P> + +<P> +They rounded the low broken point of the island, sailed through the +racing currents between the lower end of La Bellissima and "Our Lady of +the Angels," more slowly past what looked to be a perpendicular forest. +From water to crest the gulches and converging spurs of this hillside +in the sea were a dense mass of oaks, bays, underbrush; here and there +a tall slender tree with a bark like red kid and a flirting polished +leaf, at which Concha clapped her hands as at sight of an old friend +and called "El Madrono." It was a primeval bit of nature, but sweet +and silent and peaceful; there was no suggestion either of gloom or of +discourteous beast. +</P> + +<P> +"We shall have our dinner here, Excellency. There on that little beach; +and afterward we shall climb to the top. See, there are trails! The +Indians have been here." +</P> + +<P> +They stood out through the straits between Point Tiburon and the Isle +of the Angels, where the tide ran fast. Then, for the first time, was +Rezanov able to form a definite idea of the size and shape of this +great natural harbor. To the south it extended beyond the peninsula in +an unbroken sheet for some forty English miles. Ten miles to the north +there was a gateway between the lower hills which Luis had alluded to +as leading into the bay of Saint Pablo, another large body of +tidewater, but inferior in depth and beauty to the Bay of San Francisco. +</P> + +<P> +The mist had dissolved. The greens were vivid where the sun shone on +island and hill. The woods of Bellissima, the groves of Point +Sausalito, the forests in the northern canyons, deepened to purple like +that of the great bare sweep of Tamalpais. Only the farther peaks +remained a pale misty blue, and were of an indescribable floating +delicacy. +</P> + +<P> +Concha pointed to the eastern double cone. "That is Monte del Diablo. +Once they say it spouted fire, but that was long ago, and all our +volcanoes are dead. But perhaps not so long ago. The Indians tell the +strange story that their grandfathers remembered when this bay was a +valley covered with oak trees, and the rivers of the north flowed +through and emptied into Lake Merced and a rift by the Fort. Then came +a tremendous earthquake and rent the mountains apart where you came +through—we call it the Mouth of the Gulf of the Farallones—the valley +sank, the sea flowed in, only these hills that are islands now keeping +their heads above the flood. Perhaps it is true, for Drake was close +to this bay for a long while and never saw it, and it would have given +him a better shelter than the little harbor he found a few miles higher +on the coast. I believe it was not here. Madre de Dios, I hope +California shakes no more. She would—is it not true, Excellency?—be +the most perfect country in all the world did she not have the devil in +her." +</P> + +<P> +"Are you afraid of earthquakes?" asked Rezanov, who once more had +transferred his comprehensive gaze from battery sites to her face. +</P> + +<P> +"I cross myself. It is like feeling your grave turn over. But I fancy +the poor old earth is like the people on her; she gets tired of being +good and is all the naughtier for having been sober too long. Don +Vincente Rivera is an example; he is cold, haughty, solemn, stern to +others and himself, as you see him; but once in a while—Madre de Dios! +The Presidio does not sleep for three nights!" +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov laughed heartily, then turned abruptly away. "Come," he said. +"I had almost forgotten. Will you ask the others to go to the cabin, +while I give orders that dinner shall be served on your island?" +</P> + +<P> +In the cabin, Concha forgot him for a few moments. Her mother, her +eyes dwelling fondly upon several shawls she hoped were intended for +herself alone, was hushing the baby to sleep in the deep chair of his +excellency. Ana Paula was playing with an Alaskan doll she had +appropriated without ceremony. Rezanov came in when his guests were +assembled, and he had a gift for each; curious objects of Alaskan +workmanship for the men, miniature totem poles and fur-bordered +moccasins; but silk and cotton, linen, shawls, and find handkerchiefs +for senora and maiden. +</P> + +<P> +"They are trifles," he said, in response to an enthusiastic chorus. +"The cargo I was obliged to take over was a very large one. You must +not protest. I shall never miss these things." And he knew that he +had sown the seeds of a rapacity similar to that implanted in the +worthy bosoms of the priests when they had paid him their promised +visit. If the Governor were insensible to diplomacy he would have +pressure brought to bear upon his official integrity from more quarters +than one. +</P> + +<P> +"There are also many of the presents rejected by the Mikado, +somewhere," he added carelessly. "But I could not find them. They +must have found their way to the bottom of the hold during one of the +storms we encountered on our way from Sitka." +</P> + +<P> +He certainly looked the fairy godfather, and quite impartial as he +distributed his offerings with a chosen word to each; his memory for +little characteristics was as remarkable as for names and faces. He had +taken off his cap on deck, and the breeze had ruffled his thick fair +hair, brought the blood to his thin cheeks. The lines of his face, cut +by privation and anxiety and illness, had almost disappeared with the +renewed elasticity of the flesh, and his blue eyes were wide open, and +sparkling in sympathy with the pleasure of his guests and the success +of his own strategy. These few insignificant Spaniards dislodged, a +half-dozen forts in this harbor, and the combined navies of the world +might be defied; while a great chain of hungry settlements fattened and +prospered exceedingly on the beneficence of the most fertile land in +all the Americas. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XII +</H3> + +<P> +The eastern mountains looked very close from the crest of La Bellissima +and of a singular transparency and variety of hue. It was as if the +white masses of cloud sailing low overhead flung down great splashes of +color from prismatic stores stolen from the sun. There was a vivid +pale green on the long sweep of a rounding slope, deep violet and pale +purple in dimple and hollow, red showing through green on a tongue of +land running down from the north; and on the lower ridges and little +islands, pale and dark blue, and the most exquisite fields of lavender. +This last tint was reflected in the water immediately below the ridge, +and farther out there were lakelets of pale green, as if the islands, +too, had the power to mirror themselves when the sea itself was glass. +</P> + +<P> +Santiago, Davidov, Carolina Xime'no, Delfina Rivera, Concha and +Rezanov, had climbed to the ridge. The other young people had given out +halfway up the steep and tangled ascent and returned to the beach. +Dona Ignacia immediately after dinner had frankly asked her host for +the hospitality of his stateroom. She and her little ones must have +their siesta, and the good lady was convinced that so high and mighty a +personage as the Russian Chamberlain was all the chaperon the +proprieties demanded. +</P> + +<P> +Four of the party strayed along the crest in search of the first wild +pansies. Rezanov and Concha looked under the sloping roof of brittle +leaves into dim falling vistas, arches, arbors, caverns, a forest in +miniature with natural terraces breaking the precipitous wall of the +island. +</P> + +<P> +"I should like to live here," said Concha definitely. +</P> + +<P> +"It would make a fine estate for summer life—or for a honeymoon." He +smiled down upon his companion, who stood very tall and straight and +proud beside him. "If you conclude to marry your little Bostonian no +doubt he will buy it for you," he said. +</P> + +<P> +If he had hoped to see a look of blank dismay after his hours of +devotion he was disappointed. She made a little face. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not think I could stand a desert island with the good Weeliam. +For that I should prefer one of my own sort—Ignacio, or Fernando. +Better still, I could come here and be a hermit." +</P> + +<P> +"A hermit?" +</P> + +<P> +"In some ways that would suit me very well. All human beings become +tiresome, I find. I shall have a little hut just below the crest where +I can look from my window right into the woods that are so quiet and +green and beautiful. That is a thought that has always fascinated me. +And when I walk on the crest I can see all the beauty of mountain and +bay. What more could I want? What more have you in your world when +you know it too well, senor?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing; but you might tire, too, of this." +</P> + +<P> +"What of it? It would be the gentle sad ennui of peace, not of +disillusion, senor. How I wish you would tell me all you know of life!" +</P> + +<P> +"God forbid. And do not remind me of ennui and disillusions. I have +forgotten both in California. Perhaps, after all, I shall not return to +St. Petersburg. There is a vast empire here—" +</P> + +<P> +"But it is not yours or Russia's to rule, Excellency," she interrupted +him softly. +</P> + +<P> +He did not color nor start, but met her eyes with his deep amused +glance. "I, too, can dream, senorita. Of a great and wonderful +kingdom—that never will exist, perhaps. I have always been called a +dreamer, but the habit has grown since I came to this lovely unreal +land of yours." +</P> + +<P> +"Have you the intention to take it from us, Excellency?" she asked +quietly. +</P> + +<P> +"Would you betray me if you thought I had?" +</P> + +<P> +Her eyes responded for a moment to the magnetism of his, and then she +drew herself up. +</P> + +<P> +"No, senor, I could not betray a man who had been our guest, and Spain +needs no assistance from a weak girl to hold her own against Russia." +</P> + +<P> +"Well said! I kiss your hands, as they say in Vienna. But we must +sail again. I told them to be ready at three o'clock." +</P> + +<P> +Dalliance with the most alluring girl he had ever known was all very +well, but the day's work was not yet done. When they returned to the +ship he deliberately engaged all the Spaniards in a game of cards, +ordered cigarettes and a bowl of punch for their refreshment, and then +the Juno steered south. +</P> + +<P> +They sailed swiftly past Nuestra Senorita de los Angeles and the +eastern side of Alcatraz, Rezanov sweeping every inch with his glass; +more slowly past the peninsula where it came down in a succession of +rough hills almost in a straight line from the Presidio, ascending to a +high outpost of solid rock, whence it turned abruptly to the south in a +waving line of steep irregular cliffs, harsh, barren, intersected with +gullies. Then the land became suddenly as flat as the sea, save for +the shifting dunes: the desert porch of the great fertile valley hidden +from the water by the waves of sand, but indicated by its rampart of +mountains. The shallow water curved abruptly inward between the rocky +mass on the right and a gentler incline and point two miles below. At +its head was the "Battery of Yerba Buena," facing the island from which +it took its name. Rezanov scrupulously kept his word and did not raise +his glass, but one contemptuous glance satisfied his curiosity. His +eye rolled over the steep hills that were designed to bristle with +forts, and, as sometimes happened, when he spoke again to Concha, whom +he kept close to his side, for the other girls bored him, his words did +not express the workings of his mind. +</P> + +<P> +"Athens has no finer site than this," he said. "I should like to see a +white marble city on these hills, and on that plain, when all the sand +dunes are leveled. Not in our time, perhaps! But, as I told you, I +have surrendered myself to the habit of dreaming." +</P> + +<P> +Concha shrugged her shoulders and made no reply at the moment. As they +sailed toward the east before turning south again, she pointed across +the great silvery sheet of water melting into the misty southern +horizon, to a high ridge of mountains that looked to be a continuation +of the San Bruno range behind the Mission, but slanting farther west +with the coast line. +</P> + +<P> +"Those are behind our rancho, senor—Rancho El Pilar, or Las Pulgas, as +some prefer. Perhaps my father will take you there. I hope so, for we +love to go, and may not too often; my father is very busy here. He is +one of the few that has received a large grant of land, and it is +because the clergy love him so much they oppose his wish in nothing. +Do you see those sharp points against the sky? They are the tops of +lofty trees, like the masts of giant ships, and with many rigid arms +spiked like the pines. You saw a few of them in the hollow below +Tamalpais, but up on those mountains there are miles and miles of +mighty forests. No white man has ever penetrated them, nor ever will, +perhaps. We have no use for them, and even if you made this your +kingdom, senor, I suppose not many would come with you. Far, far down +where the water stops are the Mission of Santa Clara and the pueblo of +San Jose; but I have heard you cannot approach within many miles of the +land in a boat." +</P> + +<P> +When they had sailed south for a few moments the boat came about +sharply. Concha laughed. "I had forgotten the chart. I rather hoped +you would run on a shoal." +</P> + +<P> +But as they approached the cove of Yerba Buena again she caught his arm +suddenly, unconscious of the act, and the little dancing lights of +humor in her eyes went out. "Your white city, senor! Ay, Dios! what a +city of dreams that can never come true!" +</P> + +<P> +The soft white fog that sometimes, even at this season, came in from +the sea, was rolling over the hills between the Battery and the +Presidio, wreathing about the rocky heights and slopes. It broke into +domes and cupolas, spires and minarets. Great waves rolled over the +sand dunes and beat upon the cliffs with the phantoms clinging to its +sides. Then the sun struggled with a thousand colors. The sun +conquered, the mist shimmered into sunlight, and once more the hills +were gray and bare. +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov laughed, but his eyes glowed down upon her. "I am not sure it +was there," he said. "I have an idea your imagination and touch acted +as a sort of enchanter's wand. The others evidently saw nothing." +</P> + +<P> +"The others saw only fog and shivered. But it was there, senor! We +have had a vision. A Russian city! Ay, yi!" +</P> + +<P> +But Rezanov had forgotten the city. Her reboso had fallen and a strand +of her hair blew across his face. His lips caught it and his eyes +burned. They rounded a headland and the world looked green and young. +</P> + +<P> +"Concha!" he whispered. +</P> + +<P> +Her eyes flashed and melted, she lifted her chin; then burst into a +merry ripple of laughter. +</P> + +<P> +"Senor!" she said, "if you make love to me, I shall have to compare you +with many others, and I might not like the Russian fashion. You are +much better as you are—very grand seigneur, iron-handed and absolute, +haughty and arrogant, but the most charming person in the world, with +ends to gain, even from such humble folk as a handful of stranded +Californians. But to sigh! to languish with the eye! to sing at the +grating! I fear that the lightest headed of the caballeros you despise +could transcend you in all." +</P> + +<P> +"Very likely! I have not the least intention of sighing or languishing +or singing at gratings. But if we were alone I certainly should kiss +you." +</P> + +<P> +But her eyes did not melt again at the vision. She flushed hotly with +annoyance. "I am a child to you! Were it not that I have read a few +books, you would find me but a year older than Ana Paula. Well! +Regard me as a child and do not attempt to flirt with me again. Shall +it be so?" +</P> + +<P> +"As you wish!" Rezanov looked at her half in resentment, half +wistfully, then shrugged his shoulders, and called to Davidov to steer +for the anchorage. She was quite right; and on the whole he was +grateful to her. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XIII +</H3> + +<P> +"Concha," said Sturgis abruptly, "will you marry me?" +</P> + +<P> +Concha, who was sitting in the shade of the rose vines on the corridor +making a dress for Gertrudis Rudisinda, ran the needle into her finger. +</P> + +<P> +"Madre de Dios!" she cried angrily. "Who would have expected such +foolish words from you? and now I have pricked my finger and stained my +little frock. It will have to be washed before worn, and is never so +pretty after." +</P> + +<P> +"I am sorry," said Sturgis humbly. "But it seems to me that if a man +wishes to marry a maid he should ask her in a straightforward manner, +with no preliminary sighs and hints and serenades—and all sorts of +insincere stage play. +</P> + +<P> +"He should at least address her parents first." +</P> + +<P> +"True. I was wholly the American for the moment. May I speak to Don +Jose and Dona Ignacia, Concha?" +</P> + +<P> +"How can I prevent? No, I will not coquet with you, Weeliam. But I am +angry that you have thought of such nonsense. Such friends as we were! +We have talked and read together by the hour, and my parents have +thought no more of it than if it had been Santiago. There! You have a +new book in your pocket. Why did you not read it to me instead of +making love? Let me see it." +</P> + +<P> +"I brought it to read later if you wished, but I came to ask you to +marry me and to receive your answer. I never expected to ask +you—but—lately—things have changed—life seems, somehow, more real. +The thought of losing you has suddenly become terrible." +</P> + +<P> +"You have been drinking Russian tea," said Concha, stitching quietly +but flashing him a glance of amusement, not wholly without malice. +</P> + +<P> +"It is true," he replied. "I suppose I never really believed you would +marry Raimundo or Ignacio or any of the caballeros. They think and +talk of nothing but horse-racing, gambling, cock-fighting, love and +cigaritos. I thought of you always here, where at least I could look +at you or read with you. But one must admit that this Russian is no +ordinary man. I hate him, yet like him more than any I have ever met. +Last night I stayed to punch with him, and we talked English for an +hour. That is to say, he did; I could have listened to him till +morning. Langsdorff says that he has the greatest possible command of +his native tongue, but he speaks English well enough. I wish I could +despise him, but I do not believe I even hate him." +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" demanded Concha. She kept her eyes on her work (and the +delight that rose in her breast from her voice). +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" +</P> + +<P> +"Why should you hate him?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you ask me that, Concha, when he makes a fence of himself about +you, and his fine eyes—practised is nearer the mark—look at no one +else?" +</P> + +<P> +"But why should that cause you jealousy? He is a man of the world, +accustomed to make himself agreeable, and I am the daughter of the +Commandante." +</P> + +<P> +"He is more in love with you than he knows." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think so, Weeliam?" Still her voice was innocent and even, +although the color rose above the inner commotion. "But even so, what +of it? Have not many loved me? Am I to be won by the first stranger?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do not know." +</P> + +<P> +The tumult in Concha turned to wrath, and she lifted flashing eyes to +his moody face. "Do you presume to say you are jealous because you +think I love him—a stranger I have known but a week—who looks upon me +as a child—who has never—never thought—" But her dignity, flying to +the rescue, assumed control. Her upper lip curled, her body stiffened +for a moment, and she went on with her stitching. "You deserve I +should rap your silly little skull with my thimble. You are no better +than Ignacio and Fernando. Such scenes as I have had with them! They +wanted to fight the Russian! How he would laugh at them! I have +threatened they shall both be sent to San Diego if there is any more +nonsense." Then curiosity overcame her. "You never had the least, +least reason to think I would marry you, and now, according to your own +words, you think you have less. Then why, pray, did you address me?" +</P> + +<P> +"Because I am a man, I suppose. I could not sit tamely down and see +you go." +</P> + +<P> +She looked at him with a slight access of interest. A man? Perhaps he +was, after all. And his well-bred, bony face looked very determined, +albeit the eyes were wistful. Suddenly she felt sorry for him; and she +had never experienced a pang of sympathy for a suitor before. She +leaned forward and patted his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot marry you, dear Weeliam," she said, and never had he seen her +so sweet and adorable, although he noted with a pang that her mouth was +already drawn with a firmer line. "But what matter? I shall never +marry at all. For many years—forty, fifty perhaps—I shall sit here +on the veranda, and you shall read to me." +</P> + +<P> +And then she shivered violently. But she set her mouth until it was +almost straight, and picked up the little dress. "Not that, perhaps," +she said quietly in a moment. "I sometimes think I should like to be a +nun, that, after all, it is my vocation. Not a cloistered one, for that +is but a selfish life. But to teach, to do good, to forget myself. +There are no convents in California, but I could join the Third Order +of the Franciscans, and wear the gray habit, and be set aside by the +world as one that only lived to make it a little better. To forget +oneself! That, after all, may be the secret of happiness. I envy none +of my friends that are married. They have the dear children, it is +true. But the children grow up and go away, and then one is fat and +eats many dulces and the siesta grows longer and longer and the face +very brown. That is life in California. I should prefer to work and +pray, and"—with a flash of insight that made her drop her work again +and stare through the rose-vines—"to dream always of some beautiful +thing that youth promised but never gave, and that given might have +ended in dull routine and a brain so choked with little things that +memory too held nothing else." +</P> + +<P> +"But Concha," cried Sturgis eagerly, "I could give you far better than +that. I could take you away from here—to Boston, to Europe. You +should see—live your life—in the great cities you have dreamed +of—that you hardly believe in—that were made to enjoy. I have told +you of the theater, the opera—you should go to the finest in the +world. You should wear the most beautiful gowns and jewels, go to +courts, see the great works of art—I am not trying to bribe you," he +stammered, flushing miserably. "God forbid that I should stoop to +anything as mean as that. But it all rushed upon me suddenly that I +could give you so much that you were made for, with this worthless +money of mine. And what happiness to be in Europe with +you—what—what—" +</P> + +<P> +His voice trembled and broke, and he dared not look at her. Again she +stared through the vines. A splendid and thrilling panorama rose beyond +them, her bosom heaved, her lips parted. She saw herself in it, and +not alone. And not, alas, with the honest youth whose words had +inspired it. In a moment she shook her head and turned her eyes on the +flushed, averted face of her suitor. +</P> + +<P> +"I shall never see Europe," she said gently, "and I shall never marry." +</P> + +<P> +"Not if this Russian asks you?" cried Sturgis, in his jealous misery. +</P> + +<P> +But Concha's anger did not rise again. "He has no intention of asking +a little California girl to share the honors of one of the most +brilliant careers in Europe," she said calmly. "Set your mind at rest. +He has paid me no more attention than is due my position as the +daughter of the Commandante, and perhaps of La Favorita. If I flirt a +little and he flirts in response, that is nothing. Is he not then a +man? But he will forget me in a month. The world, his world, is full +of pretty girls." +</P> + +<P> +"A week ago you would not have said that," said Sturgis shrewdly. +"There has been nothing in your life to make you so humble." +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot explain, but he seems to have brought the great world with +him. I know, I understand so many things that I had not dreamed of a +week ago. A week! Madre de Dios!" +</P> + +<P> +And Sturgis, who after all was a gallant gentleman, made no comment. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XIV +</H3> + +<P> +Governor Arrillaga, Commandante Arguello, and Chamberlain Rezanov sat +in the familiar sala at the Presidio content in body after a culinary +achievement worthy of Padre Landaeta, but perturbed and alert of mind. +Upon the arrival of the two California dignitaries in the morning, +Rezanov had sent Davidov and Langsdorff on shore to assure them of his +gratitude and deep appreciation of the hospitality shown himself, his +officers and men. The Governor had replied with a fulsome apology for +not repairing at once to the Juno to welcome his distinguished guest in +person, and, pleading his age and the one hundred and seventy-five +English miles he had ridden from Monterey, begged him as a younger man +to waive informality, and dine at the house of the Commandante that +very day. Rezanov had complied as a matter of course, and now he was +alone with the men who held his fate in their hands. The dark worn +rugged face of Don Jose, who had been skilfully prepared by his oldest +daughter to think well of the Russian, beamed with good-will and +interest, in spite of lingering doubts; but the lank, wiry figure of +the Governor, who was as dignified as only a blond Spaniard can be, was +fairly rigid with the severe formality he reserved for occasions of +ceremony—being a gentleman who loved good company and cheer—and his +sharp gray eyes were almost shut in the effort to penetrate the designs +of this deputy, this symbol, this index in cipher, of a dreaded race. +Rezanov smoked calmly, made himself comfortable on the slippery +horse-hair chair, though with no loss of dignity, and beat about the +bush with the others until the Governor betrayed himself at last by a +chance remark: +</P> + +<P> +"What you say of the neighborly instincts of the Russian colonists for +the Spanish on this coast interests me deeply, Excellency, but if +Russia is at war with Spain—" +</P> + +<P> +"Russia is not at war with Spain," said Rezanov, with a flash of +amusement in his half-closed eyes. "Napoleon Bonaparte is encamped +about half way between the two countries. They could not get at each +other if they wished. While that man is at large, Europe will be at +war with him, no two nations with each other." +</P> + +<P> +"Ah!" exclaimed Arrillaga. "That is a manner of reasoning that had not +occurred to me." +</P> + +<P> +The Commandante had spat at the mention of the usurper's name and +muttered "Chinchosa!" and Rezanov, recalling his first conversation +with Concha, looked into the honest eyes of the monarchist with a +direct and hearty sympathy. +</P> + +<P> +"No better epithet for him," he said. "And the sooner Europe combines +to get rid of him the better. But until it does, count upon a common +grievance to unite your country and mine." +</P> + +<P> +"Good!" muttered the Governor. "Good! I am glad that nightmare has +lifted its bat's wings from our poor California. Captain O'Cain's raid +two years ago made me apprehensive, for he took away some eleven +hundred of our otter skins and his hunters were Aleutians—subjects of +the Tsar. A negro that deserted gave the information that they were +furnished the Bostonian by the chief manager of your +Company—Baranhov—whose reputation we know well enough!—for the +deliberate purpose of raiding our coast." +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov shrugged his shoulders and replied indifferently: "I will ask +Baranhov when I return to Sitka, and write you the particulars. It is +more likely that the Aleutians were deserters. This O'Cain would not +be the first shrewd Bostonian to tempt them, for they are admirable +hunters and ready for any change. They make a greater demand upon the +Company for variety of diet than we are always prepared to meet, so +many are the difficulties of transportation across Siberia. When, +therefore, the time arrived that I could continue my voyage, I +determined to come here and see if some arrangement could not be made +for a bi-yearly exchange of commodities. We need farinaceous stuffs of +every sort. I will not pay so poor a compliment to your knowledge of +the northern settlements as to enlarge upon the advantages California +would reap from such a treaty." +</P> + +<P> +The Governor, who had permitted himself to touch the back of his chair +after the dispersal of the war cloud, stiffened again. "Ah!" he said. +"Ah!" He looked significantly at the Commandante, who nodded. "You +come on a semi-official mission, after all, then?" +</P> + +<P> +"It is entirely my own idea," said Rezanov carelessly. "The young Tsar +is too much occupied with Bonaparte to give more than a passing thought +to his colonies. But I have a free hand. Can I arrange the +preliminaries of a treaty, I have only to return to St. Petersburg to +receive his signature and highest approval. It would be a great +feather in my cap I can assure your excellencies," he added, with a +quick human glance and a sudden curve of his somewhat cynical mouth. +</P> + +<P> +"Um!" said the Governor. "Um!" +</P> + +<P> +But Arguello's stern face had further relaxed. After all, he was but +eleven years older than the Russian, and, although early struggles and +heavy responsibilities and many disappointments had deprived life of +much of its early savor, what was left of youth in him responded to the +ambition he divined in this interesting stranger. Moreover, the idea +of a friendly bond with another race on the lonely coast of the Pacific +appealed to him irresistibly. He turned eagerly to the Governor. +</P> + +<P> +"It is a fine idea, Excellency. We need much that they have, and it +pleases me to think we should be able to supply the wants of others. +Fancy any one wanting aught of California, except hides, to be sure. I +did not think our existence was known save to an occasional British or +Boston skipper. It is true we are here only to Christianize savages, +but even they have need of much that cannot be manufactured in this +God-forsaken land. And we ourselves could be more comfortable—God in +heaven, yes! It is well to think it over, Excellency. Who knows?—we +might have a trip to the north once in a while. Life is more excellent +with something to look forward to." +</P> + +<P> +"You should have a royal welcome. Baranhov is the most hospitable man +in Russia, and I might have the happiness to be there myself. I see, +by the way, that you have not engaged in shipbuilding. I need not say +that we should supply the ships of commerce, with no diminution of your +profits. We build at Okhotsk, Petropaulovski, Kadiak, and Sitka. +Moreover, as the Bostonians visit us frequently, and as your laws +prohibit you from trading with them, we would see that you always got +such of their commodities as you needed. They come to us for furs, and +generally bring much for which we have no use. Captain D'Wolf, from +whom I bought the Juno, had a cargo I was forced to take over. I +unloaded what was needed at Sitka, but as there was no boat going for +some months to the other islands, I brought the rest with me, and you +are welcome to it, if in exchange you will ballast the Juno with +samples of your agricultural products; while the treaty is pending, I +can experiment in our colonies and make sure which are the most +adaptable to the market. +</P> + +<P> +"Um!" said the Governor. "Um!" +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov did not remove his cool direct gaze from the snapping eyes +opposite. +</P> + +<P> +"I have not the least objection to making a trade that would fill my +promuschleniki with joy; but that was by no means the first object of +my voyage; which was partly inspired by a desire to see as much of this +globe as a man may in one short life, partly to arrange a treaty that +would be of incalculable benefit to both colonies and greatly redound +to my own glory. I make no pretence of being disinterested. I look +forward to a career of ever increasing influence and power in St. +Petersburg, and I wish to take back as many credits as possible." +</P> + +<P> +"I understand, I understand!" The Governor rested his lame back once +more. "Your ambition is the more laudable, Excellency, since you have +achieved so much already. I am not one to balk the honest ambition of +any man, particularly when he does me the honor to take me into his +confidence. I like this suggested measure. I like it much. I believe +it would redound to our mutual benefit and reputation. Is it not so, +Jose?" +</P> + +<P> +The Commandante nodded vigorously. "I am sure of it! I am sure of it! +I like it—much, much." +</P> + +<P> +"I will write at once to the Viceroy of Mexico and ask that he lay the +matter before the Cabinet and King. Without that high authority we can +do nothing. But I see no reason to doubt the issue when we, who know +the wants and needs of California, approve and desire. We are doomed +to failure in this unwieldy land of worthless savages, but it is the +business of the wretched servants of a glorious monarch to do the best +they can." +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov had an inspiration. "You might remind the viceroy that Spain +and the United States of America have been on the verge of war for +years, and suggest the benefit of an alliance with Russia in the case +of the new country taking advantage of the situation in Europe to +extend its western boundaries—" +</P> + +<P> +Arrillaga had bounced to his feet, his small eyes injected and blazing. +"Those damned Bostonians!" he shouted. "I distrusted them years ago. +They have too much calculation in their bluntness. They cheated us, +sold us short, traded under my very nose, stole our otters, until I +ordered them never to drop an anchor in California waters again. If +their ridiculous upstart government dares to cast its eyes on +California we shall know how to meet them—the sooner they march on +Mexico and lose their conceit the better. How they do brag! Faugh! +It is sickening. I shall remember all you say, Excellency; and thank +you for the hint." +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov rose, and the Commandante solemnly kissed him on either cheek. +"Governor Arrillaga is my guest, Excellency," he said. "I beg that you +will dine with us daily—unofficially—that you will regard California +as your own kingdom, and come and go at your pleasure. And my daughter +begs me to remind you and your young officers that there will be +informal dancing every night." +</P> + +<P> +"So far so good," thought Rezanov, as he mounted his horse to return to +the Juno. "But what of my cargo? I fancy there will be more +difficulty in that quarter." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XV +</H3> + +<P> +The Chamberlain was in a towering bad humor. As he made his appearance +at least two hours earlier than he was expected, he found the decks of +the Juno covered with the skins of sea-dogs, foxes, and birds. He had +heard Langsdorff go to his cabin later than usual the night before, and +that his pet aversion was the cause of a fresh grievance, but hastened +the eruption of his smouldering resentment toward life in general. +</P> + +<P> +"What does this mean?" he roared to the sailor on watch. "Clear them +off—overboard, every one of them. What are you staring at?" +</P> + +<P> +The sailor, who was a "Bostonian," an inheritance with the ship, opened +his mouth in favor of the unfortunate professor, but like his mates, he +stood in much awe of a master whose indulgence demanded implicit +obedience in return. Without further ado, he flung the skins into the +sea. +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov, to do him justice, would not have acted otherwise had he risen +in the best of tempers. He had inflicted himself with the society of +the learned doctor that he might always have a physician and surgeon at +hand, as well as an interpreter where Latin was the one door of +communication. He should pay him handsomely, make him a present in +addition to the sum agreed upon, but he had not the least intention of +giving up any of the Juno's precious space to the vagaries of a +scientist, nor to submit to the pollution of her atmosphere. +Langsdorff was his creature, and the sooner he realized the fact the +better. +</P> + +<P> +"Remember," he said to the sailor, "no more of this, or it will be the +worse for you— What is this?" He had come upon a pile of ducks, +gulls, pelicans, and other aquatic birds. "Are these the cook's or the +professor's?" +</P> + +<P> +"The professor's, Excellency." +</P> + +<P> +"Overboard." And the birds followed the skins. +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov turned to confront the white and trembling Langsdorff. The +naturalist was enfolded in a gorgeous Japanese dressing-gown, purple +brocade embroidered with gold, that he had surreptitiously bought in +the harbor of Nagasaki. To Rezanov it was like a red rag to a bull; +but the professor was oblivious at the moment of the tactless garment. +His eyes were glaring and the extended tip of his nose worked like a +knife trying to leap from its sheath. But although he occasionally +ventured upon a retort when goaded too far in conversation, he was able +to curb his just indignation when the Chamberlain was in a bad temper. +In that vague gray under winking stars in their last watch, Rezanov +seemed to tower six feet above him. +</P> + +<P> +"Excellency," he murmured. +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" +</P> + +<P> +"My—my specimens." +</P> + +<P> +"Your what?" +</P> + +<P> +"The cause of science is very dear to me, Excellency." +</P> + +<P> +"So it is to me—in its proper place. Were those skins yours?" His +voice became very suave. "I am sorry you should have fatigued yourself +for nothing, but I am forced to remind you that this is not an +expedition undertaken for the promotion of natural history. I am not +violating my part in the contract, I believe. Upon our arrival at +Sitka you are at liberty to remain as my guest and make use of the +first boat that sails for this colony; but for the present I beg that +you will limit yourself to the requirements of your position on my +staff." +</P> + +<P> +He turned his back and ordered a canoe to be lowered. Since the +arrival of the Governor and Commandante, now three days ago, all +restrictions on his liberty had been removed, and the phrases of +hospitality were a trifle less meaningless. He had been asked to give +his word to keep away from the fortifications, and as he knew quite as +much of the military resources of the country as he desired, he had +merely suppressed a smile and given his promise. +</P> + +<P> +This morning he wanted nothing but a walk. He had slept badly, the +blood was in his head, his nerves were on edge. He went rapidly along +the beach and over the steep hills that led to the north-eastern point +of the peninsula. But he had taken the walk before and did not turn +his head to look at the great natural amphitheater formed by the inner +slopes of those barren heights, so uninteresting of outline from the +water. Once when Luis had left him to go down with an order to the +Battery of Yerba Buena, he had examined it critically and concluded +that never had there been so fine a site for a great city. Nor a more +beautiful, with the broken line of the San Bruno mountains in the +distance and a glimpse of the Mission valley just beyond this vast +colosseum, whose steep imposing lines were destined by nature to be set +with palaces and bazaars, minarets and towers and churches, with a +thousand gilded domes and slender crosses glittering in the crystal air +and sunlight. If not another Moscow, then an Irkutsk in his day, at +least. +</P> + +<P> +But he did not give the chosen site of his city a glance to-day, +although in this gray air before dawn when mystery and imagination most +closely embrace, he might at another time have forgotten himself in one +of those fits of dreaming that slipped him out of touch with realities, +and sometimes precipitated action in a manner highly gratifying to his +enemies. +</P> + +<P> +But much as he loved Russia, there were times when he loved his own way +more, and since the arrival of Governor Arrillaga he was beginning to +feel as he had felt in the harbor of Nagasaki. Not a word since that +first interview had been said of his cargo; nor even of the treaty, +although nothing could have been more natural than the discussion of +details. Whenever he had delicately broached either subject, he had +been met with a polite indifference, that had little in common with the +cordiality otherwise shown him. He foresaw that he might be obliged to +reveal the more pressing object of his visit without further diplomacy, +and the thought irritated him beyond endurance. +</P> + +<P> +Whether Concha were giving him her promised aid he had no means of +discovering, and herein lay another cause of his general vexation. He +had dined every day at the Commandante's, danced there every night. +Concha had been vivacious, friendly—impersonal. Not so much as a +coquettish lift of the brow betrayed that the distinguished stranger +eclipsed the caballeros for the moment; nor a whispered word that he +retained the friendship she had offered him on the day of their +meeting. He had not, indeed, had a word with her alone. But his +interest and admiration had deepened. It was evident that her father +and the Governor adored her, would deny her little. Her attitude to +them was alternately that of the petted child and the chosen companion. +As her mother was indisposed, she occupied her place at the table, +presiding with dignity, guiding the conversation, revealing the rare +gift of making everyone appear at his best. In the evening she had +sometimes danced alone for a few moments, but more often with her +Russian guests, and readily learning the English country dances they +were anxious to teach. Rezanov would have found the gay informality of +these evenings delightful had his mind been at ease about his Sitkans, +and Concha a trifle more personal. He had begun by suspecting that she +was maneuvering for his scalp, but he was forced to acquit her; for not +only did she show no provocative favor to another, but she seemed to +have gained in dignity and pride since his arrival, actually to have +kissed her hand in farewell to the childhood he had been so slow in +divining; grown—he felt rather than analyzed—above the pettiness of +coquetry. Once more she had stirred the dormant ideals of his early +manhood; there were moments when she floated before his inner vision as +the embodiment of the world's beauty. Nor ever had there been a woman +born more elaborately equipped for the position of a public man's mate; +nor more ingenerate, perhaps, with the power to turn earth into heaven. +</P> + +<P> +He had wondered humorously if he were fallen in love, but, although he +retained little faith in the activities of the heart after youth, he +was beginning seriously to consider the expedience of marrying Concha +Arguello. He had not intended to marry again, and it was this old and +passionate love of personal freedom that alone held him back, for +nothing would be so advantageous to the Russian colonies in their +present crisis as a strong individual alliance with California. Concha +Arguello was the famous daughter of its first subject, and with the +powerful friends she would bring to her husband, the consummation of +ends dearer to his heart than aught on earth would be a matter of +months instead of years. And he thrilled with pride as he thought of +Concha in St. Petersburg. Two years of court life and she would be one +of the greatest ladies in Europe. That he could win her he believed, +and without undue vanity. He had much to offer an ambitious girl +conscious of her superiority to the men of this province of Spain, and +chafing at the prospect of a lifetime in a bountiful desert. His only +hesitation lay in his own doubt if she were worth the loss of his +freedom, and all that word involved to a man of his position and +adventurous spirit. +</P> + +<P> +He shrugged his shoulders at this argument; he had walked off some of +his ill-humor, and reverted willingly to a theme that alone had given +him satisfaction during the past few days. At the same time he made a +motion as if flinging aside an old burden. +</P> + +<P> +"It is time for such nonsense to end," he thought contemptuously. "And +in truth these three years should have wrought such changes in me I +doubt I should have patience for an hour of the old trifling. My +greatest need from this time on, I fancy, is work. I could never be +idle a month again. And when a man is in love with work—and +power—and has passed forty—does he want a constant companion? That +is the point. At my time of life power exercises the most irresistible +and lasting of all fascinations. A man that wins it has little left +for a woman." +</P> + +<P> +He had reached the summit of the rocky outpost; the highest of the +hills where the peninsula turned abruptly to the south, and, +scrupulously refraining from a downward glance at the Battery of Yerba +Buena, stood looking out over the bay to the eastern mountains: dark, +almost formless, wrapped in the intense and menacing mystery of that +last hour before dawn. +</P> + +<P> +"Senor!" called a low cautious voice. +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov stepped hastily back from the point of the bluff and glanced +about in wonder, his pulses suddenly astir. But he could see no one. +</P> + +<P> +This time the direction was unmistakable, and he went to the edge of +the plateau facing the south and looked over. Halfway down a shallow +and almost perpendicular gully, he saw a girl forcing a mustang up the +harsh, loose path. The girl's white and oval face looked from the +folds of a black reboso like the moon emerging from clouds, and its +young beauty was out of place in that wild and forbidding setting. She +reined in her horse as she caught his eye and beckoned superfluously; +then guided her mustang to a little ledge where he could plant his feet +firmly, permitting her to reassume her usual pride of carriage and +averting the danger of a sudden scramble or need of assistance. +</P> + +<P> +As Rezanov reached her side, she gave him a grave and friendly smile, +but no opportunity to kiss her hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I have followed your excellency," she said. "I saw you leave the +Juno, and as I am often up at this hour, and as no one else ever is, my +father ignores the fact that I sometimes ride alone. I have never come +as far as this before, but there is something I wish to say to you, and +there is no opportunity at home. I asked Santiago to find me one last +night, but he was in a bad temper and would not. Men! However—I +suppose you have heard nothing of the cargo?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have not," said Rezanov grimly, although acutely sensible that the +subject suited neither his mood nor the hour. +</P> + +<P> +"But the Governor has! Madre de Dios! all the women of the Presidio +and the Mission have pestered him. They are sick with jealousy at the +shawls you gave us that day—those that did not go to the ship. How +clever of your excellency to give us just enough for ourselves and +nothing for our friends! And those that went want more and more. They +have called upon him—one, two, four, and alone. They have wept and +scolded and pleaded. I did not know until yesterday that your +commissary had also shown the things to the priests from San +Jose—Father Jose Uria and Father Pedro de la Cueva. They and the +priests of San Francisco have argued with the Governor not once but +three times. Dios! how his poor excellency swore yesterday. He +threatened to return at once to Monterey. I flew into a great rage and +threatened in turn to follow with all the other girls and all the +priests—vowed he should not have one moment of peace until that cargo +was ours." +</P> + +<P> +"Well?" asked Rezanov sharply, in spite of his amusement. +</P> + +<P> +Concha shook her head. "When he does not swear, he answers only: 'Buy +if you have the money. I have never broken a law of Spain, and I shall +not begin in my old age.' He knows well that we have no money to send +out of New Spain; but I have conceived a plan, senor. It is for you, +not for me, to suggest it. You will never betray that I have been your +friend, Excellency?" +</P> + +<P> +"I will swear it if you wish," said Rezanov frigidly. +</P> + +<P> +"Pardon, senor. If I thought you could I should not be here. One +often says such things. This is the plan: You shall suggest that we +buy your wares, and that you buy again with our money. The dear +Governor only wants to save his conscience an ache, for we have driven +him nearly distracted. I am sure he will consent, for you will know +how to put it to him very diplomatically." +</P> + +<P> +"But if he refused to understand, or his conscience remained obdurate? +I should then have neither cargo nor ballast." +</P> + +<P> +"He would never trick a guest, nor would he let the money go out of the +country. And he knows well how much we need your cargo and longs to be +able to state in his reports that he sold you a hold full of +breadstuffs. Moreover, I think the time has come to tell him of the +distress at Sitka. He is very soft-hearted and is now in that +distracted state of mind when only one more argument is required. I +hope I have given you good advice, Excellency. It is the best I can +think of. I have given it much thought, and the terrible state of +those miserable creatures has kept me awake many nights. I must return +now. Will your excellency kindly remain here until I am well on my +way?—and then return by the beach? I shall go as I came, through the +valley. Neither of us can be seen from the Battery." +</P> + +<P> +"I will obey all your instructions," said Rezanov. But he did not move, +nor could the mustang. Concha smiled and pointed to the other side of +the cleft, which was about as wide as a narrow street. +</P> + +<P> +"Pardon, senor, I cannot turn." +</P> + +<P> +For a moment Rezanov stared at her, through her. Then his heavy eyes +opened and flashed. It seemed to him that for the first time he saw +how beautiful, how desirable she was, set in that gray volcanic rock +with the heavens gray above her, and the stars fading out. It was not +the bower he would have imagined for the wooing of a mate, but neither +moonlight nor the romantic glades of La Bellissima could have awakened +in him a passion so sudden and final. Her face between the black folds +turned whiter and she shrank back against the jagged wall: and when his +eyes flashed again with a wild eager hope she involuntarily crossed +herself. He threw himself against the horse and snatched her down and +kissed her as he had kissed no woman yet, recognizing her once for all. +</P> + +<P> +When he finally held her at arm's length for a moment he laughed +confusedly. +</P> + +<P> +"The Russian bear is no longer a figure of speech," he said. "Forgive +me. I forgot that you are as tender as you are strong." +</P> + +<P> +Her hands were tightly clasped against her breast and the breath was +short in her throat, but she made no protest. Her eyes were radiant, +her mouth was the only color in that gray dawn. In a moment she too +laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"Dios de mi alma! What will they say? A heretic! If Tamalpais fell +into the sea it would not make so great a sensation in this California +of ours where civilized man exists but to drive heathen souls into the +one true church." +</P> + +<P> +"Will it matter to you? Are you strong enough? It will be only a +question of time to win them over, if you are." +</P> + +<P> +She nodded emphatically. "I was born with strength. Now—Dios!—now I +can be stronger than the King of Spain himself, than the Governor, my +parents and all the priests— You would not become a Catholic?" she +asked abruptly. +</P> + +<P> +He shook his head, although he still smiled at her. "Not even for you." +</P> + +<P> +"No," she said thoughtfully. "I will confess—what matters it?—I +often dreamed that this would come just because I believed it would +not. But why should one control the imagination when it alone can give +us happiness for a little while? I gave it rein, for I thought that +one-half of my life was to be passed in that unreal but by no means +niggardly world. And I thought of everything. To change your religion +would mean the ruin of your career; moreover, it is not a possibility +of your character. Were it I think I should not love you so much. Nor +could I bear to think of any change in you. Only it will be +harder—longer." Then she stretched out her hand, and closed and +opened it slowly. The most obtuse could not have failed to read the +old simile of the steel in the velvet. "I shall win because it is my +nature—and my power—to hold what I grasp." +</P> + +<P> +"But if they persistently refuse—" +</P> + +<P> +"Dios!" she interrupted him. "Do you think that your love is greater +than mine? I was born with a thousand years of love in me and had you +not come I should have gone alone with my dreams to the grave. I am +all women in one, not merely Concha Arguello, a girl of sixteen." She +clasped her hands high above her head, lifting her eyes to the ashen +vault so soon to yield to the gay brush of dawn. +</P> + +<P> +"Before all that great mystery," she said solemnly, "I give myself to +you forever, how much or how little that may mean here on earth. +Forever." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XVI +</H3> + +<P> +The Commandante of the San Francisco Company sat opposite Rezanov with +his mouth open, the lines of his strong face elongated and relaxed. It +was the hour of siesta, and they were alone in the sala. +</P> + +<P> +"Mother of God!" he exclaimed. "Mother of God! Are you mad, +Excellency?" +</P> + +<P> +"No man was ever saner," said Rezanov cheerfully. "What better proof +would you have than this final testimony to Dona Concha's perfections?" +</P> + +<P> +"But it cannot be! Surely, Excellency, you realize that? The priests! +Ay yi! Ay yi!" +</P> + +<P> +"I think I understand the priests. Persuade the Governor to buy my +cargo and they will look upon me as an amicus humani generis to whom +common rules do not apply. And I have won their sincere friendship." +</P> + +<P> +"You have won mine, senor. But, though I say it, there is no more +devout Catholic in the Californias than Jose Arguello. Do you know +what they call me? El santo. God knows I am not, but it is not for +want of the wish. Did I give my daughter to a heretic, not only should +I become an outcast, a pariah, but I should imperil my everlasting soul +and that of my best beloved child. It is impossible, +Excellency—unless, indeed, you embrace our faith." +</P> + +<P> +"That is so impossible that the subject is not worth the waste of a +moment. But surely, Commandante, in your excitement at this perfectly +natural issue you are misrepresenting yourself. I do not believe, +devout Catholic as you are, that your soul is steeped in fanaticism. +You are known far and wide as the first and most intelligent of His +Catholic Majesty's subjects in New Spain. When you have my word of +honor that your daughter's faith shall never be disturbed, it is +impossible you should believe that marriage with me would ruin her +chances of happiness in the next world. But I doubt if your soul and +conscience will have the peace you desire if you ruin her happiness in +this. What pleasure do you find in the thought of an old age +companioned by a heart-broken daughter?" +</P> + +<P> +Don Jose turned pale and hitched his chair. "Other maids have been +balked when young, and have forgotten. Concha is but sixteen—" +</P> + +<P> +"She is also unique. She will marry me or no one. Of that I am as +certain as that she is the woman of women for me." +</P> + +<P> +"How can you be so certain?" asked the Commandante sharply. "Surely +you have had little talk alone with her?" +</P> + +<P> +"The heart has a language of its own. Recall your own youth, senor." +</P> + +<P> +"It is true," said Don Jose, with a heavy sigh, as he had a fleeting +vision of Dona Ignacia, slim and lovely, at the grating, with a rose in +her hair. "But this tremendous passion of the heart—it passes, senor, +it passes. We love the good wife, but we sometimes realize that we +could have loved another good wife as well." +</P> + +<P> +"That is a bit of philosophy I should have uttered myself, +Commandante—yesterday. But there are women and women, and your +daughter is one of the chosen few who take from the years what the +years take from others. I am not rushing into matrimony for the sake +of a pair of black eyes and a fine figure. I have outlived the +possibility of making a fool of myself if I would. Before I realized +how deeply I loved your daughter I had deliberately chosen her out of +all the women I have known, as my friend and companion for the various +and difficult ways of life which I shall be called upon to follow. +Your daughter will have a high place at the Russian Court, and she will +occupy it as naturally as if I had found her in Madrid and you in the +great position to which your attainments and services entitle you." +</P> + +<P> +Don Jose, despite his consternation, titillated agreeably. He +privately thought no one in New Spain good enough for his daughter, and +his weather-beaten self was not yet insensible to the rare visitation +of winged darts tipped with honey. But the situation was one of the +most embarrassing he had ever been called upon to face, and perhaps for +the first time in his direct and honest life his resolution was shaken +in a crisis. +</P> + +<P> +"Believe me, your excellency, I appreciate the honor you have done my +house, and I will add with all my heart that never have I liked a man +more. But—Mother of God! Mother of God!" +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov took out his cigarette case, a superb bit of Russian enamel, +graven with the Imperial arms, and a parting gift from his Tsar. He +passed it to his host, who had developed a preference for Russian +cigarettes. +</P> + +<P> +"There are other things to consider besides the happiness of your +daughter and myself," he remarked. "This alliance would mean the +consolidation of Spanish and Russian interests on the Pacific coast. +It would mean the protection of California in the almost certain event +of 'American' aggression. And I hear that a courier brought word again +yesterday that the Russian and the Spanish fleets had sailed for these +waters. I do not believe a word of it; but should it be true, I would +remind you of two things: that I have the powers of the Tsar himself in +this part of the world, and that the Russian fleet is likely to arrive +first." +</P> + +<P> +Again the Commandante moved uneasily. The news from Mexico had kept +himself and the Governor awake the better part of the night. He fully +appreciated the importance of this powerful Russian's friendship. +Nothing would bind and commit him like taking a Californian to wife. +If only he had fallen in love with Carolina Xime'no or Delfina Rivera! +Don Jose had an uneasy suspicion that his scruples as a Catholic might +have gone down before his sense of duty to this poor California. But a +heretic in his own family! He was justly renowned for his piety. +Aside from the wrath of the church, the mere thought of one of his +offspring in matrimonial community beyond its pale made him sick with +repugnance. And yet—California! And he would have selected Rezanov +for his daughter out of all men had he been of their faith. And he was +deeply conscious of the honor that had descended, however unfruitfully, +upon his house. Madre de Dios! How would it end? Suddenly he felt +himself inspired. In blissful ignorance of her subtle feminine rule, +he reminded himself that Concha's mind was the child of his own. When +she saw his embarrassment, filial duty and woman's wit would extricate +them both with grace and avert the enmity of the Russian even though +the latter's more personal interest in California must die in his +disappointment. He would make her feel the weight of the stern +paternal hand, and then indicate the part she had to play. +</P> + +<P> +He rang a bell and directed the servant to summon his daughter, drew +himself up to his full height, and set his rugged face in hard lines. +As Concha entered he looked the Commandante, the stern disciplinarian, +every inch of him. +</P> + +<P> +There was no trace of the siesta in Concha's cheeks. They were very +white, but her eyes were steady and her mouth indomitable as she walked +down the sala and took the chair Rezanov placed for her. Except for +her Castilian fairness, she looked very like the martinet sitting on +the other side of the table. The Commandante regarded her silently +with brows drawn together. Dimly, he felt apprehension, wondered, in a +flash of insight, if girls held fast to the parental recipe, or +recombined with tongue in cheek. The bare possibility of resistance +almost threw him into panic, but he controlled his features until the +effort injected his eyes and drew in his nostrils. Concha regarded him +calmly, although her heart beat unevenly, for she dreaded the long +strain she foresaw. +</P> + +<P> +"My daughter," said Don Jose finally, his tones harsh with repressed +misgiving, "do you suspect why I have sent for you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I think that his excellency wishes to marry me," replied Concha; and +the Commandante was so staggered by the calm assurance of her tone and +manner that his pent-up emotion exploded. +</P> + +<P> +"Dios!" he roared. "What right have you to know when a man wishes to +marry you? What manner of Spanish girl is this? Truly has his +excellency said that you are not as other women. The place for you is +your room, with bread and water for a week. Sixteen!" +</P> + +<P> +"Ignacio was born when my mother was sixteen," said Concha coolly. +</P> + +<P> +"What of that? She married whom and when she was told to marry." +</P> + +<P> +"I have heard that you serenaded nightly beneath her grating—" +</P> + +<P> +"So did others." +</P> + +<P> +"I have heard that when of all her suitors her father chose one more +highly born, a gentleman of the Viceroy's court, she pined until they +gave their consent to her marriage with you, lest she die." +</P> + +<P> +"But I was a Catholic! The prejudice against my birth was an unworthy +one. I had distinguished myself. And she had the support of the +priests." +</P> + +<P> +"It is my misfortune that M. de Rezanov is not a Catholic, but it will +make no difference. I shall not fall ill, for I am like you, not like +my dear mother—and the education you have given me is very different +from hers. But I shall marry his excellency or no one, and whether I +marry him or live alone with the thought of him until the end of my +mortal days, I do not believe that my soul will be imperilled in the +least." +</P> + +<P> +"You do not!" shouted the irate Spaniard. "How dare you presume to +decide such a question for yourself? What does a woman know of love +until she marries? It is nothing but a sickening imagination before; +and if the man goes, the doctor soon comes." +</P> + +<P> +"You may not have intended—but you have taught me to think for myself. +And I have seen others besides M. de Rezanov—the flower of California +and more than one fine gentleman from Mexico. I will have none of +them. I will marry the man of my choice or no one. It may be that I +know naught of love. If you wish, you may think that my choice of a +husband is determined by ambition, that I am dazzled with the thought +of court life in St. Petersburg, of being the consort of a great and +wealthy noble. It matters not. Love or ambition, I shall marry this +Russian or I shall never marry at all." +</P> + +<P> +"Mother of God! Mother of God!" Don Jose's face was purple. The +veins swelled in his neck. He was the more wroth because he recognized +his own daughter and his own handiwork, because he saw that he +confronted a Toledo blade, not a woman's brittle will. Concha regarded +him calmly. +</P> + +<P> +"If you refuse your consent you will lose me in another way. I may not +be able to marry as I wish, but I will have no worldly alternative. I +shall join the Third Order of the Franciscans, and enter a convent as +soon as one is built in California. To that you cannot withhold your +consent, or they no longer would call you El santo." +</P> + +<P> +Don Jose leaped from his chair. "Go to your room!" he thundered. "And +do not dare to leave it without my permission—" +</P> + +<P> +But Concha sprang forward and flung herself upon his neck. She rubbed +her warm elastic cheek against his own in the manner he loved, and +softened her voice. "Papacito mio, papacito mio," she pleaded. "Thou +wilt not refuse thy Concha the only thing she has ever begged of thee. +And I beg! I beg! Papa mio! I love him! I love him!" And she broke +into wild weeping and kissed him frantically, while Rezanov who had +followed her plan of attack and resistance in silent admiration, did +not know whether he should himself be moved to tears or further admire. +</P> + +<P> +Don Jose pushed her from him with a heavy sob and hastily left the +room, oblivious in the confusion of his faculties of the boon he +conferred on the lovers. Concha dried her eyes, but her face was +deathly pale. It had not been all acting, by any means, and she was +beginning to feel the tyranny of sleepless nights; and the joy and +wonder of the morning had left her with but a remnant of endurance for +the domestic battleground. +</P> + +<P> +"Go," she whispered, as he took her in his arms. "Return for the dance +to-night as if nothing had happened— I forgot, there is to be a +bull-bear fight in the square. So much the better, for it is in your +honor, and you could not well remain away. There is much trouble to +come, but in the end we shall win." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XVII +</H3> + +<P> +The muscles in Dona Ignacia's cheeks fell an inch as she listened, +dumbfounded, to the tale her husband poured out. To her simple +aristocratic soul Rezanov had loomed too great a personage to dream of +mating with a Californian; and as her sharp maternal instinct had +recognized his personal probity, even his gallantries had seemed to her +no more consequent than the more catholic trifling of his officers. +</P> + +<P> +"Holy Mary!" she whimpered, when her voice came back. "Holy Mary! A +heretic! And he would take our Concha from us! And she would go! To +St. Petersburg! Ten thousand miles! To the priests with her—now—this +very day!" +</P> + +<P> +Concha had thrown herself on her bed in belated hope of siesta, when +Malia (Rosa had been sent to the house of Don Mario Sal in the valley) +entered with the message that she was to accompany her parents to the +Mission at once. She rose sullenly, but in the manifold essentials of +a girl's life she had always yielded the implicit obedience exacted by +the Californian parent. In a few moments she was riding out of the +Presidio beside her father. Dona Ignacia jolted behind in her carreta, +a low and clumsy vehicle, on solid wheels and springless, drawn by +oxen, and driven by a stable-boy on a mustang. The journey was made in +complete silence save for the maledictions addressed to the oxen by the +boy, and an occasional "Ay yi!" "Madre de Dios!" "Sainted Mary, but +the sun bores a hole in the head," from Dona Ignacia, whose increasing +discomfort banished wrath and apprehension for the hour. +</P> + +<P> +Don Jose did not even look at his daughter, but his face was ten years +older than in the morning. He had begun dimly to appreciate that she +was suffering, and in a manner vastly different from the passionate +resentment he had seen her display when the contents of a box from +Mexico disappointed her, or she was denied a visit to Monterey. That +his best-loved child should suffer tore his own heart, but he merely +cursed Rezanov and resolved to do his best to persuade the Governor to +yield to his other demands, that California might be rid of him the +sooner. +</P> + +<P> +Father Abella was walking down the long outer corridor of the Mission +reading his breviary, and praying he might not be diverted from +righteousness by the comforting touch of his new habit, when he looked +up and saw the party from the presidio floundering over the last of the +sand hills. He shuffled off to order refreshments, and returned in +time to disburden the carreta of Dona Ignacia—no mean feat—volubly +delighted in the visit and the gossip it portended. But as he offered +his arm to lead her into the sala, she pushed him aside and pointed to +Concha, who had sprung to the ground unassisted. +</P> + +<P> +"She has come to confess, padre!" she exclaimed, her mind, under the +deep tiled roof of the corridor, readjusting itself to tragedy. "I beg +that you will take her at once. Padre Landaeta can give us chocolate +and we will tell our terrible news to him and receive advice and +consolation." +</P> + +<P> +Father Abella, not without a glimmering of the truth, for better than +any one he understood the girl he had confessed many times, besides +himself having succumbed to the Russian, led the way to the +confessional in some perturbation of spirit. He walked slowly, hoping +that the long, cool church, its narrow high windows admitting so scant +a meed of sunlight that no one of its worshippers had ever read the +legends on the walls, and even the stations were but deeper bits of +shade, would attune her mind to holy things, and throw a mantle of +unreality over those of the world. +</P> + +<P> +He covered his face with his hand as she told her story. This she did +in a few words, disjointed, for she was both tired and seething. For a +few moments afterward there was a silence; the good priest was +increasingly disturbed and by no means certain of his course. He was +astonished to feel a tug at his sleeve. Before he could reprove this +impenitent child for audacity she had raised herself that she might +approach her lips more closely to his ear. +</P> + +<P> +"Mi padre!" she whispered hoarsely, "you will take my part! You will +not condemn me to a life of misery! I am too proud to speak openly to +others—but I love this man more than my soul—more than my immortal +soul. Do you hear? I am in danger of mortal sin. Perhaps I am +already in that state. You cannot save me if he goes. I will not +pray. I will not come to the church. I will be an outcast. If I +marry him, I will be a good Catholic to the end of my days. If I marry +him I can think of other things besides—of my church, my father, my +mother, my sisters, brothers. If he goes, I shall pass my life +thinking of nothing but him, and if it be true that heretics are doomed +to hell, then I will live so that I may go to hell with him." +</P> + +<P> +In spite of his horror the priest was thrilled by the intense passion +in the voice so close to his ear. Moreover, he knew women well, this +good padre, for even in California they differed little from those that +played ball with the world. So he dismissed the horror and spoke +soothingly. +</P> + +<P> +"What you have said would be mortal sin, my daughter, were it not that +you are laboring under strong and natural excitement; and I shall +absolve you freely when you have done the penance I must impose. You +have always been such a good child that I am able to forgive you even +in this terrible moment. But, my daughter, surely you know that this +marriage can never take place—" +</P> + +<P> +"It shall! It shall!" +</P> + +<P> +"Control yourself, my daughter. You cannot bring this man into the +true church. His character is long since formed and cast—it is iron. +Even love will not melt it. Were he younger—" +</P> + +<P> +"I should hate him. All young men are insufferable to me—always have +been. I have found my mate, and have him I will if I have to hide in +the hold of his ship. Ah, padre mio, I know not what I say. But you +will help me. Only you can. My father thinks you as wise as a saint. +And there are other things—my head turns round—I can hardly +think—but you dare not lose the friendship of this Russian. And my +marriage to him would be as much for the good of the Missions as for +California herself. Champion our course, point out that not only would +it be a great match for me, but that many ends would be lost by ruining +my life. The Governor will find himself in a position to grant your +prayers for the cargo, particularly if you first persuaded my +father—so long they have been friends, the Governor could not resist +if he joined our forces. What is one girl that she should be held of +greater account than the welfare of this country to which you are +devoting your life? The happier are your converts, the more kindly +will they take to Christianity—which they do not love as yet!—the +more faithful and contented will they be, in the prospect of the +luxuries and the toys and the trinkets of the Russian north. What is +one girl against the friendship of Russia for Spain? Who am I that I +should weigh a peseta in the scale?" +</P> + +<P> +"You are Concha Arguello, the flower of all the maidens in California, +and the daughter of the best of our men," replied Father Abella +musingly. "And until to-day there has been no Catholic more devout—" +</P> + +<P> +"It lies with you, mi padre, whether I continue to be the best of +Catholics or become the most abandoned of heretics. You know me better +than anyone. You know that I will not weaken and bend and submit, like +a thousand other women. I could be bad—bad—bad—and I will be! Do +you hear?" And she shook his arm violently, while her hoarse voice +filled the church. +</P> + +<P> +"My child! My child! I have always believed that you had it in you to +become a saint. Yes, yes, I feel the strength and maturity of your +nature, I know the lengths to which it might lead another; but you +could not be bad, Conchita. I have known many women. In you alone +have I perceived the capacity for spiritual exaltation. You are the +stuff of which saints and martyrs are made. The violent will, the +transcendent passions—they have existed in the greatest of our saints, +and been conquered." +</P> + +<P> +"I will not conquer. I— Oh, padre—for the love of heaven—" +</P> + +<P> +He left the box hastily and lifted her where she had fallen and carried +her into the room adjoining the church. He laid her on the floor, and +ran for Dona Ignacia, who, refreshed with wine and chocolate, came +swiftly. But when Concha, under practical administrations and maternal +endearments, finally opened her eyes, she pushed her mother coldly +aside, rose and steadied herself against the wall for a moment, then +returned to the church, closing the door behind her. +</P> + +<P> +When a woman has borne thirteen children in the lost corners of the +world, with scarce a thought in thirty years for aught else save the +husband and his comforts, it is not to be expected that her wits should +be rapiers or her vocabulary distinguished. But Dona Ignacia's +unresting heart had an intelligence of its own, and no inner convulsion +could alter the superb dignity of mien which Nature had granted her. +As she rose and confronted Father Abella he moved forward with the +instinct to kiss her hand, as he had seen Rezanov do. +</P> + +<P> +"Mi padre," she said, "Concha is the first of my children to push me +aside, and it is like a blow on the heart; but I have neither anger nor +resentment, for it was not the act of a child to its parent, but of one +woman to another. Alas! this Russian, what has he done, when her own +mother can give her no comfort? We all love when young, but this is +more. I loved Jose so much I thought I should die when they would have +compelled me to marry another. But this is more. She will not die, nor +even go to bed and weep for days, but it is more. I should not have +died, I know that now, and in time I should have married another, and +been as happy as a woman can be when the man is kind. Concha will love +but once, and she will suffer—suffer— She may be more than I, but I +bore her and I know. And she cannot marry him. A heretic! I no +longer think of the terrible separation. Were he a Catholic I should +not think of myself again. But it cannot be. Oh, padre, what shall we +do?" +</P> + +<P> +They talked for a long while, and after further consultation with Don +Jose and Father Landaeta, it was decided that Concha should remain for +the present in the house of Juan Moraga, where she could receive the +daily counsels of the priests, and be beyond the reach of Rezanov. +Meanwhile, all influence would be brought to bear upon the Governor +that the Russian might be placated even while made to realize that to +loiter longer in California waters would be but a waste of precious +time. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XVIII +</H3> + +<P> +There was no performance after all in the Presidio square that night, +for the bear brought in from the hills to do honor to the Russians died +of excitement, and it rained besides. Rezanov made the storm his +excuse for not dining and dancing as usual at the house of the +Commandante. But the relations between the Presidio and the Juno +during the next few days were by no means strained. Davidov and +Khostov were always with the Spanish officers, drinking and card +playing, or improving their dancing and Spanish with the girls, whose +guitars were tuned for the waltz day and night. The dignitaries met as +usual and conversed on all topics save those paramount in the minds of +each. Nevertheless, there were three significant facts as well known +to Rezanov as had they been aired to his liking. +</P> + +<P> +He had sought an interview with Father Abella, and tactfully ignoring +the question of his marriage, had persuaded that astute and influential +priest to make the proposition regarding his cargo that Concha had +suggested. The priest, backed by his three coadjutors, had made it, +and been repulsed with fury. From another quarter Rezanov learned that +during his absence little else was discussed in the house of the +Commandante save his formidable matrimonial project, and the supposed +designs to his country. Troops had been ordered from the south to +reinforce the San Francisco garrisons, and were even now massed at +Santa Clara, within a day's march of the bay. +</P> + +<P> +About a mile from the Presidio and almost opposite the Juno's anchorage +were six great stone tubs sunken in the ground and filled by a spring +of clear water. Here, once a week, the linen, fine and heavy, of Fort +and Presidio was washed, the stoutest serving women of households and +barracks meeting at dawn and scrubbing for half a day. Rezanov had +watched the bright picture they made—for they wore a bit of every hue +they could command—with a lazy interest, which quickened to thirst +when he heard that they were the most reliable newsmongers in the +country. In every Presidial district was a similar institution, and +the four were known as the "Wash Tub Mail." Many of the women were +selected by the tyrants of the tubs for their comeliness, and each had +a lover in the couriers that went regularly with mail and official +instructions from one end of the Californias to the other. All +important news was known first by these women, and much was discussed +over the tubs that was long in reaching higher but no less interested +circles; and domestic bulletins were as eagerly prized. The sailor +that brought this information to Rezanov was a good-looking and +susceptible youth, already the victim of an Indian maiden from the +handsome tribe in the Santa Clara Valley, and sister of Dona Ignacia's +Malia. Rezanov furnished him with beads and other trinkets and was at +no disadvantage thereafter. +</P> + +<P> +There was nothing Rezanov would have liked better than to see a Russian +fleet sail through the straits, but he also knew that nothing was less +likely, and that from such rumors he should only derive further +annoyance and delay. Two of his sailors deserted at the prospect of +war, and his hosts, if neutral, were manifestly alert. Luis and +Santiago had been obliged to go to Monterey for a few days, and there +was no one at the Presidio in whom Rezanov could confide either his +impatience to see Concha or at the adjournment of his more prosaic but +no less pressing interests. These two young men had been with him +almost constantly since his arrival, and demonstrated their friendship +and even affection unfailingly; but there was no love lost between +himself and Gervasio. This young hidalgo had the hauteur and intense +family pride of Santiago without his younger brother's frank +intelligence and lingering ingenuousness. With all the superiority and +inferiority, he had made himself so unpopular that his real kindness of +heart atoned for his absurdities only with those that knew him best. +Rezanov was not one of these nor aspired to be. Like all highly +seasoned men of the world, he had no patience with the small vanities +of the provincial, and although diplomatically courteous to all, in his +present precarious position, he had taken too little trouble to +conciliate Gervasio to find him of use in the absence of his friends. +</P> + +<P> +At the end of three days Rezanov had forgotten his cargo, and would +have sent the Juno to the bottom for ten minutes alone with Concha. He +had been on fire with love of her since the moment of his actual +surrender, and he was determined to have her if there were no other +recourse but elopement. All his old and intense love of personal +freedom had melted out of form in the crucible of his lover's +imagination. That he should have doubted for a moment that Concha was +the woman for whom his soul had held itself aloof and unshackled was a +matter for contemptuous wonder, and the pride he had taken in his keen +and swift perceptive faculties suffered an eclipse. Mind and soul and +body he was a lover, a union unknown before. +</P> + +<P> +On the fourth morning, his patience at an end, he was about to leave +the Juno to demand a formal interview with Don Jose when he saw Luis +and Santiago dismount at the beach and enter the canoe always in +waiting. A few moments later they had helped themselves to cigarettes +from the gift of the Tsar and were assuring Rezanov of their +partisanship and approval. +</P> + +<P> +"We were somewhat taken aback at the first moment," Luis admitted. +"But—well, we are both in love—Santiago no less than I, although I +have had these six long years of waiting and am likely to have another. +And we love Concha as few men love their sisters, for there is no one +like her—is it not so, Rezanov? And we quite understand why she has +chosen you, and why she stands firm, for we know the strength of her +character. We would that you were a Catholic, but even so, we will not +sit by and see her life ruined, and we have called to assure you that +we shall use all our influence, every adroit argument, to bring our +parents to a more reasonable frame of mind. They have already risen +above the first natural impulse of selfishness, and would consent to +the inevitable separation were you only a Catholic. I have also talked +with the Governor—we arrived at midnight—and he flew into a terrible +temper—the poor man is already like a mad bull at bay—but if my +father yielded, he would—on all points. This morning I shall ride +over and talk with Father Abella, who, I fancy, needs only a little +extra pressure—you may be sure Concha has not been idle—to yield; and +for more reasons than one. I shall enlist Father Uria and Father de la +Cueva as well. They also have great influence with my parents, and as +they return to San Jose in two days to prepare for the visit of the +most estimable Dr. Langsdorff, there is no time to lose. I shall go +this morning. One more cigarito, senor, and when that treaty is drawn +remember the conversion of your brother to Russian tobacco." +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov thanked him so warmly, assured him with so convincing an +emphasis that with his fate in such competent hands his mind was at +peace, that the ardent heart of the Californian exulted; Rezanov, with +his splendid appearance, and typical of the highest civilizations of +Europe, had descended upon his narrow sphere with the authority of a +demigod, and he not only thirsted to serve him, but to fasten him to +California with the surest of human bonds. +</P> + +<P> +As he dropped over the side of the ship, Rezanov's hand fell lightly on +the shoulder of Santiago. +</P> + +<P> +"I can wait no longer to see your sister," he whispered, mindful of the +sterner responsibilities of the older brother. "Do you think you +could—" +</P> + +<P> +Santiago nodded. "While Luis is at the Mission I shall go to my cousin +Juan Moraga's. You will dine with us at the Presidio, and I shall +escort you back to the ship." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XIX +</H3> + +<P> +It was ten o'clock when Rezanov, who had supped on the Juno, met +Santiago in a sandy valley half a mile from the Presidio and mounted +the horse his young friend himself had saddled and brought. The long +ride was a silent one. The youth was not talkative at any time, and +Rezanov was conscious of little else save an overwhelming desire to see +Concha again. One secret of his success in life was his gift of +yielding to one energy at a time, oblivious at the moment to aught that +might distract or enfeeble the will. To-night, as he rode toward the +Mission on as romantic a quest as ever came the way of a lover, the +diplomat, the anxious director of a great Company, the representative +of one of the mighty potentates of earth, were submerged, forgotten, in +the thrilling anticipation of his hour with the woman for whom every +fiber of his being yearned. +</P> + +<P> +Nor ever was there more appropriate a setting for one of those +inaugural chapters in mating, half appreciated at the time, that +glimmer as a sort of morning twilight on mountain tops over the mild +undulations of matrimony. The moon rode without a masking cloud across +the ambiguous night blue of the California sky, a blue that looks like +the fire of strange elements, where the stars glow like silver coals, +and out of whose depths intense shadows of blue and black fall; shadows +in which all the terrestrial world seems to float and recombine, where +houses are ghosts of ancient selves and men but the eidola of forgotten +dust. To-night the little estate of Juan Moraga, the most isolated and +eastern of the settlement, surrounded by its high white wall, looked as +unreal and formless as the blue oval of water and black trees behind +it, but Rezanov knew that it enfolded warm and palpitating womanhood +and was steeped in the sweetness of Castilian roses. +</P> + +<P> +The riders, who had taken a path far to the east of the Mission +dismounted and tied their horses among the willows, then, in their dark +cloaks but a part of the shadows, stole toward the wall designed to +impress hostile tribes rather than to resist onslaught; at the first +warning the settlement invariably fled to the church, where walls were +massive and windows high. +</P> + +<P> +In three of Moraga's four walls was a grille, or wicket of slender iron +bars, whence the open could be swept with glass, or gun at a pinch; and +toward the grille looking eastward went Rezanov as swiftly as the +uneven ground would permit. As Concha watched him gather form in the +moonlight and saw him jerk his cloak off impatiently, she flung her +soft body against the wall and shook the bars with her strong little +hands. But when he faced her she was erect and smiling; in a sudden +uprush of spirits, almost indifferent. She wore a white gown and a +rose in her hair. A rosebush as dense as an arbor spread its prickly +arms between herself and the windows of the house. +</P> + +<P> +"Good-evening," she whispered. +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov gave the grill an angry shake. (Santiago had considerately +retired.) "Come out," he said peremptorily, "or let me in." +</P> + +<P> +"There is but one gate, senor, and that is directly in front of the +house door, that stands open—" +</P> + +<P> +"Then I shall get over the wall—" +</P> + +<P> +"Madre de Dios! You would leave your fine clothes and more on the +thorns. My cousin planted those roses not for ornament, but to let the +blood of defiant lovers. Not one has come twice—" +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think I came here to talk to you through a grating? I am no +serenading Spaniard." +</P> + +<P> +His eyes were blazing. Adobe is not stone. Rezanov took the light bars +in both hands and wrenched them out; then, as Concha, divided between +laughter and a sudden timidity, would have retreated, he dexterously +clasped her neck and drew her head through the embrasure. As Santiago, +who had watched Rezanov from a distance with some curiosity, saw his +sister's beautiful face emerge from the wall to disappear at once +behind another rampart, he turned abruptly on his heel and could have +wept as he thought of Pilar Ortego of Santa Barbara. But there was a +hope that he would be a cadet of the Southern Company before the year +was out, and his parents and hers were indulgent. Even as he sighed, +his own impending happiness infused him with an almost patronizing +sympathy for the twain with the wall between, and he concealed himself +among the willows that they might feel to the full the blessed +isolation of lovers. His Pilar presented him with twenty-two hostages, +and he lived to enjoy an honorable and prosperous career, but he never +forgot that night and the part he had played in one of the poignant and +happy hours of his sister's life. +</P> + +<P> +Day and night a great silence reigned in the Mission valley, broken +only by the hoot of the owl, the singing of birds, the flight of horses +across the plain. Even the low huddle of Mission buildings and the few +homes beyond looked an anomaly in that vast quiet valley asleep and +unknown for so many centuries in the wide embrace of the hills. Its +jewel oasis alone made it acceptable to the Spaniard, but to Rezanov +the sandy desert, with its close companionable silences, its cool night +air sweet with the light chaste fragrance of the roses, the simple, +almost primitive, conditions environing the girl, possessed a power to +stir the depths of his emotions as no artful reinforcement to passion +had ever done. He forgot the wall. His ego melted in a sense of +complete union and happiness. Even when they returned to earth and +discussed the dubious future, he was conscious of an odd resignation, +very alien in his nature, not only to the barrier but to all the +strange conditions of his wooing. He had felt something of this +before, although less definitely, and to-night he concluded that she +had the gift of clothing the inevitable with the semblance and the +sweetness of choice; and wondered how long it would be able to skirt +the arid steppes of philosophy. +</P> + +<P> +She told him that she had talked daily with Father Abella. "He will +say nothing to admit he is weakening, but I feel sure he has realized +not only that our marriage will be for the best interests of +California, but that to forbid it would wreck my life; and from this +responsibility he shrinks. I can see it in his kind, shrewd, perplexed +eyes, in the hesitating inflections of his voice, to say nothing of the +poor arguments he advances to mine. What of my father and mother?" +</P> + +<P> +"They look troubled, almost ill, but nothing could exceed their +kindness to me, although they have pointedly given me no opportunity to +introduce the subject of our marriage again. The Governor makes no +sign that he knows of any aspiration of mine above corn, but he +informed me to-day that California is doomed to abandonment, that the +Indians are hopeless, that Spain will withdraw troops before she will +send others, and that the country will either revert to savagery or +fall a prey to the first enterprising outsider. As he was in +comparison cheerful before, I fancy he apprehends the irresistible +appeal of your father's surrender." +</P> + +<P> +Concha nodded. "If my father yields he will see that you have +everything else that you wish. He may have advocated meeting your +wishes in other respects in order to leave you without excuse to +linger, but that argument is not strong enough for the Governor, +whereas if he made up his mind to accept you as a son he would throw +the whole force of his character and will into the scale; and when he +reaches that pitch he wins—with men. I must, must bring you good +fortune," she added anxiously. "Marriage with a little California +girl—are you sure it will not ruin your career?" +</P> + +<P> +"I can think of nothing that would advantage it more. What are you +going to call me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot say Petrovich or Nicolai—my Spanish tongue rebels. I shall +call you Pedro. That is a very pretty name with us." +</P> + +<P> +"My own harsh names suit my battered self rather better, but the more +Californian you are and remain the happier I shall be. When am I to +see your ears? Are they deformed, pointed and furry like a fawn's? Do +they stand out? Were all the women of California tattooed in some +Indian raid—" +</P> + +<P> +Concha glanced about apprehensively, but not even Santiago was there to +see the dreadful deed. With a defiant sweep of her hands she lifted +both loops of hair, and two little ears, rosy even in the moonlight, +commanded amends and more from penitent lips. +</P> + +<P> +"No man has ever seen them before—since I was a baby; not even my +father and brothers," said Concha, trembling between horror and rapture +at the tremendous surrender. "You will never remind me of it. Ay yi! +promise—Pedro mio!" +</P> + +<P> +"On condition that you promise not to confess it. I should like to be +sure that your mind belonged as much to me and as little to others as +possible. I do not object to confession—we have it in our church; but +remember that there are other things as sacred as your religion." +</P> + +<P> +She nodded. "I understand—better than you understand Romanism. I +must confess that I met you to-night, but Father Abella is too discreet +to ask for more. It is such blessed memories that feed the soul, and +they would fly away on a whisper." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XX +</H3> + +<P> +The next morning Father Abella rode over to the Presidio and was +closeted for an hour with the Commandante and the Governor. Then the +three rode down to the beach, entered a canoe, and paddled out to the +Juno. Rezanov met them on deck with a gravity as significant as their +own, but led them at once to the cabin where wine, and the cigarettes +for which alone they would have counselled the treaty, awaited them. +</P> + +<P> +The quartette pledged each other in an embarrassed silence, disposed of +a moment more with obdurate matches. Don Jose inhaled audibly, then +lifted his eyes and met the veiled and steady gaze of the Russian. +</P> + +<P> +"Senor," he said, "I have come to tell you that I consent to your +marriage with my daughter." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you," said Rezanov. And their hands clasped across the table. +</P> + +<P> +But this was far too simple for the taste of a Governor. So important +an occasion demanded official dignity and many words. +</P> + +<P> +"Your excellency," he said severely, sitting very erect, with one white +hand on the table and the other on the hilt of his sword (yet full of +courtesy, and longing to enjoy the cheer and conversation of his host); +"the peaceful monotony of our lives has been rudely shaken by a demand +upon three fallible human beings to alter the course of history in two +great nations. That is a sufficient excuse for the suspense to which +we have been forced to subject you. The marriage of a Russian and a +Spaniard is of no great moment in itself, but the marriage of the +Plenipotentiary of the Tsar himself with the daughter of Jose Mario +Arguello, not only one of the most eminent, respected, and +distinguished of His Most Catholic Majesty's subjects in New Spain, but +a man so beloved and influential that he could create a revolution were +he so minded—indeed, Jose, no one knows better than I how incapable +you are of treason"—as the Commandante gave a loud exclamation of +horror—"I merely illustrate and emphasize. My sands are nearly run, +Excellency; it is to the estimable mind and strong paternal hand of my +friend that this miserable colony must look before long, would she +continue even this hand to mouth existence—a fact well known to our +king and natural lord. When he hears of this projected alliance—" +</P> + +<P> +"Projected?" exclaimed Rezanov. "I wish to marry at once." +</P> + +<P> +Father Abella shook his head vigorously, but he spoke with great +kindness. "That, Excellency, alas, is the one point upon which we are +forced to disappoint you. Indeed, our own submission to your wishes is +contingent. This marriage cannot take place without a dispensation +from Rome and the consent of the King." +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov looked at Don Jose. "You, too?" he asked curtly. +</P> + +<P> +The Commandante stirred uneasily, heaved a deep sigh; he thought of the +long impatience of his Concha. "It is true," he said. "Not only would +it be impossible for my conscience to resign itself to the marriage of +my daughter with a heretic—pardon, Excellency—without the blessing of +the Pope; not only would no priest in California perform the ceremony +until it arrived, but it would mean the degradation of Governor +Arrillaga and myself, and the ruin of all your other hopes. We should +be ordered summarily to Mexico, perhaps worse, and no Russian would +ever be permitted to set foot in the Californias again. I would it +were otherwise. I know—I know—but it is inevitable. Your excellency +must see it. Even were you a Catholic, Governor Arrillaga and the +President of the Missions, at least, would not dare to countenance this +marriage without the consent of the King." +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov was silent for a few minutes. In spite of the emotions of the +past few days he was astonished at the depth and keenness of his +disappointment. But never yet had he failed to realize when he was +beaten, nor to trim his sails without loss of precious time. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well," he said. "I will go to St. Petersburg at the earliest +possible moment, obtain personal letters from the Tsar and proceed post +haste to Rome and Madrid. At the same time I shall arrange for the +treaty with full authority from the Tsar. Then I shall sail from Spain +to Mexico and reach here as soon as may be. It will take a long while, +the best part of two years; but I have your word—" +</P> + +<P> +"You have," the three asserted with solemn emphasis. +</P> + +<P> +"Very well. But there is one thing more. I am not in a diplomatic +humor. My Sitkans are starving. I must leave here with a shipload of +breadstuffs." +</P> + +<P> +Again the Governor drew up his slim soldierly figure; deposited his +cigarette on the malachite ash tray. "You may be sure that we have +given that momentous question our deepest consideration. Father +Abella's suggestion that we buy your commodities for cash, and that +with our Spanish dollars you buy again of us, did not strike me +favorably at first, for it savored of sophistry. I may have failed in +every attempt to benefit and advance this Godforsaken country, but at +least I have been the honest agent of my King. But the circumstances +are extraordinary. You are about to become one of us, to do our +unhappy colony the greatest service that is in the power of any mortal, +and personally you have inspired us with affection and respect. I +have, therefore, decided that the exchange shall be made on these +terms, but that your cargo shall be received by Don Jose Arguello, +Commandante of the San Francisco Company, and held in trust until the +formal consent of the King to the purchase shall arrive." +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov glowed to his finger tips. Not even the assurance of his union +with the woman of his heart, which after all had met but the skeleton +of his desires, gave him the acute satisfaction of this sudden +fulfilment of his self-imposed mission. He dropped his own official +demeanor and throwing himself across the table gripped the Governor's +hand while he poured out his thanks in a voice thick with feeling, his +eyes glittering with more than victory. He did not lose sight of his +ultimate designs and pledge himself to external friendship, but he +unwittingly conveyed the impression that Spain had that day made a +friend she ill could afford to lose; and his three visitors rose well +pleased with the culmination of the interview. +</P> + +<P> +"You must stay here no longer, Rezanov," said Don Jose, as they were +taking leave. "My house is now literally your own. It will be some +weeks before the large quantities of corn and flour and other stores +you wish can be got together—for we must lay a requisition on the +fertile Mission ranchos in the valleys—and you will exchange these +narrow quarters for such poor comfort as my house affords—I take no +denial. Concha will remain at Juan Moraga's for the present." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XXI +</H3> + +<P> +Concha, after her father left her, sat for a long while in an attitude +of such complete repose that Sturgis, watching her miserably from the +veranda, remembered the consolations of his sketch book; and he was +able to counterfeit the graceful, proud figure, under the wall and +roses, before she stirred. +</P> + +<P> +Concha had sent her father away deeply puzzled. When, after embracing +her with unusual emotion, he had informed her of his consent to her +marriage, she had received the news as a matter of course, her hopes +and desires having mounted too high to contemplate a fall. Then the +Commandante, after dwelling at some length upon his discussions with +the Governor and the priests, and admonishing her against conceiving +herself too important a factor in what might prove to be an alliance of +international moment (she had laughed merrily and called him the most +callous of parents and subtlest of diplomats), had announced with some +trepidation and his most official manner that the consent of the Pope +and the King would be sought by Rezanov in person, involving a delay +and separation of not less than two years. But to his surprise she did +not fling herself upon his neck with blandishments and tears. She +merely became quite still, her light high spirits retreating as a +breeze might before one of Nature's sudden and portentous calms. Don +Jose, after a fruitless attempt to recapture her interest, mounted his +horse and rode away; and Concha sat down on a bench under the wall and +thought for an hour without moving a finger. +</P> + +<P> +Her first sensation was one of bitter anger and disappointment with +Rezanov. He had, apparently, in the first brief interview with their +tribunal, given his consent to this long delay of their nuptials. +</P> + +<P> +Her thoughts since his advent had flown on many journeys and known +little rest. She had been rudely awakened and stripped of her girlish +illusions in those days and nights of battle between pride and her +dazzled womanhood when, in the new humility of love, she believed +herself to be but one of a hundred pretty girls in the eyes of this +accomplished and fortunate Russian. The interval had been brief, but +not long enough for the grandeur in her nature to awaken almost +concurrently with her passions, and she had planned a life, in which, +guided and uplifted by the star of fidelity, and delivered from the +frivolous and commonplace temptations of other women, she should devote +herself to the improvement and instruction not only of the Indians but +of the youth of her own class. The schools founded by the estimable +and enterprising Borica had practically disappeared, and she was by far +the best educated woman in California. For such there was a manifest +and an inexorable duty. She would live to be old, she supposed, like +all the Arguellos and Moragas; but hidden in her unspotted soul would +be the flame of eternal youth, fed by an ideal and a memory that would +outlive her weary, insignificant body. And in it she would find her +courage and her inspiration, as well as an unwasting sympathy for those +she taught. +</P> + +<P> +Then had come the sudden and passionate wooing of Rezanov. All other +ideals and aspirations had fled. She had alternated between the tragic +extremes of bliss and despair. So completely did the ardor of her +nature respond to his, so fierce and primitive was the cry of her ego +for its mate, that she cared nothing for the distress of her parents +nor the fate of California. There is no love complete without this +early and absolute selfishness, which is merely the furious +determination of the race to accomplish its object before the spirit +awakens and the passions cool. +</P> + +<P> +Last night life had seemed serious; she had been girlishly, +romantically happy. It is true that her heart had thumped against the +wall as he kissed her, and that she had been full of a wild desire to +sing, although she could hardly shape and utter the words that danced +in her throbbing brain. But she had been conscious through it all of +the romantic circumstance, of the lonely beauty of the night, of the +delightful wickedness of meeting her lover in the silence and the dark, +even with a wall ten feet high between them. For the wall, indeed, she +had been confusedly and deliciously grateful. +</P> + +<P> +And this was what a man's love came to: ardors by night and expedience +by day! Or was it merely that Rezanov was the man of affairs always, +the lover incidentally? But how could a man who had seemed the very +epitome of all the lovers of all the world but a few hours before, +contemplate, far less permit, a separation of years? Poor Concha +groped toward the great unacceptable fact of life the whole, lit by +love its chief incident; and had a fleeting vision of the waste lands +in the lives of women occupied only with matrimony. But she dropped +her lashes upon this unalluring vision, and as she did so, inevitably +she began to excuse the man. +</P> + +<P> +None knew better than she every side of the great question that was +shaking not only her life but California itself. Appeal from the +dictum of state and clergy would be a mere waste of time. The only +alternative was flight. That would mean the wreck of Rezanov's avowed +purposes in coming to this quarter of New Spain, and perhaps of others +she dimly suspected. It would mean the very acme of misery for his +Sitkans, and an indefensible blow to the Company. It might even prove +the fatal mistake in his career, for which his enemies were ever on the +alert. He was not communicative about himself except when he had an +object in view, but he had told her something of his life, and his +officers and Langsdorff had told more. He was no silly caballero +warbling and thrumming at her grating when she longed for sleep, but a +man in his forties whose passions were in the leash of a remarkably +acute and ambitious brain. She even thrilled with pride in his +strength, for she knew how he loved her; and although his part was +action, her stimulated instincts taught her that she would rarely be +long from his mind. And what was she to seek to roll stumbling blocks +into the career of a man like that? In this very garden, for four long +days, she had dreamed exalted dreams of the manifold gifts she should +develop for his solace at home and his worldly advancement. She had +once felt all a girl's impatience when her mother's tears made her +father's departure on some distant mission more difficult than need be, +and although she knew now that her capacity for tenderness was as +great, she resolved to mould herself in a larger shape than that. +</P> + +<P> +But she sighed and drooped a little. The burden of woman's waiting +seemed already to have descended upon her. Two years were long—long. +There might be other delays. He might fall ill; he had been ill before +in that barbarous Russian north. And in all that time it was doubtful +if she received a line from him, a hint of his welfare. The Boston and +British skippers came no more, and it was certain that no Russian ship +would visit California again until the treaty was signed and official +news of it had made its slow way to these uttermost shores. She had +resented, in her young ambition and indocility, the chance that had +stranded her, equipped for civilization, on this rim of the world, but +never so much as in that moment, when she sat with arrested breath and +realized to the full the primitive conditions of a country thousands of +miles from the very outposts of Europe, and with never the sight of a +letter that did not come from Spain or one of her colonies. +</P> + +<P> +"Would that we lived a generation later," she thought with a heavy +sigh. "Progress is almost automatic, and to a land as fertile and +desirable as this the stream must turn in due course. But not in my +time. Not in my time." +</P> + +<P> +She rose and leaned her elbows in the embrasure of the grille, where +Santiago had restored the bars, and looked out over the fields of grain +planted by the padres, the immense sand dunes beyond that shut the +lovely bay from sight; the hills embracing the primitive scene in a +frowning arc. With all her imagination it was long before she could +picture a great city covering that immense and almost deserted space. +A pueblo in time, perhaps, for Rezanov had awakened her mind to the +importance of the harbor as a port of call. Many more adobe homes +where the sand was not hot and shifting, a few ships in the bay when +Spain had been compelled to relax her jealous vigilance—or—who +knew?—perhaps!—a flourishing colony when the Russian bear had +devoured the Spanish lion. She knew something and suspected more of +the rottenness and inefficiency of Spain, and, were Russia a nation of +Rezanovs, what opposition in California against the tide thundering +down from the north? Then, perhaps, the city that had travelled from +the brain of the Russian to hers when the fog had rolled over the +heights; the towers and palaces and bazaars, the thousand little golden +domes with the slender cross atop; the forts on the crags and the +villas in the hollows, and on all the island and hills. But when she +and her lover were dust. When she and her lover were dust. +</P> + +<P> +But she was too young and too ardent to listen long to the ravens of +the spirit. Two years are not eternity, and in happiness the past +rolls together like a scroll and is naught. She fell to dreaming. Her +lips that had been set with the gravity of stone relaxed in warm +curves. The color came back to her cheek, the light to her eyes. She +was a girl at her grating with the roses poignant above her, and the +world, radiant, alluring, and all for her, swimming in the violet haze +beyond. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XXII +</H3> + +<P> +Rezanov in those days was literally lord and master at the Presidio. +If he did not burn the house of his devoted host he ran it to suit +himself. He turned one of its rooms into an office, where he received +the envoys from the different Missions and examined the samples of +everything submitted to him, trusting little to his commissary. His +leisure he employed scouring the country or shooting deer and quail in +the company of his younger hosts. The literal mind of Don Jose +accepted him as an actual son and embryonic California, and, his +conscience at peace, revelled in his society as a sign from propitiated +heaven; rejoicing in the virtue of his years. The Governor, testily +remarking that as California was so well governed for the present he +would retire to Monterey and take a siesta, rode off one morning, but +not without an affectionate: "God preserve the life of your excellency +many years." +</P> + +<P> +But although Rezanov saw the most sanguine hopes that had brought him +to California fulfilled, and although he looked from the mountain +ridges of the east over the great low valleys watered by rivers and +shaded by oaks, where enough grain could be raised to keep the blood +red in a thousand times the colonial population of Russia, although he +felt himself in more and more abundant health, more and more in love +with life, it is not to be supposed for a moment that he was satisfied. +Concha he barely saw. She remained with the Moragas, and although she +came occasionally to the afternoon dances at the Presidio, and he had +dined once at her cousin's house, where the formal betrothal had taken +place and the marriage contract had been signed in the presence of her +family and more intimate friends, the priests, his officers, and the +Governor, he had not spoken with her for a moment alone. Nor had her +eyes met his in a glance of understanding. At the dances she showed +him no favor; and as the engagement was to be as secret as might be in +that small community, until his return with consent of Pope and King, +he was forced to concede that her conduct was irreproachable; but when +on the day of the betrothal she was oblivious to his efforts to draw +her into the garden, he mounted his horse and rode off in a huff. +</P> + +<P> +The truth was that Concha liked the present arrangement no better than +himself, and knowing that her own appeal against the proprieties would +result in a deeper seclusion, she determined to goad him into using +every resource of address and subtlety to bring about a more human +state of affairs. And she accomplished her object. Rezanov, at the +end of a week was not only infuriated but alarmed. He knew the +imagination of woman, and guessed that Concha, in her brooding +solitude, distorted all that was unfortunate in the present and dwelt +morbidly on the future. He knew that she must resent his part in the +long separation, no doubt his lack of impulsiveness in not proposing +elopement. There was a priest in his company who, although he ate +below the salt and found his associates among the sailors, could have +performed the ceremony of marriage when the Juno, under full sail in +the night, was scudding for the Russian north. It is not to be denied +that this romantic alternative appealed to Rezanov, and had it not been +for the starving wretches so eagerly awaiting his coming he might have +been tempted to throw commercial relations to the winds and flee with +his bride while San Francisco, secure in the knowledge of the Juno's +empty hold, was in its first heavy sleep. It is doubtful if he would +have advanced beyond impulse, for Rezanov was not the man to lose sight +of a purpose to which he had set the full strength of his talents, and +life had tempered his impetuous nature with much philosophy. Moreover, +while his conscience might ignore the double dealing necessary to the +accomplishment of patriotic or political acts, it revolted at the idea +of outwitting, possibly wrecking, his trusting and hospitable host. +But the mere fact that his imagination could dwell upon such an issue +as reckless flight, inflamed his impatience, and his desire to see +Concha daily during these last few weeks of propinquity. Finally, he +sought the co-operation of Father Abella—Santiago was in Monterey—and +that wise student of maids and men gave him cheer. +</P> + +<P> +On Thursday afternoon there was to take place the long delayed Indian +dance and bull-bear fight; not in the Presidio, but at the Mission, the +pride of the friars inciting them to succeed where the military +authorities had failed. All the little world of San Francisco had been +invited, and it would be strange if in the confusion between +performance and supper a lover could not find a moment alone with his +lady. +</P> + +<P> +The elements were kind to the padres. The afternoon was not too hot, +although the sun flooded the plain and there was not a cloud on the +dazzling blue of the sky. Never had the Mission and the mansions +looked so white, their tiles so red. The trees were blossoming pink +and white in the orchards, the lightest breeze rippled the green of the +fields; and into this valley came neither the winds nor the fogs of the +ocean. +</P> + +<P> +The priests and their guests of honor sat on the long corridor beside +the church; the soldiers, sailors, and Indians of Presidio and Mission +forming the other three sides of a hollow square. The Indian women +were a blaze of color. The ladies on the corridor wore their +mantillas, jewels, and the gayest of artificial flowers. There were as +many fans as women. Rezanov sat between Father Abella and the +Commandante, and not being in the best of tempers had never looked more +imposing and remote. Concha, leaning against one of the pillars, stole +a glance at him and wondered miserably if this haughty European had +really sought her hand, if it were not a girl's foolish dream. But +Concha's humble moments at this period of her life were rare, and she +drew herself up proudly, the blood of the proudest race in Europe +shaking angrily in her veins. A moment later, in response to a power +greater than any within herself, she turned again. The attention of the +hosts and guests was riveted upon the preliminary antics of the Indian +dancers, and Rezanov seized the opportunity to lean forward unobserved +and gaze at the girl whom it seemed to him he saw for the first time in +the full splendor of her beauty. She wore a large mantilla of white +Spanish lace. In the fashion of the day it rose at the back almost +from the hem of her gown to descend in a point over the high comb to +her eyes. The two points of the width were gathered at her breast, +defining the outlines of her superb figure, and fastened with one large +Castilian rose surrounded by its mass of tiny sharp buds and dull green +leaves. As the familiar scent assailed Rezanov's nostrils they tingled +and expanded. His lids were lifted and his eyes glowing as he finally +compelled her glance, and her own eyes opened with an eager flash; her +lips parted and her shoulders lost their haughty poise. For a moment +their gaze lingered in a perfect understanding; his ill-humor vanished, +and he leaned back with a complimentary remark as Father Abella +directed his attention to the most agile of the Indians. +</P> + +<P> +The swart natives of both sexes with their thick features and long hair +were even more hideous than usual in bandeaux of bright feathers, scant +garments made from the breasts of water-fowls, rattling strings of +shells, and tattooing on arm and leg no longer concealed by the +decorous Mission smock. Rezanov had that day sent them presents of +glass beads and ribbons, and in these they took such extravagant pride +that for some time their dancing was almost automatic. +</P> + +<P> +But soon their blood warmed, and after the first dance, which was +merely a series of measured springs on the part of the men and a +beating of time by the women, a large straw figure symbolizing an +entire hostile tribe was brought in, and about this pranced the men +with savage cries and gestures, advancing, attacking, retreating, +finally piercing it with their arrows and marching it off with sharp +yells of triumph that reverberated among the hills; the women never +varying from a loud monotonous chant. +</P> + +<P> +There was a peaceful interlude, during which the men, holding bow and +arrow aloft, hopped up and down on one spot, the women hopping beside +them and snapping thumb and forefinger on the body, still singing in +the same high measured voice. But while they danced a great bonfire +was laid and kindled. The gyrations lasted a few minutes longer, then +the chief seized a live ember and swallowed it. His example was +immediately followed by his tribe, and, whether to relieve discomfort +or with energies but quickened, they executed a series of incredible +handsprings and acrobatic capers. When they finally whirled away on +toes and finger tips, another chief, in the horns and hide of a deer, +rushed in, pursued by a party of hunters. For several moments he +perfectly simulated a hunted animal lurking and dodging in high grass, +behind trees, venturing to the brink of a stream to drink, searching +eagerly for his mate; and when he finally escaped it was amidst the +most enthusiastic plaudits as yet evoked. +</P> + +<P> +After an hour of this varied performance, the square was enlarged by +several mounted vaqueros galloping about with warning cries and much +flourishing of lassos. They were the cattle herders of the Mission +ranch just over the hills, and were in gala attire of black glazed +sombrero with silver cord, white shirt open at the throat, short black +velvet trousers laced with silver, red sash and high yellow boots. +Four, pistol in hand, stationed themselves in front of the corridor, +while the others rode out and in again, dragging a bear and a bull, +with hind legs attached by two yards of rope. The captors left the +captives in the middle of the square, and without more ado the serious +sport of the day began. The bull, with stomach empty and hide +inflamed, rushed at the bear, furious from captivity, with such a roar +that the Indian women screamed and even the men shuffled their feet +uneasily. But neither combatant was interested in aught but the other. +The one sought to gore, his enemy to strike or hug. The vaqueros +teased them with arrows and cries, the dust flew; for a few moments +there was but a heaving, panting, lashing bulk in the middle of the +arena, and then the bull, his tongue torn out, rolled on his back, and +another was driven in before the victor could wreak his unsated +vengeance among the spectators. The bear, dragging the dead bull, +rushed at the living, who, unmartial at first, stiffened to the +defensive as he saw a bulk of wiry fur set with eyes of fire, almost +upon him. He sprang aside, lowered his horn and caught the bear in the +chest. But the victor was a compact mass of battle and momentum. His +onslaught flung the bear over backward, and quickly disengaging himself +he made another leap at his equally agile enemy. This time the battle +was longer and more various, for the bull was smaller, more active and +dexterous. Twice he almost had the bear on his horns, but was rolled, +only saving his neck and back from the fury of the mountain beast by +such kicking and leaping that both combatants were indistinguishable +from the whirlwind of dust. Out of this they would emerge to stand +panting in front of each other with tongues pendant and red eyes +rolling. Finally the bear, nearly exhausted, made a sudden charge, the +bull leaped aside, backed again with incredible swiftness, caught the +bear in the belly, tossed him so high that he met the hard earth with a +loud cracking of bone. The vaqueros circled about the maddened bull, +set his hide thick with arrows, tripped him with the lasso. A wiry +little Mexican in yellow, galloping in on his mustang, administered the +coup de grace amidst the wild applause of the spectators, whose +shouting and clapping and stamping might have been heard by the envious +guard at the Presidio and Yerba Buena. +</P> + +<P> +As the party on the corridor broke, Rezanov found no difficulty in +reaching Concha's side, for even Dona Ignacia was chattering wildly +with several other good dames who renewed their youth briefly at the +bull-fight. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you enjoy that?" he asked curiously. +</P> + +<P> +"I did not look at it. I never do. But I know that you were not +affronted. You never took your eyes from those dreadful beasts." +</P> + +<P> +"I am exhilarated to know that you watched me. Yes, at a bull-fight the +primitive man in me has its way, although I have the grace to be +ashamed of myself afterward. In that I am at least one degree more +civilized than your race, which never repents." +</P> + +<P> +The door of one of the smaller rooms stood open, and as they took +advantage of this oversight with a singular concert of motive, he +clasped both her hands in his. "Are you angry with me?" he asked +softly. He dared not close the door, but his back was square against +it, and the other guests were moving down to the refectory. +</P> + +<P> +"For liking such horrid sport?" +</P> + +<P> +"We have no time to waste in coquetry." +</P> + +<P> +Her eyes melted, but she could not resist planting a dart. "Not now—I +quite understand: love could never be first with you. And two years +are not so long. They quickly pass when one is busy. I shall find +occupation, and you will have no time for longings and regrets." +</P> + +<P> +They were not yet alone, women were talking in their light, high voices +not a yard away. The hindrance, and her new loveliness in the soft +mantilla, the pink of the roses reflected in her throat, the +provocative curl of her mouth, sent the blood to his head. +</P> + +<P> +"You have only to say the word," he said hoarsely, "and the Juno will +sail to-night." +</P> + +<P> +Never before had she seen his face so unmasked. Her voice shook in +triumph and response. +</P> + +<P> +"Would you? Would you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Say the word!" +</P> + +<P> +"You would sacrifice all—the Company—your career—your Sitkans?" +</P> + +<P> +"All—everything." His own voice shook with more than passion, for +even in that moment he counted the cost, but he did not care. +</P> + +<P> +But Concha detected that second break in his voice, and turned her head +sadly. +</P> + +<P> +"You would not say that to-morrow. I hate myself that I made you say +it now. I love you enough to wait forever, but I have not the courage +to hand you over to your enemies." +</P> + +<P> +"You are strangely far-sighted for a young girl." And between +admiration and pique, his ardor suffered a chill. +</P> + +<P> +"I am no longer a young girl. In these last days it has seemed to me +that secrets locked in my brain, secrets of women long dead, but of +whose essence I am, have come forth to the light. I have suffered in +anticipation. My mind has flown—flown—I have lived those two years +until they are twenty, thirty, and I have lived on into old age here by +the sea, watching, watching—" +</P> + +<P> +She had dropped all pretence of coquetry and was speaking with a +passionate forlornness. But before he could interrupt her, take +advantage of the retreating voices that left them alone at last, she +had drawn herself up and moved a step away. "Do not think, however," +she said proudly, "that I am really as weak and silly as that. It was +only a mood. Should you not return I should grieve, yes; and should I +live as long as is common with my race, still would my heart remain +young with your image, and with the fidelity that would be no less a +religion than that of my church. But I should not live a selfish life, +or I should be unworthy of my election to experience a great and +eternal passion. Memory and the life of the imagination would be my +solace, possibly in time my happiness, but my days I should give to +this poor little world of ours; and all that one mortal, and that a +woman, has to bestow upon a stranded and benighted people. It may not +be much, but I make you that promise, senor, that you will not think me +a foolish, romantic girl, unworthy of the great responsibilities you +have offered me." +</P> + +<P> +"Concha!" He was deeply moved, and at the same time her words chilled +him with subtle prophecy, sank into some unexplored depth of his +consciousness, meeting response as subtle, filling him with impatience +at the mortality of man. He glanced over his shoulder, then took her +recklessly in his arms. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it possible you doubt I will come back?" he demanded. "My faith?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, not that. But such happiness seems to me too great for this life." +</P> + +<P> +He remembered how often he had been close to death; he knew that during +the greater part of the next two years he should see the glimmer of the +scythe oftener yet. For a moment it seemed to him that he felt the +dark waters rise in his soul, heard the jeers of the gods at the vanity +of mortal will. But the blood ran strong and warm in his veins. He +shook off the obsession, and smiled a little cynically, even as he +kissed her. +</P> + +<P> +"This is the hour for romance, my dear. In the years to come, when you +are very prosaically my wife with a thousand duties, and grumbling at +my exactions, your consolation will be the memory of some moment like +this, when you were able to feel romantic and sad. I wish I could +arrange for some such set of memories for myself, but I am unequal to +your divine melancholy. When I cannot see you I am cross and sulky; +and just now—I am, well—philosophically happy. Some day I shall be +happier, but this is well enough. And I can harbor no ugly +presentiments. As I entered California I was elated with a sense of +coming happiness, of future victories; and I prefer to dwell upon that, +the more particularly as in a measure the prophetic hint has been +fulfilled. So make the most of the present. I shall see you daily +during this last precious fortnight, for I am determined this +arrangement shall cease; and you must exorcise coquetry and abet me +whenever there is a chance of a word alone." +</P> + +<P> +She nodded, but she noted with a sigh that he said no more of sudden +flight. She would never have consented to jeopardize the least of his +interests, but she fain would have been besought. The experience she +had had of the vehemence and fire in Rezanov made her long for his +complete subjugation and the happiness it must bring to herself. But +as he smiled tenderly above her she saw that his practical brain had +silenced the irresponsible demands of love, and although she did not +withdraw from his arms she stiffened her head. +</P> + +<P> +"I fancy I shall return home to-morrow," she said. "My mother tells me +that she can live without me no longer, and that Father Abella has +reminded her that if I stay in the house of Elena Castro I shall be as +free from gossip as here. I infer that he has rated my two parents for +making a martyr of me unnecessarily, and told them it was a duty to +enliven my life as much as possible before I enter upon this long +period of probation. The grating of my room at Elena's is above a +little strip of Garden, and faces the blank wall of the next house. +Sometimes—who knows?" She shrugged her shoulders and gave a gay +little laugh, then stood very erect and moved past him to the door. +She had recognized the shuffling step of Father Abella. +</P> + +<P> +"Is supper ready, padre mio?" she asked sweetly. "His excellency and I +have talked so much that we are very hungry." +</P> + +<P> +"There is no need to deceive me," said Father Abella dryly. "You are +not the first lovers I have known, although I will admit you are by far +the most interesting, and for that reason I have had the wickedness to +abet you. But I fancy the good God will forgive me. Come quickly. +They are scattered now, but will go to the refectory in a moment and +miss you. Excellency, will you give your arm to Dona Ignacia and take +the seat at the head of the table? Concha, my child, I am afraid you +must console our good Don Weeliam. He is having a wretched quarter of +an hour, but has loyally diverted the attention of your mother." +</P> + +<P> +"That is the vocation of certain men," said Concha lightly. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XXIII +</H3> + +<P> +Life was very gay for a fortnight. An hour after the Commandante's +surrender he had despatched invitations to all the young folk of the +gente de razon of Monterey, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and San Diego, +and to such of the older as would brave the long journeys. The +Monterenos had arrived for the Mission entertainment, and during the +next few days the rest poured over the hills: De la Guerras, Xime'nos, +Estudillos, Carrillos, Este'negas, Morenos, Cotas, Estradas, Picos, +Pachecos, Lugos, Orte'gas, Alvarados, Bandinis, Peraltas, members of +the Luis, Rodriguez, Lopez families, all of gentle blood, that made up +the society of Old California; as gay, arcadian, irresponsible, yet +moral a society as ever fluttered over this planet. Every house in the +Presidio and valley, every spare room at the Mission, opened to them +with the exuberant hospitality of the country. The caballeros had their +finest wardrobes of colored silks and embroidered botas, sombreros +laden with silver, fine lawn and lace, jewel and sash, velvet serape +for the chill of the late afternoon. The matrons brought their stiff +robes of red and yellow satin, the girls as many flowered silks and +lawns, mantillas and rebosos, as the family carretas would hold. The +square of the Presidio was crowded from morning until midnight with the +spirited horses of the country, prancing impatiently under the heavy +Mexican saddle, heavier with silver, made a trifle more endurable by +the blanket of velvet or cloth. No Californian walked a dozen rods +when he had a horse to carry him. +</P> + +<P> +But the horses were not always champing in the square. There was more +than one bull-bear fight, and twice a week at least they carried their +owners to the hills of the Mission ranch, or the rocky cliffs and +gorges above Yerba Buena, the Indian servants following with great +baskets of luncheon, perhaps roasting an ox whole in a trench. This +the Californians called barbecue and the picnic merienda. +</P> + +<P> +There was dancing day and night, the tinkling of guitars, flirting of +fans. Rezanov vowed he would not have believed there were so many fans +and guitars in the world, and suddenly remembered he had never seen +Concha with either. The lady of his choice reigned supreme. Many had +taken the long blistering journey for no other purpose than to see the +famous beauty and her Russian; the engagement was as well known as if +cried from the Mission top. The girls were surprised and delighted to +find Concha sweet rather than proud and envied her with amiable +enthusiasm. The caballeros, fewer in number, for most of the men in +California at that period before a freer distribution of land were on +duty in the army, artfully ignored the unavowed bond, but liked Rezanov +when he took the trouble to charm them. +</P> + +<P> +Khostov and Davidov watched the loading of the Juno with a lively +regret. Never had they enjoyed themselves more, nor seen so many +pretty girls in one place. Both had begun by falling in love with +Concha, and although they rebounded swiftly from the blow to their +hopes, it happily saved them from a more serious dilemma; unwealthed +and graceless as they were, they would have been regarded with little +favor by the practical California father. As it was, their pleasures +were unpoisoned by regrets or rebuffs. When they were not flirting in +the dance or in front of a lattice, receiving a lesson in Spanish +behind the portly back of a duena, or clasping brown little fingers +under cover of a fan when all eyes were riveted on the death struggle +of a bull and a bear, they were playing cards and drinking in the +officers' quarters; which they liked almost as well. It is true they +sometimes paid the price in a cutting rebuke from their chief, but the +rebukes were not as frequent as in less toward circumstances, and were +generally followed by some fresh indulgence. This, they uneasily +guessed, was not only the result of the equable state of his +excellency's temper, but because he had a signal unpleasantness in +store, and would not hazard their resignation. They had taken +advantage of an imperial ukase to enter the service of the +Russian-American Company temporarily, and they knew that if they evaded +any behest of Rezanov's their adventurous life in the Pacific would be +over. Therefore, although they resented his implacable will, they +pulled with him in outward amity; and indeed there were few of the +Juno's human freight that did not look back upon that California +springtime as the episode of their lives, commonly stormy or +monotonous, in which the golden tide flowed with least alloy. Even +Langsdorff, although impervious to female charms and with scientific +thirst unslaked, enjoyed the Spanish fare and the society of the +priests. The sailors received many privileges, attended bull-fights +and fandangos, loved and pledged; and were only restrained from +emigration to the interior of this enchanted land of pretty girls and +plentiful food by the knowledge of the sure and merciless vengeance of +their chief. Had the rumor of war still held it might have been +otherwise, but that raven had flown off to the limbo of its kind, and +the Commandante let it be known that deserters would be summarily +captured and sent in irons to the Juno. +</P> + +<P> +In the mind of Concha Arguello there was never a lingering doubt of the +quality of that fortnight between the days of torturing doubts and +acute emotional upheaval, and the sailing away of Rezanov. It was true +that what he banteringly termed her romantic sadness possessed her at +times, but it served as a shadow to throw into sharper relief an almost +incredible happiness. If she seldom saw Rezanov alone there was the +less to disturb her, and at least he was never far from her side. +There were always the delight of unexpected moments unseen, whispered +words in the crowd, the sense of complete understanding, broken now and +again by poignant attacks of unreasoning jealousy, not only on her part +but his; quite worth the reconciliation at the lattice, while Elena +Castro, gentle duena, pitched her voice high and amused her husband so +well he sought no opportunity for response. +</P> + +<P> +Then there was more than one excursion about the bay on the Juno, +dinner on La Bellissima or Nuestra Senora de los Angeles, a long return +after sundown that the southerners might appreciate the splendor of the +afterglow when the blue of the water was reflected in the lower sky, to +melt into the pink fire above, and all the land swam in a pearly mist. +</P> + +<P> +Once the Commandante took twenty of his guests, a gay cavalcade, to his +rancho, El Pilar, thirty miles to the south: a long valley flanked by +the bay and the eastern mountains on the one hand, and a high range +dense with forests of tall thin trees on the other. But the valley +itself was less Californian than any part of the country Rezanov had +seen. Smooth and flat and free of undergrowth and set with at least ten +thousand oaks, it looked more like a splendid English park, long +preserved, than the recent haunt of naked savages. There were deer and +quail in abundance, here and there an open field of grain. Long beards +of pale green moss waved from the white oaks, wild flowers, golden red +and pale blue, burst underfoot. There were hedges of sweet briar, +acres of lupins, purple and yellow. Altogether the ideal estate of a +nobleman; and Rezanov, who had liked nothing in California so well, +gave his imagination rein and saw the counterpart of the castle of his +ancestors rise in the deep shade of the trees. +</P> + +<P> +Don Jose's house was a long rambling adobe, red tiled, with many +bedrooms and one immense hall. Beyond were a chapel and a dozen +outbuildings. Dinner was served in patriarchal style in the hall, the +Commandante—or El padrone as he was known here—and his guests at the +upper end of the table; below the salt, the vaqueros, their wives and +children, and the humble friar who drove them to prayer night and +morning. The friar wore his brown robes, the vaqueros their black and +silver and red in honor of the company, their women glaring +handkerchiefs of green or red or yellow about their necks, even pinned +back and front on their shapeless garments; and affording a fine +vegetable garden contrast to the delicate flower bed surrounding the +padrone. +</P> + +<P> +There was a race track on the ranch and many fine horses. After siesta +the company mounted fresh steeds and rode off to applaud the feats of +the vaqueros, who, not content with climbing the greased pole, +wrenching the head of an unfortunate rooster from his buried body as +they galloped by, submitting the tail of an oiled pig in full flight to +the same indignity, gave when these and other native diversions were +exhausted, such exhibitions of riding and racing as have never been +seen out of California. As lithe as willow wands, on slender horses as +graceful as themselves, they looked like meteors springing through +space, and there was no trick of the circus they did not know by +instinct, and translate from gymnastics into poetry. Even Rezanov +shared the excitement of the shouting, clapping Californians, and +Concha laughed delightedly when his cap waved with the sombreros. +</P> + +<P> +"I think you will make a good Californian in time," she said as they +rode homeward. +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps," said Rezanov musingly. His eyes roved over the magnificent +estate and at the moment they entered a portion of it that deepened to +woods, so dense was the undergrowth, so thick the oak trees. Here +there was but a glimpse, now and again, of the mountains swimming in +the dark blue mist of the late afternoon, the moss waved thickly from +the ancient trees; over even the higher branches of many rolled a +cascade of small brittle leaves, with the tempting opulence of its +poisonous sap. The path was very abrupt, cut where the immense +spreading trees permitted, and Rezanov and Concha had no difficulty in +falling away from the chattering, excited company. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me your ultimate plans, Pedro mio," said Concha softly. "You are +dreaming of something this moment beyond corn and treaties." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you want that final proof?" he asked, smiling. "Well, if I could +not trust you that would be the end of everything, and I know that I +can. I have long regarded California as an absolutely necessary field +of supplies, and since I have come here I will frankly say that could +I, as the representative of the Tsar in all this part of the world, +make it practically my own, I should be content in even a permanent +exile from St. Petersburg. I could attract an immense colony here and +in time import libraries and works of art, laying the foundation of a +great and important city on that fine site about Yerba Buena. But now +that these kind people have practically adopted me I cannot repay their +hospitality by any overt act of hostility. I must be content either +slowly to absorb the country, in which case I shall see no great result +in my lifetime, or-and for this I hope—what with the mess Bonaparte is +making of Europe, every state may be at the others' throat before long, +including Russia and Spain. At all events, a cause for rupture would +not be far to seek, and it would need no instigation of mine to +despatch a fleet to these shores. In that case I should be sent with +it to take possession in the name of the Tsar, and to deal with these +simple, kind—and inefficient people, my dear girl—as no other Russian +could. They cannot hold this country. Spain could not—would not, at +all events, for she has not troops enough here to protect a territory +half its size—hold it against even the 'Americans,' should they in +time feel strong enough to push their way across the western +wilderness. It is the destiny of this charming Arcadia to disappear; +and did Russia forego an opportunity to appropriate a domain that +offers her literally everything except civilization, she would be +unworthy of her place among nations. Moreover—a beneficent triumph +impossible to us otherwise—with a powerful and flourishing colony up +and down this coast, and sending breadstuffs regularly to our other +possessions in these waters until the natives, immigrants, and exiles +were healthy, vitalized beings, it would be but a question of a few +years before we should force open the doors of China and Japan." He +caught Concha from her horse and strained her to him in the mounting +ardor of his plunge down the future. "You must resent nothing!" he +cried. "You must cease to be a Spanish woman when you become my wife, +and help me as only you can in those inevitable years I have mapped +out; and not so much for myself as for Russia. My enemies have sought +to persuade three sovereigns that I am a visionary, but I have already +accomplished much that met with resentment and ridicule when I broached +it. And I know my powers! I tingle with the knowledge of my ability +to carry to a conclusion every plan I have thought worth the holding +when the ardor of conception was over. I swear to you that death +alone—and I believe that nothing is further aloof—shall prevent my +giving this country to Russia before five years have passed, and within +another brief span the trade of China and Japan. It is a glorious +destiny for a man—one man!—to pass into history as the Russian of his +century who has done most to add to the extent and the wealth and the +power of his empire! Does that sound vainglorious, and do you resent +it? You must not, I tell you, you must not!" +</P> + +<P> +Concha had never seen him in such a mood. Although he held her so +closely that the horses were angrily biting each other, she felt that +for once there was nothing personal in his ardor. His eyes were +blazing, but they stared as if a great and prophetic panorama had risen +in this silent wood, where the long faded moss hung as motionless as if +by those quiet waters that even the most ardent must cross in his time. +She felt his heart beat as she had felt it before against her soft +breast, but she knew that if he thought of her at all it was but as a +part of himself, not as the woman he impatiently desired. But she was +sensible of no resentment, either for herself or her race, which, +indeed, she knew to be but a wayfarer in the wilderness engaged in a +brief chimerical enterprise. For the first time she felt her +individuality melt into, commingle with his: and when he lowered his +gaze, still with that intensity of vision piercing the future, her own +eyes reflected the impersonalities of his; and in time he saw it. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XXIV +</H3> + +<P> +"We should all wear black for so mournful an occasion," said Rafaella +Sal, spreading out her scarlet skirts. +</P> + +<P> +"Father Abella is right. The occasion is sad enough without giving it +the air of a funeral." +</P> + +<P> +"Sad! Dios de mi alma! Will he return?" +</P> + +<P> +Elena Castro shook her wise head. She was nearly twenty, and four +years of matrimony had made her sceptical of man's capacity for +romance. "Two years are long, and he will see many girls, and become +one again of a life that is always more brilliant than our sun in May. +His eyes will be dazzled, his mind distracted, full to the brim. To +sit at table with the Tsar, to talk with him alone in his cabinet, to +have for the asking audience of the Pope of Rome and the King of Spain! +Ay yi! Ay yi! Perhaps he will be made a prince when he returns to St. +Petersburg and all the beautiful princesses will want to marry him. +Can he remember this poor little California, and even our lovely +Concha? I doubt! Valgame Dios, I doubt!" +</P> + +<P> +"Concha has always been too fortunate," said Rafaella with a touch of +spite, for years of waiting had tried her temper and the sun always +freckled her nose. The flower of California stood on the corridor of +the Mission and before the church awaiting the guest of honor and his +escort. A mass was to be said in behalf of the departing guests; the +Juno would sail with the turn of the afternoon tide. Men and women were +in their gayest finery, an exotic mass of color against the rough +white-washed walls, chattering as vivaciously as if the burden of their +conversation were not regret for the Chamberlain and his gay young +lieutenants. Concha, alone, wore no color; her frock was white, her +mantilla black. She stood somewhat apart, but although she was pale +she commanded her eyes to dwell absently on the shifting sand far down +the valley, her haughty Spanish profile betraying nothing of the +despair in her soul. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Concha has always been too fortunate," repeated Rafaella. "Why +should she be chosen for such a destiny—to go to the Russian court and +wear a train ten yards long of red velvet embroidered with gold, a +white veil spangled with gold, a headdress a foot high set so thick +with jewels her head will ache for a week—Madre de Dios! And we stay +here forever with white walls, horsehair furniture, Baja California +pearls and three silk dresses a year!" +</P> + +<P> +"No one in all Russia will look so grand in court dress as our +Conchita," said Elena loyally. "But I doubt if it is the dress and the +state she thinks of losing to-day. She will not talk even to me of +him— Ay yi! she grows more reserved every day, our Concha!—except to +say she will wed him when he returns, and that I know, for did not I +witness the betrothal? She only mocks me when I beg her to tell me if +she loves him, languishes, or sings a bar of some one of our beautiful +songs with ridiculous words. But she does. She did not sleep last +night. Her room is next to mine. No, it is of Rezanov she thinks, and +always. Those proud, silent girls, who jest when others would weep and +use many words and must die without sympathy—they have tragedy in +their souls, ay yi! And you think she is fortunate? True she is +beautiful, she is La Favorita, she receives many boxes from Mexico, and +she has won the love of this Russian. But—I have not dared to remind +her—I remembered it only yesterday—she came into this world on the +thirteenth of a month, and he into her life but one day before the +thirteenth of another—new style! True some might say that it was an +escape, but if he came on the twelfth, it was on the thirteenth she +began to love him—on the night of the ball; of that I am sure." +</P> + +<P> +Rafaella shuddered and crossed herself. "Poor Concha! Perhaps in the +end she will always stand apart like that. Truly she is not as others. +I have always said it. Thanks be to Mary it was Luis that wooed me, +not the Russian, for I might have been tempted. True his eyes are +blue, and only the black could win my heart. But the court of St. +Petersburg! Dios de mi vida! Did I lie awake at night and think of +Concha Arguello in red velvet and jewels all over, I should hate her. +But no—to-day—I cannot. Two years! Have I not waited six? It is +eternity when one loves and is young." +</P> + +<P> +"They come," said Elena. +</P> + +<P> +The cavalcade was descending the sand hills on the left, Rezanov in +full uniform between the Commandante and Luis Arguello and followed by +a picked escort of officers from Presidio and Fort. The Californians +wore full-dress uniform of white and scarlet, Don Jose a blue velvet +serape, embroidered in gold with the arms of Spain. +</P> + +<P> +As they dismounted Rezanov bowed ceremoniously to the party on the +corridor, and they returned his salutation gravely, suddenly silent. +He walked directly over to Concha. +</P> + +<P> +"We will go in together," he said. "It matters nothing what they +think. I kneel beside no one else." +</P> + +<P> +And Concha, with the air of leading an honored guest to the banquet, +turned and walked with him into the dark little church. +</P> + +<P> +"Why did you not wear a white mantilla?" he whispered. "I do not like +that black thing." +</P> + +<P> +"I am not a bride. I knew we should kneel together—it would have been +ridiculous. And I could not wear a colored reboso to-day." +</P> + +<P> +"I should have liked to fancy we were here for our nuptials. Delusions +pass but are none the less sweet for that." +</P> + +<P> +They knelt before the altar, the Commandante, Dona Ignacia, Luis, +Santiago, Rafaella Sal and Elena Castro just behind; the rest of the +party, their bright garments shimmering vaguely in the gloom, as they +listened; and enough fervent prayers went up to insure the health and +safety of the departing guests for all their lives. +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov, who had much on his mind, stared moodily at the altar until +Concha, who had bowed her head almost to her knees, finished her +supplication; then their eyes turned and met simultaneously. For a +moment their brains did swim in the delusion that the priest with his +uplifted hands pronounced benediction upon their nuptials, that +probation was over and union nigh. But Father Abella dismissed all +with the same blessing, and they shivered as they rose and walked +slowly down the church. +</P> + +<P> +Dona Ignacia took her husband's arm, and muttering that she feared a +chill, hurried the others before her. The priests had gone to the +sacristy. Before they reached the door Rezanov and Concha were alone. +</P> + +<P> +His hands fell heavily on her shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"Concha," he said, "I shall come back if I live. I make no foolish +vows, so idle between us. There is only one power that can prevent our +marriage in this church not later than two years from to-day. And +although I am in the very fulness of my health and strength, with my +work but begun, and all my happiness in the future, and even to a less +sanguine man it would seem that his course had many years to run, still +have I seen as much as any man of the inconsequence of life, of the +insignificance of the individual, his hopes, ambitions, happiness, and +even usefulness, in the complicated machinery of natural laws. It may +be that I shall not come back. But I wish to take with me your promise +that if I have not returned at the end of two years or you have +received no reason for my detention, you will believe that I am dead. +There would be but one insupportable drop in the bitterness of death, +the doubt of your faith in my word and my love. Are you too much of a +woman to curb your imagination in a long unbroken silence?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have learned so much that one lesson more is no tax on my faith. +And I no longer live in a world of little things. I promise you that I +shall never falter nor doubt." +</P> + +<P> +He bent his head and kissed her for the first time without passion, but +solemnly, as had their nuptials indeed been accomplished, and the +greater mystery of spiritual union isolated them for a moment in that +twilight region where the mortal part did not enter. +</P> + +<P> +As they left the church they saw that all the Indians of the Mission +and neighborhood, in a gala of color, had gathered to cheer the +Russians as they rode away. Concha was to return as she had come, +beside the carreta of her mother, and as Rezanov mounted his horse she +stood staring with unseeing eyes on the brilliant, animated scene. +Suddenly she heard a suppressed sob, and felt a touch on her skirt. +She looked round and saw Rosa, kneeling close to the church. For a +moment she continued to stare, hardly comprehending, in the intense +concentration of her faculties, that tangible beings, other than +herself and Rezanov, still moved on the earth. Then her mind relaxed. +She was normal in a normal world once more. She stooped and patted the +hands clasping her skirts. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor Rosa!" she said. "Poor Rosa!" +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Over the intense green of islands and hills were long banners of yellow +and purple mist, where the wild flowers were lifting their heads. The +whole quivering bay was as green as the land, but far away the +mountains of the east were pink. Where there was a patch of verdure on +the sand hills the warm golden red of the poppy flaunted in the +sunshine. All nature was in gala attire like the Californians +themselves, as the Juno under full sail sped through "The Mouth of the +Gulf of the Farallones." Fort San Joaquin saluted with seven guns; the +Juno returned the compliment with nine. The Commandante, his family +and guests, stood on the hill above the fort, cheering, waving +sombreros and handkerchiefs. Wind and tide carried the ship rapidly +out the straits. Rezanov dropped the cocked hat he had been waving and +raised his field-glass. Concha, as ever, stood a little apart. As the +ship grew smaller and the company turned toward the Presidio, she +advanced to the edge of the bluff. The wind lifted her loosened +mantilla, billowing it out on one side, and as she stood with her hands +pressed against her heart, she might, save for her empty arms, have +been the eidolon of the Madonna di San Sisto. In her eyes was the same +expression of vague arrested horror as she looked out on that world of +menacing imperfections the blind forces of nature and man had created; +her body was instinct with the same nervous leashed impotent energy. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XXV +</H3> + +<P> +The white rain clouds, rolling as ever like a nervous intruder over the +great snow peaks behind the steep hills black with forest that rose +like a wall back of the little settlement of Sitka, parted for a +moment, and the sun, a coy disdainful guest, flung a glittering mist +over what Nature had intended to be one of the most enchanting spots on +earth, until, in a fit of ill-temper—with one of the gods, no +doubt—she gave it to Niobe as a permanent outlet for her discontent. +When it does not rain at Sitka it pours, and when once in a way she +draws a deep breath of respite and lifts her grand and glorious face to +the sun, in pathetic gratitude for dear infrequent favor, comes a wild +flurry of snow or a close white fog from the inland waters; and, like a +great beauty condemned to wear a veil through life, she can but stare +in dumb resentment through the folds, consoling herself with the +knowledge that could the world but see it must surely worship. +Perhaps, who knows? she really is a frozen goddess, condemned to the +veil for infidelity to him imprisoned in the great volcano across the +sound—who sends up a column of light once in a way to dazzle her +shrouded eyes, and failing that batters her with rock and stone like +any lover of the slums. One day he spat forth a rock like a small +hill, and big enough to dominate the strip of lowland at least, +standing out on the edge of the island like a guard at the gates, and +never a part of the alien surface. Between this lofty rock and the +forest was the walled settlement of New Archangel, that Baranhov, the +dauntless, had wrested from the bloodthirsty Kolosh but a short time +since and purposed to hold in the interest of the Russian-American +Company. His log hut, painted like the other buildings with a yellow +ochre found in the soil, stood on the rock, and his glass swept the +forest as often as the sea. +</P> + +<P> +As Rezanov, on the second of July, thirty-one days after leaving San +Francisco, sailed into the harbor with its hundred bits of volcanic +woodland weeping as ever, he gave a whimsical sigh in tribute to the +gay and ever-changing beauties of the southern land, but was in no mood +for sentimental reminiscence. Natives, paddling eagerly out to sea in +their bidarkas to be the first to bring in good news or bad, had given +him a report covering the period of his absence that filled him with +dismay. There had been deaths from scurvy; one of the largest ships +belonging to the Company had been wrecked and the entire cargo lost; of +a hunting party of three hundred Aleuts in one hundred and forty +bidarkas, which had gone from Sitka to Kadiak in November of the +preceding year, not one had arrived at its destination, and there was +reason to believe that all had been drowned or massacred; and the +Russians and Aleuts at Behring's Bay settlement had been exterminated +by one of the native tribes. +</P> + +<P> +But the Juno was received with salvos of artillery from the fort, and +cheered by the entire population of the settlement, crowded on the +beach. Baranhov, looking like a monkey with a mummy's head in which +only a pair of incomparably shrewd eyes still lived, his black wig +fastened on his bald, red-fringed pate with a silk handkerchief tied +under his chin, stood, hands on hips, shaking with excitement and +delight. The bearded, long-haired priests, in full canonicals of black +and gold, were beside the Chief-Manager, ready to escort the +Chamberlain to the chapel at the head of the solitary street, where the +bells were pealing and a mass of thanksgiving was to be said for his +safe return. +</P> + +<P> +But it was some time before Rezanov could reach the chapel or even +exchange salutations with Baranhov. As he stepped on shore he was +surrounded, almost hustled by the shouting crowd of Russians,—many of +them convicts—Aleuts and Sitkans, who knelt at his feet, endeavored to +kiss his hand, his garments, in their hysterical gratitude for the food +he had brought them. For the first time he felt reconciled to his +departure from California, and Concha's image faded as he looked at the +tearful faces of the diseased, ill-nourished wretches who gave their +mite of life that he might live as became a great noble of the Russian +Empire. But although he tingled with pleasure and was deeply moved, he +by no means swelled with vanity, for he was far too clear-sighted to +doubt he had done more than his duty, or that his duty was more than +begun. He made them a little speech, giving his word they should be +properly fed hereafter, that he would make the improvement of their +condition as well as that of all the employees of the Company +throughout this vast chain of settlements on the Pacific, the chief +consideration of his life; and they believed him and followed him to +the chapel rejoicing, reconciled for once to their lot. +</P> + +<P> +After the service Rezanov went up to the hut of the Chief-Manager, a +habitation that leaked winter and summer, and was equally deficient in +light, ventilation and order. But Baranhov in the sixteen years of his +exile had forgotten the bare lineaments of comfort, and devoted his +days to advancing the interests of the Company, his nights, save when +sleep overcame him, to potations that would have buried an ordinary man +under Alaskan snows long since. But Baranhov had fourteen years more +of good service in him, and rescued the Company from insolvency again +and again, nor ever played into the hands of marauding foreigners; with +brain on fire he was shrewder than the soberest. +</P> + +<P> +He listened with deep satisfaction to the Chamberlain's account of his +success with the Californians and his glowing pictures of the country, +nodding every few moments with emphatic approval. But as the story +finished his wonderful eyes were two bubbling springs of humor, and +Rezanov, who knew him well, recrossed his legs nervously. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" he asked. "What have I done now? Remember that you have +been in this business for sixteen years, and I one—" +</P> + +<P> +"How many measures of corn did you say you had brought, Excellency?" +</P> + +<P> +"Two hundred and ninety-four," replied Rezanov proudly. +</P> + +<P> +"A provision that exceeds my most sanguine hopes. The only thing that +mitigates my satisfaction is that there is not a mill in the settlement +to grind it." +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov sprang to his feet with a violent exclamation, his face very +red. There was no one whose good opinion he valued as he did that of +this brilliant, dissipated, disinterested old genius; and he felt like +a schoolboy. But although he started for the door, he recovered +half-way, and reseating himself joined in the laughter of the little +man who was rocking back and forth on his bench, his weazened leg +clasped against his shrunken chest. +</P> + +<P> +"How on earth was I to know all your domestic arrangements?" he said +testily. "God knows I found them limited enough last winter, but it +never occurred to me there was any mysterious process involved in +converting corn into meal. Is it quite useless, then?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no, we can boil or roast it. It will dispose of what teeth we +have left, but that will serve the good purpose of reminding us always +of your excellency's interest in our welfare." +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov shrugged his shoulders. "Give the corn to the natives. It is +farinaceous at all events. And you can have nothing to say against the +flour I have brought, and the peas, beans, tallow, butter, barley, +salt, and salted meats—in all to the value of twenty-four thousand +Spanish dollars." +</P> + +<P> +The Chief-Manager's head nodded with the vigor and rapidity of a +mechanical toy. "It is a God-send, a God-send. If you did no more +than that you would have earned our everlasting gratitude. It will +make us over, give us renewed courage in this cursed existence. Are +you not going to get me out of it?" +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov shook his head with a smile. "Literally you are the whole +Company. As long as I live here you stay—although when I reach St. +Petersburg I shall see that you receive every possible reward and +honor." +</P> + +<P> +Baranhov lifted his shoulders to his ears in quizzical resignation. "I +suppose it matters little where the last few years left me are spent, +and I can hang the medals on the walls to console me when I have +rheumatism, and shout my titles from the top of the fort when the +Kolosh are yelling at the barricades." +</P> + +<P> +"You must make yourself more comfortable," said Rezanov emphatically. +"You are wrong to carry your honesty and enthusiasm to the point of +living like the promuschleniki. Take enough of their time to build you +a comfortable dwelling, and I will send you, on my own account, far +more substantial rewards than orders and titles. Build a big house, +for that matter. I shall be here more or less—when I am not in +California." And he told Baranhov of his proposed marriage with the +daughter of Don Jose Arguello. +</P> + +<P> +The Chief-Manager listened to this confidence with an even livelier +satisfaction than to the list of the Juno's cargo. +</P> + +<P> +"We shall have California yet!" he cried, his eyes snapping like live +coals under the black thatch of wig. "Absorption or the bayonet. It +matters little. Ten years from now and we shall have a line of +settlements as far south as San Diego. My plan was to feel my way down +the northern coast of California with a colony, which should buy a +tract of land from the natives and engage immediately in otter +hunting—somewhere between Cape Mendocino and Drake's Bay. The Spanish +have no settlements above San Francisco and are too weak to drive us +out. They would rage and bluster and do nothing. Then quietly push +forward, building forts and ships. But you have taken hold in the +grand manner and will accomplish in ten years what would have taken me +fifty. Marry this girl, use your advantage over the entire +family—whose influence I well know—and that great personal power with +which the Almighty has been so lavish, and you will have the whole +weakly garrisoned country under your foot before they know where they +are, and the Russian settlers pouring in. Spain cannot come to the +rescue while this devil Bonaparte is alive, and he is young, and like +yourself a favorite of destiny. Those damned Bostonians inherit the +grabbing instincts of the too paternal race they have just rejected, +but there are thousands of miles of desert between California and their +own western outposts, hundreds of savage tribes to exterminate. By the +time they are in a position to attempt the occupation of California we +shall be so securely entrenched they will either let us alone or send +troops that would be half dead by the time they reach us. As to ships, +we could soon build enough at Okhotsk and Petropaulovsky for our +purpose. For the matter of that, if your gifted tongue impressed the +Tsar with the riches of California there would always be war ships on +her coast." He leaned forward and caught the strong shoulders above +him in hands that looked like a tangle of baked nerves, and shook them +vigorously. "You are a great boy!" he said with a sort of quizzical +solemnity. "A great boy. This damned, God-forsaken, pestilential, +demoralizing, brutalizing factory for enriching a few with the very +life blood and vitals of thousands that will suffer and starve and +never be heard of" (all his language cannot be recorded), "will make +two or three reputations by the way. Mine will be one, although I'll +get nothing else. Shelikov is safe; but you will have a monument. +Well, God bless you. I grudge you nothing. Not even the happiness you +deserve and are bound to have—for when all is said and done, Rezanov, +you are a lucky dog, a lucky dog! Any man may see that, even when +these infernal snows have left him with but half an eye. To quarrel +with a destiny like yours would be as great a waste of time as to +protest that California is warm and fertile, while this infernal North +is like living in a refrigerator with the deluge to vary the monotony. +Now let us get drunk!" +</P> + +<P> +But Rezanov laughingly extricated himself, and sending a message to +Davidov and Khostov to come to him immediately, walked toward the tent +he had ordered erected on the edge of the settlement; only the worst of +weather drove him indoors in these half-civilized communities. +</P> + +<P> +As he was passing the chapel, followed again by the employees of the +Company, to whom he had granted a holiday, he suddenly found his hand +taken possession of, and looked up to see himself confronted by a +dissipated-looking person in plain clothes. His hand became so limp +that it was dropped as if it had put forth a sting, and he narrowed his +eyes and demanded with a bend of his mouth that brought the blood to +the face of the intruder: +</P> + +<P> +"And who are you, may I ask?" +</P> + +<P> +The man threw back his head defiantly. "I am Lieutenant Sookin of the +Imperial Navy of Russia," he said in a loud, defiant tone. +</P> + +<P> +"And I am Chamberlain of the Russian Court and Commander of all +America," replied Rezanov coolly. "Now go to your quarters, dress +yourself in your uniform, and present your report to me an hour hence." +</P> + +<P> +The officer, concentrating in his injected eyes all the lively hatred +and jealousy of his service for the Russian-American Company in this +region where it reigned supreme and cared no more for the Admiralty +than for some native chieftain covered with shells and warpaint, glared +at its plenipotentiary as if calling upon his deeper resources of +insolence; but the steady, contemptuous gaze of the man who had dealt +with his kind often and successfully overcame his sodden spirit, and he +turned sulkily and slouched off to his quarters to console himself with +more brandy. Rezanov shrugged his shoulders and went on to his tent. +</P> + +<P> +There was no furniture in it as yet, and he was obliged to receive +Davidov and Khostov standing, but this he preferred. They followed him +almost immediately, apprehensive and nervous, and before speaking he +looked at them for a moment with his strong, penetrating gaze. He well +knew the power of his own personality, and that it was immeasurably +enhanced by the fact that of all with whom he had to do in these +benighted regions his will alone was never weakened by liquor. These +young men, clever, high-bred, with an honorable record not only in +Russia, but in England and America, looked upon a hilarious night as +the just reward of work well done by day. Brandy was debited to their +account by the "bucket" (a bucket being a trifle less than two +gallons), and they found little fault with life. But the profligacy +gave a commanding spirit like Rezanov's an advantage which they did not +under-estimate for a moment; and they alternately hated and worshiped +him. +</P> + +<P> +"I think you have an inkling of what I am going to ask you to do." The +Chamberlain brought out the euphemism with the utmost suavity. "I have +made up my mind not to ignore the indignity to which Russia was +subjected last year by Japan, but to inflict upon it such punishment as +I find it in my power to compass. It was my intention to build a +flotilla here, but owing to the diseased condition and reduced numbers +of the employees, that was impossible, and I shall be obliged to +content myself with the Juno and the Avos, whose keel, as you know, was +laid in November, and is no doubt finished long since. These I shall +fit with armaments in Okhotsk. I shall place the enterprise I have +spoken of in your charge, sailing with you from Sitka five days hence. +From Okhotsk I desire that you proceed to the Japanese settlements in +the lower Kurile Islands, take possession of them and bring all stores +and as many of the inhabitants as the vessels will accommodate, to +Sitka, where Baranhov will see that they are comfortably established on +that large island in the harbor—which we shall call Japonsky—and +converted into good servants of the Company. The excuse for this +enterprise is that those islands were formally taken possession of by +Shelikov; and although abandoned later, the fact remains that the +Russian flag was the first to float over them. The stores captured may +not be worth much and the islands are of no particular use to us, but +it is wise that Japan should have a taste of Russian power; and the +consequences may be salutary in more ways than one. I hope you will do +me this great favor, for there is no one of your tried probity and +skill to whom I can trust so delicate an enterprise. I am doing it +wholly upon my own responsibility, for although I wrote tentatively to +the Tsar on this subject before I sailed for California, it is not yet +time for a reply. However, I take the consequences upon my own +shoulders. You shall not suffer in any way, for your orders are to +obey mine while you remain in these waters." +</P> + +<P> +He paused a moment, and then suddenly smiled into the unresponsive +faces before him. He held out his hand and shook their limp ones +warmly. +</P> + +<P> +"Let me thank you here for all your inestimable services in the past, +and particularly during our late hazardous voyages. Be sure that +whether you succeed in this enterprise or not, your rewards shall be no +less for what you have already done. I shall make it a personal matter +with the Tsar. You shall have promotion and a substantial increase in +pay, besides the orders and Imperial thanks you so richly deserve. +Lest anything happen to me on my homeward journey, I shall write to St. +Petersburg before I leave." +</P> + +<P> +The lieutenants, overcome as ever when he chose to put forth his full +powers, assured him of their fidelity and, if with misgivings, vowed to +mete out vengeance to the Japanese. And although their misgivings were +not unfounded, and they paid a high price in suffering and +mortification, they accomplished their object and in due course +received the rewards the Chamberlain had promised them. +</P> + +<P> +They did not retire, and Rezanov, noting their sudden hesitation and +embarrassment, felt an instant thrill of apprehension. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" he demanded. "What has happened?" +</P> + +<P> +"Life has moved slowly in Sitka during your absence, Excellency," +replied Davidov. "There has been little work done on the Avos. It +will not be finished for a month or six weeks." +</P> + +<P> +Then, had the young men been possessed by a not infrequent mood, they +would have glowed with a sense of just satisfaction. Rezanov felt +himself turn so white that he wheeled about and left the tent. A month +or six weeks! And the speed and safety of his journey across Siberia +depended upon his making the greater part of it before the heavy autumn +rains swelled the rivers and flooded the swamps. Winter or summer the +journey from Okhotsk to St. Petersburg might be made in four months; +with the wealth and influence at his command, possibly in less; but in +the deluge between he was liable to detentions lasting nearly as long +again, to say nothing of illness caused by inevitable exposure. +</P> + +<P> +He stood staring at the palisades for many minutes. The separation +must be long enough, the dangers numerous enough if he started within +the week, but at least he had in a measure accustomed himself to the +idea of not seeing Concha again for "the best part of two years," and +the sanguineness of his temperament had led him to hope that the time +might be reduced to eighteen months. If he delayed too long, only by +means of an unprecedented run of good fortune would he reach St. +Petersburg but a month behind his calculations. And the chances were in +favor of four, or three at the best! Never since the morning that the +real nature of his feeling for Concha had declared itself had he +yearned toward her as at that moment; never since the dictum of what +she called their "tribunal" had he so rebelled against the long delay. +And yet he hesitated. To leave Japan unpunished for the senseless +humiliations to which it had subjected Russia in his person was not to +be thought of, and yet did he leave without seeing the Avos finished, +the two boats supplied with armaments at Okhotsk, and under way before +he started across Siberia, he knew it was doubtful if the expedition +took place before his return; in that case might never take place, for +these two young men might have drifted elsewhere, and he knew no one +else to whom he could entrust such a commission. In spite of their +idiosyncrasies he could rely upon them implicitly—up to a certain +point. That point involved keeping them in sight until exactly the +right moment and leaving nothing to their executive which could be +certainly accomplished by himself alone. Did he sail five days hence +on the Juno one of the officers would be exposed for an indeterminate +time to the temptations of Okhotsk, the ship, perhaps, at the mercy of +some sudden requirement of the Company. His authority was absolute +when enforced in person, but it was a proverb west of the Ural: "God +reigns and the Tsar is far away." If the Juno were wanted the manager +of Okhotsk would argue that two years was a period in which an ardent +servant of the Company would find many an excuse to justify its seizure. +</P> + +<P> +And here in Sitka it was doubtful if the work on the Avos proceeded at +all. Baranhov was not in sympathy with the enterprise against the +Japanese, fearing the consequences to himself in the event of the +Tsar's disapproval, and resenting the impressment of the promuschleniki +into a service that deprived him of their legitimate work. Moreover, +although he loved Rezanov personally, he had enjoyed supreme power in +the wilderness too long not to chafe under even the temporary +assumption of authority by his high-handed superior. With the best of +intentions Davidov could make little headway against the passive +resistance of the Chief-Manager, and those intentions would be weakened +by the consolidations the Company so generously afforded. +</P> + +<P> +The result was hardly open to doubt. If he left Sitka before the +completion of the Avos, Russia would go unavenged for the present. Or +himself? Rezanov, sanguine and imaginative as he was, even to the point +of creating premises to rhyme with ends, was very honest fundamentally. +He turned abruptly on his heel, and calling to the officers that he +would announce his decision on the morrow, ordered the sentry to open +the gate and passed out of the enclosure. +</P> + +<P> +He crossed the clearing and entered the forest. The warlike tribes +themselves had trodden paths through the dense undergrowth of young +trees and ferns. Rezanov, despite Baranhov's warning, had tramped the +forest many times. It was the one thing that reconciled him to Sitka, +for there are few woods more beautiful. In spite or because of the +incessant rains, it is pervaded by a rich golden gloom, the result of +the constant rotting of the brown and yellow bark, not only of the +prostrate trees, but of the many killed by crowding and unable to seek +the earth with the natural instinct of death. And above, the green of +hemlock and spruce was perennially fresh and young, glistening and +fragrant. Here and there was a small clearing where the clans had +erected their ingenious and hideous totem poles, out of place in the +ancient beauty of the wood. +</P> + +<P> +The ferns brushed his waist, the roar of the river came to his ears, +the forest had never looked more primeval, more wooing to a man +burdened with civilization, but Rezanov gave it less heed than usual, +although he had turned to it instinctively. He was occupied with a +question to which nature would turn an aloof disdainful ear. Was his +own wounded vanity at the root of his desire to humiliate Japan? Russia +was too powerful, too occupied, for the present at least, greatly to +care that her overtures and presents had been scorned. Upon her +ambassador had fallen the full brunt of that wearisome and incomparably +mortifying experience, and unfortunately the ambassador happened to be +one of the proudest and most autocratic men in her empire. No man of +Rezanov's caliber but accommodates that sort of personal vanity that +tenaciously resents a blow to the pride of which it is a part, to the +love of power it feeds. As well expect a lover without passion, a +state without corruption. Rezanov finally shrugged his shoulders and +admitted the impeachment, but at the same time he recognized that the +desire for vengeance still held, and that the tenacity of his nature, a +tenacity that had been no mean factor in the remodeling of himself from +a voluptuous young sprig of nobility into one of the most successful +business men and subjugator of other men that the Russian Empire could +show, was not likely to weaken when its very roots had been stiff with +purpose for fifteen months. Power had been Rezanov's ruling passion +for many years before he met Concha Arguello, and, although it might +mate very comfortably with love, it was not to be expected that it +would remain submerged beyond the first enthusiasm, nor even assume the +position of the "party of the second part." Rezanov was Rezanov. He +was also in that interval between youth and age when the brain rules if +it is ever to rule at all. That the ardor of his nature had awakened +refreshed after a long sleep was but just proved, as well as the +revival of his early ideals and capacity for genuine love; but the +complexities, the manifold interests and desires of the ego had been +growing and developing these many years; and no mere mortal that has +given up his life for a considerable period to the thirst for dominance +can ever, save in a brief exaltation, sacrifice it to anything so +normal as the demands of sex and spirit. For good or ill, the man who +has burned with ambition, exulted in the exercise of power, bitterly +resented the temporary victories of rivals and enemies, fought with all +the resources of brain and character against failure, is in a class +apart from humanity in the mass. Rezanov loved Concha Arguello to the +very depths of his soul, but he had lived beyond the time when even she +could engage successfully with the ruthless forces that had molded into +immutable shape the Rezanov she knew. Her place was second, and it is +probable that she would have loved him less had it been otherwise; she, +in spite of her fine intellect and strong will, being all woman, as he, +despite his depth of intuition, was all man. Equality is possible in +no relation or condition of life. When woman subjugates man the +conquered will enjoy a sense of revenge proportionate to the meanness +of his state. +</P> + +<P> +It is possible that had Concha awaited Rezanov in St. Petersburg her +attraction would have focused his desires irresistibly; but his mind +had resigned itself to the prospect of separation for a definite +period, and while it had not relegated her image to the background, her +part in his life had been settled there among many future +possibilities, and all the foreground was crowded with the impatient +symbols of the intervening time. Moreover, he well knew that the savor +would be gone from his happiness with the woman were the taste of +another failure acrid in his mouth. +</P> + +<P> +As he realized that the die was cast, the sanguineness of his +temperament rushed to do battle against apprehension and self-accusing. +After all, he was rarely balked of his way, accustomed to ride down +obstacles, to the amiable cooperation of fate. He could arrive in +Okhotsk late in September or early in October. Captain D'Wolf, who had +been detained at Sitka during his absence by the same indifference that +had operated against the completion of the Avos, would precede him and +order that all be in readiness at Okhotsk both for the ships and his +journey to Yakutsk. He could proceed at once; and, no doubt, with +twice the number or horses needed, would make the first and most +difficult stage of the journey in the usual time, and with no great +embarrassment from the rains. From Yakutsk to Irkutsk the greater part +of the travel was by water in any case, and after that the land was +flat for the most part and bridges were more numerous. The governor of +every town in Siberia would be his obsequious servant, the entire +resources of the country would be at his disposal. He was sound in +health again, as resistant against hardships as when he had sailed from +Kronstadt. And God knew, he thought with a sigh, his will and purpose +had never been stronger. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XXVI +</H3> + +<P> +Rezanov disembarked from the Juno at Okhotsk during the first days of +October. Had it not been for a touch of fever that had returned in the +filth and warm dampness of Sitka, he would have felt almost as buoyant +in mind and body as in those days when California had gone to his head. +The Juno had touched at Kadiak, Oonalaska, and others of the more +important settlements, and he had found his schools and libraries in +good condition, seals and otters rapidly increasing, in their immunity +from indiscriminate slaughter, new and stronger forts threatening the +nefarious Bostonian and Briton. At Okhotsk he learned that the embassy +of Count Golofkin to China had failed as signally as his own, and this +alone would have put him in the best of tempers even had he not found +his armament and caravan awaiting him, facilitating his immediate +departure. He wrote a gay letter to Concha, giving her the painful +story of the naturalist attached to the Golofkin embassy, Dr. Redovsky, +who had remained in the East animated by the same scientific enthusiasm +as that of his colleague, the good Langsdorff; parted some time since +from his too exacting master. Rezanov had written Concha many letters +during his detention in Sitka, and left them with Baranhov to send at +the first opportunity. The Chief-Manager, deeply interested in the +romance of the mighty Chamberlain with whom he alone dared to take a +liberty, vowed to guard all that came to his care and sooner or later +to send them to California. Rezanov had also written comprehensively +to the Tsar and the directors of the Russian-American Company, adroitly +placing his marriage in the light of a diplomatic maneuver, and +painting California in colors the more vivid and enticing for the +sullen clouds and roaring winds, the dripping forests and eternal snows +of that derelict corner of Earth where he had been stranded so long. +He had also, when Langsdorff announced his intention to start upon a +difficult journey in the interest of science, provided him not only +with letters of recommendation, but with all the comforts procurable in +a land where the word comfort was the stock in trade of the local +satirist. But Langsdorff, although punctiliously acknowledging the +favors, never quite forgave the indifference of a mere ambassador and +chamberlain, rejoicing in the dignity of an honorary membership in the +St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, to the supreme division of natural +history. +</P> + +<P> +The first stage of the journey—from Okhotsk to Yakutsk—was about six +hundred and fifty English miles, not as the crow flew, but over the +Stanovoi mountains in a southwesterly direction to the Maya, by this +river's wavering course to the Youdoma, then northwest to the Aldan, +and south beside the Lena. The beaten track lay entirely alongside the +rivers at this season, upon their surface in winter; and in addition to +these great streams there were many too unimportant for the map, but as +erratic in course and as irresistible in energy after the first rains +of autumn. +</P> + +<P> +Captain D'Wolf had proved himself capable and faithful, and a caravan +of forty horses had been in Okhotsk a week; twenty for immediate use, +twenty for relief, or substitutes in almost certain emergency. As +there were but one or two stations of any importance between Okhotsk +and Yakutsk, and as a week might pass without the shelter of so much as +a hut, it was necessary to take tents and bearskin beds for the +Chamberlain, his Cossack guard, valet-de-chambre, cook and other +servants, one set of fine blankets and linen, cooking utensils, axes, +arms, tinder-boxes, provisions for the entire trip, besides a great +quantity of personal luggage. +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov lost no time. He had changed his original plan and dispatched +Davidov on the Avos from Oonalaska. Guns and provisions awaited the +Juno at Okhotsk, and in less than a week after his arrival Rezanov was +able to start on his long journey with a mind at rest. Although the +almost extravagant delight that his body had taken in the comforts of +his manager's home, after ten weeks on the Juno, warned him that he +might be in a better condition to begin a journey of ten thousand +versts, he hearkened neither to the hint nor to the insistence of his +host. His impatient energy and stern will, combined with the +passionate wish to accomplish the double object of his journey, +returning in the least possible time to California with his treaty and +the consent of the Pope and King to his marriage, would have carried +him out of Okhotsk in forty-eight hours had disease declared itself. +Nor were there any inducements aside from a comfortable bed and refined +fare, in the flat, unhealthy town with its everlasting rattle of +chains, and the hideous physiognomies of criminals always at work to +the rumbling accompaniment of Cossack oaths. +</P> + +<P> +For the first week the exercise he loved best and the long days in the +crisp open air renewed his vigor, and he even looked forward to the +four months of what was then the severest traveling in the world, in a +boyish spirit of adventure. He reflected that he might as well give +his brain a relief from the constant revolving of schemes and plans for +the advancement of his country, his company, and himself, and let his +thoughts have their carnival of anticipation with the unparalleled +happiness and success that awaited him in the future. There was no +possible doubt of the acquiescence and assistance of the Tsar, and no +man ever looked down a fairer perspective than he, as he galloped over +the ugly country, often far ahead of his caravan, splashing through +bogs and streams, fording rivers without ferries, camping at night in +forests so dense the cold never escaped their embrace, muffled to the +eyes in furs as he made his way past valleys whose eternal ice fields +chilled the country for miles about; sometimes able to procure a little +fresh milk and butter, oftener not; occasionally passing a caravan +returning for furs, generally seeing nothing but a stray reindeer for +hours together, once meeting the post and finding much for himself that +in nowise dampened his spirit. +</P> + +<P> +But on the eighth day the rains began: a fine steady mist, then in +torrents as endless. Wrapped in bearskins at night within the shelter +of a tent or of some wayside hut, and closely covered by day, Rezanov +at first merely cursed the inconvenience of the rain; but while +crossing the river Allach Juni, his guides without consulting him +having taken him miles out of his way in order to avoid the hamlet of +the same name where the small-pox was raging, but where there was a +government ferry, his horse lost his footing in the rapid, swollen +current and fell. Rezanov managed to retain his seat, and pulled the +frightened, plunging beast to its feet while his Cossacks were still +shouting their consternation. But he was soaked to the skin, his +personal luggage was in the same condition, and they did not reach a +hut where a fire could be made until nine hours later. It was then that +the seeds of malaria, accumulated during the last three years in +unsanitary ports and sown deep by exceptional hardships, but which he +believed had taken themselves off during his six weeks in California, +stirred more vigorously than in Sitka or Okhotsk. He rode on the next +day in a burning fever. Jon, minding Langsdorff's instructions, +doctored him—not without difficulty—from the medicine chest, and for +a day or two the fever seemed broken. But Jon, sick with apprehension, +implored him to turn back. He might as well have implored the sky to +turn blue. +</P> + +<P> +"How do you think men accomplish things in this world?" asked Rezanov +angrily. "By turning back and going to bed every time they have a +migraine?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, Excellency," said the man humbly. "But health is necessary to the +accomplishment of everything, and if the body is eaten up with fever—" +</P> + +<P> +"What are drugs for? Give me the whole damned pharmacopeia if you +choose, but don't talk to me about turning back." +</P> + +<P> +"Very well, Excellency," said Jon, with a sigh. +</P> + +<P> +The next day he and one of the Cossack guard caught him as he fell from +his horse unconscious. A Yakhut hut, miserable as it was, offered in +the persistent downpour a better shelter than the tent. They carried +him into it, and his bedding at least was almost as luxurious as had he +been in St. Petersburg. Jon, at his wits' end, remembered the' +practice of Langsdorff in similar cases, and used the lancet, a heroic +treatment he would never have accomplished had his master been +conscious. The fever ebbed, and in a few days Rezanov was able to +continue the journey by shorter stages, although heavy with an +intolerable lassitude. But his will sustained him until he reached +Yakutsk, not at the end of twenty-two days, but of thirty-three. Here +he succumbed immediately, and although his sickbed was in the +comfortable home of the agent of the Company, and he had medical +attendance of a sort, his fever and convalescence lasted for eight +weeks. Then, in spite of the supplications of his friends, chief among +whom was his faithful Jon, and the prohibition of the doctor, he began +the second stage of his journey. +</P> + +<P> +The road from Yakutsk to Irkutsk, some two thousand six hundred versts, +or fifteen hundred and fifty English miles, lay for the most part +alternately on and along the river Lena in a southeasterly direction; +there being no attempt to cross Siberia at any point in a straight +line. By this time the river was frozen, and the only concession +Rezanov would make to his enfeebled frame was an arrangement to cover +the entire journey by private sledge instead of employing the swifter +course of post sledge on the long stretches and horseback on the +shorter cuts. +</P> + +<P> +The weather was now intensely cold, the river winding, the delays many, +but there were adequate stations for the benefit and accommodation of +travelers every hundred versts or less. Rezanov felt so invigorated by +the long hours in the open after the barbarous closeness of his sick +room, that at the end of a fortnight he was again possessed with all +his old ardor of desire to reach the end of his journey. He vowed he +was well again, abandoned his comfortable sledge, and pushed on in the +common manner. In the wretched post sledges he was often exposed to +the full violence of a Siberian winter, and although the horseback +exercise stirred his blood and refreshed him for the moment, he +suffered in reaction and was several times forced to remain two nights +instead of one at a station. But he was muffled in sables to his very +eyes, and the road was diverting, often beautiful, with its Gothic +mountains, its white plains set with villages and farms, the high thin +crosses above the open or swelling domes of the little churches. +Sometimes the Lena narrowed until its frozen surface looked like a mass +of ice that had ground its way between perpendicular walls or +overhanging masses of rock that awaited the next convulsion of nature +to close the pass altogether. Then the dogs trotted past caves and +grottos, left the abrupt and craggy banks, crossed level plains once +more; where herds of cattle grazed in the summertime, now a vast +uncheckered expanse of white. The Government and Company agents fawned +upon him, the best of horses and beds, food and wine, were eagerly +placed at the disposal of the favorite of the Tsar. Rezanov's spirit, +always of the finest temper, suffered no eclipse for many days. He +reveled in the belief that his sorely tried body was regenerating its +old vigors. +</P> + +<P> +From Wercholensk to Katschuk the journey was so winding by river that +it consumed more than twice the time of the land route, which although +only thirty versts in extent was one of the most difficult in Siberia. +Rezanov chose the latter without hesitation, and would listen to no +discussion from the Commissary of the little town or from his +distracted Jon: the journey from Yakutsk had now lasted five weeks and +the servant's watchful eye noted signs of exhaustion. +</P> + +<P> +The hills were very high and very steep, the roads but a name in +summer. Had not the snow been soft and thin, the horses could not have +made the ascent at all; and, as it was, the riders were forced to walk +the greater part of the way and drag their unwilling steeds behind +them. They were twelve hours covering the thirty versts, and at +Katschuk Rezanov succumbed for two days, while Jon scoured the country +in search of a telega; as sometimes happened there was a long stretch +of country without snow, and sledges, by far the most comfortable +method of travel in Siberia, could not be used. The rest of the +journey, but one hundred and ninety-six versts, must be made by land. +Rezanov admitted that he was too weary to ride, and refused to travel +in the post carriage. On the third day the servant managed to hire a +telega from a superior farmer and they started immediately, the heavy +luggage having been consigned to a merchant vessel at Yakutsk. +</P> + +<P> +Rezanov stood the telega exactly half a day. Little larger than an +armchair and far lighter, it was drawn by horses that galloped up and +down hill and across the intervening valleys with no change of gait, +and over a road so rough that the little vehicle seemed to be propelled +by a succession of earthquakes. Rezanov, in a fever which he +attributed to rage, dismissed the telega at a village and awaited the +coming of Jon, who followed on horseback with the personal luggage. +</P> + +<P> +It was a village of wooden houses built in the Russian fashion, and +inhabited by a dignified tribe wearing long white garments bordered +with fur. They spoke Russian, a language little heard farther north and +east in Siberia, and when Rezanov declined their hospitality they +dispatched a courier at once to the Governor-General of Irkutsk +acquainting him with the condition of the Chamberlain and of his +imminent arrival. In consequence, when Rezanov drew rein two days +later and looked down upon the city of Irkutsk with its pleasant +squares and great stone buildings beside the shining river, the gilded +domes and crosses of its thirty churches and convents glittering in the +sun, the whole picture beckoning to the delirious brain of the traveler +like some mirage of the desert, his appearance was the signal for a +salute from the fort; and the Governor-General, privy counselor and +senator de Pestel, accompanied by the civil governor, the commandant, +the archbishop, and a military escort, sallied forth and led the guest, +with the formality of officials and the compassionate tenderness of +men, into the capital. +</P> + +<P> +For three weeks longer Rezanov lay in the palace of the Governor. +Between fever and lassitude, his iron will seemed alternately to melt +in the fiery furnace of his body, then, a cooling but still viscous and +formless mass, sink to the utmost depths of his being. But here he had +the best of nursing and attendance, rallied finally and insisted upon +continuing his journey. His doctor made the less demur as the +traveling was far smoother now, in the early days of March, than it +would be a month hence, when the snow was thinner and the sledges were +no longer possible. Nevertheless, he announced his intention to +accompany him as far as Krasnoiarsk, where the Chamberlain could lodge +in the house of the principal magistrate of the place, Counselor +Keller, and, if necessary, be able to command fair nursing and medical +attendance; and to this Rezanov indifferently assented. +</P> + +<P> +The prospect of continuing his journey and the bustle of preparation +raised the spirits of the invalid and gave him a fictitious energy. He +had fought depression and despair in all his conscious moments, never +admitted that the devastation in his body was mortal. With but a +remnant of his former superb strength, and emaciated beyond +recognition, he attended a banquet on the night preceding his +departure, and on the following morning stood up in his sledge and +acknowledged the God-speed of the population of Irkutsk assembled in +the square before the palace of the Governor. All his life he had +excited interest wherever he went, but never to such a degree as on +that last journey when he made his desperate fight for life and +happiness. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +XXVII +</H3> + +<P> +The snow rarely falls in Krasnoiarsk. It is a little oasis in the +great winter desert of Siberia. Rezanov, his face turned to the +window, could see the red banks on the opposite side of the river. The +sun transformed the gilded cupolas and crosses into dazzling points of +light, and the sky above the spires and towers, the stately square and +narrow dirty streets of the bustling little capital, was as blue and +unflecked as that which arched so high above a land where Castilian +roses grew, and one woman among a gay and thoughtless people dreamed, +with all the passion of her splendid youth, of the man to whom she had +pledged an eternal troth. Rezanov's mind was clear in those last +moments, but something of the serenity and the selfishness of death had +already descended upon him. He heard with indifference the sobs of +Jon, crouched at the foot of his bed. Tears and regrets were a part of +the general futility of life, insignificant enough at the grand +threshold of death. +</P> + +<P> +No doubt that his great schemes would die with him, and were he +remembered at all it would be as a dreamer; or as a failure because he +had died before accomplishing what his brain and energy and enthusiasm +alone could force to fruition. None realized better than he the +paucity of initiative and executive among the characteristics of the +Slav. What mattered it? He had had glimpses more than once of the +apparently illogical sequence of life, the vanity of human effort, the +wanton cruelty of Nature. He had known men struck down before in the +maturity of their usefulness, cities destroyed by earthquake or +hurricane in the fairest and most promising of their days: public men, +priests, parents, children, wantons, criminals, blotted out with equal +impartiality by a brutal force that would seem to have but a casual use +for the life she flung broadcast on her planets. Man was the helpless +victim of Nature, a calf in a tiger's paws. If she overlooked him, or +swept him contemptuously into the class of her favorites, well and +good; otherwise he was her sport, the plaything of her idler moments. +Those that cried "But why?" "What reason?" "What use?" were those +that had never looked over the walls of their ego at the great dramatic +moments in the career of Nature, when she made immortal fame for +herself at the expense of millions of pigmies. +</P> + +<P> +And if his energies, his talents, his usefulness, were held of no +account, at least he could look back upon a past when he would have +seemed to be one of the few supreme favorites of the forces that shaped +man's life and destiny. Until he had started from Kronstadt four years +before on a voyage that had humiliated his proud spirit more than once, +and undermined as splendid a physique as ever was granted to even a +Russian, he had rolled the world under his foot. With an appearance +and a personal magnetism, gifts of mind and manner and character that +would have commanded attention amid the general flaccidity of his race +and conquered life without the great social advantages he inherited, he +had enjoyed power and pleasure to a degree that would have spoiled a +coarser nature long since. True, the time had come when he had cared +little for any of his endowments save as a means to great ends, when +all his energies had concentrated in the determination to live a life +of the highest possible usefulness—without which man's span was but +existence—his ambitions had cohered and been driven steadily toward a +permanent niche in history; then paled and dissolved for an hour in the +glorious vision of human happiness. +</P> + +<P> +And wholly as he might realize man's insignificance among the blind +forces of nature, he could accept it philosophically and die with his +soul uncorroded by misanthropy, that final and uncompromising admission +of failure. The misanthrope was the supreme failure of life because he +had not the intelligence to realize, or could not reconcile himself to, +the incomplete condition of human nature. Man was made up of little +qualities, and aspirations for great ones. Many yielded in the +struggle and sank into impotent discontent among the small material +things of life, instead of uplifting themselves with the picture of the +inevitable future when development had run its course, and indulgently +pitying the children of their own period who so often made life hateful +with their greed, selfishness, snobbery—most potent obstacle to human +endeavor—and injustice. The bad judgment of the mass! How many +careers it had balked, if not ruined, with its poor ideals, its mean +heroes, its instinctive avoidance of superior qualities foreign to +itself, its contemptible desire to be identified with a fashion. It +was this low standard of the crowd that induced misanthropy in many +otherwise brave spirits who lacked the insight to discern the divine +spark underneath, the persistence, sure of reward, to fight their way +to this spark and reveal it to the gaze of astonished and flattered +humanity. Rezanov's very arrogance had led him to regard the mass of +mankind as but one degree removed from the nursery; his good nature and +philosophical spirit to treat them with an indulgence that kept +sourness out of his cynicism and inevitably recurring weariness and +disgust; his ardent imagination had consoled itself with the vision of +a future when man should live in a world made reasonable by the triumph +of ideals that now lurked half ashamed in the high spaces of the human +mind. +</P> + +<P> +He looked back in wonder at the moment of wild regret and protest—the +bitterer in its silence—when they had told him he must die; when in +the last rally of the vital forces he had believed his will was still +strong enough to command his ravaged body, to propel his brain, still +teeming with a vast and complicated future, his heart, still warm and +insistent with the image it cherished, on to the ultimates of ambition +and love. How brief it had been, that last cry of mortality, with its +accompaniment of furious wonder at his unseemly and senseless cutting +off. In the adjustment and readjustment of political and natural +forces the world ambled on philosophically, fulfilling its inevitable +destiny. +</P> + +<P> +If he had not been beyond humor, he would have smiled at the idea that +in the face of all eternity it mattered what nation on one little +planet eventually possessed a fragment called California. To him that +fair land was empty and purposeless save for one figure, and even of +her he thought with the terrible calm of dissolution. During these +last months of illness and isolation he had been less lonely than at +any time of his life save during those few weeks in California, for he +had lived with her incessantly in spirit; and in that subtle +imaginative communion had pressed close to a profound and complex soul, +revealed before only in flashes to a vision astray in the confusion of +the senses. He had felt that her response to his passion was far more +vital and enduring than dwelt in the capacity of most women; he had +appreciated her gifts of mind, her piquant variousness that scotched +monotony, the admirable characteristics that would give a man repose +and content in his leisure, and subtly advance his career. But in +those long reveries, at the head of his forlorn caravan or in the +desolate months of convalescence, he had arrived at an absolute +understanding of what she herself had divined while half comprehending. +</P> + +<P> +Theirs was one of the few immortal loves that reveal the rarely sounded +deeps of the soul while in its frail tenement on earth; and he harbored +not a doubt that their love was stronger than mortality and that their +ultimate union was decreed. Meanwhile, she would suffer, no one but he +could dream how completely, but her strong soul would conquer, and she +would live the life she had visioned in moments of despair; not of +cloistered selfishness, but of incomparable usefulness to her little +world; and far happier, in her eternal youthfulness of heart, in that +divine life of the imagination where he must always be with her as she +had known him briefly at his best, than in the blunt commonplaceness of +daily existence, the routine and disillusionment of the world. +Perhaps—who knew?—he had, after all, given her the best that man can +offer to a woman of exalted nature; instead of taking again with his +left hand what his right had bestowed; completed the great gift of life +with the priceless beacon of death. +</P> + +<P> +How unlike was life to the old Greek tragedies! He recalled his +prophetic sense of impending happiness, success, triumph, as he entered +California, the rejuvenescence of his spirit in the renewal of his +wasted forces even before he loved the woman. Every event of the past +year, in spite of the obstacles that mortal must expect, had marched +with his ambitions and desires, and straight toward a future that would +have given him the most coveted of all destinies, a station in history. +There had not been a hint that his brain, so meaningly and consummately +equipped, would perish in the ruins of his body in less than a +twelvemonth from that fragrant morning when he had entered the home of +Concha Arguello tingling with a pagan joy in mere existence, a sudden +rush of desire for the keen, wild happiness of youth— +</P> + +<P> +His eyes wandered from the bright cross above the little cemetery where +he was to lie, and contracted with an expression of wonder. Where had +Jon found Castilian roses in this barren land? No man had ever been +more blest in a servant, but could even he—here— With the last +triumph of will over matter he raised his head, his keen, searching +gaze noting every detail of the room, bare and unlovely save for its +altar and ikons, its kneeling priests and nuns. His eyes expanded, his +nostrils quivered. As he sank down in the embrace of that final +delusion, his unconquerably sanguine spirit flared high before a vision +of eternal and unthinkable happiness. +</P> + +<P> +So died Rezanov; and with him the hope of Russians and the hindrance of +Americans in the west; and the mortal happiness and earthly dross of +the saintliest of California's women. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<HR> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<PRE> +Note: I have made the following changes to the text: + + PAGE LINE ORIGINAL CHANGED TO + + ii 13 unforgetable unforgettable + ii 26 vizu- visu- + vi 29 Krasnioarsk Krasnoiarsk + 14 22 Arguella Arguello + 15 28 Anna Ana + 15 28 Gertrudes Gertrudis + 16 6 Ignacia Ignacio + 18 17 Dios de mi alma! _Dios de mi alma!_* + 20 11 Madre de Dios!" _Madre de Dios!_"* + 23 3 Ay yi! _Ay yi!* + 23 4 Dios, Dios_,* + 23 20 Propietario Proprietario + 23 23 plebian plebeian + 23 26 Madre de Dios! _Madre de Dios!_* + 25 18 Dios mio! _Dios mio! + 25 19 mio!" mio!_"* + 33 17 embarassing embarrassing + 33 24 Nadesha Nadeshda + 40 10 commercal commercial + 40 13 momentuous momentous + 43 28 disintergrating disintegrating + 51 5 He lover Her lover + 55 4 Morga Moraga + 71 22 Rafella Rafaella + 72 3 straights straits + 75 9 "You "Your + 94 16 inexhautible inexhaustible + 103 2 embarassed embarrassed + 105 3 preciptate precipitate + 106 28 Bueno Buena + 111 8 Madre de Dios, _Madre de Dios_,* + 117 30 prefer, prefer. + 118 20 I "I + 128 10 Arillaga Arrillaga + 128 18 ride of rid of + 133 8 Arillaga Arrillaga + 133 22 Arillaga Arrillaga + 135 10 Are "Are + 137 28 Arrilaga Arrillaga + 137 29 Nakasaki Nagasaki + 146 21 refuse—' refuse—" + 155 24 dumfounded dumbfounded + 169 29 Moragas Moraga + 171 7 twice—' twice—" + 177 14 said said he said + 178 16 phasis." phasis. + 178 26 modoties modities + 195 17 civilized that civilized than + 200 27 gente de _gente de_* + 201 1 razon _razon_* + 201 21 silk silks + 204 29 Duena duena + 209 2 beneficient beneficent + 211 13 Ay yi! _Ay yi!* + 211 14 yi! yi!_* + 212 22 Ay yi! _Ay yi!_* + 213 3 ay yi! _ay yi!_* + +I have also omitted the accents over proper names such as Rezanov, +Baranhov, and Jose, and have omitted the umlaut over the u in Arguello. + + +* indicates that the italics were NOT used as emphasis, but merely as +indicators of SOME of the non-English words, and were eventually +stripped of their italicism for easier reading. + +The first words of each chapter were also capitalized on paper, as +least most of them. These have also been uncapitalized. +</PRE> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rezanov, by Gertrude Atherton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REZANOV *** + +***** This file should be named 491-h.htm or 491-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/9/491/ + +Produced by Judith Boss. HTML version by Al Haines. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Rezanov + +Author: Gertrude Atherton + +Posting Date: February 12, 2010 [EBook #491] +Release Date: April, 1996 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REZANOV *** + + + + +Produced by Judith Boss. HTML version by Al Haines. + + + + + + + + + +REZANOV + + +BY + +GERTRUDE ATHERTON + + + +With an Introduction by + +WILLIAM MARION REEDY + + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +A long list of works Gertrude Atherton has to her credit as a writer. +She is indisputably a woman of genius. Not that her genius is +distinctively feminine, though she is in matters historical a +passionate partisan. Most of the critics who approve her work agree +that in the main she views life with somewhat of the masculine spirit +of liberality. She is as much the realist as one can be who is +saturated with the romance that is California, her birthplace and her +home, if such a true cosmopolite as she can be said to have a home. In +all she has written there is abounding life; her grasp of character is +firm; her style has a warm, glowing plasticity, frequently a rhythm +variously expressive of all the wide range of feeling which a writer +must have to make his or her books living things. She does no less +well in the depiction of men than in the portraiture of women. All +stand out of their vivid environment distinctly and they are all +personalities of power--even, occasionally, of "that strong power +called weakness." And they all wear something of a glory imparted to +them by the sympathy of their creator and interpreter. High upon any +roster of our best American writers we must enroll the name of Mrs. +Atherton. + +Of all her books I like best this "Rezanov," though I have not found +many to agree with me. It is not so pretentious as others more +frequently commended. It is a simple story, almost one might say an +incident or an anecdote. It is not literally sophisticated. For me +that is its unfailing charm. I find in it not a little of the strange, +primeval quality that makes me think of "Aucassin and Nicolette." For +it is not so much a novel as an historical idyl, not to be read without +a persisting suffusion of sympathy and never to be remembered without a +recurring tenderness. Remembered, did I say? It is unforgettable. +There are few books of American origin that resist so well the passing +of the years, that take on more steadily the glamour of "the +unimaginable touch of time." "Rezanov" is a classic, or I miss my +guess. This, though it was first published so recently as 1906. + +The story has the merit of being, to some extent historically, and +wholly artistically, true. For the matter-of-facts Mrs. Atherton +provides a bibliography of her authorities. Those authorities I have +not read, nor should others. Sufficient unto me is the authority of +the novel itself splendidly demonstrated and established in the high +court of the reader's head and heart by the author's visualizing +veritism. Not twenty pages have you turned before you know this +Rezanov, privy councilor, grand chamberlain, plenipotentiary of the +Russo-American company, imperial inspector of the extreme eastern and +northwestern dominions of his imperial majesty Alexander the First, +emperor of Russia--all this and more, a man. He comes out of mystery +into the softly bright light of California, in strength and shrewdness +and dignity and personal splendor. And there is amidst it all a pathos +upon him. He commands your affection even while suggesting a doubt +whether the man may not be overwhelmed in the diplomat, the intriguer. +The year is 1806. The monstrous apparition of Napoleon has loomed an +omen of the doom of ancient authority and the shattering of nations in +Europe. That faithless, incalculable idealist Alexander, plans he knows +not what of imperial glory in the Eastern and Western world. Rezanov +is his servant, a man of ambition, perhaps in all favor at court, +desirous of doing some great service for his master. He dreams of +dominion in this sun-soaked land so lazily held in the lax grasp of +Spain. He has come from failure. He had been to Japan with presents +to the emperor, was received by minor officials with a hospitality that +poorly concealed the fact that he was virtually a prisoner, and then +dismissed without admission to the audience he sought with the mikado. +He had gone then to bleak, inhospitable Sitka, to find the settlement +there in a plague of scurvy and starvation only slightly mitigated by +vodka. Down the coast then he sailed to the Spanish settlement for +food for the settlement. He comes to that place where in his vision he +sees arise that city of the future which we know now as San Francisco. +Masterful man that he is, he feels that here some great thing awaits +him. The Spaniards are wary of him. They will not trade with him, but +they receive him courteously and they are fascinated by his +self-possessed, well-poised but withal so gracious personality. The +life there at the time is a sort of lotus-eating existence. It is a +piece of Spain translated to a more luscious, a lovelier land, +overlooking beautiful seas and perilous. Into the dolce far niente +Rezanov enters with some surrender to its softening spell, but with the +courtier's prudence. + +And he meets the girl, Concha Arguello. He sees her in the setting of +burning and sweet Castilian roses--a girl who has had the benefit of +education, who keeps the graces of old Madrid in this realm beyond sea, +a burgeoning bud of womanhood, daughter of the commandante. The doom +of both is upon them at once. They have drunk the poisoned cup. +Rezanov resists the first approaches of the delightful delirium, +remembering Russia, his duty, his ambition, the poor starving men of +the Sitka factory. At a party he dances with Concha and they both know +that for each there is none other. So in that setting so wild, so +strange, so remote, so lovely for the old world grace that is made +native there by this bright, deep, fond girl, the high gods proceed to +have their will upon the two. The little community life pulses around +them the faster because they are there. Their love becomes a motive in +the diplomatic drama which has for end, first, the securing of food for +those famishing folk at Sitka, and beyond that, possibly the seizing of +the region for Russia, lest that new young power of the West, the +United States, preempt the rich domain. Concha would help the Russian +to those ends immediate which he reveals to her, and succeeds. He +tells her of Russia and his mighty position there. He would have her +for his wife, his helper in the vast imperial affairs at the Russian +capitol, his princess in his palace, augmenting his official and +personal distinction. She shares his vision, rising to all the heights +it unfolds in a splendid future. Child she is, but she is transformed +into a woman by the prospect not of her own pleasure, but of +participation in splendid achievement with this man so keen, so supple, +yet so firm in high purpose. And as the prospect opens to her desire +and his there looms the obstacle. They cannot marry, for Rezanov is a +heretic. And now the passion flames. This child woman will go with +him. Ah, but the church, the king of Spain, will they permit? And the +Czar! Rezanov will see to it that the Czar will clear the way for them +through power exercised at Rome and at Madrid. Conditioned upon this, +the girl's parents consent. + +These lovers prate very little of love. Their desire runs too deep for +mere speech. It is a desire made up of as much spiritual as carnal +fire. It is fierce but steady in ecstacy and agony, indistinguishable +the one from the other. Rezanov, man of the great world, it purifies. +Concha it strengthens and makes indomitable. They will abide delay. +They will endure in faith and hope--the faith and hope both dimmed by +the vague and unshakable intuition or premonition that fate has marked +them for derision. Nevertheless, they will endure. + +There is a meeting on a path that overlooks where the white seas strike +their tents. It is a meeting of little action, of few words. It is +tense with the almost inexpressible, but at its end, confronting the +doubtful future, realizing that when Rezanov goes he may not return, +this girl tells him: "I will give myself to you forever, how much or +little that may mean here on earth. Forever!" And then that scene in +the moonlight amid the scent of the Castilian roses, when Concha, as +signal of her trust in her lover, lifts the little wisps of hair that +conceal her ears and shows them to him--it throbs with passionate +purity in memory yet. + +Rezanov sails away to Sitka with provisions, thence to Siberia, and +then begins the long ride over endless versts of land, across streams +in icy flood, in rain and cold and snow towards the capitol and the +Czar. Delays, disasters to vehicles and horses and the maddening +lengthening of time. From drenchings and freezing comes the fever that +calls for more speed. Krasnoiarsk is reached. The fever mounts, the +traveler must stop and rest and be cared for. His visions commingle +his objective and his memories ... CONCHA! ... The snowy steppes and +the inky rivers.... His servant enters the room in the inn ... Why +... "Where has Jon found Castilian roses in this barren land?" ... "and +his unconquerably sanguine spirit flared high before a vision of +eternal and unthinkable happiness" ... Castilian roses! Concha +Arguello waits among them, immortal, sainted in her purity and +fidelity, ministering to her poor Indians, her face alight with +unquenchable memory and with surety of an eventual everlasting tryst. +Those Castilian roses! They perfume forever one's memories of this +pair, puissant in faith, in this novel that is a poem and a shrine of +that love which lives when death itself is dead. + +WILLIAM MARION REEDY + + + + +REZANOV + + + +I + +As the little ship that had three times raced with death sailed past +the gray headlands and into the straits of San Francisco on that +brilliant April morning of 1806, Rezanov forgot the bitter +humiliations, the mental and physical torments, the deprivations and +dangers of the past three years; forgot those harrowing months in the +harbor of Nagasaki when the Russian bear had caged his tail in the +presence of eyes aslant; his dismay at Kamchatka when he had been +forced to send home another to vindicate his failure, and to remain in +the Tsar's incontiguous and barbarous northeastern possessions as +representative of his Imperial Majesty, and plenipotentiary of the +Company his own genius had created; forgot the year of loneliness and +hardship and peril in whose jaws the bravest was impotent; forgot even +his pitiable crew, diseased when he left Sitka, that had filled the +Juno with their groans and laments; and the bells of youth, long still, +rang in his soul once more. + +"It is the spring in California," he thought, with a sigh that curled +at the edge. "However," life had made him philosophical; "the moments +of unreasonable happiness are the most enviable no doubt, for there is +neither gall nor satiety in the reaction. All this is as enchanting +as--well, as a woman's promise. What lies beyond? Illiterate and +mercenary Spaniards, vicious natives, and boundless ennui, one may +safely wager. But if all California is as beautiful as this, no man +that has spent a winter in Sitka should ask for more." + +In the extent and variety of his travels Rezanov had seen Nature more +awesome of feature but never more fair. On his immediate right as he +sailed down the straits toward the narrow entrance to be known as the +Golden Gate, there was little to interest save the surf and the masses +of outlying rocks where the seals leapt and barked; the shore beyond +was sandy and low. But on his left the last of the northern mountains +rose straight from the water, the warm red of its deeply indented +cliffs rich in harmony with the green of slope and height. There was +not a tree; the mountains, the promontories, the hills far down on the +right beyond the sand dunes, looked like stupendous waves of lava that +had cooled into every gracious line and fold within the art of +relenting Nature; granted ages after, a light coat of verdure to clothe +the terrible mystery of birth. The great bay, as blue and tranquil as +a high mountain lake, as silent as if the planet still slept after the +agonies of labor, looked to be broken by a number of promontories, +rising from their points far out in the water to the high back of the +land; but as the Juno pursued her slanting way down the channel Rezanov +saw that the most imposing of these was but the end of a large island, +and that scattered near were other islands, masses of rock like the +castellated heights that rise abruptly from the plains of Italy and +Spain; far away, narrow straits, with a glittering expanse beyond; +while bounding the whole eastern rim of this splendid sheet of water +was a chain of violet hills, with the pale green mist of new grass here +and there, and purple hollows that might mean groves of trees crouching +low against the cold winds of summer; in the soft pale blue haze above +and beyond, the lofty volcanic peak of a mountain range. Not a human +being, not a boat, not even a herd of cattle was to be seen, and +Rezanov, for a moment forgetting to exult in the length of Russia's +arm, yielded himself to the subtle influence abroad in the air, and +felt that he could dream as he had dreamed in a youth when the courts +of Europe to the boy were as fabulous as El Dorado in the immensity of +ancestral seclusions. + +"It is like the approach to paradise, is it not, Excellency?" a +deferential voice murmured at his elbow. + +The plenipotentiary frowned without turning his head. Dr. Langsdorff, +surgeon and naturalist, had accompanied the Embassy to Japan, and +although Rezanov had never found any man more of a bore and would +willingly have seen the last of him at Kamchatka, a skilful dispenser +of drugs and mender of bones was necessary in his hazardous voyages, +and he retained him in his suite. Langsdorff returned his polite +tolerance with all the hidden resources of his spleen; but his +curiosity and scientific enthusiasm would have sustained him through +greater trials than the exactions of an autocrat, whom at least he had +never ceased to respect in the most trying moments at Nagasaki. + +"Yes," said Rezanov. "But I wonder you find anything to admire in such +unportable objects as mountains and water. I have not seen a living +thing but gulls and seal, and God knows we had enough of both at Sitka." + +"Ah, your excellency, in a land as fertile as this, and caressed by a +climate that would coax life from a stone, there must be an infinite +number of aquatic and aerial treasures that will add materially to the +scientific lore of Europe." + +"Humph!" said Rezanov, and moved his shoulder in an uncontrollable +gesture of dismissal. But the spell of the April morning was broken, +although the learned doctor was not to be the only offender. + +The Golden Gate is but a mile in width and the swift current carried +the Juno toward a low promontory from the base of which a shrill cry +suddenly ascended. Rezanov, raising his glass, saw that what he had +taken to be a pile of fallen rocks was a fort, and that a group of +excited men stood at its gates. Once more the plenipotentiary on a +delicate mission, he ordered the two naval officers sailing the ship to +come forward, and retired to the dignified isolation of the cabin. + +The high-spirited young officers, who would have raised a gay hurrah at +the sight of civilized man had it not been for the awe in which they +held their chief, saluted the Spaniards formally, then stood in an +attitude of extreme respect; the Juno was directly under the guns of +the fort. + +One of the Spaniards raised a speaking trumpet and shouted: + +"Who are you?" + +No one on the Juno, save Rezanov, could speak a word of Spanish, but +the tone of the query was its own interpreter. The oldest of the +lieutenants, through the ship's trumpet, shouted back: + +"The Juno--Sitka--Russian." + +The Spanish officer made a peremptory gesture that the ship come to +anchor in the shelter given by an immense angle of the mainland, of +which the fort's point was the western extreme. The Russians, as +befitted the peaceful nature of their mission, obeyed without delay. +Before their resting place, and among the sand hills a mile from the +beach, was a quadrangle of buildings some two hundred feet square and +surrounded by a wall about fourteen feet high and seven feet thick. +This they knew to be the Presidio. They saw the officers that had +hailed them gallop over the hill behind the fort to the more ambitious +enclosure, and, in the square, confer with another group that seemed to +be in a corresponding state of excitement. A few moments later a +deputation of officers, accompanied by a priest in the brown habit of +the Franciscan order, started on horseback for the beach. Rezanov +ordered Lieutenant Davidov and Dr. Langsdorff to the shore as his +representatives. + +The Spaniards wore the undress uniform of black and scarlet in which +they had been surprised, but their peaked straw hats were decorated +with cords of gold or silver, the tassels hanging low on the broad +brim; their high deer-skin boots were gaily embroidered, and bristled +with immense silver spurs. The commanding officer alone had invested +himself with a gala serape, a square of red cloth with a bound and +embroidered slit for the head. Leading the rapid procession, his left +hand resting significantly on his sword, he was a fine specimen of the +young California grandee, dark and dashing and reckless, lithe of +figure, thoroughbred, ardent. His eyes were sparkling at the prospect +of excitement; not only had the Russians, by their nefarious +appropriation of the northwestern corner of the continent and a recent +piratical excursion in pursuit of otter, inspired the Spanish +Government with a profound disapproval and mistrust, but a rumor had +run up the coast that made every sea-gull look like the herald of a +hostile fleet. This was young Arguello's first taste of command, and +life was dull on the northern peninsula; he would have welcomed a +declaration of war. + +Davidov and Langsdorff had come to shore in one of the JUNO'S canoes. +The conversation was held in Latin between the two men of learning. + +"Who are you and whence come you?" asked the priest. + +Langsdorff, who had been severely drilled by the plenipotentiary as to +text, replied with a profound bow: "We are Russians engaged in +completing the circumnavigation of the globe. It was our intention to +go directly to Monterey and present our official documents, as well as +our respects, to your illustrious Governor, but owing to contrary winds +and a resultant scarcity of provisions, we were under the necessity of +putting into the nearest harbor. The Juno is navigated by Lieutenant +Davidov and Lieutenant Khovstov, of the Imperial Navy of Russia; by +gracious permission associated with the Marine of the Russo-American +Company." He paused a moment, and then swept out his trump card with a +magnificent flourish: "Our expedition is in command of His Excellency, +Privy Counsellor and Grand Chamberlain Baron Rezanov, late Ambassador +to the Court of Japan, Plenipotentiary of the Russo-American Company, +Imperial Inspector of the extreme eastern and northwestern American +dominions of His Imperial Majesty, Alexander the First, Emperor of all +the Russias, whose representatives in these waters he is." + +The Spaniards were properly impressed as the priest translated with the +glibness of the original; but Arguello, who announced himself as +Commandante ad interim of the Presidio of San Francisco during the +absence of his father at Monterey, nodded sagely several times, and +then held a short conference in Spanish with the interpreter. The +priest turned to the Russians with a smile as diplomatic as that which +Rezanov had drilled upon the ugly ingenuous countenance of his medicine +man. + +"Our illustrious Governor, Don Jose Arrillaga, received word from the +court of Spain, now quite two years ago, of the sailing in 1803 from +Kronstadt of the ships Nadeshda and Neva, in command of Captain +Krusenstern and Captain Lisiansky, the former having on board the +illustrious Ambassador to Japan, the Privy Counsellor and Chamberlain +de Rezanov. It was expected that these ships would touch at more than +one of His Most Holy Catholic Majesty's vast dominions, and all +viceroys and gobernador proprietarios were alike instructed to receive +the exalted representatives of the mighty Emperor of Russia with +hospitality and respect. But we cannot understand why his excellency +comes to us so late and in so small a ship, rather than in the state +with which he sailed from Europe." + +"The explanation is simple, my father. The original ships, from a +variety of circumstances, were, upon our arrival at Kamchatka, at the +conclusion of the embassy to Japan, under the necessity of returning at +once to Europe. His Imperial Majesty, Alexander the First, ordered the +Chamberlain and plenipotentiary, the representative of imperial power +in the Russo-American possessions, to remove to the Juno for the +purpose of visiting the Kurile and Aleutian Islands, Kadiak and the +northwestern coast of America." The Tsar had never heard of the Juno, +but as Rezanov was practically his august self in these far-away +waters, there was enough of truth in this statement to appease the +conscience of a subordinate. + +The Spaniards were satisfied. Lieutenant Arguello begged that the +emissaries would return to the ship and invite the Chamberlain and his +party to come at once to the Presidio and do it the honor to partake of +the poor hospitality it afforded. An officer galloped furiously for +horses. + +A few moments later they were still more deeply impressed by the +appearance of their distinguished visitor as he stood erect in the boat +that brought him to shore. In full uniform of dark green and gold +lace, with cocked hat and the splendid order of St. Ann on his breast, +Rezanov was by far the finest specimen of a man the Californians, +themselves of ampler build than their European ancestors, had ever +beheld. Of commanding stature and physique, with an air of highest +breeding and repose, he looked both a man of the great world and an +intolerant leader of men. His long oval face was thin and somewhat +lined, the mouth heavily moulded and closely set, suggestive of sarcasm +and humor; the nose long, with arching and flexible nostrils. His eyes, +seldom widely opened, were light blue, very keen, usually cold. Like +many other men of his position in Europe, he had discarded wig and +queue and wore his short fair hair unpowdered. + +It was a singularly imposing but hardly attractive presence, thought +young Arguello, until Rezanov, after stepping on shore and bowing +formally, suddenly smiled and held out his hand. Then the +impressionable Spaniard "melted like a woman," as he told his sister, +Concha, and would have embraced the stranger on either cheek had not +awe lingered to temper his enthusiasm. But Rezanov never made a +stauncher friend than Louis Arguello, who vowed to the last of his days +that the one man who had fulfilled his ideal of the grand seigneur was +he that sailed in from the North on that fateful April morning of 1806. + + + +II + +As Rezanov, heading the procession with young Arguello, entered the +wide gates of the Presidio, he received an impression memorably +different from that which led earlier travelers to describe it +inclemently as a large square surrounded by mud houses, thatched with +reeds. It is true that the walls were of adobe and the roofs of tule, +nor was there a tree on the sand hills encircling the stronghold. But +in this early springtime--the summer of the peninsula--the hills showed +patches of verdure, and all the low white buildings were covered by a +network of soft dull green and archaic pink. The Castilian rose, full +and fluted, and of a chaste and penetrating fragrance, hung singly and +in clusters on the pillars of the dwellings, on the barracks and +chapel, from the very roofs; bloomed upon bushes as high as young +trees. The Presidio was as delicately perfumed as a lady's bower, and +its cannon faced the ever-changing hues of water and island and hill. + +As the party approached, heads of all ages appeared between the vines, +and there was a low murmur of irrepressible curiosity and delight. + +"We do not see many strangers in this lonely land," said Arguello +apologetically. "And never before have we had so distinguished a guest +as your excellency. It was always a gala day when ever a Boston +skipper came in with a few bales of goods and a complexion like the +hides we sold him. Now, alas! they are no longer permitted to enter +our ports. Governor Arrillaga will have none of contraband trade and +slaying of our otter. And as for Europeans other than Spaniards, save +for an English sea captain now and then, they know naught of our +existence." + +But Rezanov had not come to California on the impulse of a moment. He +replied suavely: "There you are mistaken. Your illustrious father, Don +Jose Mario de Arguello, is well known to us as the most respected, +eminent and influential character in the Californias. It was my +intention, after paying a visit of ceremony to his excellency, Governor +Arrillaga, to come to San Francisco for the sole purpose of meeting a +man whose record has inspired me with the deepest interest. And we +have all heard such wonderful tales of your California, of its beauty, +its fertility, of the beneficent lives of your missionaries--so +different from ours--and of the hospitality and elegance of the +Spaniards, that it has been the objective point of my travels, and I +have found it difficult to curb my impatience while attending to +imperative duties elsewhere." + +"Ay! senor!" exclaimed the young Californian. "What you say fills me +with a pride I cannot express, and I can only regret that the reports +of our poor habitations should be so sadly exaggerated. Such as our +possessions are, however, they are yours while you deign to remain in +our midst. This is my father's house. I beg that you will regard it +as your own. Burn it if you will!" he cried with more enthusiasm than +commonly enlivened the phrases of hospitality. "He will be proud to +know that a lifetime of severe attention to duty and of devotion to his +King have won him fame abroad as well as at home. He has risen to his +present position from the ranks, but he is of pure Spanish blood, not a +drop of Indian; and my mother was a Moraga, of the best blood of +Spain," he added artlessly. "As to the beauty and variety of our +country, senor, of course you will visit our opulent south; but--" +They had dismounted at the Commandante's house in the southeast corner +of the square. Arguello impulsively led Rezanov back to the gates and +pointed to the east. "I have crossed those mountains and the mountains +beyond, Excellency, and seen fertile and beautiful valleys of a vast +extent, watered by five rivers and bound far, far away by mountains +covered with snow and gigantic trees. The valley beyond the southern +edge of the bay, where the Missions of Santa Clara and San Jose are, is +also rich, but those between the ranges is an empire; and one day when +the King sends us more colonists, we shall recompense Spain for all she +has lost." + +"I congratulate you!" Rezanov, indifferent to his host's ancestral +tree, had lifted an alert ear. His quick incisive brain was at work. +"I should like to stretch my legs over a horse for a week at a time, +and even to climb your highest mountains. You may imagine how much +exercise a man may get on a vessel of two hundred and six tons, and it +is thirty-two days since I left Sitka. To look upon a vast expanse of +green--to say nothing of possible sport--after a winter of incessant +rain and impenetrable forests--what a prospect! I beg you will take me +off into the wilderness as soon as possible." + +"I promise you the Governor shall not withhold his consent--and there +are bear and deer--quail, wild duck--your excellency will enjoy that +beautiful wild country as I have done." Arguello was enchanted at the +prospect of fresh adventure in the company of this fascinating +stranger. "But we are once more at our poor abode, senor. I beg you +to remember that it is your own." + +They ascended the steps of the piazza, suddenly deserted, and it seemed +to Rezanov that every sense in his being quivered responsively to the +poignant sweetness of the Castilian roses. He throbbed with a sudden +exultant premonition that he stood on the threshold of an historic +future, with a pagan joy in mere existence, a sudden rush of desire for +the keen wild happiness of youth. Such is the elixir of California in +the north and the spring. + +They entered a long sala typical of its day and of many to come; +whitewashed walls hung with colored prints of the Virgin and saints; +horsehair furniture, matting, deep window seats; and a perennial +coolness. The Chamberlain (his court title and the one commonly +attached to his name) made himself as comfortable as the slippery chair +would permit, and Arguello went for his mother. + +Langsdorff, who had lingered on the piazza with the priest, entered in +a moment. + +"The good padre tells me that this rose of Castile is the only imported +flower in California," he cried, with enthusiasm, for although not a +botanist, there was a bump between his eyes as big as a child's fist +and he had a nose like the prow of a toy ship. "Many cuttings were +brought from Spain--" + +"What difference does it make where it came from?" interrupted Rezanov +testily. "Is it not enough that it is beautiful, but it must have a +pin stuck through it like some poor devil of a butterfly?" + +"Your excellency has also the habit to probe into things he deems +worthy of his attention," retorted the offended scientist; but he was +obliged to closet his wrath. An inner door opened and the host +reappeared with his mother and a fair demonstration of her virtues. +She was a very large woman dressed loosely in black, but she carried +herself with an air of complete, if somewhat sleepy, dignity, and it +was evident that her beauty had been great. Her full face had lost its +contours, but time had spared the fine Roman nose and the white skin, +that birthright of the high-bred Castilian. Arguello presented his +family ceremoniously as the guest of honor rose and bowed with formal +deference. + +"My mother, Dona Ignacia Arguello, your excellency, who unites with me +in praying that you will regard our home as yours during your sojourn +in the north. My sister, Maria de la Concepcion Marcella Arguello, and +my little sisters, Ana Paula and Gertrudis Rudisinda. My brothers: +Gervasio--soldado distinguido of the San Francisco Company; Santiago, a +cadet in the same company; Francesco and Toribio, whose presence at the +table I beg you will overlook, for when we are so fortunate as to be +all together, senor, we cannot bear to be separated. My oldest +brother, alas--Ignacio--is studying for holy orders in Mexico, and my +sister Isabel visits at the Presidio of Santa Barbara. I beg that you +will be seated, Excellency." And he continued the introduction to the +lesser luminaries, with equal courtesy but fewer periods. + +Rezanov exchanged a few pleasant words with his smiling hostess before +she returned to her distracted maids preparing the dinner; but his eyes +during Arguello's declamation had wandered with a singular fidelity to +the beautiful face of the eldest daughter of the house. She had +responded with a humorous twinkle in her magnificent black eyes and not +a hint of diffidence. As she entered the room his brain had flashed +out the thought: "Thank heaven for a pretty girl after these three +abominable years!" Possibly his pleasure would have been salted with +pique had he guessed that her thought was the twin of his own. He was +the first man of any world more considerable than the petty court of +the viceroy of Mexico that had visited California in her time, and +excellent as she found his tall military figure and pale cold face, the +novelty of the circumstance fluttered her more. + +Dona "Concha" Arguello was the beauty of California, and although her +years were but sixteen her blood was Spanish, and she carried her tall +deep figure and fine head with the grace and dignity of an accomplished +woman. She had inherited the white skin and delicate Roman-Spanish +profile of the Moragas, but there was an intelligent fire in her eyes, +a sharp accentuation of nostril, and a full mobility of mouth, +childish, half-developed as that feature still was, that betrayed a +strong cross-current forcing the placid maternal flow into rugged and +unexplored channels, while assimilating its fine qualities of pride and +high breeding. Gervasio and Santiago resembled their sister in +coloring and profile, but lacked her subtle quality of personality and +divine innocence. Luis was more the mother's son than the +father's--saving his olive skin; a grandee, modified by the +simplicities of a soldier's life, amiable and upright. Dona Ignacia +recognized in Concha the quintessence of the two opposing streams, and +had long since ceased to impose upon a girl who had little else but her +liberties, the conventional restrictions of the Spanish maiden. Concha +had already received many offers of marriage and regarded men as mere +swingers of incense. Moreover, her cultivated mind was filled with +ideals and ideas far beyond anything California would yield in her day. + +As Rezanov, upon Dona Ignacia's retreat, walked directly over to her, +she smilingly seated herself on a sofa and swept aside her voluminous +white skirts. She was not sure that she liked him, but in no doubt +whatever of her delight at his advent. + +Her manners were very simple and artless, as are the manners of most +women whom Nature has gifted with complexity and depth. + +"It is now two years and more that we have been excited over the +prospect of this visit," she said. "But if you will tell me what you +have been doing all this time, I, at least, will forgive you; for you +will never be able to imagine, senor, how I long to hear of the great +world. I stare at the map, then at the few pictures we have. I know +many books of travel by heart; but I am afraid my imagination is a poor +one, for I cannot conjure up great cities filled with people--thousands +of people! DIOS DE MI ALMA! A world where there is something besides +mountains and water, grain fields, orchards, forests, earthquakes, and +climate? Will you, senor?" + +"For quite as many hours as you will listen to me. I propose a +compact. You shall improve my Spanish. I will impart all I know of +Europe--and of Asia--if your curiosity reaches that far." + +"Even of Japan?" There was a wicked spark in her eye. + +"I see you already have some knowledge of the cause of my delay." His +voice was even, but a wound smarted. "It is quite true, senorita, that +the first embassy to Japan, from which we hoped so much, was a +humiliating failure, and that I was played with for six months by a +people whom we had regarded as a nation of monkeys. When my health +began to suffer from the long confinement on shipboard--we had +previously been fourteen months at sea--and I asked to be permitted to +live on shore while my claims to an audience were under consideration, +I was removed with my suite to a cage on a strip of land nearly +surrounded with water, where I had less liberty and exercise than on +shipboard. Finally, I had a ridiculous interview with a 'great man,' +in which I accomplished nothing but the preservation of what personal +dignity a man may while sitting on his heels; the superb presents of +the Tsar were returned to me, and I was politely told to leave. Japan +wanted neither the friendship of Russia nor her gimcracks. That, +senorita, is the history of the first Russian Embassy--for the +tentative visit of Adam Lanxmann, twelve years before, can be dignified +by no such title--to Oriental waters. It is to be hoped that Count +Golofkin, who was to undertake a similar mission to China, has met with +a better fate." + +Underneath the polished armour of a man who was a courtier when he +chose and the dominating spirit always, he was hot and quick of temper. +His light cold eyes glowed with resentment at the dancing lights in +hers, as he cynically gave her a bald abstract of the unfortunate +mission. He reflected that commonly he would have fitted a different +mask to the ugly skull of fact, but this young barbarian, as he chose +to regard her, excited the elemental truth in him, defying him to +appear at his worst. He was astonished to see her eyes suddenly soften +and her mouth tremble. + +"It must have been a hateful experience--hateful!" Her voice, +beginning on its usual low soft note, rose to a hoarse pitch of +indignation. "I should have killed somebody! To be a man, and strong, +and caressed all one's life by fortune--and to be as helpless as an +Indian! Madre de dios!" + +"I shall take my revenge," said Rezanov shortly; but the wound closed, +and once more he became aware of the poignant sweetness of Castilian +roses. Concha wore one in her soft dusky hair, and another where the +little round jacket of white linen, gaily embroidered with pink, met on +her bosom. But if sentiment tempted him he was quickly poised by her +next remarks. She uttered them in a low tone, although the animated +conversation of the rest of the party would have permitted the two on +the sofa to exchange the vows of love unheard. + +"But what a practice for your diplomatic talents, Excellency! Poor +California! At least let me be the first to hear what you have come +for?" Her voice dropped to a soft cooing note, although her eyes +twinkled. "For the love of God, senor! I am so bored in this life on +the edge of the world! To see the seams and ravelings of a diplomatic +intrigue! I have read and heard of many, but never had I hoped to link +my finger in anything subtler than a quarrel between priest and +Governor, or the jealousy of Los Angeles for Monterey. I even will +help you--if you mean no harm to my father or my country. And I am not +a friend to scorn, senor, for my blessed father is as wax in my hands, +the dear old Governor adores me, and even Padre Abella, who thinks +himself a great diplomat, and is watching us out of the corner of his +eye, while I make him believe you pay me so many compliments my poor +little head turns round--Bueno senor!" As she raised her voice she +plucked the rose from her dress and tossed it to Rezanov. Then she +lifted her chin and pouted her childish lips at the ironical smile of +the priest. + +Rezanov was close to betraying his surprise; but as he cherished a +belief that the souls of all pretty women went to school to the devil +before entering upon earthly enterprise, he wondered that he had been +open to the illusion of complete ingenuousness in a descendant of one +of the oldest and subtlest civilizations of earth. Within that +luminous shell of youth there were, no doubt, whispering memories of +men and women steeped in court intrigue from birth, of triumphant +beauties that had lived for love and their power over the passions of +men as ardent as himself. It was quite possible that she might be as +useful as she desired. But his impulses were in leash. He merely +looked and murmured his admiration. + +"Better ask, what chance have I, a defenceless man, who has not seen a +charming woman for three years, against such practised art? If you can +hoodwink a Spanish priest, and manipulate a Governor who has won the +confidence of the most suspicious court in Europe, what fortune for a +barbarian of the north? Less than with Japan, I should think." + +He divested the rose of its thorns and many tight little buds, and +thrust the stem underneath the star of St. Ann. She lifted her chin +again and tossed her head. + +"You do not trust me, but you will. I fancy it will be before +long--for it is quite true that the Californians are not so easily +outwitted. And--even did I not help you, I would not--I vow, +senor!--betray you. Is it true that Russia is at war with Spain?" + +"What?" + +"Have you not heard? It was for that we were all so excited this +morning. We thought your ship might be the first of a fleet." + +"I have heard no such rumor, and you may dismiss it. Russia is too +much occupied with Napoleon Bonaparte, who has had himself crowned +Emperor, and by this time is probably at war with half Europe--" + +She interrupted him with flashing eye. The pink in her cheeks had +turned red. The thin nostrils of her pretty Roman nose fluttered like +paper. "Ah!" she exclaimed, again with that note of hoarseness in her +voice. "There is a great man, not a mere king on a throne his +ancestors made for him. Papa hates him because he has seized a throne. +AY YI! DIOS, but you should hear the words fly when we go to war +together. But I do not care that"--she snapped her firm white +fingers--"for all the Bourbons that are in Europe. Bonaparte! Do you +know him? Have you seen him?" + +"I have seen him insult poor Markov, our ambassador to France, when I +can assure you that he looked like neither a demi-god nor a gentleman. +When you have improved my Spanish I will tell you many anecdotes of +him. Meanwhile, am I to assume that you reserve your admiration for +the man that carves his career in defiance of the rusty old machinery?" + +"I do! I do! My father was of the people, a poor boy. He has risen +to be the most powerful of all Californians, although the King he +adores never makes him Gobernador Proprietario. I tell him he should +be the first to recognize the genius and the ambitions of a Bonaparte. +The mere thought horrifies him. But in me that same strong plebeian +blood makes another cry, and if my father had but enough men at his +back, and the will to make himself King of the Californias--Madre de +Dios! how I should help him!" + +"At least I know her better than she knows me," thought Rezanov, as the +inner door was thrown open and another bare room with a long table +laden with savory food on a superb silver service was revealed. "And +if I know anything of women, I can trust her--for as long as she may be +necessary, at all events." + + + +III + +"Santiago!" whispered Concha. "Do not go down to the ship. Take me +for a walk. I have much to say." + +Santiago, who had not been asked to form one of the escort upon the +return of the Russians to the Juno for the night, felt injured and +sulky and deigned no reply. + +"If you do not, I'll not braid your hair to-morrow," said his sister, +giving his arm a little shake; and he succumbed. The luxuriant tresses +of the male Arguellos were combed and braided and tied with a ribbon +every morning by the women of the family, and Concha's fingers were the +gentlest and deftest. And Concha and Santiago were more intimate than +even the rest of that united family. They had studied and read +together, were equally dissatisfied with their narrow existence, +ambitious for a wider experience. Santiago consoled himself with cards +and training roosters for battle, and otherwise as a man may. He was +but fifteen, this haughty, severe-looking young hidalgo, but while in +some respects many years older than his sister, in others he was +younger, for he possessed none of her illuminating instinct. + +She led him through a postern gate, round the first of the dunes, and +they were alone in a waste of sand. She demanded abruptly: + +"What do you think of our illustrious visitor?" + +"I like him. He would wring your neck if you got in his way, but has a +kind heart for those that call him master. I like that sort of a man. +I wish he would take me away with him." + +"He shall--one of these days. Santiago mio, let me whisper--" She +pulled his ear down to her lips. "He will marry me. I feel it. I +know it. He has talked to me the whole day. He has told me grave +secrets. Not even to you would I reveal them. So many have loved +me--why should not he? I shall live in St. Petersburg, and see all +Europe!--thousands of people--Dios mio! Dios mio!" + +"Indeed!" Santiago, still unamiable, responded to this confidence with +a sneer. "You aspire very high for a little girl of the wilderness, +without fortune, and only half a coat-of-arms, so to speak. Do you +know that this Rezanov--Dr. Langsdorff has told us all about him--is a +great noble, one of the ten barons of Russia, and a Chamberlain in +accordance with a decree of Peter the Great that court titles should be +bestowed as a reward for distinguished services alone? He got a +fortune in his youth by marriage with a daughter of Shelikov--that +Siberian who founded the Russian colonies in America. The wife died +almost immediately, but the Baron's influence remained with +Shelikov--for his influence at court was even greater--and after the +older man's death, with his mother-in-law, who is uncommonly clever. +Shelikov's schemes were but little sketches beside Rezanov's, who from +merely a courtier and a gay blood about town developed into a great man +of business, with an ambition to correspond. It was he who got the +Imperial ukase that gave the Russian-American Company its power to +squeeze all the other fur hunters and traders out of the northeast, and +made Rezanov and everybody belonging to it so rich your head would swim +if I told you the number of doubloons they spend in a year. Nobody has +ever been so clever at managing those old beasts of autocrats as he. +They think him merely the accomplished courtier, a brilliant +dilettante, a condescending patron of art and letters, a devotee of +pleasure, and all the time he is pulling their befuddled old brains +about to suit himself. The Tsar Paul was a lunatic and they murdered +him, but meanwhile he signed the ukase. The Tsar Alexander, who is not +so bad nor so silly as the others, thinks there is no man so clever as +Rezanov, who addresses him personally when sending home his reports. +Do you know what all that means? Your plenipotentiary is not only a +Chamberlain at court, a Privy Councillor, and the Tsar himself on this +side of the world, but when his inspections and reforms are concluded, +and he is one of the wealthiest men in Russia, he will return to St. +Petersburg and become so high and mighty that a princess would snap at +him. And you aspire! I never heard such nonsense." + +"His excellency told me much of this," replied Concha imperturbably. +"And I am sure that he cares nothing for princesses and will marry whom +he most admires. He would not say, but I know he cared nothing for +that poor little wife, dead so long ago. It was a mariage de +convenance, such as all the great world is accustomed to. He will love +me more than all the fine ladies he has ever seen. I feel it. I know +it! And I am quite happy." + +"Do you love him?" asked Santiago, looking curiously at his sister's +flushed and glowing face. It seemed to him that she had never looked so +young. "Many have loved you. I had begun to think you had no heart +for men, no wish for anything but admiration. And now you give your +heart in a day to this Russian--who must be nearly forty--unasked." + +"I have not thought of my heart at all. But I could love him, of +course. He is so handsome, so kind, so grand, so gay! But love is for +men and wives--has not my mother said so? Now I think only of St. +Petersburg! of Paris! of London! of the beautiful gowns and jewels I +shall wear at court--a red velvet train as long as a queen's, and all +embroidered with gold, a white veil spangled with gold, a head-dress a +foot high studded with jewels, ropes of diamonds and pearls--I made him +tell me how the great ladies dressed. Ah! there is the pleasure of +being a girl--to think and dream of all those beautiful things, not of +when the wife must live always for the husband and children. That +comes soon enough. And why should I not have all!--there is so little +in life for the girl. It seems to me now that I have had nothing. +When he asks me to marry him he will tell me of the fine things I shall +have and the great sights I shall witness--the ceremonies at court, the +winter streets--with snow--snow, Santiago!--where the great nobles +drive four horses through the drifts like little hills, and are wrapped +in furs like bears! The grand military parades--how I shall laugh when +I think of our poor little Presidios with their dozen officers +strutting about--" She stopped abruptly and bursting wildly into tears +flung herself into her brother's arms. "But I never could leave you! +And my father! my mother! all! all! Ay, Dios de mi alma! what an +ingrate I am! I should die of homesickness! My Santiago! My +Santiago!" + +Santiago patted her philosophically. "You are not going to-morrow," he +reminded her. "Don't cross your bridges until you come to them. That +is a good proverb for maids and men. You might take us all with you, +or spend every third year or so in California. No doubt you would need +the rest. And meanwhile remember that the high and mighty Chamberlain +has not yet asked for the honor of an alliance with the house of +Arguello, and that your brother will match his best fighting cock +against your new white lace mantilla from Mexico, that he is not +meditating any project so detrimental to his fortunes. Console +yourself with the reflection that if he were, our father and the +priests, and the Governor himself, would die of apoplexy. He is a +heretic--a member of the Greek Church! Hast thou lost thy reason, +Conchita? Dry your eyes and come home to sleep, and let us hear no +more of marriage with a man who is not only a barbarian of the north +and a heretic, but so proud he does not think a Californian good enough +to wash his decks." + + + +IV + +It was long before Rezanov slept that night. The usual chill had come +in from the Pacific as the sun went down, and the distinguished visitor +had intimated to his hosts that he should like to exercise on shore +until ready for his detested quarters; but Arguello dared not, in the +absence of his father, invite the foreigner even to sleep in the house +so lavishly offered in the morning; although he had sent such an +abundance of provisions to the ship that the poor sailors were deep in +sleep, gorged like boa-constrictors; and he could safely promise that +while the Juno remained in port her larder should never be empty. He +shared the evening bowl of punch in the cabin, then went his way +lamenting that he could not take his new friends with him. + +Rezanov paced the little deck of the Juno to keep his blood in stir. +There was no moon. The islands and promontories on the great sheet of +water were black save for the occasional glow of an Indian camp-fire. +There was not a sound but the lapping of the waves, the roar of distant +breakers. The great silver stars and the little green stars looked +down upon a solitude that was almost primeval, yet mysteriously +disturbed by the restless currents in the brain of a man who had little +in common with primal forces. + +Rezanov was uneasy on more scores than one. He was annoyed and +mortified at the discovery--made over the punch bowl--that the girl he +had taken to be twenty was but sixteen. It was by no means his first +experience of the quick maturity of southern women--but sixteen! He +had never wasted a moment on a chit before, and although he was a man +of imagination, and notwithstanding her intelligence and dignity, he +could not reconcile properties so conflicting with any sort of feminine +ideal. + +And the pressing half of his mission he had confided to her! No man +knew better than he the value of a tactful and witty woman in the +political dilemmas of life; more than one had given him devoted +service, nor ever yet had he made a mistake. After several hours spent +in the society of this clever, politic, dissatisfied girl he had come +to the conclusion that he could trust her, and had told her of the +lamentable condition of the creatures in the employ of the +Russian-American Company; of their chronic state of semi-starvation, of +the scurvy that made them apathetic of brain and body, and eventually +would exterminate them unless he could establish reciprocal trade +relations with California and obtain regular supplies of farinaceous +food; acknowledged that he had brought a cargo of Russian and Boston +goods necessary to the well-being of the Missions and Presidios, and +that he would not return to the wretched people of Sitka, at least, +without a generous exchange of breadstuffs, dried meats, peas, beans, +barley and tallow. Not only had he no longer the courage to witness +their misery, but his fortune and his career were at stake. His entire +capital was invested in the Company he had founded, and he had failed +in his embassy to Japan--to the keen mortification of the Tsar and the +jubilation of his enemies. If he left the Emperor's northeastern +dominions unreclaimed and failed to rescue the Company from its +precarious condition, he hardly should care to return to St. Petersburg. + +Dona Concha had listened to this eloquent harangue--they sat alone at +one end of the long sala while Luis at the other toiled over letters to +the Governor and his father advising them of the formidable honor of +the Russian's visit--in exactly the temper he would have chosen. Her +fine eyes had melted and run over at the moving tale of the sufferings +of the servants of the Company--until his own had softened in response +and he had impulsively kissed her hand; they had dilated and flashed as +he spoke of his personal apprehensions; and when he had given her a +practical explanation of his reasons for coming to California she had +given him advice as practical in return. + +He must withhold from her father and the Governor the fact of his +pressing need; they were high officials with an inflexible sense of +duty, and did all they could to enforce the law against trading with +foreigners. He was to maintain the fiction of belting the globe, but +admit that he had indulged in a dream of commercial relations--for a +benefit strictly mutual--between neighbors as close as the Spanish and +Russians in America. This would interest them--what would not, on the +edge of the world?--and they would agree to lay the matter, reinforced +by a strong personal plea, before the Viceroy of Mexico; who in turn +would send it to the Cabinet and King at Madrid. Meanwhile, he was to +confide in the priests at the Mission. Not only would their sympathies +be enlisted, but they did much trading under the very nose of the +government. Not for personal gain--they were vowed to a life of +poverty; but for their Indian converts; and as there were twelve +hundred at the Mission of San Francisco, they would wink at many things +condemnable in the abstract. He had engaged to visit them on the +morrow, and he must take presents to tempt their impersonal cupidity, +and invite them to inspect the rest of his wares--which the Governor +would be informed his Excellency had been forced to buy with the Juno +from the Yankee skipper, D'Wolf, and would rid himself of did +opportunity offer. + +Rezanov had never received sounder advice, and had promptly accepted +it. Now, as he reflected that it had been given by a girl of sixteen, +he was divided between admiration of her precocity and fear lest she +prove to be too young to keep a secret. Moreover, there were other +considerations. + +Rezanov, although in his earlier years he had so far sacrificed his +interests and played into the hands of his enemies, in avoiding the too +embarrassing partiality of Catherine the Great, had nevertheless held a +high place at court by right of birth, and been a man of the world +always; rarely absent from St. Petersburg during the last and least +susceptible part of the imperial courtesan's life, the brief reign of +Paul, and the two years between the accession of Alexander and the +sailing of the Nadeshda. Moreover, there was hardly another court of +importance in Europe with which he was not familiar, and few men had +had a more complete experience of life. And the life of a courtier, a +diplomat, a traveller, noble, wealthy, agreeable to women by divine +right, with active enemies and a horde of flatterers, in daily contact +with the meaner and more disingenuous corners of human nature, is not +conducive to a broad optimism and a sweet and immutable Christianity. +Rezanov inevitably was more or less cynical and blase', and too long +versed in the ways of courts and courtiers to retain more than a +whimsical tolerance of the naked truth and an appreciation of its +excellence as a diplomatic manoeuvre. Nevertheless, he was by nature +too impetuous ever to become under any provocation a dishonest man, and +too normally a gentleman to deviate from a certain personal code of +honor. He might come to California with fair words and a very definite +intention of annexing it to Russia at the first opportunity, but he was +incapable of abusing the hospitality of the Arguellos by making love to +their sixteen-year-old daughter. Had she been of the years he had +assumed, he would have had less scruple in embarking upon a flirtation, +both for the pastime and the use he might make of her. A Spanish +beauty of twenty, still unmarried, would be more than his match. But a +child, however precocious, inevitably would fall in love with the first +uncommon stranger she met; and Rezanov, less vain than most men of his +kind, and with a fundamental humanity that was the chief cause in his +efforts to improve the condition of his wretched promuschleniki, had no +taste for the role of heart-breaker. + +But the girl had proved her timeliness; would, if trustworthy, be of +further use in inclining her father and the Governor toward such of his +designs as he had any intentions of revealing; and, weighing carefully +his conversations with her, he was disposed to believe that she would +screen and abet him through vanity and love of intrigue. After the +dinner, in the seclusion of the sala, he had taken pains to explore for +the causes of her mental maturity. Concha had told him of Don Jose +Arguello's ambition that his children in their youth should have the +education he had been forced to acquire in his manhood; he had taught +them himself, and notwithstanding his piety and the disapproval of the +priests, had permitted them to read the histories, travels, and +biographies he received once a year from the City of Mexico. Rezanov +had met Madame de Stael and other bas bleus, and given them no more of +his society than politeness demanded, but although astonished at the +amount of information this young girl had assimilated, he found nothing +in her manner of wearing her intellectual crown to offend his +fastidious taste. She was wholly artless in her love of books and of +discussing them; and nothing in their contents had disturbed the +sweetest innocence he had ever met. Of the little arts of coquetry she +was mistress by inheritance and much provocation, but her unawakened +inner life breathed the simplicity and purity of the elemental roses +that hovered about her in his thoughts. Her very unsusceptibility made +the game more dangerous; if it piqued him--and he aspired to be no more +than human--he either should have to marry her, or nurse a sore spot in +his conscience for the rest of his life; and for neither alternative +had he the least relish. + +He dismissed the subject at last with an impatient shrug. Perhaps he +was a conceited ass, as his English friends would say; perhaps the +Governor would be more amenable than she had represented. No man could +forecast events. It was enough to be forearmed. + +But his thoughts swung to a theme as little disburdening. His needs, +as he had confided to Concha, were very pressing. The dry or frozen +fish, the sea dogs, the fat of whales, upon which the employees of the +Company were forced to subsist in the least hospitable of climes, had +ravaged them with scorbutic diseases until their numbers were so +reduced by death and desertion that there was danger of depopulation +and the consequent bankruptcy of the Company. Since June of the +preceding year until his departure from New Archangel in the previous +month, he had been actively engaged in inspection of the Company's +holdings from Kamchatka to Sitka: reforming abuses, establishing +schools and libraries, conceiving measures to protect the fur-bearing +animals from reckless slaughter both by the promuschleniki and +marauding foreigners; punishing and banishing the worst offenders +against the Company's laws; encouraging the faithful, and sharing +hardships with them that sent memories of former luxuries and pleasures +scurrying off to the realms of fantasy. But his rule would be +incomplete and his efforts end in failure if the miserable Russians and +natives in the employ of the Company were not vitalized by proper food +and cheered with the hope of its permanence. + +In Santiago's story of the Russian visitor's achievements and status +there was the common mingling of truth and fiction the exalted never +fail to inspire. Rezanov, although he had accomplished great ends +against greater odds, was too little of a courtier at heart ever to +have been a prime favorite in St. Petersburg until the accession of a +ruler with whom he had something in common. A dissolute woman and a +crack-brained despot were the last to appreciate an original and +independent mind, and the seclusion of Alexander had been so complete +during the lifetime of his father that Rezanov barely had known him by +sight. But the Tsarovitz, enthusiastic for reform and a passionate +admirer of enterprise, knew of Rezanov, and no sooner did he mount his +gory throne than he confirmed the Chamberlain in his enterprise, and +two years later made him a Privy Counsellor, invested him with the +order of St. Ann, and chose him for the critical embassy to the verdant +realm with the blind and gateless walls. + +Rezanov had conquered so far in life even less by address than by the +demonstration of abilities very singular in a man of his birth and +education. When he met Shelikov, during the Siberian merchant-trader's +visit to St. Petersburg in 1788, he was a young man with little +interest in life outside of its pleasures, and a patrimony that enabled +him to command them to no great extent and barely to maintain the +dignity of his rank. Shelikov's plan to obtain a monopoly of the fur +trade in the islands and territories added by his Company to Russia, +possibly throughout the entire possession, thus preventing the +destruction of sables, seals, otters, and foxes by small traders and +foreigners, interested him at once; or possibly he was merely +fascinated at first by the shrewd and dauntless representative of a +class with which he had never before come in contact. The accidental +acquaintance ripened into intimacy, Rezanov became a partner in the +Shelikov-Golikov Company, and married the daughter of his new friend. +After the death of his father-in-law, in 1795, his ambitions and +business abilities, now fully awake, prompted him to obtain for himself +and his partners rights analogous to those granted by England to the +East India Company. Shelikov had won little more than half the power +and privileges he had solicited of Catherine, although he had +amalgamated the two leading companies, drawn in several others, and +built ships and factories and forts to protect them. And if the +regnant merchants made large fortunes, the enterprise in general +suffered from the rivalries between the various companies, and above +all from lack of imperial support. + +Rezanov, his plans made, brought to bear all the considerable influence +he was able to command, called upon all his resources of brain and +address, and brought Catherine to the point of consenting to sign the +charter he needed. Before it was ready for the imperial signature she +died. Rezanov was forced to begin again with her ill-balanced and +intractable son. Natalie Shelikov, his famous mother-in-law, the old +shareholders of the Company, and the many new ones that had subscribed +to Rezanov's ambitious project, gave themselves up to despair. For a +time the outlook was dark. The personal enemies of Rezanov and the +bitter and persistent opponents of the companies threw themselves +eagerly into the scale with tales of brutality of the merchants and the +threatened extirpation of the fur-bearing animals. Paul announced his +attention to abolish all the companies and close the colonies to +traders big and little. + +But the enemy had a very subtle antagonist in Rezanov. Apparently +dismissing the subject, he applied himself to gaining a personal +ascendancy over the erratic but impressionable Tsar. No one in the +opposing camp could compare with him in that fine balance of charm and +brain which was his peculiar gift, or in the adroit manipulation of a +mind propelled mainly by vanity. He studied Paul's moods and +character, discovered that after some senseless act of oppression he +suffered from a corresponding remorse, and was susceptible to any plan +that would increase his power and add lustre to his name. The +commercial and historic advantages of prosperous northeastern +possessions were artfully instilled. At the opportune moment Rezanov +laid before him a scheme, mature in every detail, for a great company +that would add to the wealth of Russia, and convince Europe of the +sound commercial sense and immortal wisdom of its sovereign. Without +more ado he obtained his charter. + +This momentous instrument granted to the "Russian-American Company +under our Highest Protection," "full privileges, for a period of twenty +years on the coast of northwestern America, beginning from latitude 55 +degrees north, and including the chain of islands extending from +Kamchatka northward, and southward to Japan; the exclusive right to all +enterprises, whether hunting, trading, or building, and to new +discoveries; with strict prohibition from profiting from any of these +pursuits, not only to all parties who might engage in them on their own +responsibility, but also to those who formerly had ships and +establishments there, except those who have united with the new +Company." All private traders who refused to join the Company were to +be allowed to sell their property and depart in peace. + +Thus was formed the first of the Trusts in America; and the United +States never has had so formidable a menace to her territorial +greatness as this Russian nobleman who paced that night the wretched +deck of the little ship he had bought from one of her skippers. +Perturbed in mind at his recent failures and immediate prospects, he +was no less determined to take California from the Spaniards either by +absorption or force. + +On his way from New Archangel to San Francisco he had met with his +second failure since leaving St. Petersburg. It was his intention to +move the Sitkan colony down to the mouth of the Columbia River; not +only pressed by the need of a more beneficent soil, but as a first +insidious advance upon San Francisco Bay. Upon this trip it would be +enough to make a survey of the ground and bury a copper plate +inscribed: "Possession of the Russian Empire." The Juno had +encountered terrific storms. After three desperate attempts to reach +the mouth of the river, Rezanov had been forced to relinquish the +enterprise for the moment and hasten with his diseased and almost +useless crew to the nearest port. It was true that the attempt could +be made again later, but Rezanov, sanguine of temperament, was +correspondingly depressed by failure and disposed to regard it as an +ill-omen. + +An ambassador inspired by heaven could have accomplished no more with +the Japanese at that mediaeval stage of their development than he had +done, and the most indomitable of men cannot yet control the winds of +heaven; but sovereigns are rarely governed by logic, and frequently by +the favorite at hand. The privilege of writing personally to the Tsar, +in his case, meant more and less than appeared on the surface. It was +a measure to keep the reports of the Company out of the hands of the +Admiralty College, its bitterest enemy, and always jealous of the Civil +Service. Nevertheless, Rezanov knew that he had no immediate reason to +apprehend the loss of Alexander's friendship and esteem; and if he +placed the Company, in which all the imperial family had bought shares, +on a sounder basis than ever before, and doubled its earnings by +insuring the health of its employees, he would meet, when in St. +Petersburg again, with practically no opposition to his highest +ambitions. These ambitions he deliberately kept in a fluid state for +the present. Whether he should aspire to great authority in the +government, or choose to rule with the absolute powers of the Tsar +himself these already vast possessions on the Pacific--to be extended +indefinitely--would be decided by events. All his inherited and +cultivated instincts yearned for the brilliant and complex +civilizations of Europe, but the new world had taken a firm hold upon +his humaner and appealed more insidiously to his despotic. Moreover, +Europe, torn up by that human earthquake, Napoleon Bonaparte, must lose +the greater half of its sweetness and savor. All that, however, could +be determined upon his return to St. Petersburg in the autumn. + +But meanwhile he must succeed with these Californians, or they might +prove, toy soldiers as they were, more perilous to his fortunes than +enemies at court. He could not afford another failure; and news of +this attempt and an exposition of all that depended upon it were +already on the road to the capital of Russia. + +He had known, of course, of the law that forbade the Spanish colonies +to trade with foreign ships, but he had relied partly upon the use he +could make of the orders given by the Spanish King at the request of +the Tsar regarding the expedition under Krusenstern, partly upon his +own wit and address. But although the royal order had insured him +immediate hospitality and saved him many wearisome formalities, he had +already discovered that the Spanish on the far rim of their empire had +lost nothing of their connate suspicion. Rather, their isolation made +them the more wary. Although they little appreciated the richness and +variousness of California's soil, and not at all this wonderful bay +that would accommodate the combined navies of the world, pocketing +several, the pious zeal of the clergy in behalf of the Indians, and the +general policy of Spain to hold all of the western hemisphere that +disintegrating forces would permit, made her as tenacious of this vast +territory she had so sparsely populated as had she been aware that its +foundations were of gold, conceived that its climate and soil were a +more enduring source of wealth than ever she would command again. If +Rezanov was not gifted with the prospector's sense for ores--although +he had taken note of Arguello's casual reference to a vein of silver +and lead in the Monterey hills--no man ever more thoroughly appreciated +the visible resources of California than he. Baranhov, chief-manager +of the Company, had talked with American and British skippers for +twenty years, and every item he had accumulated Rezanov had extracted. +To-day he had drawn further information from Concha and her brothers; +and their artless descriptions as well as this incomparable bay had +filled him with enthusiasm. What a gift to Russia! What an +achievement to his immortal credit! The fog rolled in from the Pacific +in great white waves and stealthily enfolded him, obliterated the sea +and the land. But he did not see it. Apprehension left him. Once +more he fell to dreaming. In the course of a few years the Company +would attract a large population to the mouth of the Columbia River, be +strong enough to make use of any favorable turn in European politics +and sweep down upon California. The geographical position of Mexico, +the arid and desolate, herbless and waterless wastes intervening, would +prohibit her sending any considerable assistance overland; and, all +powerful at court by that time, he would take care that the Russian +navy inspired Spain with a distaste for remote Pacific waters. He had +long since recovered from the disappointment induced by the orders +compelling him to remain in the colonies. The great Company he had +heretofore regarded merely as a source of income and a means of +advancing his ambitions, he now loved as his child. Even during the +marches over frozen swamps and mountains, during the terrible winter in +Sitka when he had become familiar with illness and even with hunger, +his ardor had grown, as well as his determination to force Russia into +the front rank of Commercial Europe. The United States he barely +considered. He respected the new country for the independent spirit +and military genius that had routed so powerful a nation as Great +Britain, but he thought of her only as a new and tentative civilization +on the far shores of the Atlantic. After some experience of travel in +Siberia, and knowing the immensity and primeval conditions of +north-western America, he did not think it probable that the little +cluster of states, barely able to walk alone, would indulge in dreams +of expansion for many years to come. He had heard of the projected +expedition of Lewis and Clarke to the mouth of the Columbia, +but--perhaps he was too Russian--he did not take any adventure +seriously that had not a mighty nation at its back. And as it was +almost the half of a century from that night before the American flag +flew over the Custom House of Monterey, there is reason to believe that +Russian aggression under the leadership of so energetic and resourceful +a spirit as Nicolai Petrovich de Rezanov was in a fair way to make +history first in the New Albion of Drake and the California of the +incompetent Spaniard. + + + +V + +The Russians were to call at the house of the Commandante on their way +to the Mission, and Concha herself made the chocolate with which they +were to be detained for another hour. It was another sparkling +morning, one of the few that came between winter and summer, summer and +winter, and made even this bleak peninsula a land of enchantment before +the cold winds took the sand hills up by their foundations and drove +them down to Yerba Buena, submerging the battery and every green thing +by the way; or the great fogs rolled down from the tule lands of the +north and in from the sea, making the shivering San Franciscan forget +that not ten miles away the sun was as prodigal as youth. For a few +weeks San Francisco had her springtime, when the days were warm and the +air of a wonderful lightness and brightness, the atmosphere so clear +that the flowers might be seen on the islands, when man walked with +wings on his feet and a song in his heart; when the past was done with, +the future mattered not, the present with its ever changing hues on bay +and hill, its cool electrical breezes stirring imagination and pulse, +was all in all. + +And it was in San Francisco's springtime that Concha Arguello made +chocolate for the Russian to whom she was to give a niche in the +history of her land; and sang at her task. She whirled the molinillo +in each cup as it was filled, whipping the fragrant liquid to froth; +pausing only to scold when her servant stained one of the dainty +saucers or cups. Poor Rosa did not sing, although the spring attuned +her broken spirit to a gentler melancholy than when the winds howled +and the fog was cold in her marrow. She had been sentenced by the last +Governor, the wise Borica, to eight years of domestic servitude in the +house of Don Jose Arguello for abetting her lover in the murder of his +wife. Concha, thoughtless in many things, did what she could to +exorcise the terror and despair that stared from the eyes of the Indian +and puzzled her deeply. Rosa adored her young mistress and exulted +even when Concha's voice rose in wrath; for was not she noticed by the +loveliest senorita in all the Californias, while others, envious and +spiteful to a poor girl no worse than themselves, were ignored? + +Concha's cheeks were as pink as the Castilian roses that grew even +before the kitchen door and were quivering at the moment under the +impassioned carolling of a choir of larks. Her black eyes were full of +dancing lights, like the imprisoned sun-flecks under the rose bush, and +never had indolent Spanish hands moved so quickly. + +"Mira! Mira!" she cried to the luckless Rosa. "That is the third time +thou hast spilt the chocolate. Thy hands are of wood when they should +be of air. A soft bit of linen to clean them, not that coarse rag. +Dios de mi alma! I shall send for Malia." + +"For the love of Mary, senorita, have pity!" wailed Rosa. +"There--see--thanks to the Virgin I have poured three cups without +spilling a drop. And this rag is of soft linen. Look, Dona Concha, is +it not true?" + +"Bueno; take care thou leavest not one drop on a saucer and I will +forgive thee--do not kiss my hand now, foolish one! How can I whirl +the molinillo? Be always good and I will burn a candle for thee every +time I go to the Mission. The Russians go to the Mission this morning. +Hast thou seen the Russians, Rosa?" + +"I have seen them, senorita. Did I not serve at table yesterday?" + +"True; I had forgotten. What didst thou think of them?" + +"What matters it to such great folk what a poor Indian girl thinks of +them? They are very fair, which may be the fashion in their country; +but I am not accustomed to it; and I like not beards." + +"His excellency wore no beard--he who sat on my mother's right and +opposite to me." + +"He is very grand, senorita; more grand than the Governor, who after +all has red hair and is old. He is even grander than Don Jose, whom +may the saints preserve; or than the padres at the mission. Perhaps he +is a king, like our King and natural lord in spain. (El rey nuestro y +senor natural.) Is he a king, senorita?" + +"No, but he should be. Rosa, thou mayest have my red cloak that came +from Mexico--last year. I have a new one and that is too small. I had +intended to give it to Ana Paula, but thou art a good girl and should +have a gay mantle for Sunday, like the other girls. I have also a red +ribbon for thy hair--" + +Rosa spilt half the contents of the chocolate pot on the floor and +Concha gave her a sound box on the ear. However, she did not dismiss +her, a sentence for which the trembling girl prepared herself. + +"Make more--quickly!" cried the lady of caprice. "They come. I hear +them. But this is enough for the first. Make the rest and beat with +the molinillo as I have done, and Malia will bring all to the corridor." + +She ran to her room and her mirror. Both were small, the room little +more luxurious than the cell of a nun. But the roses hung over the +window, the birds had built in the eaves, and over the wall the sun +shone in. In one corner was an altar and a crucifix. If the walls +were rough and white, they were spotless as the hands that shook out +and then twisted high the fine dusky masses of hair. When a fold had +been drawn over either ear, in the modest fashion of the California +maid and wife, and the tall shell comb had fastened the rest, Concha +instead of finishing the headdress with her long Spanish pins, divested +the stems of two half-blown roses of their thorns and thrust them +obliquely through the knot. Her dress was of simple white linen made +with a very full skirt and little round jacket, but embroidered by her +own deft fingers with the color she loved best. She patted her frock, +rolled down her sleeves, and went out to the "corridor" to stand +demurely behind her mother as the Russians, escorted by Father Ramon +Abella, rode into the square. + +Rezanov had intended merely to pay a call of ceremony upon the +hospitable Arguellos, but after he had dismounted and kissed the hands +of the smiling senora and her beautiful daughter he was nothing loath +to linger over a cup of chocolate. + +It was served out there in the shade of the vines. Rezanov and Concha +sat on the railing, and the man stared over his cup at the girl with +the roses touching her cheeks and ruffling her hair. + +"Do you like chocolate, senor?" asked Concha, who was not in the +intellectual mood of yesterday. "I made it myself--I and my poor Rosa." + +"It is the most delectable foam I have ever tasted. I am interested to +know that it has the solid foundation of a name. What is the matter +with your Rosa?" + +"She is an unfortunate. Her lover killed his wife, and it is said that +she is not innocent herself. The lover serves in chains for eight +years, and she is with us that we may make her repent and keep her from +further sin. She is unhappy and will marry the man when his punishment +is over. I am very sorry for her." + +"Fancy you living close to a woman like that! I find it detestable." + +"Why?--if I can do her good--and make her happy, sometimes?" + +"Does she ever talk about her life--before she came here?" + +"Oh, no; she is far too sad. Once only, when I told her I would pray +for her in the Mission Church, she asked me to burn a candle that her +lover might serve his sentence more quickly and come out and marry her. +Will you light one for her to-day, senor?" + +"With the greatest pleasure; if you really want your maid to marry a +man who no doubt will murder her for the sake of some other woman." + +"Oh, surely not! He loves her. I know that many men love more than +once, but when they are punished like that, they must remember." + +"Is it true that you are only sixteen? Is that an impertinent +question? I cannot help it. Those years are so few, and so much +wisdom has gone into that little head." + +"Sixteen is quite old." Concha drew herself up with an air of offended +dignity. "Elena Castro, who lives on the other side, is but eighteen +and she has three little ones. The Virgin brought them in the night +and left them in the big rosebush you see before the door--one at a +time, of course. Only the old nurse knew; the Virgin whispered it +while she was saying a prayer for Elena; and early in the morning she +came and found the dear little baby and put it in Elena's arms. I am +the godmother of the first--Conchitita. In Santa Barbara, where we +lived for some years, Anita Amanda Carillo, the friend of Ana Paula, is +married, although she is but twelve and sits on the floor all day and +plays with her dolls. She prays every night to the Virgin to bring her +a real baby, but she is not old enough to take care of it and must +wait. Twelve is too young to marry." Concha shook her head. Her eyes +were wise, and Rezanov noted anew that her mouth alone was as young as +her years. "My father would not permit such a thing. I am glad he is +not anxious we should marry soon. I should love to have the babies, +though; they are so sweet to play with and make little dresses for. +But my mother says the Virgin does not bring the little ones to good +girls--poor Rosa had one but it died--until their parents find them a +husband first. I have never wanted a husband--" Concha darted a swift +glance over her shoulder, but Santiago was in the clutches of the +learned doctor and wishing that he knew no Latin; "so I go every day +and play with Elena's babies, which is well enough." + +Rezanov listened to this innocent revelation with the utmost gravity, +but for the first time in many years he was conscious of a novel +fascination in a sex to which he had paid no niggard's tribute. In his +world the married woman reigned; it was doubtful if he had ever had ten +minutes' conversation with a young girl before, never with one whose +face and form were as arresting as her crystal purity. He was +fascinated, but more than ever on his guard. As he rode over the sand +hills to the Mission she clung fast to his thoughts and he speculated +upon the woman hidden away in the depths of that lovely shell like the +deep color within the tight Castilian buds that opened so slowly. He +recalled the personalities of the young officers that surrounded her. +They were charming fellows, gay, kindly, honest; but he felt sure that +not one of them was fit to hold the cup of life to the exquisite young +lips of Concha Arguello. The very thought disposed him to twist their +necks. + + + +VI + +The Mission San Francisco de Assisi stood at the head of a great valley +about a league from the Presidio and facing the eastern hills. Behind +it, yet not too close, for the priests were ever on their guard against +Indians more lustful of loot than salvation, was a long irregular chain +of hills, breaking into twin peaks on its highest ridge, with a lone +mountain outstanding. It was an imposing but forbidding mass, as steep +and bare as the walls of a fortress; but in the distance, north and +south, as the range curved in a tapering arc that gave the valley the +appearance of a colossal stadium, the outlines were soft in a haze of +pale color. The sheltered valley between the western heights and the +sand hills far down the bay where it turned to the south, was green +with wheat fields, and a small herd of cattle grazed on the lower +slopes. The beauty of this superbly proportioned valley was further +enhanced by groves of oaks and bay trees, and by a lagoon, +communicating with an arm of the bay, which the priests had named for +their Lady of Sorrows--Nuestra Senora de los Dolores. The little sheet +of water was almost round, very green and set in a thicket of willows +that were green, too, in the springtime, and golden in summer. Near +its banks, or closer to the protecting Mission--on whose land grant +they were built--were the comfortable adobe homes of the few Spanish +pioneers that preferred the bracing north to the monotonous warmth of +the south. Some of these houses were long and rambling, others built +about a court; all were surrounded by a high wall, enclosing a garden +where the Castilian roses grew even more luxuriantly than at the +Presidio. The walls, like the houses, were white, and on those of Don +Juan Moraga, a cousin of Dona Ignacia Arguello, the roses had been +trained to form a border along the top in a fashion that reminded +Rezanov of the pink edged walls of Fiesole. + +The white red-tiled church and the long line of rooms adjoining were +built of adobe with no effort at grandeur, but with a certain noble +simplicity of outline that harmonized not only with the lofty reserve +of the hills but with the innocent hope of creating a soul in the +lowest of human bipeds. The Indians of San Francisco were as +immedicable as they were hideous; but the fathers belabored them with +sticks and heaven with prayer, and had so far succeeded that if as yet +they had sown piety no higher than the knees, they had trained some +twelve hundred pairs of hands to useful service. + +On the right was a graveyard, with little in it as yet but rose trees; +behind the church and the many spacious rooms built for the consolation +of virtue in the wilderness was a large building surrounding a court. +Girls and young widows occupied the cells on the north side, and the +work rooms on the east, while the youths, under the sharp eye of a lay +brother, were opposite. All lived a life of unwilling industry: +cleaning and combing wool, spinning, weaving, manufacturing chocolate, +grinding corn between stones, making shoes, fashioning the simple +garments worn by priest and Indian. Between the main group of +buildings and the natural rampart of the "San Bruno Mountains" was the +Rancheria, where the Indian families lived in eight long rows of +isolated huts. + +In spite of vigilance an Indian escaped now and again to the mountains, +where he could lie naked in the sun and curse the fetich of +civilization. As the Russians approached, a friar, with deer-skin +armor over his cassock, was tugging at a recalcitrant mule, while a +body-guard of four Indians stood ready to attend him down the coast in +search of an enviable brother. The mule, as if in sympathy with the +fugitive, had planted his four feet in the earth and lifted his voice +in derision, while the young friar, a recruit at the Mission, and far +from enamored of his task, strained at the rope, and an Indian pelted +the hindquarters with stones. Suddenly, the mule flung out his heels, +the enemy in the rear sprawled, the rope flew loose, the beast with a +loud bray fled toward the willows of Dolores. But the young priest was +both agile and angry. With a flying leap he reached the heaving back. +The mule acknowledged himself conquered. The body-guard trotted on +their own feet, and the party disappeared round a bend of the hills. + +Rezanov laughed heartily and even the glum visage of Father Abella +relaxed. + +"It is a common sight, Excellency," he said. "We are thankful to have +a younger friar for such fatiguing work. Many a time have I belabored +stubborn mules and bestrode bucking mustangs while searching for one of +these ungrateful but no doubt chosen creatures. It is the will of God, +and we make no complaint; but we are very willing, Father Landaeta and +I, that youth should cool its ardor in so certain a fashion while we +attend to the more reasonable duties at home." + +They were dismounted at the door of the church. The horses were led off +by waiting Indians. The soldiers on guard saluted and stepped aside, +and the party entered. Two priests in handsome vestments stood before +the altar, but the long dim nave was empty. The Russians had been told +that a mass would be said in their honor, and they marched down the +church and bent their knees with as much ceremony as had they been of +the faith of their hosts. When the short mass was over, Rezanov +bethought himself of Concha's request, and whispering its purport to +Father Abella was led to a double iron hoop stuck with tallow dips in +various stages of petition. Rezanov lit a candle and fastened it in an +empty socket. Then with a whimsical twist of his mouth he lit and +adjusted another. + +"No doubt she has some fervent wish, like all children," he thought +apologetically. "And whether this will help her to realize it or not, +at least it will be interesting to watch her eyes--and mouth--when I +tell her. Will she melt, or flash, or receive my offering at her +shrine as a matter of course? I'll surprise her to-night in the middle +of a dance." + +He deposited a gold piece among the candles on the table and followed +Father Abella through a side door. A corridor ran behind the long line +of rooms designed not only for priests but for travellers always sure +of a welcome at these hospitable Missions. Father Abella shuffled +ahead, halted on the threshold of a large room, and ceremoniously +invited his guests to enter. Two other priests stood before a table +set with wine and delicate confections, their hands concealed in their +wide brown sleeves, but their unmatched physiognomies--the one lean and +jovial, the other plump and resigned--alight with the same smile of +welcome. Father Abella mentioned them as his coadjutor Father Martin +Landaeta, and their guest Father Jose Uria of San Jose; and then the +three, with the scant rites of genuine hospitality, applied themselves +to the tickling of palates long unused to ambrosial living. Responding +ingenuously to the glow of their home-made wines, they begged Rezanov +to accept the Mission, burn it, plunder it, above all, to plan his own +day. + +"I hope that I am to see every detail of your great work," replied the +diplomatic guest of honor. "But at your own leisure. Meanwhile, I beg +that you will order one of your Indians to bring in the little presents +I venture to offer as a token of my respect. You may have heard that +the presents of his Imperial Majesty were refused by the Mikado of +Japan. I reserved many of them for possible use in our own +possessions, particularly a piece of cloth of gold. This I had +intended for our church at New Archangel, but finding the priests there +more in need of punishment than reward, I concluded to bring it here +and offer it as a manifest of my admiration for what the great +Franciscan Order of the Most Holy Church of Rome has accomplished in +the Californias. Have I been too presumptuous?" + +The priests all wore the eager expressions of children. + +"Could we not see them first?" asked Father Landaeta of his superior; +and Father Abella sent a servant with an order to unload the horse and +bring in the presents. + +Not a vestige of reserve lingered. Priests and guests sat about the +table eating and drinking and chatting as were they old friends +reunited, and Rezanov extracted much of the information he desired. +The white population--"gente de razon"--of Alta California, the +peculiar province of the Franciscans--the Jesuits having been the first +to invade Baja California, and with little success--numbered about two +thousand, the Christianized Indians about twenty thousand. There were +nineteen Missions and four Presidial districts--San Diego, close to the +border of Baja California, Santa Barbara, Monterey, and San Francisco. +Each Mission had an immense grant of land, or rancho--generally fifteen +miles square--for the raising of live stock, agricultural necessities, +and the grape. At the Presidio of San Francisco there were some seventy +men, including invalids; and the number varied little at the other +military centres, Rezanov inferred, although there was a natural effort +to impress the foreigner with the casual inferiority of the armed force +within his ken. Cattle and horses increased so rapidly that every few +years there was a wholesale slaughter, although the agricultural yield +was enormous. What the Missions were unable to manufacture was sent +them from Mexico, and disposed of the small salaries of the priests; +the "Pious Fund of California" in the city of Mexico being +systematically embezzled. The first Presidio and Mission were founded +at San Diego in July of 1769; the last at San Francisco in September +and October of 1776. + +Rezanov's polite interest in the virgin country was cut short by the +entrance of two Indians carrying heavy bundles, which they opened upon +the floor without further delay. + +The cloth of gold was magnificent, and the padres handled it as +rapturously as had their souls and fingers been of the sex symbolized +while exalted by the essence of maternity, in whose service it would be +anointed. Rezanov looked on with an amused sigh, yet conscious of +being more comprehending and sympathetic than if he had journeyed +straight from Europe to California. It was not the first time he had +felt a passing gratitude for his uncomfortable but illuminating sojourn +so close to the springs of nature. + +The priests were as well pleased with the pieces of fine English cloth; +and as their own homespun robes rasped like hair shirts, they silently +but uniformly congratulated themselves that the color was brown. + +Father Abella turned to Rezanov, his saturnine features relaxed. + +"We are deeply grateful to your excellency, and our prayers shall +follow you always. Never have we received presents so timely and so +magnificent. And be sure we shall not forget the brave officers that +have brought you safely to our distant shores, nor the distinguished +scholar who guards your excellency's health." He turned to Langsdorff +and repeated himself in Latin. The naturalist, whose sharp nose was +always lifted as if in protest against oversight and ready to pounce +upon and penetrate the least of mysteries, bowed with his hand on his +heart, and translated for the benefit of the officers. + +"Humph!" said Davidov in Russian. "Much the Chamberlain will care for +the prayers of the Catholic Church if he has to go home with his cargo. +But he has a fine opportunity here for the display of his diplomatic +talents. I fancy they will avail him more than they did at +Nagasaki--where I am told he swore more than once when he should have +kowtowed and grinned." + +"I shouldn't like to see him grin," replied Khostov, as they finally +started for the outbuildings. "If he could go as far as that he would +be the most terrible man living. Were it not for the fire in him that +melts the iron just so often he would be crafty and cruel instead of +subtle and firm. He is a fortunate man! There were many fairies at +his cradle! I have always envied him, and now he is going to win that +beautiful Dona Concha. She will look at none of us." + +"We will doubtless meet others as beautiful at the ball to-night," said +Davidov philosophically. "You are not in love with a girl who has +barely spoken to you, I suppose." + +"She had almost given me a rose this morning, when Rezanov, who was +flattering the good Dona Ignacia with a moment of his attention, turned +too soon. I might have been air. She looked straight through me. +Such eyes! Such teeth! Such a form! She is the most enchanting girl I +have ever seen. And he will monopolize her without troubling to notice +whether we even admire her or not. Pray heaven he does not break her +heart." + +"He is honorable. One must admit that, if he does fancy his own will +was a personal gift from the Almighty. Perhaps she will break his. I +never saw a more accomplished flirt." + +"I know women," replied the shrewder Khostov. "When men like Rezanov +make an effort to please--" He shrugged his shoulders. "Some men are +the offspring of Mars and Venus and most of us are not. We can at +least be philosophers. Let us hope the dinner will be excellent." + + + +VII + +It proved to be the most delicate and savory repast that had excited +their appetites this side of Europe. The friars had their consolations, +and even Dona Ignacia Arguello was less gastronomic than Father +Landaeta. Rezanov, whose epicurianism had survived a year of dried +fish and the coarse luxuries of his managers, suddenly saw all life in +the light of the humorist, and told so many amusing versions of his +adventures in the wilderness, and even of his misadventure with Japan, +that the priests choked over their wine, and Langsdorff, who had not a +grain of humor, swelled with pride in his chance relationship to a man +who seemed able to manipulate every string in the human network. + +"He will succeed," he said to Davidov. "He will succeed. I almost +hoped he would not, he is so indifferent--I might almost say so +hostile--to my own scientific adventures. But when he is in this mood, +when those cold eyes brim with laughter and ordinary humanity, I am +nothing better than his slave." + +Rezanov, in reply to an entreaty from Father Uria to tell them more of +his mission and of the strange picture-book country they had never +hoped to hear of at first hand, assumed a tone of great frankness and +intimacy. "We were, with astounding cleverness, treated from the first +like an audience in a new theatre. After we had solemnly been towed by +a string of boats to anchor, under the Papen mountains, all Nagasaki +appeared to turn out, men, women and children. Thousands of little +boats, decorated with flags by day and colored lanterns by night, and +filled with people in gala attire, swarmed about us, gazed at us +through telescopes, were so thick on the bay one could have traversed +it on foot. The imperial sailors were distinguished by their uniforms +of a large blue and white check, suggesting the pinafores of a +brobdingnagian baby. The barges of the imperial princes were covered +with blue and white awnings and towed to the sound of kettledrums and +the loud measured cries of the boatmen. At night the thousands of +illuminated lanterns, of every color and shade, the waving of fans, the +incessant chattering, and the more harmonious noise that rose +unceasingly above, made up a scene as brilliant as it was juvenile and +absurd. In the daytime it was more interesting, with the background of +hills cultivated to their crests in the form of terraces, varied with +rice fields, hamlets, groves, and paper villas encircled with little +gardens as glowing and various of color as the night lanterns. When, +at last, I was graciously permitted to have a residence on a point of +land called Megasaki, I was conveyed thither in the pleasure barge of +the Prince of Fisi. There was place for sixty oarsmen, but as one of +the few tokens of respect, I was enabled to record for the comfort of +the mighty sovereign whose representative I was, the barge was towed by +a long line of boats, decorated with flags, the voices of the rowers +rising and falling in measured cadence as they announced to all Japan +the honor about to be conferred upon her. I sat on a chair of state in +the central compartment of the barge, and quite alone; my suite +standing on a raised deck beyond. Before me on a table, marvellously +inlaid, were my credentials. I was surrounded by curtains of sky-blue +silk and panels of polished lacquer inwrought with the Imperial arms in +gold. The awning of blue and white silk was lined with a delicate and +beautiful tapestry, and the reverse sides of the silken partitions were +of canvas painted by the masters of the country. The polished floor +was covered by a magnificent carpet woven with alarming dragons whose +jaws pointed directly at my chair of state. And such an escort and +such a reception, both of ceremony and of curiosity, no Russian had +ever boasted before. Flags waved, kettledrums beat, fans were flung +into my very lap to autograph. The bay, the hills, were a blaze of +color and a confusion of sound. The barracks were hung with tapestries +and gay silks. I, with my arms folded and in full uniform, my features +composed to the impassivity of one of their own wooden gods, was the +central figure of this magnificent farce; and it may be placed to the +ever-lasting credit of the discipline of courts that not one of my +staff smiled. They stood with their arms folded and their eyes on the +inlaid devices at their feet. + +"When this first act was over and I was locked in for the night and +felt myself able to kick my way through the flimsy walls, yet as +completely a prisoner as if they had been of stone, I will confess that +I fell into a most undiplomatical rage; and when I found myself played +with from month to month by a people I scorned as a grotesque mixture +of barbarian and mannikin, I was alternately infuriated, and consumed +with laughter at the vanity of men and nations." + +His voice dropped from its light ironical note, and became harsh and +abrupt with reminiscent disgust. "And the end of it all was failure. +The superb presents of the Tsar were rejected. These presents: coats +of black fox and ermine, vases of fossil ivory and of marble, muskets, +pistols, sabers, magnificent lustres, table services of crystal and +porcelain, tapestries and carpets, immense mirrors, a clock in the form +of an elephant, and set with precious stones, a portrait of the Tsar by +Madame le Brun, damasks, furs, velvets, printed cotton, cloths, +brocades of gold and silver, microscopes, gold and silver watches, a +complete electrical machine--presents in all, of the value of three +hundred thousand roubles, were returned with scant ceremony to the +Nadeshda and I was politely told to leave. + +"But the mortification was the least of my worries. The object of the +embassy was to establish not only good will and friendship between +Russia and Japan, for which we cared little, but commercial intercourse +between this fertile country and our northeastern and barren +possessions. It would have been greatly to the advantage of the +Japanese, and God knows it would have meant much to us." + +Then Rezanov having tickled the imaginations and delighted the +curiosity of the priests, began to play upon their heartstrings. His +own voice vibrated as he related the sufferings of the servants of the +Company, and while avoiding the nomenclature and details of their +bodily afflictions, gave so thrilling a hint of their terrible +condition that his audience gasped with sympathy while experiencing no +qualms in their own more fortunate stomachs. + +He led their disarmed understandings as far down the vale of tears as +he deemed wise, then permitted himself a magnificent burst of +spontaneity. + +"I must tell you the object of my mission to California, my kind +friends!" he cried, "although I beg you will not betray me to the other +powers until I think it wise to speak myself. But I must have your +sympathy and advice. It has long been my desire to establish relations +between Russia and Spain that should be of mutual benefit to the +colonies of both in this part of the western hemisphere. I have told +you of the horrible condition and needs of my men. They must have a +share in the superfluities of this most prodigal land. But I make no +appeal to your mercy. Trade is not founded on charity. You well know +we have much you are in daily need of. There should be a bi-yearly +interchange." He paused and looked from one staring face to the other. +He had been wise in his appeal. They were deeply gratified at being +taken into his confidence and virtually asked to outwit the military +authorities they detested. + +Rezanov continued: + +"I have brought the Juno heavy laden, my fathers, and for the +deliberate purpose of barter. She is full of Russian and Boston goods. +I shall do my utmost to persuade your Governor to give me of his corn +and other farinaceous foods in exchange. It may be against your laws, +and I am well aware that for the treaty I must wait, but I beg you in +the name of humanity to point out to his excellency a way in which he +can at the same time relieve our necessities and placate his +conscience." + +"We will! We will!" cried Father Abella. "Would that you had come in +the disguise of a common sea-captain, for we have hoodwinked the +commandantes more than once. But aside from the suspicion and distrust +in which Spain holds Russia--with so distinguished a visitor as your +excellency, it would be impossible to traffic undetected. But there +must be a way out. There shall be! And will your excellency kindly +let us see the cargo? I am sure there is much we sadly need: cloth, +linen, cotton, boots, shoes, casks, bottles, glasses, plates, shears, +axes, implements of husbandry, saws, sheep-shears, iron wares--have you +any of these things, Excellency?" + +"All and more. Will you come to-morrow?" + +"We will! and one way or another they shall be ours and you shall have +breadstuffs for your pitiable subjects. We have as much need of Europe +as you can have of California, for Mexico is dilatory and often +disregards our orders altogether. One way or another--we have your +promise, Excellency?" + +"I shall not leave California without accomplishing what I came for," +said Rezanov. + + + +VIII + +Concha boxed Rosa's ears twice while being dressed for the ball that +evening. It was true that excitement had reigned throughout the +Presidio all day, for never had a ball been so hastily planned. Don +Luis had demurred when Concha proposed it at breakfast; officially to +entertain strangers not yet officially received exceeded his authority. +Concha, waxing stubborn with opposition, vowed that she would give the +ball herself if he did not. Business immediately afterward took the +Commandante ad. in. down to the Battery at Yerba Buena. Before he left +he gave orders that the large hall in the barracks, where balls usually +were held, should be locked and the key given up to no one but himself. +He returned in the afternoon to find that Concha had outwitted him. +The sala of the Commandante's house was very large. The furniture had +been removed and the walls hung with flags, those of Spain on three +sides, the Russian, borrowed by Santiago from the ship, at the head of +the room. Concha laughed gaily as Luis stormed about the sala rasping +his spurs on the bare floor. + +"Whitewashed walls for guests from St. Petersburg!" she jeered, as Luis +menaced the flags. "We have little enough to offer. Besides--what +more wise than to flaunt our flag in the face of the Russian bear? +Their flag, of course, is a mere idle compliment. Let me tell you two +things, Luis mio: this morning I invited the Russians to dance +to-night, and told Padre Abella to ask all our neighbors of the Mission +besides; and Rafaella Sal helped me to drape every one of those flags. +When I told her you might tear them down, she vowed that if you did she +would dance all night with the Bostonian." + +Luis lifted his shoulders and mustache to express an attitude of +contemptuous resignation, but his face darkened, and a moment later he +left the room and strolled up the square to the grating of Rafaella Sal. + +Concha well knew that the frank gray eyes of the Bostonian--all +citizens of the United States were Bostonians in that part of the +world, for only Boston skippers had the enterprise to venture so +far--were for no one but herself. But his face was bony and freckled, +and his figure less in height and vigor than her own. He was rich and +well-born, but shy and very modest. Concha Arguello, La Favorita of +California, was for some such dashing caballero as Don Antonio Castro +of Monterey, or Ignacio Sal, the most adventurous rider of the north. +Meanwhile he could look at her and adore her in secret, and Dona +Rafaella Sal was very kind and danced as well as himself. He never +dreamed that he was being used as a stalking horse to keep alive in the +best match in the Californias the jealous desire for exclusive +possession that had animated him in 1800 when he had applied through +the Viceroy of Mexico for royal consent to his marriage with the +Favorita of her year. That was six years ago and never a word had come +from Madrid. Luis was faithful, but men were men, and girls grew older +every day. So the wise Rafaella was alternately indifferent and +alluring, the object of more admiration than a maid could always repel, +yet with wells of sentiment that only one man could discover. And the +American was patient, and even had he known, would not in the least +have minded the use she made of him. He still could look at Concha +Arguello. + +William Sturgis had sailed in one of his father's ships, now six years +ago, from Boston in search of health. The ship in a dense fog had gone +on the rocks in the straits between the Farallones and the Bay of San +Francisco. He alone, and after long hours of struggle with the wicked +currents, not even knowing in what direction land might be, was flung, +senseless, on the shore below the Fort. For the next month he was an +invalid in the house of the Commandante. Fortunately, his papers and +money were sewn in an oilskin belt and his father's name was well known +in California. Moreover, there never was a more likable youth. His +illness interested all the matrons and maids of the Presidio in his +fate; when he recovered, his good dancing and unselfishness gave him a +permanent place in the regard of the women, while his entire absence of +beauty, and his ability to hold his own in the mess room, established +his position with the men. + +In due course word of his plight reached Boston, and a ship was +immediately despatched, not only to bring the castaway home, but with +the fine wardrobe necessary to a young gentleman of his station. But +the same ship brought word of his father's death--his mother had gone +long since--and as there were brothers enamored of the business he +hated, he decided to remain in the country that had won his heart and +given him health. For some time there was demur on the part of the +authorities; Spain welcomed no foreigners in her colonies. But Sturgis +swore a mighty oath that he would never despatch a letter uninspected +by the Commandante, that he would make no excursions into the heart of +the country, that he would neither engage in traffic nor interfere in +politics. Then having already won the affections of the Governor, he +was permitted to remain, even to rent an acre of land from the Church +in the sheltered Mission valley, and build himself a house. Here he +raised fruit and vegetables for his own hospitable table, chickens and +game cocks. Books and other luxuries came by every ship from Boston; +until for a long interval ships came no more. One of these days, when +the power of the priests had abated, and the jealousy which would keep +all Californians landless but themselves was counterbalanced by a great +increase in population, he meant to have a ranch down in the south +where the sun shone all the year round and he could ride half the day +with his vaqueros after the finest cattle in the country. He should +never marry because he could not marry Concha Arguello, but he could +think of her, see her sometimes; and in a land where a man was neither +frozen in winter nor grilled in summer, where life could be led in the +open, and the tendency was to idle and dream, domestic happiness called +on a feebler note than in less equable climes. In his heart he was +desperately jealous of Concha's favored cavaliers, but it was a +jealousy without hatred, and his kind, earnest, often humorous eyes, +were always assuring his lady of an imperishable desire to serve her +without reward. Of course Concha treated him with as little +consideration as so humble a swain deserved; but in her heart she liked +him better than either Castro or Sal, for he talked to her of something +besides rodeos and balls, racing and cock-fights; he had taught her +English and lent her many books. Moreover, he neither sighed nor +languished, nor ever had sung at her grating. But she regarded him +merely as an intelligence, a well of refreshment in her stagnant life, +never as a man. + +"Rose," she said, as she caught her hair into a high golden comb that +had been worn in Spain by many a beauty of the house of Moraga, and +spiked the knot with two long pins globed at the end with gold, while +the maid fastened her slippers and smoothed the pink silk stockings +over the thin instep above; "what is a lover like? Is it like meeting +one of the saints of heaven?" + +"No, senorita." + +"Like what, then?" + +"Like--like nothing but himself, senorita. You would not have him +otherwise." + +"Oh, stupid one! Hast thou no imagination? Fancy any man being well +enough as he is! For instance, there is Don Antonio, who is so +handsome and fiery, and Don Ignacio, who can sing and dance and ride as +no one else in all the Californias, and Don Weeliam Sturgis, who is +very clever and true. If I could roll them into one--a tamale of corn +and chicken and peppers--there would be a man almost to my liking. But +even then--not quite. And one man--what nonsense! I have too much +color to-night, Rosa." + +"No, senorita, you have never been so beautiful. When the lover comes +and you love him, senorita, you will think him greater than our natural +king and lord, and all other men poor Indians." + +"But how shall I know?" + +"Your heart will tell you, senorita." + +"My heart? My father and my mother will choose for me a husband whom I +shall love as all other women love their husbands--just enough and no +more. Then--I suppose--I shall never know?" + +"Would you marry at your parents' bidding, like a child, senorita? I +do not think you would." + +Concha looked at the girl in astonishment, but with a greater +astonishment she suddenly realized that she would not. Even her little +fingers stiffened in a rush of personality, of passionate resentment +against the shackles bound by the ages about the feminine ego. Her +individuality, long budding, burst into flower; her eyes gazed far +beyond her radiant image in the mirror with a look of terrified but +dauntless insight; then moved slowly to the girl that sat weeping on +the floor. + +"I know not what thy sin was," she said musingly. "But I have heard it +said thou didst obey no law but thine own will--and his. Why should +the punishment have been so terrible? Thou hast sworn to me thou didst +not help to murder the woman." + +"I cannot tell you, senorita. You will never know anything of sin; but +of love--yes, I think you will know that, and before very long." + +"Before long?" Concha's lips parted and the nervous color she had +deprecated left her cheeks. "What meanest thou, Rosa?" Her voice rose +hoarsely. + +And the Indian, with the insight of her own tragedy, replied: "The +Russian has come for you, senorita. You will go with him, far away to +the north and the snow. These others never could win your heart; but +this man who looks like a king, and as if many women had loved him, and +he had cared little-- Oh, senorita, Carlos was only a poor Indian, but +the men that women love all have something that makes them +brothers--the Great Russian and the poor man who goes mad for a moment +and kills one woman that he may live with another forever. The great +Russian is free, but he is the same, senorita--he too could kill for +love, and such are the men we women die for!" + +Concha, ambitious and romantic, eager for the brilliant life the advent +of this Russian nobleman seemed to herald, had assured Santiago that he +would love her; but they had been the empty words of the Favorita of +many conquests; of love and passion she had known, suspected, nothing. +As she watched Rosa, huddled and convulsed, little pointed arrows flew +into her brain. Girls in those old Spanish days went to the altar with +a serene faith in miracles, and it was a matter of honor among those +that preceded their friends to abet the parents in a custom which +assuredly did not err on the side of ugliness. Concha had a larger +vocabulary than other Californians of her sex, for she had read many +books, and if never a novel, she knew something of poetry. Sturgis had +filled the sala with the sonorous roll of his favorite masters and it +had pleased her ear; but the language of passion had been so many +beautiful words, neither vibrating nor lingering in her consciousness. +But the rude expression of the miserable woman at her feet, whose sobs +grew more uncontrollable every moment, made it forever impossible that +she should prattle again as she had to Santiago and Rezanov in the last +day and night; and although she felt as if straining her eyes in the +dark, her cheeks burned once more, and she rose uneasily and walked to +the window. + +She returned in a moment and stood over Rosa, but her voice when she +spoke had lost its hoarseness and was cold and irritated. + +"Control thyself," she said. "And go and bathe thine eyes. Wouldst +look like a tomato when it is time to pass the dulces and wines? And +think no more of thy lover until he can come out of prison and marry +thee." She drew herself away as the woman attempted to clutch her +skirts. "Go," she said. "The musicians are tuning." + + + +IX + +"The sash, Excellency?" Jon longed to see his master in full regalia +once more, and after all, was not this an embassy of a sort? But +Rezanov, who already regarded his reflection with some humor, shook his +head. + +"I'll go as far as decency permits, for no one is so impressed by +external magnificence as the Spaniard. But full dress uniform and +orders are enough; an ambassador's sash and they might suspect I took +them for the children they are. Children are not always fools. My +stock is too tight. Remember that I am to dance, and am too tall for +most women's pretty little ears. And I doubt if an ear is less thirsty +for being so provocatively screened." + +Jon, a "prince" whose family had fallen upon evil days long since, but +whose thin, clever fingers were no mean inheritance, unwound and +readjusted the folds of soft batiste, that most becoming neck vesture +man has ever worn. He fain would have pressed the matter of the sash, +but Rezanov, most indulgent of masters to this devoted servant, was +never patient of insistence. Jon also regretted the powdered wig and +queue, which he privately thought more befitting a fine gentleman than +his own hair, even though the latter were thick and bright. He said +tentatively: + +"I notice these Californians still wear the hair long; and with their +gay ribbons and showy hats look much better no doubt than if they +followed a fashion of which it would seem they had not heard--and +perhaps do not admire. I ventured to pack two of your excellency's +wigs when we were leaving St. Petersburg--" + +"Good heavens, no!" cried Rezanov, rising to his feet and casting a +last impatient glance at the mirror. "When a man has escaped from a +furnace does he run back of his own accord? My brain would cook under +a wig in this climate, and I need all my wits--for more reasons than +one." And he went up on deck. + +There, while awaiting his horses and escort, he had another glimpse of +the happy Arcadian life of the Californians. Over the sand hills +through which he had floundered twice that day rode young men in gala +attire, a maiden, her attire as brilliant as the sunset along the +western summits, on the saddle before them. These saddles were heavy +with silver, the blanket beneath was embroidered with both silver and +gold. Gay light laughter floated out on the cool evening breeze to the +little ship in the harbor. + +"It has been a good day," thought Rezanov, lowering his glass. "It is +like her to arrange so charming a finale." + +When he arrived at the Presidio the guitars were tinkling and the sala +was full of eager and somber faces. The Californians had come early, +determined to witness the arrival of the Russians. Very pretty most of +the girls were, and by no means a bevy of brunettes. There was hair of +every shade of brown, looped over the ears, drawn high and confined by +the high comb and the long pins; and Rafaella Sal, with her red hair +and gray eyes, was still celebrated as a beauty, although no longer in +her first youth--she was twenty-two, and should have been a matron and +mother long since! But she looked very handsome and coquettish in her +daring yellow frock that no other red head would have dared to wear, +and she displayed three ropes of Baja California pearls; one strand +being the common possession. The matrons, young and old, wore heavy +satins or brocades, either red or yellow, but the maids were in +flowered silks, sometimes with coquettish little jacket, generally with +long pointed bodice and full flowing skirt. Concha's frock was made in +this fashion, but quite different otherwise; an aunt in the City of +Mexico being mindful at whiles of the cravings of relatives in exile. +It was of a soft shimmering white stuff covered with gold spangles and +cut to reveal her young neck and arms. She stood at the head of the +room with her mother as Rezanov entered, and he noticed for the first +time how tall she was. She held herself proudly; mischievous twinkle, +nor child-like trust, nor flashing coquetry possessed her eyes; these, +even more star-like than usual, nevertheless looked upon her guests +with a dignified composure. Her lips, her skin, were luminous. In +this well-cut evening gown he saw that her figure was superb; and that +she could command stateliness as well as vivacity moved her toward a +pedestal in his regard that had been occupied by few and never for long. + +Rezanov, in his splendid uniform and blazing orders, filled the sala +with his presence as he walked past the rows of bright critical eyes +toward his hostesses. The young lips of the maids parted with delight +and the men frowned. For the first time William Sturgis felt the +sickness of jealousy instead of its not unagreeable pain. Davidov and +Khostov, both handsome and well-bred young men, were also in full naval +uniform, and by no means ignored; while Langsdorff, in the severe black +of the scholar, was an admirable foil. + +Rezanov, wondering at the subtle change in Concha, bowed ceremoniously +and murmured: "You will give me the first dance, senorita?" + +"Certainly, Excellency. Are you not the guest of honor?" + +She motioned to the Indian musicians, fiddles and guitars fairly leaped +to position, and in a moment Rezanov enjoyed the novel delusion of +encircling a girl's floating wraith. + +"We can waltz, you see! Are you not surprised?" + +"It is but one accomplishment the more. I feared a preference for your +native dances, but ventured to hope you would teach me." + +"They are easy to learn. You will watch us dance the contra-danza +after this." + +"With whom do you dance it?" + +Her black eyelashes were very thick; he barely caught the glance she +shot him. + +"The Russian bear growls," she said lightly. "Did you expect to dance +every dance with me?" + +"I came for no other purpose." + +"You would have several duels to fight to-morrow." + +"I have no objection." + +"You have fought others, then?" Her voice was the softer with the +effort to turn its edge. + +"No more than most men, I suppose. May I ask how many have been fought +for you?" + +"My memory is no better than yours. Why should I burden it with +trifles?" + +"True. It doubtless is charged with matters far more serious than the +desires of mere men. Tell me, senorita, what is your dearest wish?" +He had bent his head and fixed his powerful gaze on her stubborn +lashes. As he hoped, she raised startled eyes in which an angry +glitter dawned. + +"My dearest wish? If I had one should I tell you? Why do you ask me +such a question?" + +"Because I lit a candle at the Mission to-day that you might realize +it," he answered, smiling. + +To his surprise he saw a flash of terror in her eyes before she dropped +them, and felt her shiver. But she answered coldly: + +"You have wasted a candle, senor. I have never had a wish that was not +instantly gratified. But I thank you for the kind thought. Will you +finish this waltz with my friend, and the fiancee of Luis, Rafaella +Sal? She has quarrelled with Luis, I see; Don Weeliam is dancing with +Carolina Xime'no, and she cares to waltz with no one else. Pardon me +if I say that no one has ever waltzed as well as your excellency, and I +must not be selfish." + +"I will release you if you are tired, but otherwise I shall do myself +the honor to waltz with your friend later." + +"I must look after my other guests," she said coldly; and he was led +with what grace he could summon to the fair but sulky Rafaella. + +"How am I to help flirting with that girl?" he thought as he +mechanically guided another light and graceful partner through the +crowded room. "If she were one girl I might resist. But since eleven +o'clock yesterday morning she has been three. And if she was twenty +yesterday, twelve this morning, she is twenty-eight to-night, and this +might be a court ball in Madrid. I shall leave the day after I bring +the Governor to terms." + +He sat beside Dona Ignacia during the contra-danza and found the scene +remarkably brilliant and animated considering the primitive conditions. +In addition to the bright flags on the wall and the vivid colors of the +women, the officers of the Presidio and forts wore full dress uniform, +either white coats with red velvet vest, red pantaloons and sash, or +white trousers and scarlet coat and waistcoat faced with green. The +young men from the Mission wore small clothes of a black silk, fastened +at the knee with silver buckles, and white silk stockings; two +gentlemen from Monterey wore the evening costume of the capital, +dove-colored small clothes, with white silk waistcoat and stockings, +and much fine lawn and lace. The room was well lighted by many wicks +stuck in lumps of tallow. The Indian musicians, soldiers recruited +from a superior tribe in the Santa Clara valley, were clad almost +entirely in scarlet, and danced sometimes as they played; and Indian +girls, in short red skirts and snow-white smocks open at the throat, +their long hair decorated with flowers and ribbons, already passed +about wine and dulces. The windows were open. The sweet night air +blew in. + +The contra-danza was not unlike the square dances of England except +that it was far more graceful, and the men rivalled the women in their +supple glidings and bendings, doublings and swayings. Concha danced +with Ignacio Sal, Rafaella with William Sturgis; their pliant grace, as +facile as grain rippling before the wind, would have put the best +ballet in Europe to the blush. Concha's skirts swept Rezanov's feet, +her little slippers twinkled before his admiring eyes, and he lost no +sinuous turn or undulation of her beautiful figure; but she never +vouchsafed him a glance. + +When the dance finished his host introduced him to the prettiest of the +girls and he paid them as many compliments as their heads would stand. +He even took some trouble to talk to them, if only to fathom the +sources of their unlikeness to Concha Arguello. He concluded that the +gulf that separated her from these charming, vivacious, shallow young +girls was not dug by education alone. Individualities were rare enough +in Europe; out here, in earthly, but sparsely settled paradises, they +must be rarer still; but that one had wandered into the lovely shell of +Concha Arguello he no longer doubted. The fact that it had developed +haphazardly, with little or no help from her sentience, and was still +fluid and uncertain, but multiplied her in interest and charm. The +women to whom he was accustomed knew themselves, consequently were no +riddle to a man of his experience, but here he had an odd sense of +having entered into a compact in the dark with a girl who might one day +symbolize some high and impassioned ideal he had cherished in the days +before ideals had been cast aside with the negative virtues that bred +them. + +As he coolly studied the good looks of the young caballeros and the +plain intellectual face and slight little figure of the Bostonian, +noted the utter indifference with which they were treated by the +Favorita of Presidio and Mission, he felt a sudden rush of arrogance, a +youthful tingling of nerves, the same prophetic sense of imminent +happiness and power that his first contact with the light electrical +air and the beauty of the country had induced. After all, he was but +forty-two. Life on the whole had been very kind to him. And, although +he did not realize it as yet, his frame, blighted by the rigors of the +past three years, was already sensible to a renewal of juice and sap. +He admitted that he was more interested than he had been for many +years, and that if he was not in love, he tingled with a very natural +masculine desire for an adventure with a pretty girl. + +But he was by no means a weak man, and his mind counted the cost even +while his imagination hummed. He had almost decided to bid Dona +Ignacia an abrupt good-night, pleading fatigue, which his pallor +indorsed, when the door of the dining-room was thrown open to the +liveliest of fiddling, and a white hand with a singular suggestion of +tenacity both in appearance and clasp took possession of his arm. + +"My mother has gone to Gertrudis Rudisinda, who is crying," said +Concha. "It is my pleasure to lead your excellency in to supper." + +They sat side by side at the head of the long table almost covered by +the massive service of silver and loaded with evidences of Dona +Ignacia's generosity and skill; chickens in red rice and gravy, +oysters, tamales, dulces, pastries, fruits and pleasant drinks. Luis, +with Rafaella Sal dimpling and sparkling at his side, and now quite +resigned to the semi-official nature of the ball, rose and drank the +health of the distinguished guest in long and flowery praises. Rezanov +responded in briefer but no less felicitous vein, and concluded by +remarking that the only rift in the lute of his present enchanting +experience was the fear that whereas he had nearly died of starvation +several times during the past three years, he was now threatened with a +far more ignominious end, so delicious and irresistible were the +temptations that beset the wayfarer in this most hospitable land. Both +speeches were gaily applauded, the conversation became animated and +general, and Concha dropped her voice to the attentive ear beside her. + +"You were very successful to-day at the Mission, Excellency." + +"May I ask how you know?" + +"I never saw anything so serenely--arrogantly, perhaps would be a truer +description--triumphant as your bearing when you walked down our humble +sala to-night. You looked like Caesar returned from Gaul; but I +suppose that all great conquests are merely the sum of many small ones." + +"I do not regard the friendship of so shrewd a man as Father Abella a +trifling conquest. And according to yourself, dear senorita, it is +essential to the success of a mission upon which many lives and my own +honor depend." + +"Is it really so serious?" she asked with a faint sneer. + +He drew himself up stiffly and his light eyes glowed with anger. "It +is a subject I never should have thought of introducing at a festivity +like this," he said suavely. "May I be permitted to compliment you, +senorita, upon your marvellous grace in the contra-danza? It quite +turned my head, and I am delighted to hear that you will dance alone +after supper." + +Her face had flushed hotly. She dropped her eyes and her voice +trembled as she replied: "You humiliate me, senor, and I deserve it. +I--my poor Rosa told me something of her great tragedy while dressing +me, and for the moment other things seemed unimportant. What is hunger +and court favor beside a broken heart and a desolate life? But that of +course is the attitude of an ignorant girl." She raised her eyes. +They were soft, and her voice was softer. "I beg that you will forgive +me, senor. And be sure that I take an even deeper interest in your +great mission than yesterday. I have thought much about it, and while +I have told my mother nothing, I have expressed certain peevish hopes +that a ship would not come all the way from Sitka without taking a hint +more than one Boston skipper must have given, and brought us many +things we need. She is quite excited over the prospect of a new shawl +for herself, and of sending several as presents to the south; besides +many other things: cotton, shoes, kitchen utensils. Have you any of +these things, Excellency?" + +Rezanov stared at her face, barely tinted with color, dully wondering +why it should be so different from the one roguish, pathetically +innocent, that had haunted him all day. He asked abruptly: + +"Which is the friend whose little ones you envy? You have made me wish +to see them and her?" + +"That is Elena--beside Gervasio." She indicated a young woman with +soft, patient, brown eyes, the dignity of her race and the sweetness of +young motherhood, who would have looked little older than herself had +it not been for an already shapeless figure. "I can take you to-morrow +to see them if you wish." + +She had cast down her eyes and her face was white. Still he groped on. + +"Pardon me if I say that I am surprised your parents should permit such +a woman as this Rosa to attend you. Why should your happy life be +disturbed by the lamentations of an abandoned creature--who can do you +no good, and possibly much harm?" + +Still Concha did not raise her eyes. "I do not think poor Rosa would +do anyone harm. But perhaps it were as well she went elsewhere. We +have had her long enough. I have taken a dislike to her. I reproach +myself bitterly, but I cannot help it. I should like never to see her +again." + +"What has she told you?" Concha glanced up swiftly. His eyes were +blazing. She felt quite certain that he rolled a Russian oath under +his tongue, and she made a slight involuntary motion toward him, her +lips trembling apart. + +"Nothing," she murmured. "I do not know--I do not know. But I no +longer wish her near me. She--life is very strange and terrible, senor. +You know it well--I, so little." + +Rezanov felt his breath short and his hands cold. For a moment he made +no reply. Then he smiled charmingly and said in the conventional tone +that was ever at his command: "Of course you know little of life in +this Arcadia. One who hopes to be numbered among the best of your +friends prays that you never may. Yes, senorita, life is +strange--strangely commonplace and disillusionizing--but sometimes +picturesque. Believe me when I say that nothing stranger has ever +befallen me than to find out here on the lonely brink of a continent +nearly twenty thousand versts from Europe, a girl of sixteen with the +grand manner, and an intellect without the detestable idiosyncrasies of +the fashionable bas bleus I have hitherto had the misfortune to +encounter." + +She was tapping the table slowly with her fork, and he noted that her +soft, childish mouth was set. "No doubt you are quite right to put me +off," she said finally, and in a voice as even as his own. "And my +intellect would do me little good if it did not teach me to ignore +mysteries I can never hope to fathom. There is no such thing as life +in your sense in this forgotten corner of the world, nor ever will be +in my time. If you come back and visit us twenty years hence you will +find me fat and worn like Elena, and busy every minute like my +mother--unless, indeed, I marry Don Weeliam Sturgis and become a great +lady in Boston. It would not be so mean a fate." + +Rezanov darted a look of angry contempt at the pale young man who was +eating little and miserably watching the handsome pair at the head of +the table. "You will not marry him!" he said briefly. + +"I could do far worse." Concha's lashes framed an adorable glance that +sent the blood to the hair of the sensitive youth. "You have no idea +how clever and good he is. And--Madre de Dios!--I am so tired of +California." + +"But you are a part of it--the very symbol of its future, it seems to +me. I wish I had a sculptor in my suite. I should make him model you, +label the statue 'California,' and erect it on the peak of that big +island out there." + +"That is very poetical, but after all, you are only saying that I am a +pretty savage with an education that will be more common in the next +generation. It is little consolation for an existence where the most +exciting event in a lifetime is the arrival of a foreign ship or the +inauguration of a governor." And once more she smiled at Sturgis. He +raised his glass impulsively, and she hers in gay response. A moment +later she gave the signal to leave the table. Rezanov followed her back +to the sala chewing the cud of many reflections. + + + +X + +Concha had eaten no supper. As she entered the sala she clapped her +hands, the guests ranged themselves against the wall, the musicians, +livelier than ever, flew to their instruments; with the drifting, +swaying movement she could assume at will, she went slowly, absently, +to the middle of the room. Then she let her head drop backward, as if +with the weight of her hair, and Rezanov, vaguely angry, expected one +of those appeals to the senses for which Spanish women of another sort +were notorious. But Concha, after tapping the floor alternately with +the points and the wooden heels of her slippers, for a few moments, +suddenly made an imperious gesture to Ignacio Sal. He sprang to her +side, took her hand, and once more there was the same monotonous +tapping of toes and heels. Then they whirled apart, bent their lithe +backs until their brows almost touched the floor in a salute of mock +admiration, and danced to and from each other, coquetry in the very +tilt of her eyebrows, the bare semblance of masculine indulgence on his +eager, passionate face. Suddenly to the surprise of all, she snapped +her fingers directly under his nose, waved her hand, turned her back, +and made a peremptory gesture to that other enamoured young swain, +Captain Antonio Castro of Monterey. Don Ignacio, surprised and +discomfited, retired amidst the jeers of his friends, and Concha, with +her most vivacious and gracious manner, met Castro half way, and, +taking his hand, danced up and down the sala, slowly and with many +improvisations. Then, as they returned to the center of the room and +stepped lightly apart before joining in a gay whirl, she snapped her +fingers under HIS nose, made a gesture of dismissal over her shoulder, +and fluttered an uplifted hand in the direction of Sturgis. Again +there was a delighted laughter, again a discomforted knight and a +triumphant partner. + +"Concha always gives us something we do not expect," said Santiago to +Rezanov, whose eyes were twinkling. "The other girls dance El Son and +La Jota very gracefully--yes. But Conchita dances with her head, and +the musicians and the partner, when she takes one, have all they can do +to follow. She will choose you, next, senor." + +Rezanov turned cold, and measured the distance to the door. "I hope +not!" he said. "I should hate nothing so much as to make an exhibition +of myself. The dances I know--that is all very well--but to +improvise--for the love of heaven help me to get out!" + +But Santiago, who was watching his sister intently, replied: "Wait a +moment, Excellency. I do not think she will choose another. I know by +her feet that she intends to dance El Son--in her own way, of +course--after all." + +Concha circled about the room twice with Sturgis, lifted him to the +seventh heaven of expectancy, dismissed him as abruptly as the others. +Lifting her chin with an expression of supreme disdain for all his sex, +she stood a moment, swaying, her arms hanging at her sides. + +"I am glad she will not dance with Weeliam," muttered Santiago. "I +love him--yes; but the Spanish dance is not for the Bostonian." + +Rezanov awaited her performance with an interest that caused him some +cynical amusement. But in a moment he had surrendered to her once more +as a creature of inexhaustible surprise. The musicians, watching her, +began to play more slowly. Concha, her arms still supine, her head +lifted, her eyes half veiled, began to dance in a stately and measured +fashion that seemed to powder her hair and dissolve the partitions +before an endless vista of rooms. Rezanov had a sudden vision of the +Hall of the Ambassadors in the royal palace at Madrid, where, when a +young man on his travels, he had attended a state ball. There he had +seen the most dignified beauties of Europe dance at the most formal of +its courts. But Concha created the illusion of having stepped down +from the throne in some bygone fashion to dance alone for her subjects +and adorers. + +She raised her arms, barely budding at the top, with a gesture that was +not only the poetry of grace but as though bestowing some royal favor; +when she curved and swayed her body, again it was with the lofty +sweetness of one too highly placed to descend to mere seductiveness. +She glided up and down, back and forth, with a dreamy revealing motion +as if assisting to shape some vague impassioned image in the brain of a +poet. She lifted her little feet in a manner that transformed boards +into clouds. There were moments when she seemed actually to soar. + +"She is a little genius!" thought Rezanov enthusiastically. "Anything +could be made of a woman like that." + +It was not her dancing alone that interested him, but its effect on her +audience. The young men had begun with audible expressions of +approval. They were now shouting and stamping and clapping. Suddenly, +as once more she danced back to the very center of the room, her bosom +heaving, her eyes like stars, her red lips parted, Don Ignacio, long +since recovered from his spleen, invaded his pocket and flung a handful +of silver at her feet. It was a signal. Gold and silver coins, +chains, watches, jewels, bounced over the floor, to be laughingly +ignored. Rezanov looked on in amazement, wondering if this were a part +of the performance and if he should follow suit. But after a glance at +the faces of the young men, lost to everything but their passionate +admiration for the unique and beautiful dancing of their Favorita, and +when Sturgis, after wildly searching in his pockets, tore a large pearl +from the lace of his stock, he doubted no longer--nor hesitated. +Fastened by a blue ribbon to the fourth button of his closely fitting +coat was a golden key, the outward symbol of his rank at court. He +detached it, then made a sudden gesture that caught her attention. For +a moment their eyes met. He tossed her the bauble, and mechanically +she lifted her hand and caught it. Then she laughed confusedly, +shrugged her shoulders, bowed graciously to her audience, and signalled +to the musicians to stop. Rezanov was at her side in a moment. + +"You must be tired," he said. "I insist that you come out on the +veranda and rest." + +"Very well," she said indifferently; "it is quite time we all went out +to the air. Santiago mio, wilt thou bring my reboso--the white one?" + +Santiago, more flushed than his sister at her triumphs, fetched the +long strip of silk, and Rezanov detached her from her eager court and +led her without. Elena Castro followed closely, yet with a cavalier of +her own that her friend might talk freely with this interesting +stranger. The night air was cool and stimulating. The hills were +black under the sparks of white fire in the high arch of the California +sky. In the Presidio square were long blue shadows that might have +been reflections of the smoldering blue beyond the stars. Rezanov and +Concha sat on the railing at the end of the "corridor." + +"It is a custom--all that very material admiration?" he asked. + +"A very old one, but not too often followed. Otherwise we should not +prize it. But when some Favorita outdoes herself then she receives the +greatest reward that man can think of--gold and silver jewels. We do +not dare to return the tributes in common fashion, but they have a way +of appearing where they belong as soon as their owners are supposed to +have forgotten the incident. As you are not a Californian, senor, I +take the liberty of returning this without any foolish subterfuge." +She handed him his contribution. "I thank you all the same. It was a +spontaneous act, and I am very proud." + +He accepted the key awkwardly, not daring to press it upon her, with +the obvious banalities. But he felt a sudden desire to give her +something, and, nothing better offering, he gathered half a dozen roses +and laid them on her lap. + +"I was disappointed that you did not wear your roses to-night," he +said. "I associate them with you in my thoughts. Will you put one in +your hair?" + +She found a place for two and thrust another in the neck of her gown. +The rest she held closely in her hands. Then he noticed that she was +very white, and again she shivered. + +"You are cold and tired," he murmured, his eyes melting to hers. "It +was entrancing, but I hope never to see you give so much of yourself to +others again." His hand in arranging the reboso touched hers. It +lingered, and she stared up at him, helplessly, her eyes wide, her lips +parted. She reminded him of a rabbit caught in a trap, and he had a +sudden and violent revulsion of feeling. He rose and offered his arm. +"I should be a brute if I kept you talking out here. Slip off and go +to bed. I shall start the guests, for I am very tired myself." + + + +XI + +He did not talk with her again for several days. He called in state, +but remained only a few moments. His officers went to several impromptu +dances at the Presidio and Mission, but he pleaded fatigue, natural in +the damaged state of his constitution, and left the ship only for a +gallop over the hills or down the coast with Luis Arguello. + +But he had never felt better. At the end of a week his pallor had +gone, his skin was tanned and fresh. Even his wretched crew were +different men. They were given much leave on shore, and already might +be seen escorting the serving-women over the hills in the late +afternoon. Rezanov gave them a long rope, although he knew they must +be germinating with a mutinous distaste of the Russian north; he kept +strict watch over them and would have given a deserter his due without +an instant's pause. + +The estafette that had gone with Luis' letters to Monterey had taken +one from Rezanov as well, asking permission to pay a visit of ceremony +to the Governor. Five days later the plenipotentiary received a polite +welcome to California, and protest against another long journey; the +humble servant of the King of Spain would himself go to San Francisco +at once and offer the hospitality of California to the illustrious +representative of the Emperor of all the Russias. + +Rezanov was not only annoyed at the Governor's evident determination +that he should see as little as possible of the insignificant military +equipment of California, but at the delay to his own plans for +exploration. He knew that Luis would dare take him upon no expedition +into the heart of the country without the consent of the Governor, and +he began to doubt this consent would be given. But he was determined +to see the bay, at least, and he no sooner read the diplomatic epistle +from Monterey than he decided to accomplish this part of his purpose +before the arrival of the Governor or Don Jose. He knew the material +he had to deal with at the moment, but nothing of that already, no +doubt, on its way to the north. + +Early in the morning after the return of the courier he wrote an +informal note to Dona Ignacia, asking her to give him the honor of +entertaining her for a day on the Juno, and to bring all the young +people she would. As the weather was so fine, he hoped to see them in +time for chocolate at nine o'clock. He knew that Luis, who was +pressingly included in the invitation, had left at daybreak for his +father's rancho, some thirty miles to the south. + +There was a flutter at the Presidio when the invitation of the +Chamberlain was made known. The compliment was not unexpected, but +there had been a lively speculation as to what form the Russian's +return of hospitality would take. Concha, whose tides had thundered +and ebbed many times since the night of her party, submerging the happy +inconsequence of her sixteen years, but leaving her unshaken spirit +with wide clarified vision, felt young to-day from sheer reaction. She +would listen to no protest from her prudent mother and smothered her +with kisses and a torrent of words. + +"But, my Conchita," gasped Dona Ignacia, "I have much to do. Thy +father and his excellency come in two days. And perhaps they would not +approve--before they are here!--to go on the foreign ship! If Luis +were not gone! Ay yi! Ay yi!" + +"We go, we go, madre mia! And his excellency will give you a shawl. I +feel it! I know it! And if we go now we disobey no law. Have they +ever said we could not visit a foreign ship when they were not here? +We are light-headed, irresponsible women. And if they should not let +us go! If the Governor and the Russian should disagree! Now we have +the opportunity for such a day as we never have had before. We should +be imbeciles. We go, madre mia, we go!" + +So it proved. At a few minutes before nine the Senora Arguello, clad +in her best black skirt and jacket, a red shawl embroidered with yellow +draped over her bust with unconquerable grace, and a black reboso +folded about her fine proud head, rode down to the beach with Ana Paula +on the aquera behind and Gertrudis Rudisinda on her arm. The boys +howled on the corridor, but the good senora felt she could not too +liberally construe the kind invitation of a chamberlain of the Russian +Court. + +Behind her rode Concha, in white with a pink reboso; Rafaella Sal, +Carolina Xime'no, Herminia Lopez, Delfina Rivera, the only other girls +at the Presidio old enough to grace such an occasion; Sturgis, who +happened to have spent the night at the Presidio, Gervasio, Santiago +and Lieutenant Rivera. Castro had returned to Monterey, Sal was +officer of the day, and the other young men had sulkily declined to be +the guests of a man who looked as haughty as the Tsar himself and +betrayed no disposition to recognize in Spain the first nation of +Europe. But no one missed them. The girls, in their flowered muslins +and bright rebosos, the men in gay serapes and embroidered botas, +looked a fine mass of color as they galloped down to the beach and +laughed and chattered as youth must on so glorious a morning. Even +Sturgis, always careful to be as nearly one with these people as his +different appearance and temperament would permit, wore clothes of +green linen, a ruffled shirt, deer-skin botas and sombrero. + +Three of the ship's canoes awaited the guests, and as not one of the +women had ever set foot in a boat, there was a chorus of shrieks. Dona +Ignacia murmured an audible prayer, and clutched Gertrudis Rudisinda to +her breast. + +"Madre de Dios! The water! I cannot!" she muttered. But Santiago +took her firmly by one elbow, Sturgis by the other, Davidov caught up +the children with a reassuring laugh, and in a moment she was trembling +in the middle of the canoe. Concha had already leaped into the second +and waved a careless little salutation to the Juno. Her eyes sparkled. +Her nostrils fluttered. She felt indifferent to everything but the +certain pleasure of the day. Rezanov was sure to be charming. What +mattered the morrow, and possible nights of doubt, despair, hatred of +life and wondering self-contempt? + +Rezanov awaited the canoes in the prow of the ship. He wore undress +uniform and a cap instead of the cocked hat of ceremony which had +excited their awe. He too tingled with a sense of youthful gaiety and +adventure. As he helped his guests up the side of the vessel and +listened to the delightful laughter of the girls, saw the dancing eyes +of even the haughty and reserved Santiago, he also dismissed the morrow +from his thoughts. + +As Dona Ignacia was hauled to the deck, uttering embarrassed apologies +for bringing the two little girls, Rezanov protested that he adored +children, patted their heads and told off a young sailor to amuse them. + +Four tables on the deck were set with coffee, chocolate, Russian tea, +and strange sweets that the cook had fashioned from ingredients to +which his skilful fingers had long been strangers. + +Dona Ignacia sat beside the host, and when she had tried both the tea +and the coffee and had demanded the recipe of the sweets, he said +casually: "After breakfast I shall ask you to go down to the cabin for +a few moments. I bought the cargo with the Juno, and find there are +several articles which I shall beg as a great favor to present to my +kindest hostesses and the young girls she has been good enough to bring +to my ship. Shawls and ells of cotton and all that sort of thing are +of no use to a bachelor, and I hope you will rid me of some of them." + +Dona Ignacia lost all interest in the breakfast, and presently, +murmuring an excuse, was escorted by Langsdorff down to the cabin. +When the light repast was over, Rezanov made a signal to several +sailors who awaited commands, and they sprang to the anchor and sails. + +"We are going to have a cruise," announced the host to his guests. +"The bay is very smooth, there is a fine breeze, we shall neither be +becalmed nor otherwise the sport of inclement waters. I know that most +of you have never seen this beautiful bay and that you will enjoy its +scenery as much as I shall." + +He moved to Concha's side and dropped his voice. "This is for you, +senorita," he said. "You want change, variety, and I have planned to +give you all that I can in one day. I expect you to be happy." + +"I shall be," she said dryly, "if only in watching a diplomat get his +way. You will see every corner of our bay, and I shall have the +delightful sensation of doing something for which I cannot be held +responsible." + +He laughed. "I am quite willing that you should understand me," he +said. "But it is true that I thought as much of you as of myself." + +In a few moments the ship was under way. Santiago and Sturgis had gone +down to the cabin to reassure Dona Ignacia, who uttered a loud cry as +the Juno gave a preliminary lurch. Gervasio and Rivera had opened +their eyes as Rezanov abruptly unfolded his plan, but dropped them +sleepily before the delight of the girls. After all, it was none of +their affair, and what was a bay? If they requested him, as a point of +honor, to refrain from examining the battery of Yerba Buena with his +glass, their consciences would be as light as their hearts. + +As Rezanov stood alone with Concha in the prow of the ship and +alternately cast softened eyes on her intense, rapt face, and shrewd +glances on the ramifications of the bay, he congratulated himself upon +his precipitate action and the collusion of nature. They were sailing +east, and would turn to the north in a moment. The mountain range bent +abruptly at the entrance to the bay, encircling the immense sheet of +water in a chain of every altitude and form: a long hard undulating +line against the bright blue sky; smooth and dimpled slopes as round as +cones, bare but for the green of their grasses; lofty ridges tapering +to hills in the curve at the north but with blue peaks multiplying +beyond. There were dense forests in deep canyons on the mountainside, +bare and jagged heights, the graceful sweep of valleys, promontories +leaping out from the mainland like mammoth crocodiles guarding the bay. +The view of the main waters was broken by the largest of the islands, +but far away were the hills of the east and the soft blue peaks behind. +And over all, hills and valley and canyon and mountain, was a bright +opalescent mist. Green, pink, and other pale colors gleamed as behind +a thin layer of crystal. Where the sun shone through a low white cloud +upon a distant slope there might have been a great globe of iridescent +glass illuminated within. The water was a light, soft, filmy yet +translucent blue. Concha gazed with parted lips. + +"I never knew before how wonderful it was," she murmured. "I have been +taught to believe that only the south is beautiful, and when we had to +come here again from Santa Barbara it was exile. But now I am glad I +was born in the north." + +"I have watched the light on these hills and islands, and what I could +see of the fine lines of the mountains ever since I came, and were +there but villas and castles, these waters would be far more beautiful +than the Lake of Como or the Bay of Naples. But I am glad to see trees +again. From our anchorage I had but a bare glimpse of two or three. +They seem to hide from the western winds. Are they so strong, then?" + +"We have terrible winds, senor. I do not wonder the trees crouch to +the east. But I must tell you our names." She pointed to the largest +of the islands, a great bare mass that looked as had it been, when +viscid, flung out in long folds from a central peak, concaving here and +there with its own weight. Its southern point was on a line with a +point of mainland far to the west, and its northern, from their vantage +looking to be but a continuation of the curve of the mainland, finished +an arc of almost perfect proportions, whose deep curve was a tumbled +mass of hills and one great mountain. "That is Nuestra Senora de los +Angeles, and it opens a triple jaw, Luis has told me, at Point +Tiburon--you will soon see the straits between. The big rock over +there is Alcatraz, and farther away still is Yerba Buena--that looks +like a camel on its knees." + +But Rezanov was examining the scene before him. The lines of this bay +within a bay were superb, and in its wide embrace, slanting from Point +Tiburon toward an inner point two miles opposite was another island, as +steep as Alcatraz, but long and waving of outline, with a glimpse of +trees on its crest. Rezanov, while he lost nothing of the picturesque +beauty surrounding him, was more deeply interested in noting the many +foundations, sheltered and solid, for fortifications that would hold +these rich lands against the fleets of the world. Never had he seen so +many strategic advantages on one sheet of water. The islands farther +south he had examined through his glass from the deck of the Juno until +he knew every convolution they turned to the west. + +Concha was directing his attention to the tremendous angular peak +rising above the tumbled hills. "That is Mount Tamalpais--the mountain +of peace. It was named by the Indians, not by us. Sometimes it is like +a great purple shadow, and at others the clouds fight about it like the +ghosts of big sea gulls." They were sailing past the rounded end of the +western inner point of the little bay. It was almost detached from the +bare ridge behind and half covered with oaks and willow trees. "That +is Point Sausalito. I have often looked at it through the glass and +longed for a merienda in the deep shade." She turned to Rezanov with +lips apart. "Could we not--oh, senor!--have our dinner on shore?" + +"It is only for you to select the spot. We can sail many miles before +it is time for dinner, and you may find a place even more to your +liking. I fancy we can not go far here. It looks swampy and shallow. +Nothing could be less romantic than to stick in the mud." + +"May I ask," said Concha demurely, "how you dare to run the risks of an +unknown sheet of water? I have heard it said that there is more than +one rock and shoal in this bay." + +"I am not as rash as I may appear," replied Rezanov dryly, but smiling. +"In 1789 there was a chart of this bay, taken from a Spanish MSS., +published in London; and I bought it there when I ran up from the +Nadeshda--anchored at Falmouth--three years ago. Davidov, who, you may +observe, is steering, oblivious to the charms of even Dona Carolina, +knows every sounding by heart." + +"Oh!" Concha shrugged her shoulders. "The Governor, too, is very +clever. It will be a drawn battle. Perhaps I shall remain neutral +after all. It would be more amusing." The ship was turning, and she +waved her hand to the island between the deep arc of the hilly coast. +"I have heard so much of the beauty of that island," she said, "that I +have called it La Bellissima, but I never hoped to see anything but the +back of its head, from which the wind has blown all the hair. And now +I shall. How kind of you, senor!" + +"How easily you are made happy!" he said, with a sigh. "You look like +a child." + +"To-day I shall be one; and you the kind fairy god-father," she added, +with some malice. "How old are you, senor?" + +"Forty-two." + +"That is twenty-six years older than myself. But your excellency might +pass for thirty-five," she added politely. "We have all said it. And +now that you are not so pale you will soon look younger--and even more +triumphant than when you came." + +"I have never felt so triumphant as on this morning, dear senorita. I +had not hoped to give you so much pleasure." + +Her cheeks were as pink as her reboso, her great black eyes were +dancing. Her hands strained at the railing. "I shall see La +Bellissima! La Bellissima!" she cried. + +They rounded the low broken point of the island, sailed through the +racing currents between the lower end of La Bellissima and "Our Lady of +the Angels," more slowly past what looked to be a perpendicular forest. +From water to crest the gulches and converging spurs of this hillside +in the sea were a dense mass of oaks, bays, underbrush; here and there +a tall slender tree with a bark like red kid and a flirting polished +leaf, at which Concha clapped her hands as at sight of an old friend +and called "El Madrono." It was a primeval bit of nature, but sweet +and silent and peaceful; there was no suggestion either of gloom or of +discourteous beast. + +"We shall have our dinner here, Excellency. There on that little beach; +and afterward we shall climb to the top. See, there are trails! The +Indians have been here." + +They stood out through the straits between Point Tiburon and the Isle +of the Angels, where the tide ran fast. Then, for the first time, was +Rezanov able to form a definite idea of the size and shape of this +great natural harbor. To the south it extended beyond the peninsula in +an unbroken sheet for some forty English miles. Ten miles to the north +there was a gateway between the lower hills which Luis had alluded to +as leading into the bay of Saint Pablo, another large body of +tidewater, but inferior in depth and beauty to the Bay of San Francisco. + +The mist had dissolved. The greens were vivid where the sun shone on +island and hill. The woods of Bellissima, the groves of Point +Sausalito, the forests in the northern canyons, deepened to purple like +that of the great bare sweep of Tamalpais. Only the farther peaks +remained a pale misty blue, and were of an indescribable floating +delicacy. + +Concha pointed to the eastern double cone. "That is Monte del Diablo. +Once they say it spouted fire, but that was long ago, and all our +volcanoes are dead. But perhaps not so long ago. The Indians tell the +strange story that their grandfathers remembered when this bay was a +valley covered with oak trees, and the rivers of the north flowed +through and emptied into Lake Merced and a rift by the Fort. Then came +a tremendous earthquake and rent the mountains apart where you came +through--we call it the Mouth of the Gulf of the Farallones--the valley +sank, the sea flowed in, only these hills that are islands now keeping +their heads above the flood. Perhaps it is true, for Drake was close +to this bay for a long while and never saw it, and it would have given +him a better shelter than the little harbor he found a few miles higher +on the coast. I believe it was not here. Madre de Dios, I hope +California shakes no more. She would--is it not true, Excellency?--be +the most perfect country in all the world did she not have the devil in +her." + +"Are you afraid of earthquakes?" asked Rezanov, who once more had +transferred his comprehensive gaze from battery sites to her face. + +"I cross myself. It is like feeling your grave turn over. But I fancy +the poor old earth is like the people on her; she gets tired of being +good and is all the naughtier for having been sober too long. Don +Vincente Rivera is an example; he is cold, haughty, solemn, stern to +others and himself, as you see him; but once in a while--Madre de Dios! +The Presidio does not sleep for three nights!" + +Rezanov laughed heartily, then turned abruptly away. "Come," he said. +"I had almost forgotten. Will you ask the others to go to the cabin, +while I give orders that dinner shall be served on your island?" + +In the cabin, Concha forgot him for a few moments. Her mother, her +eyes dwelling fondly upon several shawls she hoped were intended for +herself alone, was hushing the baby to sleep in the deep chair of his +excellency. Ana Paula was playing with an Alaskan doll she had +appropriated without ceremony. Rezanov came in when his guests were +assembled, and he had a gift for each; curious objects of Alaskan +workmanship for the men, miniature totem poles and fur-bordered +moccasins; but silk and cotton, linen, shawls, and find handkerchiefs +for senora and maiden. + +"They are trifles," he said, in response to an enthusiastic chorus. +"The cargo I was obliged to take over was a very large one. You must +not protest. I shall never miss these things." And he knew that he +had sown the seeds of a rapacity similar to that implanted in the +worthy bosoms of the priests when they had paid him their promised +visit. If the Governor were insensible to diplomacy he would have +pressure brought to bear upon his official integrity from more quarters +than one. + +"There are also many of the presents rejected by the Mikado, +somewhere," he added carelessly. "But I could not find them. They +must have found their way to the bottom of the hold during one of the +storms we encountered on our way from Sitka." + +He certainly looked the fairy godfather, and quite impartial as he +distributed his offerings with a chosen word to each; his memory for +little characteristics was as remarkable as for names and faces. He had +taken off his cap on deck, and the breeze had ruffled his thick fair +hair, brought the blood to his thin cheeks. The lines of his face, cut +by privation and anxiety and illness, had almost disappeared with the +renewed elasticity of the flesh, and his blue eyes were wide open, and +sparkling in sympathy with the pleasure of his guests and the success +of his own strategy. These few insignificant Spaniards dislodged, a +half-dozen forts in this harbor, and the combined navies of the world +might be defied; while a great chain of hungry settlements fattened and +prospered exceedingly on the beneficence of the most fertile land in +all the Americas. + + + +XII + +The eastern mountains looked very close from the crest of La Bellissima +and of a singular transparency and variety of hue. It was as if the +white masses of cloud sailing low overhead flung down great splashes of +color from prismatic stores stolen from the sun. There was a vivid +pale green on the long sweep of a rounding slope, deep violet and pale +purple in dimple and hollow, red showing through green on a tongue of +land running down from the north; and on the lower ridges and little +islands, pale and dark blue, and the most exquisite fields of lavender. +This last tint was reflected in the water immediately below the ridge, +and farther out there were lakelets of pale green, as if the islands, +too, had the power to mirror themselves when the sea itself was glass. + +Santiago, Davidov, Carolina Xime'no, Delfina Rivera, Concha and +Rezanov, had climbed to the ridge. The other young people had given out +halfway up the steep and tangled ascent and returned to the beach. +Dona Ignacia immediately after dinner had frankly asked her host for +the hospitality of his stateroom. She and her little ones must have +their siesta, and the good lady was convinced that so high and mighty a +personage as the Russian Chamberlain was all the chaperon the +proprieties demanded. + +Four of the party strayed along the crest in search of the first wild +pansies. Rezanov and Concha looked under the sloping roof of brittle +leaves into dim falling vistas, arches, arbors, caverns, a forest in +miniature with natural terraces breaking the precipitous wall of the +island. + +"I should like to live here," said Concha definitely. + +"It would make a fine estate for summer life--or for a honeymoon." He +smiled down upon his companion, who stood very tall and straight and +proud beside him. "If you conclude to marry your little Bostonian no +doubt he will buy it for you," he said. + +If he had hoped to see a look of blank dismay after his hours of +devotion he was disappointed. She made a little face. + +"I do not think I could stand a desert island with the good Weeliam. +For that I should prefer one of my own sort--Ignacio, or Fernando. +Better still, I could come here and be a hermit." + +"A hermit?" + +"In some ways that would suit me very well. All human beings become +tiresome, I find. I shall have a little hut just below the crest where +I can look from my window right into the woods that are so quiet and +green and beautiful. That is a thought that has always fascinated me. +And when I walk on the crest I can see all the beauty of mountain and +bay. What more could I want? What more have you in your world when +you know it too well, senor?" + +"Nothing; but you might tire, too, of this." + +"What of it? It would be the gentle sad ennui of peace, not of +disillusion, senor. How I wish you would tell me all you know of life!" + +"God forbid. And do not remind me of ennui and disillusions. I have +forgotten both in California. Perhaps, after all, I shall not return to +St. Petersburg. There is a vast empire here--" + +"But it is not yours or Russia's to rule, Excellency," she interrupted +him softly. + +He did not color nor start, but met her eyes with his deep amused +glance. "I, too, can dream, senorita. Of a great and wonderful +kingdom--that never will exist, perhaps. I have always been called a +dreamer, but the habit has grown since I came to this lovely unreal +land of yours." + +"Have you the intention to take it from us, Excellency?" she asked +quietly. + +"Would you betray me if you thought I had?" + +Her eyes responded for a moment to the magnetism of his, and then she +drew herself up. + +"No, senor, I could not betray a man who had been our guest, and Spain +needs no assistance from a weak girl to hold her own against Russia." + +"Well said! I kiss your hands, as they say in Vienna. But we must +sail again. I told them to be ready at three o'clock." + +Dalliance with the most alluring girl he had ever known was all very +well, but the day's work was not yet done. When they returned to the +ship he deliberately engaged all the Spaniards in a game of cards, +ordered cigarettes and a bowl of punch for their refreshment, and then +the Juno steered south. + +They sailed swiftly past Nuestra Senorita de los Angeles and the +eastern side of Alcatraz, Rezanov sweeping every inch with his glass; +more slowly past the peninsula where it came down in a succession of +rough hills almost in a straight line from the Presidio, ascending to a +high outpost of solid rock, whence it turned abruptly to the south in a +waving line of steep irregular cliffs, harsh, barren, intersected with +gullies. Then the land became suddenly as flat as the sea, save for +the shifting dunes: the desert porch of the great fertile valley hidden +from the water by the waves of sand, but indicated by its rampart of +mountains. The shallow water curved abruptly inward between the rocky +mass on the right and a gentler incline and point two miles below. At +its head was the "Battery of Yerba Buena," facing the island from which +it took its name. Rezanov scrupulously kept his word and did not raise +his glass, but one contemptuous glance satisfied his curiosity. His +eye rolled over the steep hills that were designed to bristle with +forts, and, as sometimes happened, when he spoke again to Concha, whom +he kept close to his side, for the other girls bored him, his words did +not express the workings of his mind. + +"Athens has no finer site than this," he said. "I should like to see a +white marble city on these hills, and on that plain, when all the sand +dunes are leveled. Not in our time, perhaps! But, as I told you, I +have surrendered myself to the habit of dreaming." + +Concha shrugged her shoulders and made no reply at the moment. As they +sailed toward the east before turning south again, she pointed across +the great silvery sheet of water melting into the misty southern +horizon, to a high ridge of mountains that looked to be a continuation +of the San Bruno range behind the Mission, but slanting farther west +with the coast line. + +"Those are behind our rancho, senor--Rancho El Pilar, or Las Pulgas, as +some prefer. Perhaps my father will take you there. I hope so, for we +love to go, and may not too often; my father is very busy here. He is +one of the few that has received a large grant of land, and it is +because the clergy love him so much they oppose his wish in nothing. +Do you see those sharp points against the sky? They are the tops of +lofty trees, like the masts of giant ships, and with many rigid arms +spiked like the pines. You saw a few of them in the hollow below +Tamalpais, but up on those mountains there are miles and miles of +mighty forests. No white man has ever penetrated them, nor ever will, +perhaps. We have no use for them, and even if you made this your +kingdom, senor, I suppose not many would come with you. Far, far down +where the water stops are the Mission of Santa Clara and the pueblo of +San Jose; but I have heard you cannot approach within many miles of the +land in a boat." + +When they had sailed south for a few moments the boat came about +sharply. Concha laughed. "I had forgotten the chart. I rather hoped +you would run on a shoal." + +But as they approached the cove of Yerba Buena again she caught his arm +suddenly, unconscious of the act, and the little dancing lights of +humor in her eyes went out. "Your white city, senor! Ay, Dios! what a +city of dreams that can never come true!" + +The soft white fog that sometimes, even at this season, came in from +the sea, was rolling over the hills between the Battery and the +Presidio, wreathing about the rocky heights and slopes. It broke into +domes and cupolas, spires and minarets. Great waves rolled over the +sand dunes and beat upon the cliffs with the phantoms clinging to its +sides. Then the sun struggled with a thousand colors. The sun +conquered, the mist shimmered into sunlight, and once more the hills +were gray and bare. + +Rezanov laughed, but his eyes glowed down upon her. "I am not sure it +was there," he said. "I have an idea your imagination and touch acted +as a sort of enchanter's wand. The others evidently saw nothing." + +"The others saw only fog and shivered. But it was there, senor! We +have had a vision. A Russian city! Ay, yi!" + +But Rezanov had forgotten the city. Her reboso had fallen and a strand +of her hair blew across his face. His lips caught it and his eyes +burned. They rounded a headland and the world looked green and young. + +"Concha!" he whispered. + +Her eyes flashed and melted, she lifted her chin; then burst into a +merry ripple of laughter. + +"Senor!" she said, "if you make love to me, I shall have to compare you +with many others, and I might not like the Russian fashion. You are +much better as you are--very grand seigneur, iron-handed and absolute, +haughty and arrogant, but the most charming person in the world, with +ends to gain, even from such humble folk as a handful of stranded +Californians. But to sigh! to languish with the eye! to sing at the +grating! I fear that the lightest headed of the caballeros you despise +could transcend you in all." + +"Very likely! I have not the least intention of sighing or languishing +or singing at gratings. But if we were alone I certainly should kiss +you." + +But her eyes did not melt again at the vision. She flushed hotly with +annoyance. "I am a child to you! Were it not that I have read a few +books, you would find me but a year older than Ana Paula. Well! +Regard me as a child and do not attempt to flirt with me again. Shall +it be so?" + +"As you wish!" Rezanov looked at her half in resentment, half +wistfully, then shrugged his shoulders, and called to Davidov to steer +for the anchorage. She was quite right; and on the whole he was +grateful to her. + + + +XIII + +"Concha," said Sturgis abruptly, "will you marry me?" + +Concha, who was sitting in the shade of the rose vines on the corridor +making a dress for Gertrudis Rudisinda, ran the needle into her finger. + +"Madre de Dios!" she cried angrily. "Who would have expected such +foolish words from you? and now I have pricked my finger and stained my +little frock. It will have to be washed before worn, and is never so +pretty after." + +"I am sorry," said Sturgis humbly. "But it seems to me that if a man +wishes to marry a maid he should ask her in a straightforward manner, +with no preliminary sighs and hints and serenades--and all sorts of +insincere stage play. + +"He should at least address her parents first." + +"True. I was wholly the American for the moment. May I speak to Don +Jose and Dona Ignacia, Concha?" + +"How can I prevent? No, I will not coquet with you, Weeliam. But I am +angry that you have thought of such nonsense. Such friends as we were! +We have talked and read together by the hour, and my parents have +thought no more of it than if it had been Santiago. There! You have a +new book in your pocket. Why did you not read it to me instead of +making love? Let me see it." + +"I brought it to read later if you wished, but I came to ask you to +marry me and to receive your answer. I never expected to ask +you--but--lately--things have changed--life seems, somehow, more real. +The thought of losing you has suddenly become terrible." + +"You have been drinking Russian tea," said Concha, stitching quietly +but flashing him a glance of amusement, not wholly without malice. + +"It is true," he replied. "I suppose I never really believed you would +marry Raimundo or Ignacio or any of the caballeros. They think and +talk of nothing but horse-racing, gambling, cock-fighting, love and +cigaritos. I thought of you always here, where at least I could look +at you or read with you. But one must admit that this Russian is no +ordinary man. I hate him, yet like him more than any I have ever met. +Last night I stayed to punch with him, and we talked English for an +hour. That is to say, he did; I could have listened to him till +morning. Langsdorff says that he has the greatest possible command of +his native tongue, but he speaks English well enough. I wish I could +despise him, but I do not believe I even hate him." + +"Well?" demanded Concha. She kept her eyes on her work (and the +delight that rose in her breast from her voice). + +"Well?" + +"Why should you hate him?" + +"Do you ask me that, Concha, when he makes a fence of himself about +you, and his fine eyes--practised is nearer the mark--look at no one +else?" + +"But why should that cause you jealousy? He is a man of the world, +accustomed to make himself agreeable, and I am the daughter of the +Commandante." + +"He is more in love with you than he knows." + +"Do you think so, Weeliam?" Still her voice was innocent and even, +although the color rose above the inner commotion. "But even so, what +of it? Have not many loved me? Am I to be won by the first stranger?" + +"I do not know." + +The tumult in Concha turned to wrath, and she lifted flashing eyes to +his moody face. "Do you presume to say you are jealous because you +think I love him--a stranger I have known but a week--who looks upon me +as a child--who has never--never thought--" But her dignity, flying to +the rescue, assumed control. Her upper lip curled, her body stiffened +for a moment, and she went on with her stitching. "You deserve I +should rap your silly little skull with my thimble. You are no better +than Ignacio and Fernando. Such scenes as I have had with them! They +wanted to fight the Russian! How he would laugh at them! I have +threatened they shall both be sent to San Diego if there is any more +nonsense." Then curiosity overcame her. "You never had the least, +least reason to think I would marry you, and now, according to your own +words, you think you have less. Then why, pray, did you address me?" + +"Because I am a man, I suppose. I could not sit tamely down and see +you go." + +She looked at him with a slight access of interest. A man? Perhaps he +was, after all. And his well-bred, bony face looked very determined, +albeit the eyes were wistful. Suddenly she felt sorry for him; and she +had never experienced a pang of sympathy for a suitor before. She +leaned forward and patted his hand. + +"I cannot marry you, dear Weeliam," she said, and never had he seen her +so sweet and adorable, although he noted with a pang that her mouth was +already drawn with a firmer line. "But what matter? I shall never +marry at all. For many years--forty, fifty perhaps--I shall sit here +on the veranda, and you shall read to me." + +And then she shivered violently. But she set her mouth until it was +almost straight, and picked up the little dress. "Not that, perhaps," +she said quietly in a moment. "I sometimes think I should like to be a +nun, that, after all, it is my vocation. Not a cloistered one, for that +is but a selfish life. But to teach, to do good, to forget myself. +There are no convents in California, but I could join the Third Order +of the Franciscans, and wear the gray habit, and be set aside by the +world as one that only lived to make it a little better. To forget +oneself! That, after all, may be the secret of happiness. I envy none +of my friends that are married. They have the dear children, it is +true. But the children grow up and go away, and then one is fat and +eats many dulces and the siesta grows longer and longer and the face +very brown. That is life in California. I should prefer to work and +pray, and"--with a flash of insight that made her drop her work again +and stare through the rose-vines--"to dream always of some beautiful +thing that youth promised but never gave, and that given might have +ended in dull routine and a brain so choked with little things that +memory too held nothing else." + +"But Concha," cried Sturgis eagerly, "I could give you far better than +that. I could take you away from here--to Boston, to Europe. You +should see--live your life--in the great cities you have dreamed +of--that you hardly believe in--that were made to enjoy. I have told +you of the theater, the opera--you should go to the finest in the +world. You should wear the most beautiful gowns and jewels, go to +courts, see the great works of art--I am not trying to bribe you," he +stammered, flushing miserably. "God forbid that I should stoop to +anything as mean as that. But it all rushed upon me suddenly that I +could give you so much that you were made for, with this worthless +money of mine. And what happiness to be in Europe with +you--what--what--" + +His voice trembled and broke, and he dared not look at her. Again she +stared through the vines. A splendid and thrilling panorama rose beyond +them, her bosom heaved, her lips parted. She saw herself in it, and +not alone. And not, alas, with the honest youth whose words had +inspired it. In a moment she shook her head and turned her eyes on the +flushed, averted face of her suitor. + +"I shall never see Europe," she said gently, "and I shall never marry." + +"Not if this Russian asks you?" cried Sturgis, in his jealous misery. + +But Concha's anger did not rise again. "He has no intention of asking +a little California girl to share the honors of one of the most +brilliant careers in Europe," she said calmly. "Set your mind at rest. +He has paid me no more attention than is due my position as the +daughter of the Commandante, and perhaps of La Favorita. If I flirt a +little and he flirts in response, that is nothing. Is he not then a +man? But he will forget me in a month. The world, his world, is full +of pretty girls." + +"A week ago you would not have said that," said Sturgis shrewdly. +"There has been nothing in your life to make you so humble." + +"I cannot explain, but he seems to have brought the great world with +him. I know, I understand so many things that I had not dreamed of a +week ago. A week! Madre de Dios!" + +And Sturgis, who after all was a gallant gentleman, made no comment. + + + +XIV + +Governor Arrillaga, Commandante Arguello, and Chamberlain Rezanov sat +in the familiar sala at the Presidio content in body after a culinary +achievement worthy of Padre Landaeta, but perturbed and alert of mind. +Upon the arrival of the two California dignitaries in the morning, +Rezanov had sent Davidov and Langsdorff on shore to assure them of his +gratitude and deep appreciation of the hospitality shown himself, his +officers and men. The Governor had replied with a fulsome apology for +not repairing at once to the Juno to welcome his distinguished guest in +person, and, pleading his age and the one hundred and seventy-five +English miles he had ridden from Monterey, begged him as a younger man +to waive informality, and dine at the house of the Commandante that +very day. Rezanov had complied as a matter of course, and now he was +alone with the men who held his fate in their hands. The dark worn +rugged face of Don Jose, who had been skilfully prepared by his oldest +daughter to think well of the Russian, beamed with good-will and +interest, in spite of lingering doubts; but the lank, wiry figure of +the Governor, who was as dignified as only a blond Spaniard can be, was +fairly rigid with the severe formality he reserved for occasions of +ceremony--being a gentleman who loved good company and cheer--and his +sharp gray eyes were almost shut in the effort to penetrate the designs +of this deputy, this symbol, this index in cipher, of a dreaded race. +Rezanov smoked calmly, made himself comfortable on the slippery +horse-hair chair, though with no loss of dignity, and beat about the +bush with the others until the Governor betrayed himself at last by a +chance remark: + +"What you say of the neighborly instincts of the Russian colonists for +the Spanish on this coast interests me deeply, Excellency, but if +Russia is at war with Spain--" + +"Russia is not at war with Spain," said Rezanov, with a flash of +amusement in his half-closed eyes. "Napoleon Bonaparte is encamped +about half way between the two countries. They could not get at each +other if they wished. While that man is at large, Europe will be at +war with him, no two nations with each other." + +"Ah!" exclaimed Arrillaga. "That is a manner of reasoning that had not +occurred to me." + +The Commandante had spat at the mention of the usurper's name and +muttered "Chinchosa!" and Rezanov, recalling his first conversation +with Concha, looked into the honest eyes of the monarchist with a +direct and hearty sympathy. + +"No better epithet for him," he said. "And the sooner Europe combines +to get rid of him the better. But until it does, count upon a common +grievance to unite your country and mine." + +"Good!" muttered the Governor. "Good! I am glad that nightmare has +lifted its bat's wings from our poor California. Captain O'Cain's raid +two years ago made me apprehensive, for he took away some eleven +hundred of our otter skins and his hunters were Aleutians--subjects of +the Tsar. A negro that deserted gave the information that they were +furnished the Bostonian by the chief manager of your +Company--Baranhov--whose reputation we know well enough!--for the +deliberate purpose of raiding our coast." + +Rezanov shrugged his shoulders and replied indifferently: "I will ask +Baranhov when I return to Sitka, and write you the particulars. It is +more likely that the Aleutians were deserters. This O'Cain would not +be the first shrewd Bostonian to tempt them, for they are admirable +hunters and ready for any change. They make a greater demand upon the +Company for variety of diet than we are always prepared to meet, so +many are the difficulties of transportation across Siberia. When, +therefore, the time arrived that I could continue my voyage, I +determined to come here and see if some arrangement could not be made +for a bi-yearly exchange of commodities. We need farinaceous stuffs of +every sort. I will not pay so poor a compliment to your knowledge of +the northern settlements as to enlarge upon the advantages California +would reap from such a treaty." + +The Governor, who had permitted himself to touch the back of his chair +after the dispersal of the war cloud, stiffened again. "Ah!" he said. +"Ah!" He looked significantly at the Commandante, who nodded. "You +come on a semi-official mission, after all, then?" + +"It is entirely my own idea," said Rezanov carelessly. "The young Tsar +is too much occupied with Bonaparte to give more than a passing thought +to his colonies. But I have a free hand. Can I arrange the +preliminaries of a treaty, I have only to return to St. Petersburg to +receive his signature and highest approval. It would be a great +feather in my cap I can assure your excellencies," he added, with a +quick human glance and a sudden curve of his somewhat cynical mouth. + +"Um!" said the Governor. "Um!" + +But Arguello's stern face had further relaxed. After all, he was but +eleven years older than the Russian, and, although early struggles and +heavy responsibilities and many disappointments had deprived life of +much of its early savor, what was left of youth in him responded to the +ambition he divined in this interesting stranger. Moreover, the idea +of a friendly bond with another race on the lonely coast of the Pacific +appealed to him irresistibly. He turned eagerly to the Governor. + +"It is a fine idea, Excellency. We need much that they have, and it +pleases me to think we should be able to supply the wants of others. +Fancy any one wanting aught of California, except hides, to be sure. I +did not think our existence was known save to an occasional British or +Boston skipper. It is true we are here only to Christianize savages, +but even they have need of much that cannot be manufactured in this +God-forsaken land. And we ourselves could be more comfortable--God in +heaven, yes! It is well to think it over, Excellency. Who knows?--we +might have a trip to the north once in a while. Life is more excellent +with something to look forward to." + +"You should have a royal welcome. Baranhov is the most hospitable man +in Russia, and I might have the happiness to be there myself. I see, +by the way, that you have not engaged in shipbuilding. I need not say +that we should supply the ships of commerce, with no diminution of your +profits. We build at Okhotsk, Petropaulovski, Kadiak, and Sitka. +Moreover, as the Bostonians visit us frequently, and as your laws +prohibit you from trading with them, we would see that you always got +such of their commodities as you needed. They come to us for furs, and +generally bring much for which we have no use. Captain D'Wolf, from +whom I bought the Juno, had a cargo I was forced to take over. I +unloaded what was needed at Sitka, but as there was no boat going for +some months to the other islands, I brought the rest with me, and you +are welcome to it, if in exchange you will ballast the Juno with +samples of your agricultural products; while the treaty is pending, I +can experiment in our colonies and make sure which are the most +adaptable to the market. + +"Um!" said the Governor. "Um!" + +Rezanov did not remove his cool direct gaze from the snapping eyes +opposite. + +"I have not the least objection to making a trade that would fill my +promuschleniki with joy; but that was by no means the first object of +my voyage; which was partly inspired by a desire to see as much of this +globe as a man may in one short life, partly to arrange a treaty that +would be of incalculable benefit to both colonies and greatly redound +to my own glory. I make no pretence of being disinterested. I look +forward to a career of ever increasing influence and power in St. +Petersburg, and I wish to take back as many credits as possible." + +"I understand, I understand!" The Governor rested his lame back once +more. "Your ambition is the more laudable, Excellency, since you have +achieved so much already. I am not one to balk the honest ambition of +any man, particularly when he does me the honor to take me into his +confidence. I like this suggested measure. I like it much. I believe +it would redound to our mutual benefit and reputation. Is it not so, +Jose?" + +The Commandante nodded vigorously. "I am sure of it! I am sure of it! +I like it--much, much." + +"I will write at once to the Viceroy of Mexico and ask that he lay the +matter before the Cabinet and King. Without that high authority we can +do nothing. But I see no reason to doubt the issue when we, who know +the wants and needs of California, approve and desire. We are doomed +to failure in this unwieldy land of worthless savages, but it is the +business of the wretched servants of a glorious monarch to do the best +they can." + +Rezanov had an inspiration. "You might remind the viceroy that Spain +and the United States of America have been on the verge of war for +years, and suggest the benefit of an alliance with Russia in the case +of the new country taking advantage of the situation in Europe to +extend its western boundaries--" + +Arrillaga had bounced to his feet, his small eyes injected and blazing. +"Those damned Bostonians!" he shouted. "I distrusted them years ago. +They have too much calculation in their bluntness. They cheated us, +sold us short, traded under my very nose, stole our otters, until I +ordered them never to drop an anchor in California waters again. If +their ridiculous upstart government dares to cast its eyes on +California we shall know how to meet them--the sooner they march on +Mexico and lose their conceit the better. How they do brag! Faugh! +It is sickening. I shall remember all you say, Excellency; and thank +you for the hint." + +Rezanov rose, and the Commandante solemnly kissed him on either cheek. +"Governor Arrillaga is my guest, Excellency," he said. "I beg that you +will dine with us daily--unofficially--that you will regard California +as your own kingdom, and come and go at your pleasure. And my daughter +begs me to remind you and your young officers that there will be +informal dancing every night." + +"So far so good," thought Rezanov, as he mounted his horse to return to +the Juno. "But what of my cargo? I fancy there will be more +difficulty in that quarter." + + + +XV + +The Chamberlain was in a towering bad humor. As he made his appearance +at least two hours earlier than he was expected, he found the decks of +the Juno covered with the skins of sea-dogs, foxes, and birds. He had +heard Langsdorff go to his cabin later than usual the night before, and +that his pet aversion was the cause of a fresh grievance, but hastened +the eruption of his smouldering resentment toward life in general. + +"What does this mean?" he roared to the sailor on watch. "Clear them +off--overboard, every one of them. What are you staring at?" + +The sailor, who was a "Bostonian," an inheritance with the ship, opened +his mouth in favor of the unfortunate professor, but like his mates, he +stood in much awe of a master whose indulgence demanded implicit +obedience in return. Without further ado, he flung the skins into the +sea. + +Rezanov, to do him justice, would not have acted otherwise had he risen +in the best of tempers. He had inflicted himself with the society of +the learned doctor that he might always have a physician and surgeon at +hand, as well as an interpreter where Latin was the one door of +communication. He should pay him handsomely, make him a present in +addition to the sum agreed upon, but he had not the least intention of +giving up any of the Juno's precious space to the vagaries of a +scientist, nor to submit to the pollution of her atmosphere. +Langsdorff was his creature, and the sooner he realized the fact the +better. + +"Remember," he said to the sailor, "no more of this, or it will be the +worse for you-- What is this?" He had come upon a pile of ducks, +gulls, pelicans, and other aquatic birds. "Are these the cook's or the +professor's?" + +"The professor's, Excellency." + +"Overboard." And the birds followed the skins. + +Rezanov turned to confront the white and trembling Langsdorff. The +naturalist was enfolded in a gorgeous Japanese dressing-gown, purple +brocade embroidered with gold, that he had surreptitiously bought in +the harbor of Nagasaki. To Rezanov it was like a red rag to a bull; +but the professor was oblivious at the moment of the tactless garment. +His eyes were glaring and the extended tip of his nose worked like a +knife trying to leap from its sheath. But although he occasionally +ventured upon a retort when goaded too far in conversation, he was able +to curb his just indignation when the Chamberlain was in a bad temper. +In that vague gray under winking stars in their last watch, Rezanov +seemed to tower six feet above him. + +"Excellency," he murmured. + +"Well?" + +"My--my specimens." + +"Your what?" + +"The cause of science is very dear to me, Excellency." + +"So it is to me--in its proper place. Were those skins yours?" His +voice became very suave. "I am sorry you should have fatigued yourself +for nothing, but I am forced to remind you that this is not an +expedition undertaken for the promotion of natural history. I am not +violating my part in the contract, I believe. Upon our arrival at +Sitka you are at liberty to remain as my guest and make use of the +first boat that sails for this colony; but for the present I beg that +you will limit yourself to the requirements of your position on my +staff." + +He turned his back and ordered a canoe to be lowered. Since the +arrival of the Governor and Commandante, now three days ago, all +restrictions on his liberty had been removed, and the phrases of +hospitality were a trifle less meaningless. He had been asked to give +his word to keep away from the fortifications, and as he knew quite as +much of the military resources of the country as he desired, he had +merely suppressed a smile and given his promise. + +This morning he wanted nothing but a walk. He had slept badly, the +blood was in his head, his nerves were on edge. He went rapidly along +the beach and over the steep hills that led to the north-eastern point +of the peninsula. But he had taken the walk before and did not turn +his head to look at the great natural amphitheater formed by the inner +slopes of those barren heights, so uninteresting of outline from the +water. Once when Luis had left him to go down with an order to the +Battery of Yerba Buena, he had examined it critically and concluded +that never had there been so fine a site for a great city. Nor a more +beautiful, with the broken line of the San Bruno mountains in the +distance and a glimpse of the Mission valley just beyond this vast +colosseum, whose steep imposing lines were destined by nature to be set +with palaces and bazaars, minarets and towers and churches, with a +thousand gilded domes and slender crosses glittering in the crystal air +and sunlight. If not another Moscow, then an Irkutsk in his day, at +least. + +But he did not give the chosen site of his city a glance to-day, +although in this gray air before dawn when mystery and imagination most +closely embrace, he might at another time have forgotten himself in one +of those fits of dreaming that slipped him out of touch with realities, +and sometimes precipitated action in a manner highly gratifying to his +enemies. + +But much as he loved Russia, there were times when he loved his own way +more, and since the arrival of Governor Arrillaga he was beginning to +feel as he had felt in the harbor of Nagasaki. Not a word since that +first interview had been said of his cargo; nor even of the treaty, +although nothing could have been more natural than the discussion of +details. Whenever he had delicately broached either subject, he had +been met with a polite indifference, that had little in common with the +cordiality otherwise shown him. He foresaw that he might be obliged to +reveal the more pressing object of his visit without further diplomacy, +and the thought irritated him beyond endurance. + +Whether Concha were giving him her promised aid he had no means of +discovering, and herein lay another cause of his general vexation. He +had dined every day at the Commandante's, danced there every night. +Concha had been vivacious, friendly--impersonal. Not so much as a +coquettish lift of the brow betrayed that the distinguished stranger +eclipsed the caballeros for the moment; nor a whispered word that he +retained the friendship she had offered him on the day of their +meeting. He had not, indeed, had a word with her alone. But his +interest and admiration had deepened. It was evident that her father +and the Governor adored her, would deny her little. Her attitude to +them was alternately that of the petted child and the chosen companion. +As her mother was indisposed, she occupied her place at the table, +presiding with dignity, guiding the conversation, revealing the rare +gift of making everyone appear at his best. In the evening she had +sometimes danced alone for a few moments, but more often with her +Russian guests, and readily learning the English country dances they +were anxious to teach. Rezanov would have found the gay informality of +these evenings delightful had his mind been at ease about his Sitkans, +and Concha a trifle more personal. He had begun by suspecting that she +was maneuvering for his scalp, but he was forced to acquit her; for not +only did she show no provocative favor to another, but she seemed to +have gained in dignity and pride since his arrival, actually to have +kissed her hand in farewell to the childhood he had been so slow in +divining; grown--he felt rather than analyzed--above the pettiness of +coquetry. Once more she had stirred the dormant ideals of his early +manhood; there were moments when she floated before his inner vision as +the embodiment of the world's beauty. Nor ever had there been a woman +born more elaborately equipped for the position of a public man's mate; +nor more ingenerate, perhaps, with the power to turn earth into heaven. + +He had wondered humorously if he were fallen in love, but, although he +retained little faith in the activities of the heart after youth, he +was beginning seriously to consider the expedience of marrying Concha +Arguello. He had not intended to marry again, and it was this old and +passionate love of personal freedom that alone held him back, for +nothing would be so advantageous to the Russian colonies in their +present crisis as a strong individual alliance with California. Concha +Arguello was the famous daughter of its first subject, and with the +powerful friends she would bring to her husband, the consummation of +ends dearer to his heart than aught on earth would be a matter of +months instead of years. And he thrilled with pride as he thought of +Concha in St. Petersburg. Two years of court life and she would be one +of the greatest ladies in Europe. That he could win her he believed, +and without undue vanity. He had much to offer an ambitious girl +conscious of her superiority to the men of this province of Spain, and +chafing at the prospect of a lifetime in a bountiful desert. His only +hesitation lay in his own doubt if she were worth the loss of his +freedom, and all that word involved to a man of his position and +adventurous spirit. + +He shrugged his shoulders at this argument; he had walked off some of +his ill-humor, and reverted willingly to a theme that alone had given +him satisfaction during the past few days. At the same time he made a +motion as if flinging aside an old burden. + +"It is time for such nonsense to end," he thought contemptuously. "And +in truth these three years should have wrought such changes in me I +doubt I should have patience for an hour of the old trifling. My +greatest need from this time on, I fancy, is work. I could never be +idle a month again. And when a man is in love with work--and +power--and has passed forty--does he want a constant companion? That +is the point. At my time of life power exercises the most irresistible +and lasting of all fascinations. A man that wins it has little left +for a woman." + +He had reached the summit of the rocky outpost; the highest of the +hills where the peninsula turned abruptly to the south, and, +scrupulously refraining from a downward glance at the Battery of Yerba +Buena, stood looking out over the bay to the eastern mountains: dark, +almost formless, wrapped in the intense and menacing mystery of that +last hour before dawn. + +"Senor!" called a low cautious voice. + +Rezanov stepped hastily back from the point of the bluff and glanced +about in wonder, his pulses suddenly astir. But he could see no one. + +This time the direction was unmistakable, and he went to the edge of +the plateau facing the south and looked over. Halfway down a shallow +and almost perpendicular gully, he saw a girl forcing a mustang up the +harsh, loose path. The girl's white and oval face looked from the +folds of a black reboso like the moon emerging from clouds, and its +young beauty was out of place in that wild and forbidding setting. She +reined in her horse as she caught his eye and beckoned superfluously; +then guided her mustang to a little ledge where he could plant his feet +firmly, permitting her to reassume her usual pride of carriage and +averting the danger of a sudden scramble or need of assistance. + +As Rezanov reached her side, she gave him a grave and friendly smile, +but no opportunity to kiss her hand. + +"I have followed your excellency," she said. "I saw you leave the +Juno, and as I am often up at this hour, and as no one else ever is, my +father ignores the fact that I sometimes ride alone. I have never come +as far as this before, but there is something I wish to say to you, and +there is no opportunity at home. I asked Santiago to find me one last +night, but he was in a bad temper and would not. Men! However--I +suppose you have heard nothing of the cargo?" + +"I have not," said Rezanov grimly, although acutely sensible that the +subject suited neither his mood nor the hour. + +"But the Governor has! Madre de Dios! all the women of the Presidio +and the Mission have pestered him. They are sick with jealousy at the +shawls you gave us that day--those that did not go to the ship. How +clever of your excellency to give us just enough for ourselves and +nothing for our friends! And those that went want more and more. They +have called upon him--one, two, four, and alone. They have wept and +scolded and pleaded. I did not know until yesterday that your +commissary had also shown the things to the priests from San +Jose--Father Jose Uria and Father Pedro de la Cueva. They and the +priests of San Francisco have argued with the Governor not once but +three times. Dios! how his poor excellency swore yesterday. He +threatened to return at once to Monterey. I flew into a great rage and +threatened in turn to follow with all the other girls and all the +priests--vowed he should not have one moment of peace until that cargo +was ours." + +"Well?" asked Rezanov sharply, in spite of his amusement. + +Concha shook her head. "When he does not swear, he answers only: 'Buy +if you have the money. I have never broken a law of Spain, and I shall +not begin in my old age.' He knows well that we have no money to send +out of New Spain; but I have conceived a plan, senor. It is for you, +not for me, to suggest it. You will never betray that I have been your +friend, Excellency?" + +"I will swear it if you wish," said Rezanov frigidly. + +"Pardon, senor. If I thought you could I should not be here. One +often says such things. This is the plan: You shall suggest that we +buy your wares, and that you buy again with our money. The dear +Governor only wants to save his conscience an ache, for we have driven +him nearly distracted. I am sure he will consent, for you will know +how to put it to him very diplomatically." + +"But if he refused to understand, or his conscience remained obdurate? +I should then have neither cargo nor ballast." + +"He would never trick a guest, nor would he let the money go out of the +country. And he knows well how much we need your cargo and longs to be +able to state in his reports that he sold you a hold full of +breadstuffs. Moreover, I think the time has come to tell him of the +distress at Sitka. He is very soft-hearted and is now in that +distracted state of mind when only one more argument is required. I +hope I have given you good advice, Excellency. It is the best I can +think of. I have given it much thought, and the terrible state of +those miserable creatures has kept me awake many nights. I must return +now. Will your excellency kindly remain here until I am well on my +way?--and then return by the beach? I shall go as I came, through the +valley. Neither of us can be seen from the Battery." + +"I will obey all your instructions," said Rezanov. But he did not move, +nor could the mustang. Concha smiled and pointed to the other side of +the cleft, which was about as wide as a narrow street. + +"Pardon, senor, I cannot turn." + +For a moment Rezanov stared at her, through her. Then his heavy eyes +opened and flashed. It seemed to him that for the first time he saw +how beautiful, how desirable she was, set in that gray volcanic rock +with the heavens gray above her, and the stars fading out. It was not +the bower he would have imagined for the wooing of a mate, but neither +moonlight nor the romantic glades of La Bellissima could have awakened +in him a passion so sudden and final. Her face between the black folds +turned whiter and she shrank back against the jagged wall: and when his +eyes flashed again with a wild eager hope she involuntarily crossed +herself. He threw himself against the horse and snatched her down and +kissed her as he had kissed no woman yet, recognizing her once for all. + +When he finally held her at arm's length for a moment he laughed +confusedly. + +"The Russian bear is no longer a figure of speech," he said. "Forgive +me. I forgot that you are as tender as you are strong." + +Her hands were tightly clasped against her breast and the breath was +short in her throat, but she made no protest. Her eyes were radiant, +her mouth was the only color in that gray dawn. In a moment she too +laughed. + +"Dios de mi alma! What will they say? A heretic! If Tamalpais fell +into the sea it would not make so great a sensation in this California +of ours where civilized man exists but to drive heathen souls into the +one true church." + +"Will it matter to you? Are you strong enough? It will be only a +question of time to win them over, if you are." + +She nodded emphatically. "I was born with strength. Now--Dios!--now I +can be stronger than the King of Spain himself, than the Governor, my +parents and all the priests-- You would not become a Catholic?" she +asked abruptly. + +He shook his head, although he still smiled at her. "Not even for you." + +"No," she said thoughtfully. "I will confess--what matters it?--I +often dreamed that this would come just because I believed it would +not. But why should one control the imagination when it alone can give +us happiness for a little while? I gave it rein, for I thought that +one-half of my life was to be passed in that unreal but by no means +niggardly world. And I thought of everything. To change your religion +would mean the ruin of your career; moreover, it is not a possibility +of your character. Were it I think I should not love you so much. Nor +could I bear to think of any change in you. Only it will be +harder--longer." Then she stretched out her hand, and closed and +opened it slowly. The most obtuse could not have failed to read the +old simile of the steel in the velvet. "I shall win because it is my +nature--and my power--to hold what I grasp." + +"But if they persistently refuse--" + +"Dios!" she interrupted him. "Do you think that your love is greater +than mine? I was born with a thousand years of love in me and had you +not come I should have gone alone with my dreams to the grave. I am +all women in one, not merely Concha Arguello, a girl of sixteen." She +clasped her hands high above her head, lifting her eyes to the ashen +vault so soon to yield to the gay brush of dawn. + +"Before all that great mystery," she said solemnly, "I give myself to +you forever, how much or how little that may mean here on earth. +Forever." + + + +XVI + +The Commandante of the San Francisco Company sat opposite Rezanov with +his mouth open, the lines of his strong face elongated and relaxed. It +was the hour of siesta, and they were alone in the sala. + +"Mother of God!" he exclaimed. "Mother of God! Are you mad, +Excellency?" + +"No man was ever saner," said Rezanov cheerfully. "What better proof +would you have than this final testimony to Dona Concha's perfections?" + +"But it cannot be! Surely, Excellency, you realize that? The priests! +Ay yi! Ay yi!" + +"I think I understand the priests. Persuade the Governor to buy my +cargo and they will look upon me as an amicus humani generis to whom +common rules do not apply. And I have won their sincere friendship." + +"You have won mine, senor. But, though I say it, there is no more +devout Catholic in the Californias than Jose Arguello. Do you know +what they call me? El santo. God knows I am not, but it is not for +want of the wish. Did I give my daughter to a heretic, not only should +I become an outcast, a pariah, but I should imperil my everlasting soul +and that of my best beloved child. It is impossible, +Excellency--unless, indeed, you embrace our faith." + +"That is so impossible that the subject is not worth the waste of a +moment. But surely, Commandante, in your excitement at this perfectly +natural issue you are misrepresenting yourself. I do not believe, +devout Catholic as you are, that your soul is steeped in fanaticism. +You are known far and wide as the first and most intelligent of His +Catholic Majesty's subjects in New Spain. When you have my word of +honor that your daughter's faith shall never be disturbed, it is +impossible you should believe that marriage with me would ruin her +chances of happiness in the next world. But I doubt if your soul and +conscience will have the peace you desire if you ruin her happiness in +this. What pleasure do you find in the thought of an old age +companioned by a heart-broken daughter?" + +Don Jose turned pale and hitched his chair. "Other maids have been +balked when young, and have forgotten. Concha is but sixteen--" + +"She is also unique. She will marry me or no one. Of that I am as +certain as that she is the woman of women for me." + +"How can you be so certain?" asked the Commandante sharply. "Surely +you have had little talk alone with her?" + +"The heart has a language of its own. Recall your own youth, senor." + +"It is true," said Don Jose, with a heavy sigh, as he had a fleeting +vision of Dona Ignacia, slim and lovely, at the grating, with a rose in +her hair. "But this tremendous passion of the heart--it passes, senor, +it passes. We love the good wife, but we sometimes realize that we +could have loved another good wife as well." + +"That is a bit of philosophy I should have uttered myself, +Commandante--yesterday. But there are women and women, and your +daughter is one of the chosen few who take from the years what the +years take from others. I am not rushing into matrimony for the sake +of a pair of black eyes and a fine figure. I have outlived the +possibility of making a fool of myself if I would. Before I realized +how deeply I loved your daughter I had deliberately chosen her out of +all the women I have known, as my friend and companion for the various +and difficult ways of life which I shall be called upon to follow. +Your daughter will have a high place at the Russian Court, and she will +occupy it as naturally as if I had found her in Madrid and you in the +great position to which your attainments and services entitle you." + +Don Jose, despite his consternation, titillated agreeably. He +privately thought no one in New Spain good enough for his daughter, and +his weather-beaten self was not yet insensible to the rare visitation +of winged darts tipped with honey. But the situation was one of the +most embarrassing he had ever been called upon to face, and perhaps for +the first time in his direct and honest life his resolution was shaken +in a crisis. + +"Believe me, your excellency, I appreciate the honor you have done my +house, and I will add with all my heart that never have I liked a man +more. But--Mother of God! Mother of God!" + +Rezanov took out his cigarette case, a superb bit of Russian enamel, +graven with the Imperial arms, and a parting gift from his Tsar. He +passed it to his host, who had developed a preference for Russian +cigarettes. + +"There are other things to consider besides the happiness of your +daughter and myself," he remarked. "This alliance would mean the +consolidation of Spanish and Russian interests on the Pacific coast. +It would mean the protection of California in the almost certain event +of 'American' aggression. And I hear that a courier brought word again +yesterday that the Russian and the Spanish fleets had sailed for these +waters. I do not believe a word of it; but should it be true, I would +remind you of two things: that I have the powers of the Tsar himself in +this part of the world, and that the Russian fleet is likely to arrive +first." + +Again the Commandante moved uneasily. The news from Mexico had kept +himself and the Governor awake the better part of the night. He fully +appreciated the importance of this powerful Russian's friendship. +Nothing would bind and commit him like taking a Californian to wife. +If only he had fallen in love with Carolina Xime'no or Delfina Rivera! +Don Jose had an uneasy suspicion that his scruples as a Catholic might +have gone down before his sense of duty to this poor California. But a +heretic in his own family! He was justly renowned for his piety. +Aside from the wrath of the church, the mere thought of one of his +offspring in matrimonial community beyond its pale made him sick with +repugnance. And yet--California! And he would have selected Rezanov +for his daughter out of all men had he been of their faith. And he was +deeply conscious of the honor that had descended, however unfruitfully, +upon his house. Madre de Dios! How would it end? Suddenly he felt +himself inspired. In blissful ignorance of her subtle feminine rule, +he reminded himself that Concha's mind was the child of his own. When +she saw his embarrassment, filial duty and woman's wit would extricate +them both with grace and avert the enmity of the Russian even though +the latter's more personal interest in California must die in his +disappointment. He would make her feel the weight of the stern +paternal hand, and then indicate the part she had to play. + +He rang a bell and directed the servant to summon his daughter, drew +himself up to his full height, and set his rugged face in hard lines. +As Concha entered he looked the Commandante, the stern disciplinarian, +every inch of him. + +There was no trace of the siesta in Concha's cheeks. They were very +white, but her eyes were steady and her mouth indomitable as she walked +down the sala and took the chair Rezanov placed for her. Except for +her Castilian fairness, she looked very like the martinet sitting on +the other side of the table. The Commandante regarded her silently +with brows drawn together. Dimly, he felt apprehension, wondered, in a +flash of insight, if girls held fast to the parental recipe, or +recombined with tongue in cheek. The bare possibility of resistance +almost threw him into panic, but he controlled his features until the +effort injected his eyes and drew in his nostrils. Concha regarded him +calmly, although her heart beat unevenly, for she dreaded the long +strain she foresaw. + +"My daughter," said Don Jose finally, his tones harsh with repressed +misgiving, "do you suspect why I have sent for you?" + +"I think that his excellency wishes to marry me," replied Concha; and +the Commandante was so staggered by the calm assurance of her tone and +manner that his pent-up emotion exploded. + +"Dios!" he roared. "What right have you to know when a man wishes to +marry you? What manner of Spanish girl is this? Truly has his +excellency said that you are not as other women. The place for you is +your room, with bread and water for a week. Sixteen!" + +"Ignacio was born when my mother was sixteen," said Concha coolly. + +"What of that? She married whom and when she was told to marry." + +"I have heard that you serenaded nightly beneath her grating--" + +"So did others." + +"I have heard that when of all her suitors her father chose one more +highly born, a gentleman of the Viceroy's court, she pined until they +gave their consent to her marriage with you, lest she die." + +"But I was a Catholic! The prejudice against my birth was an unworthy +one. I had distinguished myself. And she had the support of the +priests." + +"It is my misfortune that M. de Rezanov is not a Catholic, but it will +make no difference. I shall not fall ill, for I am like you, not like +my dear mother--and the education you have given me is very different +from hers. But I shall marry his excellency or no one, and whether I +marry him or live alone with the thought of him until the end of my +mortal days, I do not believe that my soul will be imperilled in the +least." + +"You do not!" shouted the irate Spaniard. "How dare you presume to +decide such a question for yourself? What does a woman know of love +until she marries? It is nothing but a sickening imagination before; +and if the man goes, the doctor soon comes." + +"You may not have intended--but you have taught me to think for myself. +And I have seen others besides M. de Rezanov--the flower of California +and more than one fine gentleman from Mexico. I will have none of +them. I will marry the man of my choice or no one. It may be that I +know naught of love. If you wish, you may think that my choice of a +husband is determined by ambition, that I am dazzled with the thought +of court life in St. Petersburg, of being the consort of a great and +wealthy noble. It matters not. Love or ambition, I shall marry this +Russian or I shall never marry at all." + +"Mother of God! Mother of God!" Don Jose's face was purple. The +veins swelled in his neck. He was the more wroth because he recognized +his own daughter and his own handiwork, because he saw that he +confronted a Toledo blade, not a woman's brittle will. Concha regarded +him calmly. + +"If you refuse your consent you will lose me in another way. I may not +be able to marry as I wish, but I will have no worldly alternative. I +shall join the Third Order of the Franciscans, and enter a convent as +soon as one is built in California. To that you cannot withhold your +consent, or they no longer would call you El santo." + +Don Jose leaped from his chair. "Go to your room!" he thundered. "And +do not dare to leave it without my permission--" + +But Concha sprang forward and flung herself upon his neck. She rubbed +her warm elastic cheek against his own in the manner he loved, and +softened her voice. "Papacito mio, papacito mio," she pleaded. "Thou +wilt not refuse thy Concha the only thing she has ever begged of thee. +And I beg! I beg! Papa mio! I love him! I love him!" And she broke +into wild weeping and kissed him frantically, while Rezanov who had +followed her plan of attack and resistance in silent admiration, did +not know whether he should himself be moved to tears or further admire. + +Don Jose pushed her from him with a heavy sob and hastily left the +room, oblivious in the confusion of his faculties of the boon he +conferred on the lovers. Concha dried her eyes, but her face was +deathly pale. It had not been all acting, by any means, and she was +beginning to feel the tyranny of sleepless nights; and the joy and +wonder of the morning had left her with but a remnant of endurance for +the domestic battleground. + +"Go," she whispered, as he took her in his arms. "Return for the dance +to-night as if nothing had happened-- I forgot, there is to be a +bull-bear fight in the square. So much the better, for it is in your +honor, and you could not well remain away. There is much trouble to +come, but in the end we shall win." + + + +XVII + +The muscles in Dona Ignacia's cheeks fell an inch as she listened, +dumbfounded, to the tale her husband poured out. To her simple +aristocratic soul Rezanov had loomed too great a personage to dream of +mating with a Californian; and as her sharp maternal instinct had +recognized his personal probity, even his gallantries had seemed to her +no more consequent than the more catholic trifling of his officers. + +"Holy Mary!" she whimpered, when her voice came back. "Holy Mary! A +heretic! And he would take our Concha from us! And she would go! To +St. Petersburg! Ten thousand miles! To the priests with her--now--this +very day!" + +Concha had thrown herself on her bed in belated hope of siesta, when +Malia (Rosa had been sent to the house of Don Mario Sal in the valley) +entered with the message that she was to accompany her parents to the +Mission at once. She rose sullenly, but in the manifold essentials of +a girl's life she had always yielded the implicit obedience exacted by +the Californian parent. In a few moments she was riding out of the +Presidio beside her father. Dona Ignacia jolted behind in her carreta, +a low and clumsy vehicle, on solid wheels and springless, drawn by +oxen, and driven by a stable-boy on a mustang. The journey was made in +complete silence save for the maledictions addressed to the oxen by the +boy, and an occasional "Ay yi!" "Madre de Dios!" "Sainted Mary, but +the sun bores a hole in the head," from Dona Ignacia, whose increasing +discomfort banished wrath and apprehension for the hour. + +Don Jose did not even look at his daughter, but his face was ten years +older than in the morning. He had begun dimly to appreciate that she +was suffering, and in a manner vastly different from the passionate +resentment he had seen her display when the contents of a box from +Mexico disappointed her, or she was denied a visit to Monterey. That +his best-loved child should suffer tore his own heart, but he merely +cursed Rezanov and resolved to do his best to persuade the Governor to +yield to his other demands, that California might be rid of him the +sooner. + +Father Abella was walking down the long outer corridor of the Mission +reading his breviary, and praying he might not be diverted from +righteousness by the comforting touch of his new habit, when he looked +up and saw the party from the presidio floundering over the last of the +sand hills. He shuffled off to order refreshments, and returned in +time to disburden the carreta of Dona Ignacia--no mean feat--volubly +delighted in the visit and the gossip it portended. But as he offered +his arm to lead her into the sala, she pushed him aside and pointed to +Concha, who had sprung to the ground unassisted. + +"She has come to confess, padre!" she exclaimed, her mind, under the +deep tiled roof of the corridor, readjusting itself to tragedy. "I beg +that you will take her at once. Padre Landaeta can give us chocolate +and we will tell our terrible news to him and receive advice and +consolation." + +Father Abella, not without a glimmering of the truth, for better than +any one he understood the girl he had confessed many times, besides +himself having succumbed to the Russian, led the way to the +confessional in some perturbation of spirit. He walked slowly, hoping +that the long, cool church, its narrow high windows admitting so scant +a meed of sunlight that no one of its worshippers had ever read the +legends on the walls, and even the stations were but deeper bits of +shade, would attune her mind to holy things, and throw a mantle of +unreality over those of the world. + +He covered his face with his hand as she told her story. This she did +in a few words, disjointed, for she was both tired and seething. For a +few moments afterward there was a silence; the good priest was +increasingly disturbed and by no means certain of his course. He was +astonished to feel a tug at his sleeve. Before he could reprove this +impenitent child for audacity she had raised herself that she might +approach her lips more closely to his ear. + +"Mi padre!" she whispered hoarsely, "you will take my part! You will +not condemn me to a life of misery! I am too proud to speak openly to +others--but I love this man more than my soul--more than my immortal +soul. Do you hear? I am in danger of mortal sin. Perhaps I am +already in that state. You cannot save me if he goes. I will not +pray. I will not come to the church. I will be an outcast. If I +marry him, I will be a good Catholic to the end of my days. If I marry +him I can think of other things besides--of my church, my father, my +mother, my sisters, brothers. If he goes, I shall pass my life +thinking of nothing but him, and if it be true that heretics are doomed +to hell, then I will live so that I may go to hell with him." + +In spite of his horror the priest was thrilled by the intense passion +in the voice so close to his ear. Moreover, he knew women well, this +good padre, for even in California they differed little from those that +played ball with the world. So he dismissed the horror and spoke +soothingly. + +"What you have said would be mortal sin, my daughter, were it not that +you are laboring under strong and natural excitement; and I shall +absolve you freely when you have done the penance I must impose. You +have always been such a good child that I am able to forgive you even +in this terrible moment. But, my daughter, surely you know that this +marriage can never take place--" + +"It shall! It shall!" + +"Control yourself, my daughter. You cannot bring this man into the +true church. His character is long since formed and cast--it is iron. +Even love will not melt it. Were he younger--" + +"I should hate him. All young men are insufferable to me--always have +been. I have found my mate, and have him I will if I have to hide in +the hold of his ship. Ah, padre mio, I know not what I say. But you +will help me. Only you can. My father thinks you as wise as a saint. +And there are other things--my head turns round--I can hardly +think--but you dare not lose the friendship of this Russian. And my +marriage to him would be as much for the good of the Missions as for +California herself. Champion our course, point out that not only would +it be a great match for me, but that many ends would be lost by ruining +my life. The Governor will find himself in a position to grant your +prayers for the cargo, particularly if you first persuaded my +father--so long they have been friends, the Governor could not resist +if he joined our forces. What is one girl that she should be held of +greater account than the welfare of this country to which you are +devoting your life? The happier are your converts, the more kindly +will they take to Christianity--which they do not love as yet!--the +more faithful and contented will they be, in the prospect of the +luxuries and the toys and the trinkets of the Russian north. What is +one girl against the friendship of Russia for Spain? Who am I that I +should weigh a peseta in the scale?" + +"You are Concha Arguello, the flower of all the maidens in California, +and the daughter of the best of our men," replied Father Abella +musingly. "And until to-day there has been no Catholic more devout--" + +"It lies with you, mi padre, whether I continue to be the best of +Catholics or become the most abandoned of heretics. You know me better +than anyone. You know that I will not weaken and bend and submit, like +a thousand other women. I could be bad--bad--bad--and I will be! Do +you hear?" And she shook his arm violently, while her hoarse voice +filled the church. + +"My child! My child! I have always believed that you had it in you to +become a saint. Yes, yes, I feel the strength and maturity of your +nature, I know the lengths to which it might lead another; but you +could not be bad, Conchita. I have known many women. In you alone +have I perceived the capacity for spiritual exaltation. You are the +stuff of which saints and martyrs are made. The violent will, the +transcendent passions--they have existed in the greatest of our saints, +and been conquered." + +"I will not conquer. I-- Oh, padre--for the love of heaven--" + +He left the box hastily and lifted her where she had fallen and carried +her into the room adjoining the church. He laid her on the floor, and +ran for Dona Ignacia, who, refreshed with wine and chocolate, came +swiftly. But when Concha, under practical administrations and maternal +endearments, finally opened her eyes, she pushed her mother coldly +aside, rose and steadied herself against the wall for a moment, then +returned to the church, closing the door behind her. + +When a woman has borne thirteen children in the lost corners of the +world, with scarce a thought in thirty years for aught else save the +husband and his comforts, it is not to be expected that her wits should +be rapiers or her vocabulary distinguished. But Dona Ignacia's +unresting heart had an intelligence of its own, and no inner convulsion +could alter the superb dignity of mien which Nature had granted her. +As she rose and confronted Father Abella he moved forward with the +instinct to kiss her hand, as he had seen Rezanov do. + +"Mi padre," she said, "Concha is the first of my children to push me +aside, and it is like a blow on the heart; but I have neither anger nor +resentment, for it was not the act of a child to its parent, but of one +woman to another. Alas! this Russian, what has he done, when her own +mother can give her no comfort? We all love when young, but this is +more. I loved Jose so much I thought I should die when they would have +compelled me to marry another. But this is more. She will not die, nor +even go to bed and weep for days, but it is more. I should not have +died, I know that now, and in time I should have married another, and +been as happy as a woman can be when the man is kind. Concha will love +but once, and she will suffer--suffer-- She may be more than I, but I +bore her and I know. And she cannot marry him. A heretic! I no +longer think of the terrible separation. Were he a Catholic I should +not think of myself again. But it cannot be. Oh, padre, what shall we +do?" + +They talked for a long while, and after further consultation with Don +Jose and Father Landaeta, it was decided that Concha should remain for +the present in the house of Juan Moraga, where she could receive the +daily counsels of the priests, and be beyond the reach of Rezanov. +Meanwhile, all influence would be brought to bear upon the Governor +that the Russian might be placated even while made to realize that to +loiter longer in California waters would be but a waste of precious +time. + + + +XVIII + +There was no performance after all in the Presidio square that night, +for the bear brought in from the hills to do honor to the Russians died +of excitement, and it rained besides. Rezanov made the storm his +excuse for not dining and dancing as usual at the house of the +Commandante. But the relations between the Presidio and the Juno +during the next few days were by no means strained. Davidov and +Khostov were always with the Spanish officers, drinking and card +playing, or improving their dancing and Spanish with the girls, whose +guitars were tuned for the waltz day and night. The dignitaries met as +usual and conversed on all topics save those paramount in the minds of +each. Nevertheless, there were three significant facts as well known +to Rezanov as had they been aired to his liking. + +He had sought an interview with Father Abella, and tactfully ignoring +the question of his marriage, had persuaded that astute and influential +priest to make the proposition regarding his cargo that Concha had +suggested. The priest, backed by his three coadjutors, had made it, +and been repulsed with fury. From another quarter Rezanov learned that +during his absence little else was discussed in the house of the +Commandante save his formidable matrimonial project, and the supposed +designs to his country. Troops had been ordered from the south to +reinforce the San Francisco garrisons, and were even now massed at +Santa Clara, within a day's march of the bay. + +About a mile from the Presidio and almost opposite the Juno's anchorage +were six great stone tubs sunken in the ground and filled by a spring +of clear water. Here, once a week, the linen, fine and heavy, of Fort +and Presidio was washed, the stoutest serving women of households and +barracks meeting at dawn and scrubbing for half a day. Rezanov had +watched the bright picture they made--for they wore a bit of every hue +they could command--with a lazy interest, which quickened to thirst +when he heard that they were the most reliable newsmongers in the +country. In every Presidial district was a similar institution, and +the four were known as the "Wash Tub Mail." Many of the women were +selected by the tyrants of the tubs for their comeliness, and each had +a lover in the couriers that went regularly with mail and official +instructions from one end of the Californias to the other. All +important news was known first by these women, and much was discussed +over the tubs that was long in reaching higher but no less interested +circles; and domestic bulletins were as eagerly prized. The sailor +that brought this information to Rezanov was a good-looking and +susceptible youth, already the victim of an Indian maiden from the +handsome tribe in the Santa Clara Valley, and sister of Dona Ignacia's +Malia. Rezanov furnished him with beads and other trinkets and was at +no disadvantage thereafter. + +There was nothing Rezanov would have liked better than to see a Russian +fleet sail through the straits, but he also knew that nothing was less +likely, and that from such rumors he should only derive further +annoyance and delay. Two of his sailors deserted at the prospect of +war, and his hosts, if neutral, were manifestly alert. Luis and +Santiago had been obliged to go to Monterey for a few days, and there +was no one at the Presidio in whom Rezanov could confide either his +impatience to see Concha or at the adjournment of his more prosaic but +no less pressing interests. These two young men had been with him +almost constantly since his arrival, and demonstrated their friendship +and even affection unfailingly; but there was no love lost between +himself and Gervasio. This young hidalgo had the hauteur and intense +family pride of Santiago without his younger brother's frank +intelligence and lingering ingenuousness. With all the superiority and +inferiority, he had made himself so unpopular that his real kindness of +heart atoned for his absurdities only with those that knew him best. +Rezanov was not one of these nor aspired to be. Like all highly +seasoned men of the world, he had no patience with the small vanities +of the provincial, and although diplomatically courteous to all, in his +present precarious position, he had taken too little trouble to +conciliate Gervasio to find him of use in the absence of his friends. + +At the end of three days Rezanov had forgotten his cargo, and would +have sent the Juno to the bottom for ten minutes alone with Concha. He +had been on fire with love of her since the moment of his actual +surrender, and he was determined to have her if there were no other +recourse but elopement. All his old and intense love of personal +freedom had melted out of form in the crucible of his lover's +imagination. That he should have doubted for a moment that Concha was +the woman for whom his soul had held itself aloof and unshackled was a +matter for contemptuous wonder, and the pride he had taken in his keen +and swift perceptive faculties suffered an eclipse. Mind and soul and +body he was a lover, a union unknown before. + +On the fourth morning, his patience at an end, he was about to leave +the Juno to demand a formal interview with Don Jose when he saw Luis +and Santiago dismount at the beach and enter the canoe always in +waiting. A few moments later they had helped themselves to cigarettes +from the gift of the Tsar and were assuring Rezanov of their +partisanship and approval. + +"We were somewhat taken aback at the first moment," Luis admitted. +"But--well, we are both in love--Santiago no less than I, although I +have had these six long years of waiting and am likely to have another. +And we love Concha as few men love their sisters, for there is no one +like her--is it not so, Rezanov? And we quite understand why she has +chosen you, and why she stands firm, for we know the strength of her +character. We would that you were a Catholic, but even so, we will not +sit by and see her life ruined, and we have called to assure you that +we shall use all our influence, every adroit argument, to bring our +parents to a more reasonable frame of mind. They have already risen +above the first natural impulse of selfishness, and would consent to +the inevitable separation were you only a Catholic. I have also talked +with the Governor--we arrived at midnight--and he flew into a terrible +temper--the poor man is already like a mad bull at bay--but if my +father yielded, he would--on all points. This morning I shall ride +over and talk with Father Abella, who, I fancy, needs only a little +extra pressure--you may be sure Concha has not been idle--to yield; and +for more reasons than one. I shall enlist Father Uria and Father de la +Cueva as well. They also have great influence with my parents, and as +they return to San Jose in two days to prepare for the visit of the +most estimable Dr. Langsdorff, there is no time to lose. I shall go +this morning. One more cigarito, senor, and when that treaty is drawn +remember the conversion of your brother to Russian tobacco." + +Rezanov thanked him so warmly, assured him with so convincing an +emphasis that with his fate in such competent hands his mind was at +peace, that the ardent heart of the Californian exulted; Rezanov, with +his splendid appearance, and typical of the highest civilizations of +Europe, had descended upon his narrow sphere with the authority of a +demigod, and he not only thirsted to serve him, but to fasten him to +California with the surest of human bonds. + +As he dropped over the side of the ship, Rezanov's hand fell lightly on +the shoulder of Santiago. + +"I can wait no longer to see your sister," he whispered, mindful of the +sterner responsibilities of the older brother. "Do you think you +could--" + +Santiago nodded. "While Luis is at the Mission I shall go to my cousin +Juan Moraga's. You will dine with us at the Presidio, and I shall +escort you back to the ship." + + + +XIX + +It was ten o'clock when Rezanov, who had supped on the Juno, met +Santiago in a sandy valley half a mile from the Presidio and mounted +the horse his young friend himself had saddled and brought. The long +ride was a silent one. The youth was not talkative at any time, and +Rezanov was conscious of little else save an overwhelming desire to see +Concha again. One secret of his success in life was his gift of +yielding to one energy at a time, oblivious at the moment to aught that +might distract or enfeeble the will. To-night, as he rode toward the +Mission on as romantic a quest as ever came the way of a lover, the +diplomat, the anxious director of a great Company, the representative +of one of the mighty potentates of earth, were submerged, forgotten, in +the thrilling anticipation of his hour with the woman for whom every +fiber of his being yearned. + +Nor ever was there more appropriate a setting for one of those +inaugural chapters in mating, half appreciated at the time, that +glimmer as a sort of morning twilight on mountain tops over the mild +undulations of matrimony. The moon rode without a masking cloud across +the ambiguous night blue of the California sky, a blue that looks like +the fire of strange elements, where the stars glow like silver coals, +and out of whose depths intense shadows of blue and black fall; shadows +in which all the terrestrial world seems to float and recombine, where +houses are ghosts of ancient selves and men but the eidola of forgotten +dust. To-night the little estate of Juan Moraga, the most isolated and +eastern of the settlement, surrounded by its high white wall, looked as +unreal and formless as the blue oval of water and black trees behind +it, but Rezanov knew that it enfolded warm and palpitating womanhood +and was steeped in the sweetness of Castilian roses. + +The riders, who had taken a path far to the east of the Mission +dismounted and tied their horses among the willows, then, in their dark +cloaks but a part of the shadows, stole toward the wall designed to +impress hostile tribes rather than to resist onslaught; at the first +warning the settlement invariably fled to the church, where walls were +massive and windows high. + +In three of Moraga's four walls was a grille, or wicket of slender iron +bars, whence the open could be swept with glass, or gun at a pinch; and +toward the grille looking eastward went Rezanov as swiftly as the +uneven ground would permit. As Concha watched him gather form in the +moonlight and saw him jerk his cloak off impatiently, she flung her +soft body against the wall and shook the bars with her strong little +hands. But when he faced her she was erect and smiling; in a sudden +uprush of spirits, almost indifferent. She wore a white gown and a +rose in her hair. A rosebush as dense as an arbor spread its prickly +arms between herself and the windows of the house. + +"Good-evening," she whispered. + +Rezanov gave the grill an angry shake. (Santiago had considerately +retired.) "Come out," he said peremptorily, "or let me in." + +"There is but one gate, senor, and that is directly in front of the +house door, that stands open--" + +"Then I shall get over the wall--" + +"Madre de Dios! You would leave your fine clothes and more on the +thorns. My cousin planted those roses not for ornament, but to let the +blood of defiant lovers. Not one has come twice--" + +"Do you think I came here to talk to you through a grating? I am no +serenading Spaniard." + +His eyes were blazing. Adobe is not stone. Rezanov took the light bars +in both hands and wrenched them out; then, as Concha, divided between +laughter and a sudden timidity, would have retreated, he dexterously +clasped her neck and drew her head through the embrasure. As Santiago, +who had watched Rezanov from a distance with some curiosity, saw his +sister's beautiful face emerge from the wall to disappear at once +behind another rampart, he turned abruptly on his heel and could have +wept as he thought of Pilar Ortego of Santa Barbara. But there was a +hope that he would be a cadet of the Southern Company before the year +was out, and his parents and hers were indulgent. Even as he sighed, +his own impending happiness infused him with an almost patronizing +sympathy for the twain with the wall between, and he concealed himself +among the willows that they might feel to the full the blessed +isolation of lovers. His Pilar presented him with twenty-two hostages, +and he lived to enjoy an honorable and prosperous career, but he never +forgot that night and the part he had played in one of the poignant and +happy hours of his sister's life. + +Day and night a great silence reigned in the Mission valley, broken +only by the hoot of the owl, the singing of birds, the flight of horses +across the plain. Even the low huddle of Mission buildings and the few +homes beyond looked an anomaly in that vast quiet valley asleep and +unknown for so many centuries in the wide embrace of the hills. Its +jewel oasis alone made it acceptable to the Spaniard, but to Rezanov +the sandy desert, with its close companionable silences, its cool night +air sweet with the light chaste fragrance of the roses, the simple, +almost primitive, conditions environing the girl, possessed a power to +stir the depths of his emotions as no artful reinforcement to passion +had ever done. He forgot the wall. His ego melted in a sense of +complete union and happiness. Even when they returned to earth and +discussed the dubious future, he was conscious of an odd resignation, +very alien in his nature, not only to the barrier but to all the +strange conditions of his wooing. He had felt something of this +before, although less definitely, and to-night he concluded that she +had the gift of clothing the inevitable with the semblance and the +sweetness of choice; and wondered how long it would be able to skirt +the arid steppes of philosophy. + +She told him that she had talked daily with Father Abella. "He will +say nothing to admit he is weakening, but I feel sure he has realized +not only that our marriage will be for the best interests of +California, but that to forbid it would wreck my life; and from this +responsibility he shrinks. I can see it in his kind, shrewd, perplexed +eyes, in the hesitating inflections of his voice, to say nothing of the +poor arguments he advances to mine. What of my father and mother?" + +"They look troubled, almost ill, but nothing could exceed their +kindness to me, although they have pointedly given me no opportunity to +introduce the subject of our marriage again. The Governor makes no +sign that he knows of any aspiration of mine above corn, but he +informed me to-day that California is doomed to abandonment, that the +Indians are hopeless, that Spain will withdraw troops before she will +send others, and that the country will either revert to savagery or +fall a prey to the first enterprising outsider. As he was in +comparison cheerful before, I fancy he apprehends the irresistible +appeal of your father's surrender." + +Concha nodded. "If my father yields he will see that you have +everything else that you wish. He may have advocated meeting your +wishes in other respects in order to leave you without excuse to +linger, but that argument is not strong enough for the Governor, +whereas if he made up his mind to accept you as a son he would throw +the whole force of his character and will into the scale; and when he +reaches that pitch he wins--with men. I must, must bring you good +fortune," she added anxiously. "Marriage with a little California +girl--are you sure it will not ruin your career?" + +"I can think of nothing that would advantage it more. What are you +going to call me?" + +"I cannot say Petrovich or Nicolai--my Spanish tongue rebels. I shall +call you Pedro. That is a very pretty name with us." + +"My own harsh names suit my battered self rather better, but the more +Californian you are and remain the happier I shall be. When am I to +see your ears? Are they deformed, pointed and furry like a fawn's? Do +they stand out? Were all the women of California tattooed in some +Indian raid--" + +Concha glanced about apprehensively, but not even Santiago was there to +see the dreadful deed. With a defiant sweep of her hands she lifted +both loops of hair, and two little ears, rosy even in the moonlight, +commanded amends and more from penitent lips. + +"No man has ever seen them before--since I was a baby; not even my +father and brothers," said Concha, trembling between horror and rapture +at the tremendous surrender. "You will never remind me of it. Ay yi! +promise--Pedro mio!" + +"On condition that you promise not to confess it. I should like to be +sure that your mind belonged as much to me and as little to others as +possible. I do not object to confession--we have it in our church; but +remember that there are other things as sacred as your religion." + +She nodded. "I understand--better than you understand Romanism. I +must confess that I met you to-night, but Father Abella is too discreet +to ask for more. It is such blessed memories that feed the soul, and +they would fly away on a whisper." + + + +XX + +The next morning Father Abella rode over to the Presidio and was +closeted for an hour with the Commandante and the Governor. Then the +three rode down to the beach, entered a canoe, and paddled out to the +Juno. Rezanov met them on deck with a gravity as significant as their +own, but led them at once to the cabin where wine, and the cigarettes +for which alone they would have counselled the treaty, awaited them. + +The quartette pledged each other in an embarrassed silence, disposed of +a moment more with obdurate matches. Don Jose inhaled audibly, then +lifted his eyes and met the veiled and steady gaze of the Russian. + +"Senor," he said, "I have come to tell you that I consent to your +marriage with my daughter." + +"Thank you," said Rezanov. And their hands clasped across the table. + +But this was far too simple for the taste of a Governor. So important +an occasion demanded official dignity and many words. + +"Your excellency," he said severely, sitting very erect, with one white +hand on the table and the other on the hilt of his sword (yet full of +courtesy, and longing to enjoy the cheer and conversation of his host); +"the peaceful monotony of our lives has been rudely shaken by a demand +upon three fallible human beings to alter the course of history in two +great nations. That is a sufficient excuse for the suspense to which +we have been forced to subject you. The marriage of a Russian and a +Spaniard is of no great moment in itself, but the marriage of the +Plenipotentiary of the Tsar himself with the daughter of Jose Mario +Arguello, not only one of the most eminent, respected, and +distinguished of His Most Catholic Majesty's subjects in New Spain, but +a man so beloved and influential that he could create a revolution were +he so minded--indeed, Jose, no one knows better than I how incapable +you are of treason"--as the Commandante gave a loud exclamation of +horror--"I merely illustrate and emphasize. My sands are nearly run, +Excellency; it is to the estimable mind and strong paternal hand of my +friend that this miserable colony must look before long, would she +continue even this hand to mouth existence--a fact well known to our +king and natural lord. When he hears of this projected alliance--" + +"Projected?" exclaimed Rezanov. "I wish to marry at once." + +Father Abella shook his head vigorously, but he spoke with great +kindness. "That, Excellency, alas, is the one point upon which we are +forced to disappoint you. Indeed, our own submission to your wishes is +contingent. This marriage cannot take place without a dispensation +from Rome and the consent of the King." + +Rezanov looked at Don Jose. "You, too?" he asked curtly. + +The Commandante stirred uneasily, heaved a deep sigh; he thought of the +long impatience of his Concha. "It is true," he said. "Not only would +it be impossible for my conscience to resign itself to the marriage of +my daughter with a heretic--pardon, Excellency--without the blessing of +the Pope; not only would no priest in California perform the ceremony +until it arrived, but it would mean the degradation of Governor +Arrillaga and myself, and the ruin of all your other hopes. We should +be ordered summarily to Mexico, perhaps worse, and no Russian would +ever be permitted to set foot in the Californias again. I would it +were otherwise. I know--I know--but it is inevitable. Your excellency +must see it. Even were you a Catholic, Governor Arrillaga and the +President of the Missions, at least, would not dare to countenance this +marriage without the consent of the King." + +Rezanov was silent for a few minutes. In spite of the emotions of the +past few days he was astonished at the depth and keenness of his +disappointment. But never yet had he failed to realize when he was +beaten, nor to trim his sails without loss of precious time. + +"Very well," he said. "I will go to St. Petersburg at the earliest +possible moment, obtain personal letters from the Tsar and proceed post +haste to Rome and Madrid. At the same time I shall arrange for the +treaty with full authority from the Tsar. Then I shall sail from Spain +to Mexico and reach here as soon as may be. It will take a long while, +the best part of two years; but I have your word--" + +"You have," the three asserted with solemn emphasis. + +"Very well. But there is one thing more. I am not in a diplomatic +humor. My Sitkans are starving. I must leave here with a shipload of +breadstuffs." + +Again the Governor drew up his slim soldierly figure; deposited his +cigarette on the malachite ash tray. "You may be sure that we have +given that momentous question our deepest consideration. Father +Abella's suggestion that we buy your commodities for cash, and that +with our Spanish dollars you buy again of us, did not strike me +favorably at first, for it savored of sophistry. I may have failed in +every attempt to benefit and advance this Godforsaken country, but at +least I have been the honest agent of my King. But the circumstances +are extraordinary. You are about to become one of us, to do our +unhappy colony the greatest service that is in the power of any mortal, +and personally you have inspired us with affection and respect. I +have, therefore, decided that the exchange shall be made on these +terms, but that your cargo shall be received by Don Jose Arguello, +Commandante of the San Francisco Company, and held in trust until the +formal consent of the King to the purchase shall arrive." + +Rezanov glowed to his finger tips. Not even the assurance of his union +with the woman of his heart, which after all had met but the skeleton +of his desires, gave him the acute satisfaction of this sudden +fulfilment of his self-imposed mission. He dropped his own official +demeanor and throwing himself across the table gripped the Governor's +hand while he poured out his thanks in a voice thick with feeling, his +eyes glittering with more than victory. He did not lose sight of his +ultimate designs and pledge himself to external friendship, but he +unwittingly conveyed the impression that Spain had that day made a +friend she ill could afford to lose; and his three visitors rose well +pleased with the culmination of the interview. + +"You must stay here no longer, Rezanov," said Don Jose, as they were +taking leave. "My house is now literally your own. It will be some +weeks before the large quantities of corn and flour and other stores +you wish can be got together--for we must lay a requisition on the +fertile Mission ranchos in the valleys--and you will exchange these +narrow quarters for such poor comfort as my house affords--I take no +denial. Concha will remain at Juan Moraga's for the present." + + + +XXI + +Concha, after her father left her, sat for a long while in an attitude +of such complete repose that Sturgis, watching her miserably from the +veranda, remembered the consolations of his sketch book; and he was +able to counterfeit the graceful, proud figure, under the wall and +roses, before she stirred. + +Concha had sent her father away deeply puzzled. When, after embracing +her with unusual emotion, he had informed her of his consent to her +marriage, she had received the news as a matter of course, her hopes +and desires having mounted too high to contemplate a fall. Then the +Commandante, after dwelling at some length upon his discussions with +the Governor and the priests, and admonishing her against conceiving +herself too important a factor in what might prove to be an alliance of +international moment (she had laughed merrily and called him the most +callous of parents and subtlest of diplomats), had announced with some +trepidation and his most official manner that the consent of the Pope +and the King would be sought by Rezanov in person, involving a delay +and separation of not less than two years. But to his surprise she did +not fling herself upon his neck with blandishments and tears. She +merely became quite still, her light high spirits retreating as a +breeze might before one of Nature's sudden and portentous calms. Don +Jose, after a fruitless attempt to recapture her interest, mounted his +horse and rode away; and Concha sat down on a bench under the wall and +thought for an hour without moving a finger. + +Her first sensation was one of bitter anger and disappointment with +Rezanov. He had, apparently, in the first brief interview with their +tribunal, given his consent to this long delay of their nuptials. + +Her thoughts since his advent had flown on many journeys and known +little rest. She had been rudely awakened and stripped of her girlish +illusions in those days and nights of battle between pride and her +dazzled womanhood when, in the new humility of love, she believed +herself to be but one of a hundred pretty girls in the eyes of this +accomplished and fortunate Russian. The interval had been brief, but +not long enough for the grandeur in her nature to awaken almost +concurrently with her passions, and she had planned a life, in which, +guided and uplifted by the star of fidelity, and delivered from the +frivolous and commonplace temptations of other women, she should devote +herself to the improvement and instruction not only of the Indians but +of the youth of her own class. The schools founded by the estimable +and enterprising Borica had practically disappeared, and she was by far +the best educated woman in California. For such there was a manifest +and an inexorable duty. She would live to be old, she supposed, like +all the Arguellos and Moragas; but hidden in her unspotted soul would +be the flame of eternal youth, fed by an ideal and a memory that would +outlive her weary, insignificant body. And in it she would find her +courage and her inspiration, as well as an unwasting sympathy for those +she taught. + +Then had come the sudden and passionate wooing of Rezanov. All other +ideals and aspirations had fled. She had alternated between the tragic +extremes of bliss and despair. So completely did the ardor of her +nature respond to his, so fierce and primitive was the cry of her ego +for its mate, that she cared nothing for the distress of her parents +nor the fate of California. There is no love complete without this +early and absolute selfishness, which is merely the furious +determination of the race to accomplish its object before the spirit +awakens and the passions cool. + +Last night life had seemed serious; she had been girlishly, +romantically happy. It is true that her heart had thumped against the +wall as he kissed her, and that she had been full of a wild desire to +sing, although she could hardly shape and utter the words that danced +in her throbbing brain. But she had been conscious through it all of +the romantic circumstance, of the lonely beauty of the night, of the +delightful wickedness of meeting her lover in the silence and the dark, +even with a wall ten feet high between them. For the wall, indeed, she +had been confusedly and deliciously grateful. + +And this was what a man's love came to: ardors by night and expedience +by day! Or was it merely that Rezanov was the man of affairs always, +the lover incidentally? But how could a man who had seemed the very +epitome of all the lovers of all the world but a few hours before, +contemplate, far less permit, a separation of years? Poor Concha +groped toward the great unacceptable fact of life the whole, lit by +love its chief incident; and had a fleeting vision of the waste lands +in the lives of women occupied only with matrimony. But she dropped +her lashes upon this unalluring vision, and as she did so, inevitably +she began to excuse the man. + +None knew better than she every side of the great question that was +shaking not only her life but California itself. Appeal from the +dictum of state and clergy would be a mere waste of time. The only +alternative was flight. That would mean the wreck of Rezanov's avowed +purposes in coming to this quarter of New Spain, and perhaps of others +she dimly suspected. It would mean the very acme of misery for his +Sitkans, and an indefensible blow to the Company. It might even prove +the fatal mistake in his career, for which his enemies were ever on the +alert. He was not communicative about himself except when he had an +object in view, but he had told her something of his life, and his +officers and Langsdorff had told more. He was no silly caballero +warbling and thrumming at her grating when she longed for sleep, but a +man in his forties whose passions were in the leash of a remarkably +acute and ambitious brain. She even thrilled with pride in his +strength, for she knew how he loved her; and although his part was +action, her stimulated instincts taught her that she would rarely be +long from his mind. And what was she to seek to roll stumbling blocks +into the career of a man like that? In this very garden, for four long +days, she had dreamed exalted dreams of the manifold gifts she should +develop for his solace at home and his worldly advancement. She had +once felt all a girl's impatience when her mother's tears made her +father's departure on some distant mission more difficult than need be, +and although she knew now that her capacity for tenderness was as +great, she resolved to mould herself in a larger shape than that. + +But she sighed and drooped a little. The burden of woman's waiting +seemed already to have descended upon her. Two years were long--long. +There might be other delays. He might fall ill; he had been ill before +in that barbarous Russian north. And in all that time it was doubtful +if she received a line from him, a hint of his welfare. The Boston and +British skippers came no more, and it was certain that no Russian ship +would visit California again until the treaty was signed and official +news of it had made its slow way to these uttermost shores. She had +resented, in her young ambition and indocility, the chance that had +stranded her, equipped for civilization, on this rim of the world, but +never so much as in that moment, when she sat with arrested breath and +realized to the full the primitive conditions of a country thousands of +miles from the very outposts of Europe, and with never the sight of a +letter that did not come from Spain or one of her colonies. + +"Would that we lived a generation later," she thought with a heavy +sigh. "Progress is almost automatic, and to a land as fertile and +desirable as this the stream must turn in due course. But not in my +time. Not in my time." + +She rose and leaned her elbows in the embrasure of the grille, where +Santiago had restored the bars, and looked out over the fields of grain +planted by the padres, the immense sand dunes beyond that shut the +lovely bay from sight; the hills embracing the primitive scene in a +frowning arc. With all her imagination it was long before she could +picture a great city covering that immense and almost deserted space. +A pueblo in time, perhaps, for Rezanov had awakened her mind to the +importance of the harbor as a port of call. Many more adobe homes +where the sand was not hot and shifting, a few ships in the bay when +Spain had been compelled to relax her jealous vigilance--or--who +knew?--perhaps!--a flourishing colony when the Russian bear had +devoured the Spanish lion. She knew something and suspected more of +the rottenness and inefficiency of Spain, and, were Russia a nation of +Rezanovs, what opposition in California against the tide thundering +down from the north? Then, perhaps, the city that had travelled from +the brain of the Russian to hers when the fog had rolled over the +heights; the towers and palaces and bazaars, the thousand little golden +domes with the slender cross atop; the forts on the crags and the +villas in the hollows, and on all the island and hills. But when she +and her lover were dust. When she and her lover were dust. + +But she was too young and too ardent to listen long to the ravens of +the spirit. Two years are not eternity, and in happiness the past +rolls together like a scroll and is naught. She fell to dreaming. Her +lips that had been set with the gravity of stone relaxed in warm +curves. The color came back to her cheek, the light to her eyes. She +was a girl at her grating with the roses poignant above her, and the +world, radiant, alluring, and all for her, swimming in the violet haze +beyond. + + + +XXII + +Rezanov in those days was literally lord and master at the Presidio. +If he did not burn the house of his devoted host he ran it to suit +himself. He turned one of its rooms into an office, where he received +the envoys from the different Missions and examined the samples of +everything submitted to him, trusting little to his commissary. His +leisure he employed scouring the country or shooting deer and quail in +the company of his younger hosts. The literal mind of Don Jose +accepted him as an actual son and embryonic California, and, his +conscience at peace, revelled in his society as a sign from propitiated +heaven; rejoicing in the virtue of his years. The Governor, testily +remarking that as California was so well governed for the present he +would retire to Monterey and take a siesta, rode off one morning, but +not without an affectionate: "God preserve the life of your excellency +many years." + +But although Rezanov saw the most sanguine hopes that had brought him +to California fulfilled, and although he looked from the mountain +ridges of the east over the great low valleys watered by rivers and +shaded by oaks, where enough grain could be raised to keep the blood +red in a thousand times the colonial population of Russia, although he +felt himself in more and more abundant health, more and more in love +with life, it is not to be supposed for a moment that he was satisfied. +Concha he barely saw. She remained with the Moragas, and although she +came occasionally to the afternoon dances at the Presidio, and he had +dined once at her cousin's house, where the formal betrothal had taken +place and the marriage contract had been signed in the presence of her +family and more intimate friends, the priests, his officers, and the +Governor, he had not spoken with her for a moment alone. Nor had her +eyes met his in a glance of understanding. At the dances she showed +him no favor; and as the engagement was to be as secret as might be in +that small community, until his return with consent of Pope and King, +he was forced to concede that her conduct was irreproachable; but when +on the day of the betrothal she was oblivious to his efforts to draw +her into the garden, he mounted his horse and rode off in a huff. + +The truth was that Concha liked the present arrangement no better than +himself, and knowing that her own appeal against the proprieties would +result in a deeper seclusion, she determined to goad him into using +every resource of address and subtlety to bring about a more human +state of affairs. And she accomplished her object. Rezanov, at the +end of a week was not only infuriated but alarmed. He knew the +imagination of woman, and guessed that Concha, in her brooding +solitude, distorted all that was unfortunate in the present and dwelt +morbidly on the future. He knew that she must resent his part in the +long separation, no doubt his lack of impulsiveness in not proposing +elopement. There was a priest in his company who, although he ate +below the salt and found his associates among the sailors, could have +performed the ceremony of marriage when the Juno, under full sail in +the night, was scudding for the Russian north. It is not to be denied +that this romantic alternative appealed to Rezanov, and had it not been +for the starving wretches so eagerly awaiting his coming he might have +been tempted to throw commercial relations to the winds and flee with +his bride while San Francisco, secure in the knowledge of the Juno's +empty hold, was in its first heavy sleep. It is doubtful if he would +have advanced beyond impulse, for Rezanov was not the man to lose sight +of a purpose to which he had set the full strength of his talents, and +life had tempered his impetuous nature with much philosophy. Moreover, +while his conscience might ignore the double dealing necessary to the +accomplishment of patriotic or political acts, it revolted at the idea +of outwitting, possibly wrecking, his trusting and hospitable host. +But the mere fact that his imagination could dwell upon such an issue +as reckless flight, inflamed his impatience, and his desire to see +Concha daily during these last few weeks of propinquity. Finally, he +sought the co-operation of Father Abella--Santiago was in Monterey--and +that wise student of maids and men gave him cheer. + +On Thursday afternoon there was to take place the long delayed Indian +dance and bull-bear fight; not in the Presidio, but at the Mission, the +pride of the friars inciting them to succeed where the military +authorities had failed. All the little world of San Francisco had been +invited, and it would be strange if in the confusion between +performance and supper a lover could not find a moment alone with his +lady. + +The elements were kind to the padres. The afternoon was not too hot, +although the sun flooded the plain and there was not a cloud on the +dazzling blue of the sky. Never had the Mission and the mansions +looked so white, their tiles so red. The trees were blossoming pink +and white in the orchards, the lightest breeze rippled the green of the +fields; and into this valley came neither the winds nor the fogs of the +ocean. + +The priests and their guests of honor sat on the long corridor beside +the church; the soldiers, sailors, and Indians of Presidio and Mission +forming the other three sides of a hollow square. The Indian women +were a blaze of color. The ladies on the corridor wore their +mantillas, jewels, and the gayest of artificial flowers. There were as +many fans as women. Rezanov sat between Father Abella and the +Commandante, and not being in the best of tempers had never looked more +imposing and remote. Concha, leaning against one of the pillars, stole +a glance at him and wondered miserably if this haughty European had +really sought her hand, if it were not a girl's foolish dream. But +Concha's humble moments at this period of her life were rare, and she +drew herself up proudly, the blood of the proudest race in Europe +shaking angrily in her veins. A moment later, in response to a power +greater than any within herself, she turned again. The attention of the +hosts and guests was riveted upon the preliminary antics of the Indian +dancers, and Rezanov seized the opportunity to lean forward unobserved +and gaze at the girl whom it seemed to him he saw for the first time in +the full splendor of her beauty. She wore a large mantilla of white +Spanish lace. In the fashion of the day it rose at the back almost +from the hem of her gown to descend in a point over the high comb to +her eyes. The two points of the width were gathered at her breast, +defining the outlines of her superb figure, and fastened with one large +Castilian rose surrounded by its mass of tiny sharp buds and dull green +leaves. As the familiar scent assailed Rezanov's nostrils they tingled +and expanded. His lids were lifted and his eyes glowing as he finally +compelled her glance, and her own eyes opened with an eager flash; her +lips parted and her shoulders lost their haughty poise. For a moment +their gaze lingered in a perfect understanding; his ill-humor vanished, +and he leaned back with a complimentary remark as Father Abella +directed his attention to the most agile of the Indians. + +The swart natives of both sexes with their thick features and long hair +were even more hideous than usual in bandeaux of bright feathers, scant +garments made from the breasts of water-fowls, rattling strings of +shells, and tattooing on arm and leg no longer concealed by the +decorous Mission smock. Rezanov had that day sent them presents of +glass beads and ribbons, and in these they took such extravagant pride +that for some time their dancing was almost automatic. + +But soon their blood warmed, and after the first dance, which was +merely a series of measured springs on the part of the men and a +beating of time by the women, a large straw figure symbolizing an +entire hostile tribe was brought in, and about this pranced the men +with savage cries and gestures, advancing, attacking, retreating, +finally piercing it with their arrows and marching it off with sharp +yells of triumph that reverberated among the hills; the women never +varying from a loud monotonous chant. + +There was a peaceful interlude, during which the men, holding bow and +arrow aloft, hopped up and down on one spot, the women hopping beside +them and snapping thumb and forefinger on the body, still singing in +the same high measured voice. But while they danced a great bonfire +was laid and kindled. The gyrations lasted a few minutes longer, then +the chief seized a live ember and swallowed it. His example was +immediately followed by his tribe, and, whether to relieve discomfort +or with energies but quickened, they executed a series of incredible +handsprings and acrobatic capers. When they finally whirled away on +toes and finger tips, another chief, in the horns and hide of a deer, +rushed in, pursued by a party of hunters. For several moments he +perfectly simulated a hunted animal lurking and dodging in high grass, +behind trees, venturing to the brink of a stream to drink, searching +eagerly for his mate; and when he finally escaped it was amidst the +most enthusiastic plaudits as yet evoked. + +After an hour of this varied performance, the square was enlarged by +several mounted vaqueros galloping about with warning cries and much +flourishing of lassos. They were the cattle herders of the Mission +ranch just over the hills, and were in gala attire of black glazed +sombrero with silver cord, white shirt open at the throat, short black +velvet trousers laced with silver, red sash and high yellow boots. +Four, pistol in hand, stationed themselves in front of the corridor, +while the others rode out and in again, dragging a bear and a bull, +with hind legs attached by two yards of rope. The captors left the +captives in the middle of the square, and without more ado the serious +sport of the day began. The bull, with stomach empty and hide +inflamed, rushed at the bear, furious from captivity, with such a roar +that the Indian women screamed and even the men shuffled their feet +uneasily. But neither combatant was interested in aught but the other. +The one sought to gore, his enemy to strike or hug. The vaqueros +teased them with arrows and cries, the dust flew; for a few moments +there was but a heaving, panting, lashing bulk in the middle of the +arena, and then the bull, his tongue torn out, rolled on his back, and +another was driven in before the victor could wreak his unsated +vengeance among the spectators. The bear, dragging the dead bull, +rushed at the living, who, unmartial at first, stiffened to the +defensive as he saw a bulk of wiry fur set with eyes of fire, almost +upon him. He sprang aside, lowered his horn and caught the bear in the +chest. But the victor was a compact mass of battle and momentum. His +onslaught flung the bear over backward, and quickly disengaging himself +he made another leap at his equally agile enemy. This time the battle +was longer and more various, for the bull was smaller, more active and +dexterous. Twice he almost had the bear on his horns, but was rolled, +only saving his neck and back from the fury of the mountain beast by +such kicking and leaping that both combatants were indistinguishable +from the whirlwind of dust. Out of this they would emerge to stand +panting in front of each other with tongues pendant and red eyes +rolling. Finally the bear, nearly exhausted, made a sudden charge, the +bull leaped aside, backed again with incredible swiftness, caught the +bear in the belly, tossed him so high that he met the hard earth with a +loud cracking of bone. The vaqueros circled about the maddened bull, +set his hide thick with arrows, tripped him with the lasso. A wiry +little Mexican in yellow, galloping in on his mustang, administered the +coup de grace amidst the wild applause of the spectators, whose +shouting and clapping and stamping might have been heard by the envious +guard at the Presidio and Yerba Buena. + +As the party on the corridor broke, Rezanov found no difficulty in +reaching Concha's side, for even Dona Ignacia was chattering wildly +with several other good dames who renewed their youth briefly at the +bull-fight. + +"Did you enjoy that?" he asked curiously. + +"I did not look at it. I never do. But I know that you were not +affronted. You never took your eyes from those dreadful beasts." + +"I am exhilarated to know that you watched me. Yes, at a bull-fight the +primitive man in me has its way, although I have the grace to be +ashamed of myself afterward. In that I am at least one degree more +civilized than your race, which never repents." + +The door of one of the smaller rooms stood open, and as they took +advantage of this oversight with a singular concert of motive, he +clasped both her hands in his. "Are you angry with me?" he asked +softly. He dared not close the door, but his back was square against +it, and the other guests were moving down to the refectory. + +"For liking such horrid sport?" + +"We have no time to waste in coquetry." + +Her eyes melted, but she could not resist planting a dart. "Not now--I +quite understand: love could never be first with you. And two years +are not so long. They quickly pass when one is busy. I shall find +occupation, and you will have no time for longings and regrets." + +They were not yet alone, women were talking in their light, high voices +not a yard away. The hindrance, and her new loveliness in the soft +mantilla, the pink of the roses reflected in her throat, the +provocative curl of her mouth, sent the blood to his head. + +"You have only to say the word," he said hoarsely, "and the Juno will +sail to-night." + +Never before had she seen his face so unmasked. Her voice shook in +triumph and response. + +"Would you? Would you?" + +"Say the word!" + +"You would sacrifice all--the Company--your career--your Sitkans?" + +"All--everything." His own voice shook with more than passion, for +even in that moment he counted the cost, but he did not care. + +But Concha detected that second break in his voice, and turned her head +sadly. + +"You would not say that to-morrow. I hate myself that I made you say +it now. I love you enough to wait forever, but I have not the courage +to hand you over to your enemies." + +"You are strangely far-sighted for a young girl." And between +admiration and pique, his ardor suffered a chill. + +"I am no longer a young girl. In these last days it has seemed to me +that secrets locked in my brain, secrets of women long dead, but of +whose essence I am, have come forth to the light. I have suffered in +anticipation. My mind has flown--flown--I have lived those two years +until they are twenty, thirty, and I have lived on into old age here by +the sea, watching, watching--" + +She had dropped all pretence of coquetry and was speaking with a +passionate forlornness. But before he could interrupt her, take +advantage of the retreating voices that left them alone at last, she +had drawn herself up and moved a step away. "Do not think, however," +she said proudly, "that I am really as weak and silly as that. It was +only a mood. Should you not return I should grieve, yes; and should I +live as long as is common with my race, still would my heart remain +young with your image, and with the fidelity that would be no less a +religion than that of my church. But I should not live a selfish life, +or I should be unworthy of my election to experience a great and +eternal passion. Memory and the life of the imagination would be my +solace, possibly in time my happiness, but my days I should give to +this poor little world of ours; and all that one mortal, and that a +woman, has to bestow upon a stranded and benighted people. It may not +be much, but I make you that promise, senor, that you will not think me +a foolish, romantic girl, unworthy of the great responsibilities you +have offered me." + +"Concha!" He was deeply moved, and at the same time her words chilled +him with subtle prophecy, sank into some unexplored depth of his +consciousness, meeting response as subtle, filling him with impatience +at the mortality of man. He glanced over his shoulder, then took her +recklessly in his arms. + +"Is it possible you doubt I will come back?" he demanded. "My faith?" + +"No, not that. But such happiness seems to me too great for this life." + +He remembered how often he had been close to death; he knew that during +the greater part of the next two years he should see the glimmer of the +scythe oftener yet. For a moment it seemed to him that he felt the +dark waters rise in his soul, heard the jeers of the gods at the vanity +of mortal will. But the blood ran strong and warm in his veins. He +shook off the obsession, and smiled a little cynically, even as he +kissed her. + +"This is the hour for romance, my dear. In the years to come, when you +are very prosaically my wife with a thousand duties, and grumbling at +my exactions, your consolation will be the memory of some moment like +this, when you were able to feel romantic and sad. I wish I could +arrange for some such set of memories for myself, but I am unequal to +your divine melancholy. When I cannot see you I am cross and sulky; +and just now--I am, well--philosophically happy. Some day I shall be +happier, but this is well enough. And I can harbor no ugly +presentiments. As I entered California I was elated with a sense of +coming happiness, of future victories; and I prefer to dwell upon that, +the more particularly as in a measure the prophetic hint has been +fulfilled. So make the most of the present. I shall see you daily +during this last precious fortnight, for I am determined this +arrangement shall cease; and you must exorcise coquetry and abet me +whenever there is a chance of a word alone." + +She nodded, but she noted with a sigh that he said no more of sudden +flight. She would never have consented to jeopardize the least of his +interests, but she fain would have been besought. The experience she +had had of the vehemence and fire in Rezanov made her long for his +complete subjugation and the happiness it must bring to herself. But +as he smiled tenderly above her she saw that his practical brain had +silenced the irresponsible demands of love, and although she did not +withdraw from his arms she stiffened her head. + +"I fancy I shall return home to-morrow," she said. "My mother tells me +that she can live without me no longer, and that Father Abella has +reminded her that if I stay in the house of Elena Castro I shall be as +free from gossip as here. I infer that he has rated my two parents for +making a martyr of me unnecessarily, and told them it was a duty to +enliven my life as much as possible before I enter upon this long +period of probation. The grating of my room at Elena's is above a +little strip of Garden, and faces the blank wall of the next house. +Sometimes--who knows?" She shrugged her shoulders and gave a gay +little laugh, then stood very erect and moved past him to the door. +She had recognized the shuffling step of Father Abella. + +"Is supper ready, padre mio?" she asked sweetly. "His excellency and I +have talked so much that we are very hungry." + +"There is no need to deceive me," said Father Abella dryly. "You are +not the first lovers I have known, although I will admit you are by far +the most interesting, and for that reason I have had the wickedness to +abet you. But I fancy the good God will forgive me. Come quickly. +They are scattered now, but will go to the refectory in a moment and +miss you. Excellency, will you give your arm to Dona Ignacia and take +the seat at the head of the table? Concha, my child, I am afraid you +must console our good Don Weeliam. He is having a wretched quarter of +an hour, but has loyally diverted the attention of your mother." + +"That is the vocation of certain men," said Concha lightly. + + + +XXIII + +Life was very gay for a fortnight. An hour after the Commandante's +surrender he had despatched invitations to all the young folk of the +gente de razon of Monterey, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and San Diego, +and to such of the older as would brave the long journeys. The +Monterenos had arrived for the Mission entertainment, and during the +next few days the rest poured over the hills: De la Guerras, Xime'nos, +Estudillos, Carrillos, Este'negas, Morenos, Cotas, Estradas, Picos, +Pachecos, Lugos, Orte'gas, Alvarados, Bandinis, Peraltas, members of +the Luis, Rodriguez, Lopez families, all of gentle blood, that made up +the society of Old California; as gay, arcadian, irresponsible, yet +moral a society as ever fluttered over this planet. Every house in the +Presidio and valley, every spare room at the Mission, opened to them +with the exuberant hospitality of the country. The caballeros had their +finest wardrobes of colored silks and embroidered botas, sombreros +laden with silver, fine lawn and lace, jewel and sash, velvet serape +for the chill of the late afternoon. The matrons brought their stiff +robes of red and yellow satin, the girls as many flowered silks and +lawns, mantillas and rebosos, as the family carretas would hold. The +square of the Presidio was crowded from morning until midnight with the +spirited horses of the country, prancing impatiently under the heavy +Mexican saddle, heavier with silver, made a trifle more endurable by +the blanket of velvet or cloth. No Californian walked a dozen rods +when he had a horse to carry him. + +But the horses were not always champing in the square. There was more +than one bull-bear fight, and twice a week at least they carried their +owners to the hills of the Mission ranch, or the rocky cliffs and +gorges above Yerba Buena, the Indian servants following with great +baskets of luncheon, perhaps roasting an ox whole in a trench. This +the Californians called barbecue and the picnic merienda. + +There was dancing day and night, the tinkling of guitars, flirting of +fans. Rezanov vowed he would not have believed there were so many fans +and guitars in the world, and suddenly remembered he had never seen +Concha with either. The lady of his choice reigned supreme. Many had +taken the long blistering journey for no other purpose than to see the +famous beauty and her Russian; the engagement was as well known as if +cried from the Mission top. The girls were surprised and delighted to +find Concha sweet rather than proud and envied her with amiable +enthusiasm. The caballeros, fewer in number, for most of the men in +California at that period before a freer distribution of land were on +duty in the army, artfully ignored the unavowed bond, but liked Rezanov +when he took the trouble to charm them. + +Khostov and Davidov watched the loading of the Juno with a lively +regret. Never had they enjoyed themselves more, nor seen so many +pretty girls in one place. Both had begun by falling in love with +Concha, and although they rebounded swiftly from the blow to their +hopes, it happily saved them from a more serious dilemma; unwealthed +and graceless as they were, they would have been regarded with little +favor by the practical California father. As it was, their pleasures +were unpoisoned by regrets or rebuffs. When they were not flirting in +the dance or in front of a lattice, receiving a lesson in Spanish +behind the portly back of a duena, or clasping brown little fingers +under cover of a fan when all eyes were riveted on the death struggle +of a bull and a bear, they were playing cards and drinking in the +officers' quarters; which they liked almost as well. It is true they +sometimes paid the price in a cutting rebuke from their chief, but the +rebukes were not as frequent as in less toward circumstances, and were +generally followed by some fresh indulgence. This, they uneasily +guessed, was not only the result of the equable state of his +excellency's temper, but because he had a signal unpleasantness in +store, and would not hazard their resignation. They had taken +advantage of an imperial ukase to enter the service of the +Russian-American Company temporarily, and they knew that if they evaded +any behest of Rezanov's their adventurous life in the Pacific would be +over. Therefore, although they resented his implacable will, they +pulled with him in outward amity; and indeed there were few of the +Juno's human freight that did not look back upon that California +springtime as the episode of their lives, commonly stormy or +monotonous, in which the golden tide flowed with least alloy. Even +Langsdorff, although impervious to female charms and with scientific +thirst unslaked, enjoyed the Spanish fare and the society of the +priests. The sailors received many privileges, attended bull-fights +and fandangos, loved and pledged; and were only restrained from +emigration to the interior of this enchanted land of pretty girls and +plentiful food by the knowledge of the sure and merciless vengeance of +their chief. Had the rumor of war still held it might have been +otherwise, but that raven had flown off to the limbo of its kind, and +the Commandante let it be known that deserters would be summarily +captured and sent in irons to the Juno. + +In the mind of Concha Arguello there was never a lingering doubt of the +quality of that fortnight between the days of torturing doubts and +acute emotional upheaval, and the sailing away of Rezanov. It was true +that what he banteringly termed her romantic sadness possessed her at +times, but it served as a shadow to throw into sharper relief an almost +incredible happiness. If she seldom saw Rezanov alone there was the +less to disturb her, and at least he was never far from her side. +There were always the delight of unexpected moments unseen, whispered +words in the crowd, the sense of complete understanding, broken now and +again by poignant attacks of unreasoning jealousy, not only on her part +but his; quite worth the reconciliation at the lattice, while Elena +Castro, gentle duena, pitched her voice high and amused her husband so +well he sought no opportunity for response. + +Then there was more than one excursion about the bay on the Juno, +dinner on La Bellissima or Nuestra Senora de los Angeles, a long return +after sundown that the southerners might appreciate the splendor of the +afterglow when the blue of the water was reflected in the lower sky, to +melt into the pink fire above, and all the land swam in a pearly mist. + +Once the Commandante took twenty of his guests, a gay cavalcade, to his +rancho, El Pilar, thirty miles to the south: a long valley flanked by +the bay and the eastern mountains on the one hand, and a high range +dense with forests of tall thin trees on the other. But the valley +itself was less Californian than any part of the country Rezanov had +seen. Smooth and flat and free of undergrowth and set with at least ten +thousand oaks, it looked more like a splendid English park, long +preserved, than the recent haunt of naked savages. There were deer and +quail in abundance, here and there an open field of grain. Long beards +of pale green moss waved from the white oaks, wild flowers, golden red +and pale blue, burst underfoot. There were hedges of sweet briar, +acres of lupins, purple and yellow. Altogether the ideal estate of a +nobleman; and Rezanov, who had liked nothing in California so well, +gave his imagination rein and saw the counterpart of the castle of his +ancestors rise in the deep shade of the trees. + +Don Jose's house was a long rambling adobe, red tiled, with many +bedrooms and one immense hall. Beyond were a chapel and a dozen +outbuildings. Dinner was served in patriarchal style in the hall, the +Commandante--or El padrone as he was known here--and his guests at the +upper end of the table; below the salt, the vaqueros, their wives and +children, and the humble friar who drove them to prayer night and +morning. The friar wore his brown robes, the vaqueros their black and +silver and red in honor of the company, their women glaring +handkerchiefs of green or red or yellow about their necks, even pinned +back and front on their shapeless garments; and affording a fine +vegetable garden contrast to the delicate flower bed surrounding the +padrone. + +There was a race track on the ranch and many fine horses. After siesta +the company mounted fresh steeds and rode off to applaud the feats of +the vaqueros, who, not content with climbing the greased pole, +wrenching the head of an unfortunate rooster from his buried body as +they galloped by, submitting the tail of an oiled pig in full flight to +the same indignity, gave when these and other native diversions were +exhausted, such exhibitions of riding and racing as have never been +seen out of California. As lithe as willow wands, on slender horses as +graceful as themselves, they looked like meteors springing through +space, and there was no trick of the circus they did not know by +instinct, and translate from gymnastics into poetry. Even Rezanov +shared the excitement of the shouting, clapping Californians, and +Concha laughed delightedly when his cap waved with the sombreros. + +"I think you will make a good Californian in time," she said as they +rode homeward. + +"Perhaps," said Rezanov musingly. His eyes roved over the magnificent +estate and at the moment they entered a portion of it that deepened to +woods, so dense was the undergrowth, so thick the oak trees. Here +there was but a glimpse, now and again, of the mountains swimming in +the dark blue mist of the late afternoon, the moss waved thickly from +the ancient trees; over even the higher branches of many rolled a +cascade of small brittle leaves, with the tempting opulence of its +poisonous sap. The path was very abrupt, cut where the immense +spreading trees permitted, and Rezanov and Concha had no difficulty in +falling away from the chattering, excited company. + +"Tell me your ultimate plans, Pedro mio," said Concha softly. "You are +dreaming of something this moment beyond corn and treaties." + +"Do you want that final proof?" he asked, smiling. "Well, if I could +not trust you that would be the end of everything, and I know that I +can. I have long regarded California as an absolutely necessary field +of supplies, and since I have come here I will frankly say that could +I, as the representative of the Tsar in all this part of the world, +make it practically my own, I should be content in even a permanent +exile from St. Petersburg. I could attract an immense colony here and +in time import libraries and works of art, laying the foundation of a +great and important city on that fine site about Yerba Buena. But now +that these kind people have practically adopted me I cannot repay their +hospitality by any overt act of hostility. I must be content either +slowly to absorb the country, in which case I shall see no great result +in my lifetime, or-and for this I hope--what with the mess Bonaparte is +making of Europe, every state may be at the others' throat before long, +including Russia and Spain. At all events, a cause for rupture would +not be far to seek, and it would need no instigation of mine to +despatch a fleet to these shores. In that case I should be sent with +it to take possession in the name of the Tsar, and to deal with these +simple, kind--and inefficient people, my dear girl--as no other Russian +could. They cannot hold this country. Spain could not--would not, at +all events, for she has not troops enough here to protect a territory +half its size--hold it against even the 'Americans,' should they in +time feel strong enough to push their way across the western +wilderness. It is the destiny of this charming Arcadia to disappear; +and did Russia forego an opportunity to appropriate a domain that +offers her literally everything except civilization, she would be +unworthy of her place among nations. Moreover--a beneficent triumph +impossible to us otherwise--with a powerful and flourishing colony up +and down this coast, and sending breadstuffs regularly to our other +possessions in these waters until the natives, immigrants, and exiles +were healthy, vitalized beings, it would be but a question of a few +years before we should force open the doors of China and Japan." He +caught Concha from her horse and strained her to him in the mounting +ardor of his plunge down the future. "You must resent nothing!" he +cried. "You must cease to be a Spanish woman when you become my wife, +and help me as only you can in those inevitable years I have mapped +out; and not so much for myself as for Russia. My enemies have sought +to persuade three sovereigns that I am a visionary, but I have already +accomplished much that met with resentment and ridicule when I broached +it. And I know my powers! I tingle with the knowledge of my ability +to carry to a conclusion every plan I have thought worth the holding +when the ardor of conception was over. I swear to you that death +alone--and I believe that nothing is further aloof--shall prevent my +giving this country to Russia before five years have passed, and within +another brief span the trade of China and Japan. It is a glorious +destiny for a man--one man!--to pass into history as the Russian of his +century who has done most to add to the extent and the wealth and the +power of his empire! Does that sound vainglorious, and do you resent +it? You must not, I tell you, you must not!" + +Concha had never seen him in such a mood. Although he held her so +closely that the horses were angrily biting each other, she felt that +for once there was nothing personal in his ardor. His eyes were +blazing, but they stared as if a great and prophetic panorama had risen +in this silent wood, where the long faded moss hung as motionless as if +by those quiet waters that even the most ardent must cross in his time. +She felt his heart beat as she had felt it before against her soft +breast, but she knew that if he thought of her at all it was but as a +part of himself, not as the woman he impatiently desired. But she was +sensible of no resentment, either for herself or her race, which, +indeed, she knew to be but a wayfarer in the wilderness engaged in a +brief chimerical enterprise. For the first time she felt her +individuality melt into, commingle with his: and when he lowered his +gaze, still with that intensity of vision piercing the future, her own +eyes reflected the impersonalities of his; and in time he saw it. + + + +XXIV + +"We should all wear black for so mournful an occasion," said Rafaella +Sal, spreading out her scarlet skirts. + +"Father Abella is right. The occasion is sad enough without giving it +the air of a funeral." + +"Sad! Dios de mi alma! Will he return?" + +Elena Castro shook her wise head. She was nearly twenty, and four +years of matrimony had made her sceptical of man's capacity for +romance. "Two years are long, and he will see many girls, and become +one again of a life that is always more brilliant than our sun in May. +His eyes will be dazzled, his mind distracted, full to the brim. To +sit at table with the Tsar, to talk with him alone in his cabinet, to +have for the asking audience of the Pope of Rome and the King of Spain! +Ay yi! Ay yi! Perhaps he will be made a prince when he returns to St. +Petersburg and all the beautiful princesses will want to marry him. +Can he remember this poor little California, and even our lovely +Concha? I doubt! Valgame Dios, I doubt!" + +"Concha has always been too fortunate," said Rafaella with a touch of +spite, for years of waiting had tried her temper and the sun always +freckled her nose. The flower of California stood on the corridor of +the Mission and before the church awaiting the guest of honor and his +escort. A mass was to be said in behalf of the departing guests; the +Juno would sail with the turn of the afternoon tide. Men and women were +in their gayest finery, an exotic mass of color against the rough +white-washed walls, chattering as vivaciously as if the burden of their +conversation were not regret for the Chamberlain and his gay young +lieutenants. Concha, alone, wore no color; her frock was white, her +mantilla black. She stood somewhat apart, but although she was pale +she commanded her eyes to dwell absently on the shifting sand far down +the valley, her haughty Spanish profile betraying nothing of the +despair in her soul. + +"Yes, Concha has always been too fortunate," repeated Rafaella. "Why +should she be chosen for such a destiny--to go to the Russian court and +wear a train ten yards long of red velvet embroidered with gold, a +white veil spangled with gold, a headdress a foot high set so thick +with jewels her head will ache for a week--Madre de Dios! And we stay +here forever with white walls, horsehair furniture, Baja California +pearls and three silk dresses a year!" + +"No one in all Russia will look so grand in court dress as our +Conchita," said Elena loyally. "But I doubt if it is the dress and the +state she thinks of losing to-day. She will not talk even to me of +him-- Ay yi! she grows more reserved every day, our Concha!--except to +say she will wed him when he returns, and that I know, for did not I +witness the betrothal? She only mocks me when I beg her to tell me if +she loves him, languishes, or sings a bar of some one of our beautiful +songs with ridiculous words. But she does. She did not sleep last +night. Her room is next to mine. No, it is of Rezanov she thinks, and +always. Those proud, silent girls, who jest when others would weep and +use many words and must die without sympathy--they have tragedy in +their souls, ay yi! And you think she is fortunate? True she is +beautiful, she is La Favorita, she receives many boxes from Mexico, and +she has won the love of this Russian. But--I have not dared to remind +her--I remembered it only yesterday--she came into this world on the +thirteenth of a month, and he into her life but one day before the +thirteenth of another--new style! True some might say that it was an +escape, but if he came on the twelfth, it was on the thirteenth she +began to love him--on the night of the ball; of that I am sure." + +Rafaella shuddered and crossed herself. "Poor Concha! Perhaps in the +end she will always stand apart like that. Truly she is not as others. +I have always said it. Thanks be to Mary it was Luis that wooed me, +not the Russian, for I might have been tempted. True his eyes are +blue, and only the black could win my heart. But the court of St. +Petersburg! Dios de mi vida! Did I lie awake at night and think of +Concha Arguello in red velvet and jewels all over, I should hate her. +But no--to-day--I cannot. Two years! Have I not waited six? It is +eternity when one loves and is young." + +"They come," said Elena. + +The cavalcade was descending the sand hills on the left, Rezanov in +full uniform between the Commandante and Luis Arguello and followed by +a picked escort of officers from Presidio and Fort. The Californians +wore full-dress uniform of white and scarlet, Don Jose a blue velvet +serape, embroidered in gold with the arms of Spain. + +As they dismounted Rezanov bowed ceremoniously to the party on the +corridor, and they returned his salutation gravely, suddenly silent. +He walked directly over to Concha. + +"We will go in together," he said. "It matters nothing what they +think. I kneel beside no one else." + +And Concha, with the air of leading an honored guest to the banquet, +turned and walked with him into the dark little church. + +"Why did you not wear a white mantilla?" he whispered. "I do not like +that black thing." + +"I am not a bride. I knew we should kneel together--it would have been +ridiculous. And I could not wear a colored reboso to-day." + +"I should have liked to fancy we were here for our nuptials. Delusions +pass but are none the less sweet for that." + +They knelt before the altar, the Commandante, Dona Ignacia, Luis, +Santiago, Rafaella Sal and Elena Castro just behind; the rest of the +party, their bright garments shimmering vaguely in the gloom, as they +listened; and enough fervent prayers went up to insure the health and +safety of the departing guests for all their lives. + +Rezanov, who had much on his mind, stared moodily at the altar until +Concha, who had bowed her head almost to her knees, finished her +supplication; then their eyes turned and met simultaneously. For a +moment their brains did swim in the delusion that the priest with his +uplifted hands pronounced benediction upon their nuptials, that +probation was over and union nigh. But Father Abella dismissed all +with the same blessing, and they shivered as they rose and walked +slowly down the church. + +Dona Ignacia took her husband's arm, and muttering that she feared a +chill, hurried the others before her. The priests had gone to the +sacristy. Before they reached the door Rezanov and Concha were alone. + +His hands fell heavily on her shoulders. + +"Concha," he said, "I shall come back if I live. I make no foolish +vows, so idle between us. There is only one power that can prevent our +marriage in this church not later than two years from to-day. And +although I am in the very fulness of my health and strength, with my +work but begun, and all my happiness in the future, and even to a less +sanguine man it would seem that his course had many years to run, still +have I seen as much as any man of the inconsequence of life, of the +insignificance of the individual, his hopes, ambitions, happiness, and +even usefulness, in the complicated machinery of natural laws. It may +be that I shall not come back. But I wish to take with me your promise +that if I have not returned at the end of two years or you have +received no reason for my detention, you will believe that I am dead. +There would be but one insupportable drop in the bitterness of death, +the doubt of your faith in my word and my love. Are you too much of a +woman to curb your imagination in a long unbroken silence?" + +"I have learned so much that one lesson more is no tax on my faith. +And I no longer live in a world of little things. I promise you that I +shall never falter nor doubt." + +He bent his head and kissed her for the first time without passion, but +solemnly, as had their nuptials indeed been accomplished, and the +greater mystery of spiritual union isolated them for a moment in that +twilight region where the mortal part did not enter. + +As they left the church they saw that all the Indians of the Mission +and neighborhood, in a gala of color, had gathered to cheer the +Russians as they rode away. Concha was to return as she had come, +beside the carreta of her mother, and as Rezanov mounted his horse she +stood staring with unseeing eyes on the brilliant, animated scene. +Suddenly she heard a suppressed sob, and felt a touch on her skirt. +She looked round and saw Rosa, kneeling close to the church. For a +moment she continued to stare, hardly comprehending, in the intense +concentration of her faculties, that tangible beings, other than +herself and Rezanov, still moved on the earth. Then her mind relaxed. +She was normal in a normal world once more. She stooped and patted the +hands clasping her skirts. + +"Poor Rosa!" she said. "Poor Rosa!" + + +Over the intense green of islands and hills were long banners of yellow +and purple mist, where the wild flowers were lifting their heads. The +whole quivering bay was as green as the land, but far away the +mountains of the east were pink. Where there was a patch of verdure on +the sand hills the warm golden red of the poppy flaunted in the +sunshine. All nature was in gala attire like the Californians +themselves, as the Juno under full sail sped through "The Mouth of the +Gulf of the Farallones." Fort San Joaquin saluted with seven guns; the +Juno returned the compliment with nine. The Commandante, his family +and guests, stood on the hill above the fort, cheering, waving +sombreros and handkerchiefs. Wind and tide carried the ship rapidly +out the straits. Rezanov dropped the cocked hat he had been waving and +raised his field-glass. Concha, as ever, stood a little apart. As the +ship grew smaller and the company turned toward the Presidio, she +advanced to the edge of the bluff. The wind lifted her loosened +mantilla, billowing it out on one side, and as she stood with her hands +pressed against her heart, she might, save for her empty arms, have +been the eidolon of the Madonna di San Sisto. In her eyes was the same +expression of vague arrested horror as she looked out on that world of +menacing imperfections the blind forces of nature and man had created; +her body was instinct with the same nervous leashed impotent energy. + + + +XXV + +The white rain clouds, rolling as ever like a nervous intruder over the +great snow peaks behind the steep hills black with forest that rose +like a wall back of the little settlement of Sitka, parted for a +moment, and the sun, a coy disdainful guest, flung a glittering mist +over what Nature had intended to be one of the most enchanting spots on +earth, until, in a fit of ill-temper--with one of the gods, no +doubt--she gave it to Niobe as a permanent outlet for her discontent. +When it does not rain at Sitka it pours, and when once in a way she +draws a deep breath of respite and lifts her grand and glorious face to +the sun, in pathetic gratitude for dear infrequent favor, comes a wild +flurry of snow or a close white fog from the inland waters; and, like a +great beauty condemned to wear a veil through life, she can but stare +in dumb resentment through the folds, consoling herself with the +knowledge that could the world but see it must surely worship. +Perhaps, who knows? she really is a frozen goddess, condemned to the +veil for infidelity to him imprisoned in the great volcano across the +sound--who sends up a column of light once in a way to dazzle her +shrouded eyes, and failing that batters her with rock and stone like +any lover of the slums. One day he spat forth a rock like a small +hill, and big enough to dominate the strip of lowland at least, +standing out on the edge of the island like a guard at the gates, and +never a part of the alien surface. Between this lofty rock and the +forest was the walled settlement of New Archangel, that Baranhov, the +dauntless, had wrested from the bloodthirsty Kolosh but a short time +since and purposed to hold in the interest of the Russian-American +Company. His log hut, painted like the other buildings with a yellow +ochre found in the soil, stood on the rock, and his glass swept the +forest as often as the sea. + +As Rezanov, on the second of July, thirty-one days after leaving San +Francisco, sailed into the harbor with its hundred bits of volcanic +woodland weeping as ever, he gave a whimsical sigh in tribute to the +gay and ever-changing beauties of the southern land, but was in no mood +for sentimental reminiscence. Natives, paddling eagerly out to sea in +their bidarkas to be the first to bring in good news or bad, had given +him a report covering the period of his absence that filled him with +dismay. There had been deaths from scurvy; one of the largest ships +belonging to the Company had been wrecked and the entire cargo lost; of +a hunting party of three hundred Aleuts in one hundred and forty +bidarkas, which had gone from Sitka to Kadiak in November of the +preceding year, not one had arrived at its destination, and there was +reason to believe that all had been drowned or massacred; and the +Russians and Aleuts at Behring's Bay settlement had been exterminated +by one of the native tribes. + +But the Juno was received with salvos of artillery from the fort, and +cheered by the entire population of the settlement, crowded on the +beach. Baranhov, looking like a monkey with a mummy's head in which +only a pair of incomparably shrewd eyes still lived, his black wig +fastened on his bald, red-fringed pate with a silk handkerchief tied +under his chin, stood, hands on hips, shaking with excitement and +delight. The bearded, long-haired priests, in full canonicals of black +and gold, were beside the Chief-Manager, ready to escort the +Chamberlain to the chapel at the head of the solitary street, where the +bells were pealing and a mass of thanksgiving was to be said for his +safe return. + +But it was some time before Rezanov could reach the chapel or even +exchange salutations with Baranhov. As he stepped on shore he was +surrounded, almost hustled by the shouting crowd of Russians,--many of +them convicts--Aleuts and Sitkans, who knelt at his feet, endeavored to +kiss his hand, his garments, in their hysterical gratitude for the food +he had brought them. For the first time he felt reconciled to his +departure from California, and Concha's image faded as he looked at the +tearful faces of the diseased, ill-nourished wretches who gave their +mite of life that he might live as became a great noble of the Russian +Empire. But although he tingled with pleasure and was deeply moved, he +by no means swelled with vanity, for he was far too clear-sighted to +doubt he had done more than his duty, or that his duty was more than +begun. He made them a little speech, giving his word they should be +properly fed hereafter, that he would make the improvement of their +condition as well as that of all the employees of the Company +throughout this vast chain of settlements on the Pacific, the chief +consideration of his life; and they believed him and followed him to +the chapel rejoicing, reconciled for once to their lot. + +After the service Rezanov went up to the hut of the Chief-Manager, a +habitation that leaked winter and summer, and was equally deficient in +light, ventilation and order. But Baranhov in the sixteen years of his +exile had forgotten the bare lineaments of comfort, and devoted his +days to advancing the interests of the Company, his nights, save when +sleep overcame him, to potations that would have buried an ordinary man +under Alaskan snows long since. But Baranhov had fourteen years more +of good service in him, and rescued the Company from insolvency again +and again, nor ever played into the hands of marauding foreigners; with +brain on fire he was shrewder than the soberest. + +He listened with deep satisfaction to the Chamberlain's account of his +success with the Californians and his glowing pictures of the country, +nodding every few moments with emphatic approval. But as the story +finished his wonderful eyes were two bubbling springs of humor, and +Rezanov, who knew him well, recrossed his legs nervously. + +"What is it?" he asked. "What have I done now? Remember that you have +been in this business for sixteen years, and I one--" + +"How many measures of corn did you say you had brought, Excellency?" + +"Two hundred and ninety-four," replied Rezanov proudly. + +"A provision that exceeds my most sanguine hopes. The only thing that +mitigates my satisfaction is that there is not a mill in the settlement +to grind it." + +Rezanov sprang to his feet with a violent exclamation, his face very +red. There was no one whose good opinion he valued as he did that of +this brilliant, dissipated, disinterested old genius; and he felt like +a schoolboy. But although he started for the door, he recovered +half-way, and reseating himself joined in the laughter of the little +man who was rocking back and forth on his bench, his weazened leg +clasped against his shrunken chest. + +"How on earth was I to know all your domestic arrangements?" he said +testily. "God knows I found them limited enough last winter, but it +never occurred to me there was any mysterious process involved in +converting corn into meal. Is it quite useless, then?" + +"Oh, no, we can boil or roast it. It will dispose of what teeth we +have left, but that will serve the good purpose of reminding us always +of your excellency's interest in our welfare." + +Rezanov shrugged his shoulders. "Give the corn to the natives. It is +farinaceous at all events. And you can have nothing to say against the +flour I have brought, and the peas, beans, tallow, butter, barley, +salt, and salted meats--in all to the value of twenty-four thousand +Spanish dollars." + +The Chief-Manager's head nodded with the vigor and rapidity of a +mechanical toy. "It is a God-send, a God-send. If you did no more +than that you would have earned our everlasting gratitude. It will +make us over, give us renewed courage in this cursed existence. Are +you not going to get me out of it?" + +Rezanov shook his head with a smile. "Literally you are the whole +Company. As long as I live here you stay--although when I reach St. +Petersburg I shall see that you receive every possible reward and +honor." + +Baranhov lifted his shoulders to his ears in quizzical resignation. "I +suppose it matters little where the last few years left me are spent, +and I can hang the medals on the walls to console me when I have +rheumatism, and shout my titles from the top of the fort when the +Kolosh are yelling at the barricades." + +"You must make yourself more comfortable," said Rezanov emphatically. +"You are wrong to carry your honesty and enthusiasm to the point of +living like the promuschleniki. Take enough of their time to build you +a comfortable dwelling, and I will send you, on my own account, far +more substantial rewards than orders and titles. Build a big house, +for that matter. I shall be here more or less--when I am not in +California." And he told Baranhov of his proposed marriage with the +daughter of Don Jose Arguello. + +The Chief-Manager listened to this confidence with an even livelier +satisfaction than to the list of the Juno's cargo. + +"We shall have California yet!" he cried, his eyes snapping like live +coals under the black thatch of wig. "Absorption or the bayonet. It +matters little. Ten years from now and we shall have a line of +settlements as far south as San Diego. My plan was to feel my way down +the northern coast of California with a colony, which should buy a +tract of land from the natives and engage immediately in otter +hunting--somewhere between Cape Mendocino and Drake's Bay. The Spanish +have no settlements above San Francisco and are too weak to drive us +out. They would rage and bluster and do nothing. Then quietly push +forward, building forts and ships. But you have taken hold in the +grand manner and will accomplish in ten years what would have taken me +fifty. Marry this girl, use your advantage over the entire +family--whose influence I well know--and that great personal power with +which the Almighty has been so lavish, and you will have the whole +weakly garrisoned country under your foot before they know where they +are, and the Russian settlers pouring in. Spain cannot come to the +rescue while this devil Bonaparte is alive, and he is young, and like +yourself a favorite of destiny. Those damned Bostonians inherit the +grabbing instincts of the too paternal race they have just rejected, +but there are thousands of miles of desert between California and their +own western outposts, hundreds of savage tribes to exterminate. By the +time they are in a position to attempt the occupation of California we +shall be so securely entrenched they will either let us alone or send +troops that would be half dead by the time they reach us. As to ships, +we could soon build enough at Okhotsk and Petropaulovsky for our +purpose. For the matter of that, if your gifted tongue impressed the +Tsar with the riches of California there would always be war ships on +her coast." He leaned forward and caught the strong shoulders above +him in hands that looked like a tangle of baked nerves, and shook them +vigorously. "You are a great boy!" he said with a sort of quizzical +solemnity. "A great boy. This damned, God-forsaken, pestilential, +demoralizing, brutalizing factory for enriching a few with the very +life blood and vitals of thousands that will suffer and starve and +never be heard of" (all his language cannot be recorded), "will make +two or three reputations by the way. Mine will be one, although I'll +get nothing else. Shelikov is safe; but you will have a monument. +Well, God bless you. I grudge you nothing. Not even the happiness you +deserve and are bound to have--for when all is said and done, Rezanov, +you are a lucky dog, a lucky dog! Any man may see that, even when +these infernal snows have left him with but half an eye. To quarrel +with a destiny like yours would be as great a waste of time as to +protest that California is warm and fertile, while this infernal North +is like living in a refrigerator with the deluge to vary the monotony. +Now let us get drunk!" + +But Rezanov laughingly extricated himself, and sending a message to +Davidov and Khostov to come to him immediately, walked toward the tent +he had ordered erected on the edge of the settlement; only the worst of +weather drove him indoors in these half-civilized communities. + +As he was passing the chapel, followed again by the employees of the +Company, to whom he had granted a holiday, he suddenly found his hand +taken possession of, and looked up to see himself confronted by a +dissipated-looking person in plain clothes. His hand became so limp +that it was dropped as if it had put forth a sting, and he narrowed his +eyes and demanded with a bend of his mouth that brought the blood to +the face of the intruder: + +"And who are you, may I ask?" + +The man threw back his head defiantly. "I am Lieutenant Sookin of the +Imperial Navy of Russia," he said in a loud, defiant tone. + +"And I am Chamberlain of the Russian Court and Commander of all +America," replied Rezanov coolly. "Now go to your quarters, dress +yourself in your uniform, and present your report to me an hour hence." + +The officer, concentrating in his injected eyes all the lively hatred +and jealousy of his service for the Russian-American Company in this +region where it reigned supreme and cared no more for the Admiralty +than for some native chieftain covered with shells and warpaint, glared +at its plenipotentiary as if calling upon his deeper resources of +insolence; but the steady, contemptuous gaze of the man who had dealt +with his kind often and successfully overcame his sodden spirit, and he +turned sulkily and slouched off to his quarters to console himself with +more brandy. Rezanov shrugged his shoulders and went on to his tent. + +There was no furniture in it as yet, and he was obliged to receive +Davidov and Khostov standing, but this he preferred. They followed him +almost immediately, apprehensive and nervous, and before speaking he +looked at them for a moment with his strong, penetrating gaze. He well +knew the power of his own personality, and that it was immeasurably +enhanced by the fact that of all with whom he had to do in these +benighted regions his will alone was never weakened by liquor. These +young men, clever, high-bred, with an honorable record not only in +Russia, but in England and America, looked upon a hilarious night as +the just reward of work well done by day. Brandy was debited to their +account by the "bucket" (a bucket being a trifle less than two +gallons), and they found little fault with life. But the profligacy +gave a commanding spirit like Rezanov's an advantage which they did not +under-estimate for a moment; and they alternately hated and worshiped +him. + +"I think you have an inkling of what I am going to ask you to do." The +Chamberlain brought out the euphemism with the utmost suavity. "I have +made up my mind not to ignore the indignity to which Russia was +subjected last year by Japan, but to inflict upon it such punishment as +I find it in my power to compass. It was my intention to build a +flotilla here, but owing to the diseased condition and reduced numbers +of the employees, that was impossible, and I shall be obliged to +content myself with the Juno and the Avos, whose keel, as you know, was +laid in November, and is no doubt finished long since. These I shall +fit with armaments in Okhotsk. I shall place the enterprise I have +spoken of in your charge, sailing with you from Sitka five days hence. +From Okhotsk I desire that you proceed to the Japanese settlements in +the lower Kurile Islands, take possession of them and bring all stores +and as many of the inhabitants as the vessels will accommodate, to +Sitka, where Baranhov will see that they are comfortably established on +that large island in the harbor--which we shall call Japonsky--and +converted into good servants of the Company. The excuse for this +enterprise is that those islands were formally taken possession of by +Shelikov; and although abandoned later, the fact remains that the +Russian flag was the first to float over them. The stores captured may +not be worth much and the islands are of no particular use to us, but +it is wise that Japan should have a taste of Russian power; and the +consequences may be salutary in more ways than one. I hope you will do +me this great favor, for there is no one of your tried probity and +skill to whom I can trust so delicate an enterprise. I am doing it +wholly upon my own responsibility, for although I wrote tentatively to +the Tsar on this subject before I sailed for California, it is not yet +time for a reply. However, I take the consequences upon my own +shoulders. You shall not suffer in any way, for your orders are to +obey mine while you remain in these waters." + +He paused a moment, and then suddenly smiled into the unresponsive +faces before him. He held out his hand and shook their limp ones +warmly. + +"Let me thank you here for all your inestimable services in the past, +and particularly during our late hazardous voyages. Be sure that +whether you succeed in this enterprise or not, your rewards shall be no +less for what you have already done. I shall make it a personal matter +with the Tsar. You shall have promotion and a substantial increase in +pay, besides the orders and Imperial thanks you so richly deserve. +Lest anything happen to me on my homeward journey, I shall write to St. +Petersburg before I leave." + +The lieutenants, overcome as ever when he chose to put forth his full +powers, assured him of their fidelity and, if with misgivings, vowed to +mete out vengeance to the Japanese. And although their misgivings were +not unfounded, and they paid a high price in suffering and +mortification, they accomplished their object and in due course +received the rewards the Chamberlain had promised them. + +They did not retire, and Rezanov, noting their sudden hesitation and +embarrassment, felt an instant thrill of apprehension. + +"What is it?" he demanded. "What has happened?" + +"Life has moved slowly in Sitka during your absence, Excellency," +replied Davidov. "There has been little work done on the Avos. It +will not be finished for a month or six weeks." + +Then, had the young men been possessed by a not infrequent mood, they +would have glowed with a sense of just satisfaction. Rezanov felt +himself turn so white that he wheeled about and left the tent. A month +or six weeks! And the speed and safety of his journey across Siberia +depended upon his making the greater part of it before the heavy autumn +rains swelled the rivers and flooded the swamps. Winter or summer the +journey from Okhotsk to St. Petersburg might be made in four months; +with the wealth and influence at his command, possibly in less; but in +the deluge between he was liable to detentions lasting nearly as long +again, to say nothing of illness caused by inevitable exposure. + +He stood staring at the palisades for many minutes. The separation +must be long enough, the dangers numerous enough if he started within +the week, but at least he had in a measure accustomed himself to the +idea of not seeing Concha again for "the best part of two years," and +the sanguineness of his temperament had led him to hope that the time +might be reduced to eighteen months. If he delayed too long, only by +means of an unprecedented run of good fortune would he reach St. +Petersburg but a month behind his calculations. And the chances were in +favor of four, or three at the best! Never since the morning that the +real nature of his feeling for Concha had declared itself had he +yearned toward her as at that moment; never since the dictum of what +she called their "tribunal" had he so rebelled against the long delay. +And yet he hesitated. To leave Japan unpunished for the senseless +humiliations to which it had subjected Russia in his person was not to +be thought of, and yet did he leave without seeing the Avos finished, +the two boats supplied with armaments at Okhotsk, and under way before +he started across Siberia, he knew it was doubtful if the expedition +took place before his return; in that case might never take place, for +these two young men might have drifted elsewhere, and he knew no one +else to whom he could entrust such a commission. In spite of their +idiosyncrasies he could rely upon them implicitly--up to a certain +point. That point involved keeping them in sight until exactly the +right moment and leaving nothing to their executive which could be +certainly accomplished by himself alone. Did he sail five days hence +on the Juno one of the officers would be exposed for an indeterminate +time to the temptations of Okhotsk, the ship, perhaps, at the mercy of +some sudden requirement of the Company. His authority was absolute +when enforced in person, but it was a proverb west of the Ural: "God +reigns and the Tsar is far away." If the Juno were wanted the manager +of Okhotsk would argue that two years was a period in which an ardent +servant of the Company would find many an excuse to justify its seizure. + +And here in Sitka it was doubtful if the work on the Avos proceeded at +all. Baranhov was not in sympathy with the enterprise against the +Japanese, fearing the consequences to himself in the event of the +Tsar's disapproval, and resenting the impressment of the promuschleniki +into a service that deprived him of their legitimate work. Moreover, +although he loved Rezanov personally, he had enjoyed supreme power in +the wilderness too long not to chafe under even the temporary +assumption of authority by his high-handed superior. With the best of +intentions Davidov could make little headway against the passive +resistance of the Chief-Manager, and those intentions would be weakened +by the consolidations the Company so generously afforded. + +The result was hardly open to doubt. If he left Sitka before the +completion of the Avos, Russia would go unavenged for the present. Or +himself? Rezanov, sanguine and imaginative as he was, even to the point +of creating premises to rhyme with ends, was very honest fundamentally. +He turned abruptly on his heel, and calling to the officers that he +would announce his decision on the morrow, ordered the sentry to open +the gate and passed out of the enclosure. + +He crossed the clearing and entered the forest. The warlike tribes +themselves had trodden paths through the dense undergrowth of young +trees and ferns. Rezanov, despite Baranhov's warning, had tramped the +forest many times. It was the one thing that reconciled him to Sitka, +for there are few woods more beautiful. In spite or because of the +incessant rains, it is pervaded by a rich golden gloom, the result of +the constant rotting of the brown and yellow bark, not only of the +prostrate trees, but of the many killed by crowding and unable to seek +the earth with the natural instinct of death. And above, the green of +hemlock and spruce was perennially fresh and young, glistening and +fragrant. Here and there was a small clearing where the clans had +erected their ingenious and hideous totem poles, out of place in the +ancient beauty of the wood. + +The ferns brushed his waist, the roar of the river came to his ears, +the forest had never looked more primeval, more wooing to a man +burdened with civilization, but Rezanov gave it less heed than usual, +although he had turned to it instinctively. He was occupied with a +question to which nature would turn an aloof disdainful ear. Was his +own wounded vanity at the root of his desire to humiliate Japan? Russia +was too powerful, too occupied, for the present at least, greatly to +care that her overtures and presents had been scorned. Upon her +ambassador had fallen the full brunt of that wearisome and incomparably +mortifying experience, and unfortunately the ambassador happened to be +one of the proudest and most autocratic men in her empire. No man of +Rezanov's caliber but accommodates that sort of personal vanity that +tenaciously resents a blow to the pride of which it is a part, to the +love of power it feeds. As well expect a lover without passion, a +state without corruption. Rezanov finally shrugged his shoulders and +admitted the impeachment, but at the same time he recognized that the +desire for vengeance still held, and that the tenacity of his nature, a +tenacity that had been no mean factor in the remodeling of himself from +a voluptuous young sprig of nobility into one of the most successful +business men and subjugator of other men that the Russian Empire could +show, was not likely to weaken when its very roots had been stiff with +purpose for fifteen months. Power had been Rezanov's ruling passion +for many years before he met Concha Arguello, and, although it might +mate very comfortably with love, it was not to be expected that it +would remain submerged beyond the first enthusiasm, nor even assume the +position of the "party of the second part." Rezanov was Rezanov. He +was also in that interval between youth and age when the brain rules if +it is ever to rule at all. That the ardor of his nature had awakened +refreshed after a long sleep was but just proved, as well as the +revival of his early ideals and capacity for genuine love; but the +complexities, the manifold interests and desires of the ego had been +growing and developing these many years; and no mere mortal that has +given up his life for a considerable period to the thirst for dominance +can ever, save in a brief exaltation, sacrifice it to anything so +normal as the demands of sex and spirit. For good or ill, the man who +has burned with ambition, exulted in the exercise of power, bitterly +resented the temporary victories of rivals and enemies, fought with all +the resources of brain and character against failure, is in a class +apart from humanity in the mass. Rezanov loved Concha Arguello to the +very depths of his soul, but he had lived beyond the time when even she +could engage successfully with the ruthless forces that had molded into +immutable shape the Rezanov she knew. Her place was second, and it is +probable that she would have loved him less had it been otherwise; she, +in spite of her fine intellect and strong will, being all woman, as he, +despite his depth of intuition, was all man. Equality is possible in +no relation or condition of life. When woman subjugates man the +conquered will enjoy a sense of revenge proportionate to the meanness +of his state. + +It is possible that had Concha awaited Rezanov in St. Petersburg her +attraction would have focused his desires irresistibly; but his mind +had resigned itself to the prospect of separation for a definite +period, and while it had not relegated her image to the background, her +part in his life had been settled there among many future +possibilities, and all the foreground was crowded with the impatient +symbols of the intervening time. Moreover, he well knew that the savor +would be gone from his happiness with the woman were the taste of +another failure acrid in his mouth. + +As he realized that the die was cast, the sanguineness of his +temperament rushed to do battle against apprehension and self-accusing. +After all, he was rarely balked of his way, accustomed to ride down +obstacles, to the amiable cooperation of fate. He could arrive in +Okhotsk late in September or early in October. Captain D'Wolf, who had +been detained at Sitka during his absence by the same indifference that +had operated against the completion of the Avos, would precede him and +order that all be in readiness at Okhotsk both for the ships and his +journey to Yakutsk. He could proceed at once; and, no doubt, with +twice the number or horses needed, would make the first and most +difficult stage of the journey in the usual time, and with no great +embarrassment from the rains. From Yakutsk to Irkutsk the greater part +of the travel was by water in any case, and after that the land was +flat for the most part and bridges were more numerous. The governor of +every town in Siberia would be his obsequious servant, the entire +resources of the country would be at his disposal. He was sound in +health again, as resistant against hardships as when he had sailed from +Kronstadt. And God knew, he thought with a sigh, his will and purpose +had never been stronger. + + + +XXVI + +Rezanov disembarked from the Juno at Okhotsk during the first days of +October. Had it not been for a touch of fever that had returned in the +filth and warm dampness of Sitka, he would have felt almost as buoyant +in mind and body as in those days when California had gone to his head. +The Juno had touched at Kadiak, Oonalaska, and others of the more +important settlements, and he had found his schools and libraries in +good condition, seals and otters rapidly increasing, in their immunity +from indiscriminate slaughter, new and stronger forts threatening the +nefarious Bostonian and Briton. At Okhotsk he learned that the embassy +of Count Golofkin to China had failed as signally as his own, and this +alone would have put him in the best of tempers even had he not found +his armament and caravan awaiting him, facilitating his immediate +departure. He wrote a gay letter to Concha, giving her the painful +story of the naturalist attached to the Golofkin embassy, Dr. Redovsky, +who had remained in the East animated by the same scientific enthusiasm +as that of his colleague, the good Langsdorff; parted some time since +from his too exacting master. Rezanov had written Concha many letters +during his detention in Sitka, and left them with Baranhov to send at +the first opportunity. The Chief-Manager, deeply interested in the +romance of the mighty Chamberlain with whom he alone dared to take a +liberty, vowed to guard all that came to his care and sooner or later +to send them to California. Rezanov had also written comprehensively +to the Tsar and the directors of the Russian-American Company, adroitly +placing his marriage in the light of a diplomatic maneuver, and +painting California in colors the more vivid and enticing for the +sullen clouds and roaring winds, the dripping forests and eternal snows +of that derelict corner of Earth where he had been stranded so long. +He had also, when Langsdorff announced his intention to start upon a +difficult journey in the interest of science, provided him not only +with letters of recommendation, but with all the comforts procurable in +a land where the word comfort was the stock in trade of the local +satirist. But Langsdorff, although punctiliously acknowledging the +favors, never quite forgave the indifference of a mere ambassador and +chamberlain, rejoicing in the dignity of an honorary membership in the +St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, to the supreme division of natural +history. + +The first stage of the journey--from Okhotsk to Yakutsk--was about six +hundred and fifty English miles, not as the crow flew, but over the +Stanovoi mountains in a southwesterly direction to the Maya, by this +river's wavering course to the Youdoma, then northwest to the Aldan, +and south beside the Lena. The beaten track lay entirely alongside the +rivers at this season, upon their surface in winter; and in addition to +these great streams there were many too unimportant for the map, but as +erratic in course and as irresistible in energy after the first rains +of autumn. + +Captain D'Wolf had proved himself capable and faithful, and a caravan +of forty horses had been in Okhotsk a week; twenty for immediate use, +twenty for relief, or substitutes in almost certain emergency. As +there were but one or two stations of any importance between Okhotsk +and Yakutsk, and as a week might pass without the shelter of so much as +a hut, it was necessary to take tents and bearskin beds for the +Chamberlain, his Cossack guard, valet-de-chambre, cook and other +servants, one set of fine blankets and linen, cooking utensils, axes, +arms, tinder-boxes, provisions for the entire trip, besides a great +quantity of personal luggage. + +Rezanov lost no time. He had changed his original plan and dispatched +Davidov on the Avos from Oonalaska. Guns and provisions awaited the +Juno at Okhotsk, and in less than a week after his arrival Rezanov was +able to start on his long journey with a mind at rest. Although the +almost extravagant delight that his body had taken in the comforts of +his manager's home, after ten weeks on the Juno, warned him that he +might be in a better condition to begin a journey of ten thousand +versts, he hearkened neither to the hint nor to the insistence of his +host. His impatient energy and stern will, combined with the +passionate wish to accomplish the double object of his journey, +returning in the least possible time to California with his treaty and +the consent of the Pope and King to his marriage, would have carried +him out of Okhotsk in forty-eight hours had disease declared itself. +Nor were there any inducements aside from a comfortable bed and refined +fare, in the flat, unhealthy town with its everlasting rattle of +chains, and the hideous physiognomies of criminals always at work to +the rumbling accompaniment of Cossack oaths. + +For the first week the exercise he loved best and the long days in the +crisp open air renewed his vigor, and he even looked forward to the +four months of what was then the severest traveling in the world, in a +boyish spirit of adventure. He reflected that he might as well give +his brain a relief from the constant revolving of schemes and plans for +the advancement of his country, his company, and himself, and let his +thoughts have their carnival of anticipation with the unparalleled +happiness and success that awaited him in the future. There was no +possible doubt of the acquiescence and assistance of the Tsar, and no +man ever looked down a fairer perspective than he, as he galloped over +the ugly country, often far ahead of his caravan, splashing through +bogs and streams, fording rivers without ferries, camping at night in +forests so dense the cold never escaped their embrace, muffled to the +eyes in furs as he made his way past valleys whose eternal ice fields +chilled the country for miles about; sometimes able to procure a little +fresh milk and butter, oftener not; occasionally passing a caravan +returning for furs, generally seeing nothing but a stray reindeer for +hours together, once meeting the post and finding much for himself that +in nowise dampened his spirit. + +But on the eighth day the rains began: a fine steady mist, then in +torrents as endless. Wrapped in bearskins at night within the shelter +of a tent or of some wayside hut, and closely covered by day, Rezanov +at first merely cursed the inconvenience of the rain; but while +crossing the river Allach Juni, his guides without consulting him +having taken him miles out of his way in order to avoid the hamlet of +the same name where the small-pox was raging, but where there was a +government ferry, his horse lost his footing in the rapid, swollen +current and fell. Rezanov managed to retain his seat, and pulled the +frightened, plunging beast to its feet while his Cossacks were still +shouting their consternation. But he was soaked to the skin, his +personal luggage was in the same condition, and they did not reach a +hut where a fire could be made until nine hours later. It was then that +the seeds of malaria, accumulated during the last three years in +unsanitary ports and sown deep by exceptional hardships, but which he +believed had taken themselves off during his six weeks in California, +stirred more vigorously than in Sitka or Okhotsk. He rode on the next +day in a burning fever. Jon, minding Langsdorff's instructions, +doctored him--not without difficulty--from the medicine chest, and for +a day or two the fever seemed broken. But Jon, sick with apprehension, +implored him to turn back. He might as well have implored the sky to +turn blue. + +"How do you think men accomplish things in this world?" asked Rezanov +angrily. "By turning back and going to bed every time they have a +migraine?" + +"No, Excellency," said the man humbly. "But health is necessary to the +accomplishment of everything, and if the body is eaten up with fever--" + +"What are drugs for? Give me the whole damned pharmacopeia if you +choose, but don't talk to me about turning back." + +"Very well, Excellency," said Jon, with a sigh. + +The next day he and one of the Cossack guard caught him as he fell from +his horse unconscious. A Yakhut hut, miserable as it was, offered in +the persistent downpour a better shelter than the tent. They carried +him into it, and his bedding at least was almost as luxurious as had he +been in St. Petersburg. Jon, at his wits' end, remembered the' +practice of Langsdorff in similar cases, and used the lancet, a heroic +treatment he would never have accomplished had his master been +conscious. The fever ebbed, and in a few days Rezanov was able to +continue the journey by shorter stages, although heavy with an +intolerable lassitude. But his will sustained him until he reached +Yakutsk, not at the end of twenty-two days, but of thirty-three. Here +he succumbed immediately, and although his sickbed was in the +comfortable home of the agent of the Company, and he had medical +attendance of a sort, his fever and convalescence lasted for eight +weeks. Then, in spite of the supplications of his friends, chief among +whom was his faithful Jon, and the prohibition of the doctor, he began +the second stage of his journey. + +The road from Yakutsk to Irkutsk, some two thousand six hundred versts, +or fifteen hundred and fifty English miles, lay for the most part +alternately on and along the river Lena in a southeasterly direction; +there being no attempt to cross Siberia at any point in a straight +line. By this time the river was frozen, and the only concession +Rezanov would make to his enfeebled frame was an arrangement to cover +the entire journey by private sledge instead of employing the swifter +course of post sledge on the long stretches and horseback on the +shorter cuts. + +The weather was now intensely cold, the river winding, the delays many, +but there were adequate stations for the benefit and accommodation of +travelers every hundred versts or less. Rezanov felt so invigorated by +the long hours in the open after the barbarous closeness of his sick +room, that at the end of a fortnight he was again possessed with all +his old ardor of desire to reach the end of his journey. He vowed he +was well again, abandoned his comfortable sledge, and pushed on in the +common manner. In the wretched post sledges he was often exposed to +the full violence of a Siberian winter, and although the horseback +exercise stirred his blood and refreshed him for the moment, he +suffered in reaction and was several times forced to remain two nights +instead of one at a station. But he was muffled in sables to his very +eyes, and the road was diverting, often beautiful, with its Gothic +mountains, its white plains set with villages and farms, the high thin +crosses above the open or swelling domes of the little churches. +Sometimes the Lena narrowed until its frozen surface looked like a mass +of ice that had ground its way between perpendicular walls or +overhanging masses of rock that awaited the next convulsion of nature +to close the pass altogether. Then the dogs trotted past caves and +grottos, left the abrupt and craggy banks, crossed level plains once +more; where herds of cattle grazed in the summertime, now a vast +uncheckered expanse of white. The Government and Company agents fawned +upon him, the best of horses and beds, food and wine, were eagerly +placed at the disposal of the favorite of the Tsar. Rezanov's spirit, +always of the finest temper, suffered no eclipse for many days. He +reveled in the belief that his sorely tried body was regenerating its +old vigors. + +From Wercholensk to Katschuk the journey was so winding by river that +it consumed more than twice the time of the land route, which although +only thirty versts in extent was one of the most difficult in Siberia. +Rezanov chose the latter without hesitation, and would listen to no +discussion from the Commissary of the little town or from his +distracted Jon: the journey from Yakutsk had now lasted five weeks and +the servant's watchful eye noted signs of exhaustion. + +The hills were very high and very steep, the roads but a name in +summer. Had not the snow been soft and thin, the horses could not have +made the ascent at all; and, as it was, the riders were forced to walk +the greater part of the way and drag their unwilling steeds behind +them. They were twelve hours covering the thirty versts, and at +Katschuk Rezanov succumbed for two days, while Jon scoured the country +in search of a telega; as sometimes happened there was a long stretch +of country without snow, and sledges, by far the most comfortable +method of travel in Siberia, could not be used. The rest of the +journey, but one hundred and ninety-six versts, must be made by land. +Rezanov admitted that he was too weary to ride, and refused to travel +in the post carriage. On the third day the servant managed to hire a +telega from a superior farmer and they started immediately, the heavy +luggage having been consigned to a merchant vessel at Yakutsk. + +Rezanov stood the telega exactly half a day. Little larger than an +armchair and far lighter, it was drawn by horses that galloped up and +down hill and across the intervening valleys with no change of gait, +and over a road so rough that the little vehicle seemed to be propelled +by a succession of earthquakes. Rezanov, in a fever which he +attributed to rage, dismissed the telega at a village and awaited the +coming of Jon, who followed on horseback with the personal luggage. + +It was a village of wooden houses built in the Russian fashion, and +inhabited by a dignified tribe wearing long white garments bordered +with fur. They spoke Russian, a language little heard farther north and +east in Siberia, and when Rezanov declined their hospitality they +dispatched a courier at once to the Governor-General of Irkutsk +acquainting him with the condition of the Chamberlain and of his +imminent arrival. In consequence, when Rezanov drew rein two days +later and looked down upon the city of Irkutsk with its pleasant +squares and great stone buildings beside the shining river, the gilded +domes and crosses of its thirty churches and convents glittering in the +sun, the whole picture beckoning to the delirious brain of the traveler +like some mirage of the desert, his appearance was the signal for a +salute from the fort; and the Governor-General, privy counselor and +senator de Pestel, accompanied by the civil governor, the commandant, +the archbishop, and a military escort, sallied forth and led the guest, +with the formality of officials and the compassionate tenderness of +men, into the capital. + +For three weeks longer Rezanov lay in the palace of the Governor. +Between fever and lassitude, his iron will seemed alternately to melt +in the fiery furnace of his body, then, a cooling but still viscous and +formless mass, sink to the utmost depths of his being. But here he had +the best of nursing and attendance, rallied finally and insisted upon +continuing his journey. His doctor made the less demur as the +traveling was far smoother now, in the early days of March, than it +would be a month hence, when the snow was thinner and the sledges were +no longer possible. Nevertheless, he announced his intention to +accompany him as far as Krasnoiarsk, where the Chamberlain could lodge +in the house of the principal magistrate of the place, Counselor +Keller, and, if necessary, be able to command fair nursing and medical +attendance; and to this Rezanov indifferently assented. + +The prospect of continuing his journey and the bustle of preparation +raised the spirits of the invalid and gave him a fictitious energy. He +had fought depression and despair in all his conscious moments, never +admitted that the devastation in his body was mortal. With but a +remnant of his former superb strength, and emaciated beyond +recognition, he attended a banquet on the night preceding his +departure, and on the following morning stood up in his sledge and +acknowledged the God-speed of the population of Irkutsk assembled in +the square before the palace of the Governor. All his life he had +excited interest wherever he went, but never to such a degree as on +that last journey when he made his desperate fight for life and +happiness. + + + +XXVII + +The snow rarely falls in Krasnoiarsk. It is a little oasis in the +great winter desert of Siberia. Rezanov, his face turned to the +window, could see the red banks on the opposite side of the river. The +sun transformed the gilded cupolas and crosses into dazzling points of +light, and the sky above the spires and towers, the stately square and +narrow dirty streets of the bustling little capital, was as blue and +unflecked as that which arched so high above a land where Castilian +roses grew, and one woman among a gay and thoughtless people dreamed, +with all the passion of her splendid youth, of the man to whom she had +pledged an eternal troth. Rezanov's mind was clear in those last +moments, but something of the serenity and the selfishness of death had +already descended upon him. He heard with indifference the sobs of +Jon, crouched at the foot of his bed. Tears and regrets were a part of +the general futility of life, insignificant enough at the grand +threshold of death. + +No doubt that his great schemes would die with him, and were he +remembered at all it would be as a dreamer; or as a failure because he +had died before accomplishing what his brain and energy and enthusiasm +alone could force to fruition. None realized better than he the +paucity of initiative and executive among the characteristics of the +Slav. What mattered it? He had had glimpses more than once of the +apparently illogical sequence of life, the vanity of human effort, the +wanton cruelty of Nature. He had known men struck down before in the +maturity of their usefulness, cities destroyed by earthquake or +hurricane in the fairest and most promising of their days: public men, +priests, parents, children, wantons, criminals, blotted out with equal +impartiality by a brutal force that would seem to have but a casual use +for the life she flung broadcast on her planets. Man was the helpless +victim of Nature, a calf in a tiger's paws. If she overlooked him, or +swept him contemptuously into the class of her favorites, well and +good; otherwise he was her sport, the plaything of her idler moments. +Those that cried "But why?" "What reason?" "What use?" were those +that had never looked over the walls of their ego at the great dramatic +moments in the career of Nature, when she made immortal fame for +herself at the expense of millions of pigmies. + +And if his energies, his talents, his usefulness, were held of no +account, at least he could look back upon a past when he would have +seemed to be one of the few supreme favorites of the forces that shaped +man's life and destiny. Until he had started from Kronstadt four years +before on a voyage that had humiliated his proud spirit more than once, +and undermined as splendid a physique as ever was granted to even a +Russian, he had rolled the world under his foot. With an appearance +and a personal magnetism, gifts of mind and manner and character that +would have commanded attention amid the general flaccidity of his race +and conquered life without the great social advantages he inherited, he +had enjoyed power and pleasure to a degree that would have spoiled a +coarser nature long since. True, the time had come when he had cared +little for any of his endowments save as a means to great ends, when +all his energies had concentrated in the determination to live a life +of the highest possible usefulness--without which man's span was but +existence--his ambitions had cohered and been driven steadily toward a +permanent niche in history; then paled and dissolved for an hour in the +glorious vision of human happiness. + +And wholly as he might realize man's insignificance among the blind +forces of nature, he could accept it philosophically and die with his +soul uncorroded by misanthropy, that final and uncompromising admission +of failure. The misanthrope was the supreme failure of life because he +had not the intelligence to realize, or could not reconcile himself to, +the incomplete condition of human nature. Man was made up of little +qualities, and aspirations for great ones. Many yielded in the +struggle and sank into impotent discontent among the small material +things of life, instead of uplifting themselves with the picture of the +inevitable future when development had run its course, and indulgently +pitying the children of their own period who so often made life hateful +with their greed, selfishness, snobbery--most potent obstacle to human +endeavor--and injustice. The bad judgment of the mass! How many +careers it had balked, if not ruined, with its poor ideals, its mean +heroes, its instinctive avoidance of superior qualities foreign to +itself, its contemptible desire to be identified with a fashion. It +was this low standard of the crowd that induced misanthropy in many +otherwise brave spirits who lacked the insight to discern the divine +spark underneath, the persistence, sure of reward, to fight their way +to this spark and reveal it to the gaze of astonished and flattered +humanity. Rezanov's very arrogance had led him to regard the mass of +mankind as but one degree removed from the nursery; his good nature and +philosophical spirit to treat them with an indulgence that kept +sourness out of his cynicism and inevitably recurring weariness and +disgust; his ardent imagination had consoled itself with the vision of +a future when man should live in a world made reasonable by the triumph +of ideals that now lurked half ashamed in the high spaces of the human +mind. + +He looked back in wonder at the moment of wild regret and protest--the +bitterer in its silence--when they had told him he must die; when in +the last rally of the vital forces he had believed his will was still +strong enough to command his ravaged body, to propel his brain, still +teeming with a vast and complicated future, his heart, still warm and +insistent with the image it cherished, on to the ultimates of ambition +and love. How brief it had been, that last cry of mortality, with its +accompaniment of furious wonder at his unseemly and senseless cutting +off. In the adjustment and readjustment of political and natural +forces the world ambled on philosophically, fulfilling its inevitable +destiny. + +If he had not been beyond humor, he would have smiled at the idea that +in the face of all eternity it mattered what nation on one little +planet eventually possessed a fragment called California. To him that +fair land was empty and purposeless save for one figure, and even of +her he thought with the terrible calm of dissolution. During these +last months of illness and isolation he had been less lonely than at +any time of his life save during those few weeks in California, for he +had lived with her incessantly in spirit; and in that subtle +imaginative communion had pressed close to a profound and complex soul, +revealed before only in flashes to a vision astray in the confusion of +the senses. He had felt that her response to his passion was far more +vital and enduring than dwelt in the capacity of most women; he had +appreciated her gifts of mind, her piquant variousness that scotched +monotony, the admirable characteristics that would give a man repose +and content in his leisure, and subtly advance his career. But in +those long reveries, at the head of his forlorn caravan or in the +desolate months of convalescence, he had arrived at an absolute +understanding of what she herself had divined while half comprehending. + +Theirs was one of the few immortal loves that reveal the rarely sounded +deeps of the soul while in its frail tenement on earth; and he harbored +not a doubt that their love was stronger than mortality and that their +ultimate union was decreed. Meanwhile, she would suffer, no one but he +could dream how completely, but her strong soul would conquer, and she +would live the life she had visioned in moments of despair; not of +cloistered selfishness, but of incomparable usefulness to her little +world; and far happier, in her eternal youthfulness of heart, in that +divine life of the imagination where he must always be with her as she +had known him briefly at his best, than in the blunt commonplaceness of +daily existence, the routine and disillusionment of the world. +Perhaps--who knew?--he had, after all, given her the best that man can +offer to a woman of exalted nature; instead of taking again with his +left hand what his right had bestowed; completed the great gift of life +with the priceless beacon of death. + +How unlike was life to the old Greek tragedies! He recalled his +prophetic sense of impending happiness, success, triumph, as he entered +California, the rejuvenescence of his spirit in the renewal of his +wasted forces even before he loved the woman. Every event of the past +year, in spite of the obstacles that mortal must expect, had marched +with his ambitions and desires, and straight toward a future that would +have given him the most coveted of all destinies, a station in history. +There had not been a hint that his brain, so meaningly and consummately +equipped, would perish in the ruins of his body in less than a +twelvemonth from that fragrant morning when he had entered the home of +Concha Arguello tingling with a pagan joy in mere existence, a sudden +rush of desire for the keen, wild happiness of youth-- + +His eyes wandered from the bright cross above the little cemetery where +he was to lie, and contracted with an expression of wonder. Where had +Jon found Castilian roses in this barren land? No man had ever been +more blest in a servant, but could even he--here-- With the last +triumph of will over matter he raised his head, his keen, searching +gaze noting every detail of the room, bare and unlovely save for its +altar and ikons, its kneeling priests and nuns. His eyes expanded, his +nostrils quivered. As he sank down in the embrace of that final +delusion, his unconquerably sanguine spirit flared high before a vision +of eternal and unthinkable happiness. + +So died Rezanov; and with him the hope of Russians and the hindrance of +Americans in the west; and the mortal happiness and earthly dross of +the saintliest of California's women. + + + + + +Note: I have made the following changes to the text: + + PAGE LINE ORIGINAL CHANGED TO + + ii 13 unforgetable unforgettable + ii 26 vizu- visu- + vi 29 Krasnioarsk Krasnoiarsk + 14 22 Arguella Arguello + 15 28 Anna Ana + 15 28 Gertrudes Gertrudis + 16 6 Ignacia Ignacio + 18 17 Dios de mi alma! _Dios de mi alma!_* + 20 11 Madre de Dios!" _Madre de Dios!_"* + 23 3 Ay yi! _Ay yi!* + 23 4 Dios, Dios_,* + 23 20 Propietario Proprietario + 23 23 plebian plebeian + 23 26 Madre de Dios! _Madre de Dios!_* + 25 18 Dios mio! _Dios mio! + 25 19 mio!" mio!_"* + 33 17 embarassing embarrassing + 33 24 Nadesha Nadeshda + 40 10 commercal commercial + 40 13 momentuous momentous + 43 28 disintergrating disintegrating + 51 5 He lover Her lover + 55 4 Morga Moraga + 71 22 Rafella Rafaella + 72 3 straights straits + 75 9 "You "Your + 94 16 inexhautible inexhaustible + 103 2 embarassed embarrassed + 105 3 preciptate precipitate + 106 28 Bueno Buena + 111 8 Madre de Dios, _Madre de Dios_,* + 117 30 prefer, prefer. + 118 20 I "I + 128 10 Arillaga Arrillaga + 128 18 ride of rid of + 133 8 Arillaga Arrillaga + 133 22 Arillaga Arrillaga + 135 10 Are "Are + 137 28 Arrilaga Arrillaga + 137 29 Nakasaki Nagasaki + 146 21 refuse--' refuse--" + 155 24 dumfounded dumbfounded + 169 29 Moragas Moraga + 171 7 twice--' twice--" + 177 14 said said he said + 178 16 phasis." phasis. + 178 26 modoties modities + 195 17 civilized that civilized than + 200 27 gente de _gente de_* + 201 1 razon _razon_* + 201 21 silk silks + 204 29 Duena duena + 209 2 beneficient beneficent + 211 13 Ay yi! _Ay yi!* + 211 14 yi! yi!_* + 212 22 Ay yi! _Ay yi!_* + 213 3 ay yi! _ay yi!_* + +I have also omitted the accents over proper names such as Rezanov, +Baranhov, and Jose, and have omitted the umlaut over the u in Arguello. + + +* indicates that the italics were NOT used as emphasis, but merely as +indicators of SOME of the non-English words, and were eventually +stripped of their italicism for easier reading. + +The first words of each chapter were also capitalized on paper, as +least most of them. These have also been uncapitalized. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Rezanov, by Gertrude Atherton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REZANOV *** + +***** This file should be named 491.txt or 491.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/4/9/491/ + +Produced by Judith Boss. HTML version by Al Haines. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Not that her genius is distinctively +feminine, though she is in matters historical a pas- +sionate partisan. Most of the critics who approve +her work agree that in the main she views life with +somewhat of the masculine spirit of liberality. She +is as much the realist as one can be who is saturated +with the romance that is California, her birthplace +and her home, if such a true cosmopolite as she can +be said to have a home. In all she has written there +is abounding life; her grasp of character is firm; +her style has a warm, glowing plasticity, frequently +a rhythm variously expressive of all the wide range +of feeling which a writer must have to make his +or her books living things. She does no less well +in the depiction of men than in the portraiture of +women. All stand out of their vivid environment +distinctly and they are all personalities of power-- +even, occasionally, of "that strong power called +weakness." And they all wear something of a glory +imparted to them by the sympathy of their creator +and interpreter. High upon any roster of our best +American writers we must enroll the name of Mrs. +Atherton. + +Of all her books I like best this "Rezanov," +though I have not found many to agree with me. +It is not so pretentious as others more frequently +commended. It is a simple story, almost one might +say an incident or an anecdote. It is not literally +sophisticated. For me that is its unfailing charm. +I find in it not a little of the strange, primeval +quality that makes me think of "Aucassin and Nico- +lette." For it is not so much a novel as an his- +torical idyl, not to be read without a persisting +suffusion of sympathy and never to be remembered +without a recurring tenderness. Remembered, did +I say? It is unforgettable. There are few books +of American origin that resist so well the passing +of the years, that take on more steadily the glam- +our of "the unimaginable touch of time." "Rez- +anov" is a classic, or I miss my guess. This, though +it was first published so recently as 1906. + +The story has the merit of being, to some extent +historically, and wholly artistically, true. For the +matter-of-facts Mrs. Atherton provides a bibliog- +raphy of her authorities. Those authorities I +have not read, nor should others. Sufficient unto +me is the authority of the novel itself splendidly +demonstrated and established in the high court of +the reader's head and heart by the author's visu- +alizing veritism. Not twenty pages have you turned +before you know this Rezanov, privy councilor, +grand chamberlain, plenipotentiary of the Russo- +American company, imperial inspector of the ex- +treme eastern and northwestern dominions of his +imperial majesty Alexander the First, emperor of +Russia--all this and more, a man. He comes out of +mystery into the softly bright light of California, +in strength and shrewdness and dignity and per- +sonal splendor. And there is amidst it all a pathos +upon him. He commands your affection even while +suggesting a doubt whether the man may not be +overwhelmed in the diplomat, the intriguer. The +year is 1806. The monstrous apparition of Napo- +leon has loomed an omen of the doom of ancient +authority and the shattering of nations in Europe. +That faithless, incalculable idealist Alexander, +plans he knows not what of imperial glory in the +Eastern and Western world. Rezanov is his ser- +vant, a man of ambition, perhaps in all favor at +court, desirous of doing some great service for his +master. He dreams of dominion in this sun-soaked +land so lazily held in the lax grasp of Spain. He +has come from failure. He had been to Japan +with presents to the emperor, was received by minor +officials with a hospitality that poorly concealed the +fact that he was virtually a prisoner, and then dis- +missed without admission to the audience he sought +with the mikado. He had gone then to bleak, in- +hospitable Sitka, to find the settlement there in a +plague of scurvy and starvation only slightly miti- +gated by vodka. Down the coast then he sailed to +the Spanish settlement for food for the settlement. +He comes to that place where in his vision he sees +arise that city of the future which we know now +as San Francisco. Masterful man that he is, he +feels that here some great thing awaits him. The +Spaniards are wary of him. They will not trade +with him, but they receive him courteously and they +are fascinated by his self-possessed, well-poised but +withal so gracious personality. The life there at +the time is a sort of lotus-eating existence. It is +a piece of Spain translated to a more luscious, a +lovelier land, overlooking beautiful seas and peril- +ous. Into the dolce far niente Rezanov enters with +some surrender to its softening spell, but with the +courtier's prudence. + +And he meets the girl, Concha Arguello. He +sees her in the setting of burning and sweet Cas- +tilian roses--a girl who has had the benefit of edu- +cation, who keeps the graces of old Madrid in this +realm beyond sea, a burgeoning bud of womanhood, +daughter of the commandante. The doom of both +is upon them at once. They have drunk the pois- +oned cup. Rezanov resists the first approaches of +the delightful delirium, remembering Russia, his +duty, his ambition, the poor starving men of the +Sitka factory. At a party he dances with Concha +and they both know that for each there is none +other. So in that setting so wild, so strange, so +remote, so lovely for the old world grace that is +made native there by this bright, deep, fond girl, +the high gods proceed to have their will upon the +two. The little community life pulses around them +the faster because they are there. Their love be- +comes a motive in the diplomatic drama which has +for end, first, the securing of food for those fam- +ishing folk at Sitka, and beyond that, possibly the +seizing of the region for Russia, lest that new +young power of the West, the United States, pre- +empt the rich domain. Concha would help the Rus- +sian to those ends immediate which he reveals to +her, and succeeds. He tells her of Russia and his +mighty position there. He would have her for his +wife, his helper in the vast imperial affairs at the +Russian capitol, his princess in his palace, augment- +ing his official and personal distinction. She shares +his vision, rising to all the heights it unfolds in a +splendid future. Child she is, but she is transformed +into a woman by the prospect not of her own pleas- +ure, but of participation in splendid achievement +with this man so keen, so supple, yet so firm in +high purpose. And as the prospect opens to her +desire and his there looms the obstacle. They can- +not marry, for Rezanov is a heretic. And now the +passion flames. This child woman will go with him. +Ah, but the church, the king of Spain, will they per- +mit? And the Czar! Rezanov will see to it that the +Czar will clear the way for them through power +exercised at Rome and at Madrid. Conditioned +upon this, the girl's parents consent. + +These lovers prate very little of love. Their +desire runs too deep for mere speech. It is a desire +made up of as much spiritual as carnal fire. It is +fierce but steady in ecstacy and agony, indistinguish- +able the one from the other. Rezanov, man of the +great world, it purifies. Concha it strengthens and +makes indomitable. They will abide delay. They +will endure in faith and hope--the faith and hope +both dimmed by the vague and unshakable intui- +tion or premonition that fate has marked them for +derision. Nevertheless, they will endure. + +There is a meeting on a path that overlooks where +the white seas strike their tents. It is a meeting of +little action, of few words. It is tense with the +almost inexpressible, but at its end, confronting the +doubtful future, realizing that when Rezanov goes +he may not return, this girl tells him: "I will give +myself to you forever, how much or little that may +mean here on earth. Forever!" And then that +scene in the moonlight amid the scent of the Cas- +tilian roses, when Concha, as signal of her trust in +her lover, lifts the little wisps of hair that conceal +her ears and shows them to him--it throbs with +passionate purity in memory yet. + +Rezanov sails away to Sitka with provisions, +thence to Siberia, and then begins the long ride over +endless versts of land, across streams in icy flood, +in rain and cold and snow towards the capitol and +the Czar. Delays, disasters to vehicles and horses +and the maddening lengthening of time. From +drenchings and freezing comes the fever that calls +for more speed. Krasnoiarsk is reached. The fever +mounts, the traveler must stop and rest and be +cared for. His visions commingle his objective +and his memories . . . CONCHA! . . . The snowy +steppes and the inky rivers. . . . His servant en- +ters the room in the inn . . . Why . . . "Where +has Jon found Castilian roses in this barren land?" +. . . "and his unconquerably sanguine spirit flared +high before a vision of eternal and unthinkable +happiness" . . . Castilian roses! Concha Arguello +waits among them, immortal, sainted in her purity +and fidelity, ministering to her poor Indians, her +face alight with unquenchable memory and with +surety of an eventual everlasting tryst. Those Cas- +tilian roses! They perfume forever one's mem- +ories of this pair, puissant in faith, in this novel +that is a poem and a shrine of that love which lives +when death itself is dead. + +WILLIAM MARION REEDY + + + + +REZANOV + + +I + +As the little ship that had three times raced with +death sailed past the gray headlands and into the +straits of San Francisco on that brilliant April +morning of 1806, Rezanov forgot the bitter hu- +miliations, the mental and physical torments, the +deprivations and dangers of the past three years; +forgot those harrowing months in the harbor of +Nagasaki when the Russian bear had caged his tail +in the presence of eyes aslant; his dismay at Kam- +chatka when he had been forced to send home an- +other to vindicate his failure, and to remain in the +Tsar's incontiguous and barbarous northeastern +possessions as representative of his Imperial +Majesty, and plenipotentiary of the Company his +own genius had created; forgot the year of loneli- +ness and hardship and peril in whose jaws the +bravest was impotent; forgot even his pitiable crew, +diseased when he left Sitka, that had filled the Juno +with their groans and laments; and the bells of +youth, long still, rang in his soul once more. + +"It is the spring in California," he thought, with +a sigh that curled at the edge. "However," life +had made him philosophical; "the moments of un- +reasonable happiness are the most enviable no doubt, +for there is neither gall nor satiety in the reaction. +All this is as enchanting as--well, as a woman's +promise. What lies beyond? Illiterate and mer- +cenary Spaniards, vicious natives, and boundless +ennui, one may safely wager. But if all California +is as beautiful as this, no man that has spent a +winter in Sitka should ask for more." + +In the extent and variety of his travels Rezanov +had seen Nature more awesome of feature but +never more fair. On his immediate right as he +sailed down the straits toward the narrow entrance +to be known as the Golden Gate, there was little to +interest save the surf and the masses of outlying +rocks where the seals leapt and barked; the shore +beyond was sandy and low. But on his left the last +of the northern mountains rose straight from the +water, the warm red of its deeply indented cliffs +rich in harmony with the green of slope and height. +There was not a tree; the mountains, the promon- +tories, the hills far down on the right beyond the +sand dunes, looked like stupendous waves of lava +that had cooled into every gracious line and fold +within the art of relenting Nature; granted ages +after, a light coat of verdure to clothe the terrible +mystery of birth. The great bay, as blue and tran- +quil as a high mountain lake, as silent as if the +planet still slept after the agonies of labor, looked +to be broken by a number of promontories, rising +from their points far out in the water to the high +back of the land; but as the Juno pursued her slant- +ing way down the channel Rezanov saw that the +most imposing of these was but the end of a large +island, and that scattered near were other islands, +masses of rock like the castellated heights that rise +abruptly from the plains of Italy and Spain; far +away, narrow straits, with a glittering expanse be- +yond; while bounding the whole eastern rim of this +splendid sheet of water was a chain of violet hills, +with the pale green mist of new grass here and +there, and purple hollows that might mean groves +of trees crouching low against the cold winds of +summer; in the soft pale blue haze above and be- +yond, the lofty volcanic peak of a mountain range. +Not a human being, not a boat, not even a herd of +cattle was to be seen, and Rezanov, for a moment +forgetting to exult in the length of Russia's arm, +yielded himself to the subtle influence abroad in +the air, and felt that he could dream as he had +dreamed in a youth when the courts of Europe to +the boy were as fabulous as El Dorado in the im- +mensity of ancestral seclusions. + +"It is like the approach to paradise, is it not, +Excellency?" a deferential voice murmured at his +elbow. + +The plenipotentiary frowned without turning his +head. Dr. Langsdorff, surgeon and naturalist, had +accompanied the Embassy to Japan, and although +Rezanov had never found any man more of a bore +and would willingly have seen the last of him at +Kamchatka, a skilful dispenser of drugs and mender +of bones was necessary in his hazardous voy- +ages, and he retained him in his suite. Langsdorff +returned his polite tolerance with all the hidden re- +sources of his spleen; but his curiosity and scientific +enthusiasm would have sustained him through +greater trials than the exactions of an autocrat, +whom at least he had never ceased to respect in the +most trying moments at Nagasaki. + +"Yes," said Rezanov. "But I wonder you find +anything to admire in such unportable objects as +mountains and water. I have not seen a living +thing but gulls and seal, and God knows we had +enough of both at Sitka." + +"Ah, your excellency, in a land as fertile as this, +and caressed by a climate that would coax life +from a stone, there must be an infinite number of +aquatic and aerial treasures that will add materially +to the scientific lore of Europe." + +"Humph!" said Rezanov, and moved his shoulder +in an uncontrollable gesture of dismissal. But the +spell of the April morning was broken, although +the learned doctor was not to be the only offender. + +The Golden Gate is but a mile in width and the +swift current carried the Juno toward a low prom- +ontory from the base of which a shrill cry suddenly +ascended. Rezanov, raising his glass, saw that what +he had taken to be a pile of fallen rocks was a fort, +and that a group of excited men stood at its gates. +Once more the plenipotentiary on a delicate mission, +he ordered the two naval officers sailing the ship +to come forward, and retired to the dignified isola- +tion of the cabin. + +The high-spirited young officers, who would have +raised a gay hurrah at the sight of civilized man +had it not been for the awe in which they held +their chief, saluted the Spaniards formally, then +stood in an attitude of extreme respect; the Juno +was directly under the guns of the fort. + +One of the Spaniards raised a speaking trumpet +and shouted: + +"Who are you?" + +No one on the Juno, save Rezanov, could speak a +word of Spanish, but the tone of the query was its +own interpreter. The oldest of the lieutenants, +through the ship's trumpet, shouted back: + +"The Juno--Sitka--Russian." + +The Spanish officer made a peremptory gesture +that the ship come to anchor in the shelter given by +an immense angle of the mainland, of which the +fort's point was the western extreme. The Rus- +sians, as befitted the peaceful nature of their mis- +sion, obeyed without delay. Before their resting +place, and among the sand hills a mile from the +beach, was a quadrangle of buildings some two hun- +dred feet square and surrounded by a wall about +fourteen feet high and seven feet thick. This they +knew to be the Presidio. They saw the officers that +had hailed them gallop over the hill behind the fort +to the more ambitious enclosure, and, in the square, +confer with another group that seemed to be in a +corresponding state of excitement. A few moments +later a deputation of officers, accompanied by a +priest in the brown habit of the Franciscan order, +started on horseback for the beach. Rezanov or- +dered Lieutenant Davidov and Dr. Langsdorff to +the shore as his representatives. + +The Spaniards wore the undress uniform of +black and scarlet in which they had been surprised, +but their peaked straw hats were decorated with +cords of gold or silver, the tassels hanging low on +the broad brim; their high deer-skin boots were +gaily embroidered, and bristled with immense silver +spurs. The commanding officer alone had invested +himself with a gala serape, a square of red cloth +with a bound and embroidered slit for the head. +Leading the rapid procession, his left hand resting +significantly on his sword, he was a fine specimen +of the young California grandee, dark and dashing +and reckless, lithe of figure, thoroughbred, ardent. +His eyes were sparkling at the prospect of excite- +ment; not only had the Russians, by their nefarious +appropriation of the northwestern corner of the +continent and a recent piratical excursion in pursuit +of otter, inspired the Spanish Government with a +profound disapproval and mistrust, but a rumor +had run up the coast that made every sea-gull look +like the herald of a hostile fleet. This was young +Arguello's first taste of command, and life was dull +on the northern peninsula; he would have wel- +comed a declaration of war. + +Davidov and Langsdorff had come to shore in +one of the JUNO'S canoes. The conversation was +held in Latin between the two men of learning. + +"Who are you and whence come you?" asked the +priest. + +Langsdorff, who had been severely drilled by the +plenipotentiary as to text, replied with a profound +bow: "We are Russians engaged in completing the +circumnavigation of the globe. It was our inten- +tion to go directly to Monterey and present our offi- +cial documents, as well as our respects, to your illus- +trious Governor, but owing to contrary winds and +a resultant scarcity of provisions, we were under +the necessity of putting into the nearest harbor. +The Juno is navigated by Lieutenant Davidov and +Lieutenant Khovstov, of the Imperial Navy of Rus- +sia; by gracious permission associated with the Ma- +rine of the Russo-American Company." He paused +a moment, and then swept out his trump card with +a magnificent flourish: "Our expedition is in com- +mand of His Excellency, Privy Counsellor and +Grand Chamberlain Baron Rezanov, late Ambas- +sador to the Court of Japan, Plenipotentiary of the +Russo-American Company, Imperial Inspector of +the extreme eastern and northwestern American +dominions of His Imperial Majesty, Alexander the +First, Emperor of all the Russias, whose representa- +tives in these waters he is." + +The Spaniards were properly impressed as the +priest translated with the glibness of the original; +but Arguello, who announced himself as Com- +mandante ad interim of the Presidio of San Fran- +cisco during the absence of his father at Monterey, +nodded sagely several times, and then held a short +conference in Spanish with the interpreter. The +priest turned to the Russians with a smile as diplo- +matic as that which Rezanov had drilled upon the +ugly ingenuous countenance of his medicine man. + +"Our illustrious Governor, Don Jose Arrillaga, +received word from the court of Spain, now quite +two years ago, of the sailing in 1803 from Kron- +stadt of the ships Nadeshda and Neva, in command +of Captain Krusenstern and Captain Lisiansky, the +former having on board the illustrious Ambassador +to Japan, the Privy Counsellor and Chamberlain de +Rezanov. It was expected that these ships would +touch at more than one of His Most Holy Catholic +Majesty's vast dominions, and all viceroys and +gobernador proprietarios were alike instructed to re- +ceive the exalted representatives of the mighty Em- +peror of Russia with hospitality and respect. But +we cannot understand why his excellency comes to +us so late and in so small a ship, rather than in the +state with which he sailed from Europe." + +"The explanation is simple, my father. The +original ships, from a variety of circumstances, +were, upon our arrival at Kamchatka, at the con- +clusion of the embassy to Japan, under the neces- +sity of returning at once to Europe. His Imperial +Majesty, Alexander the First, ordered the Cham- +berlain and plenipotentiary, the representative of +imperial power in the Russo-American possessions, +to remove to the Juno for the purpose of visiting +the Kurile and Aleutian Islands, Kadiak and the +northwestern coast of America." The Tsar had +never heard of the Juno, but as Rezanov was prac- +tically his august self in these far-away waters, +there was enough of truth in this statement to ap- +pease the conscience of a subordinate. + +The Spaniards were satisfied. Lieutenant Ar- +guello begged that the emissaries would return to +the ship and invite the Chamberlain and his party +to come at once to the Presidio and do it the honor +to partake of the poor hospitality it afforded. An +officer galloped furiously for horses. + +A few moments later they were still more deeply +impressed by the appearance of their distinguished +visitor as he stood erect in the boat that brought +him to shore. In full uniform of dark green and +gold lace, with cocked hat and the splendid order of +St. Ann on his breast, Rezanov was by far the finest +specimen of a man the Californians, themselves of +ampler build than their European ancestors, had +ever beheld. Of commanding stature and physique, +with an air of highest breeding and repose, he +looked both a man of the great world and an intol- +erant leader of men. His long oval face was thin +and somewhat lined, the mouth heavily moulded +and closely set, suggestive of sarcasm and humor; +the nose long, with arching and flexible nostrils. +His eyes, seldom widely opened, were light blue, +very keen, usually cold. Like many other men of +his position in Europe, he had discarded wig and +queue and wore his short fair hair unpowdered. + +It was a singularly imposing but hardly attractive +presence, thought young Arguello, until Rezanov, +after stepping on shore and bowing formally, sud- +denly smiled and held out his hand. Then the im- +pressionable Spaniard "melted like a woman," as +he told his sister, Concha, and would have embraced +the stranger on either cheek had not awe lingered +to temper his enthusiasm. But Rezanov never made +a stauncher friend than Louis Arguello, who vowed +to the last of his days that the one man who had +fulfilled his ideal of the grand seigneur was he that +sailed in from the North on that fateful April +morning of 1806. + + + +II + +As Rezanov, heading the procession with young +Arguello, entered the wide gates of the Presidio, he +received an impression memorably different from +that which led earlier travelers to describe it in- +clemently as a large square surrounded by mud +houses, thatched with reeds. It is true that the walls +were of adobe and the roofs of tule, nor was there +a tree on the sand hills encircling the stronghold. +But in this early springtime--the summer of the +peninsula--the hills showed patches of verdure, and +all the low white buildings were covered by a net- +work of soft dull green and archaic pink. The Cas- +tilian rose, full and fluted, and of a chaste and pene- +trating fragrance, hung singly and in clusters on the +pillars of the dwellings, on the barracks and chapel, +from the very roofs; bloomed upon bushes as high +as young trees. The Presidio was as delicately per- +fumed as a lady's bower, and its cannon faced the +ever-changing hues of water and island and hill. + +As the party approached, heads of all ages ap- +peared between the vines, and there was a low mur- +mur of irrepressible curiosity and delight. + +"We do not see many strangers in this lonely +land," said Arguello apologetically. "And never +before have we had so distinguished a guest as your +excellency. It was always a gala day when ever a +Boston skipper came in with a few bales of goods +and a complexion like the hides we sold him. Now, +alas! they are no longer permitted to enter our +ports. Governor Arrillaga will have none of contra- +band trade and slaying of our otter. And as for +Europeans other than Spaniards, save for an Eng- +lish sea captain now and then, they know naught of +our existence." + +But Rezanov had not come to California on the +impulse of a moment. He replied suavely: "There +you are mistaken. Your illustrious father, Don +Jose Mario de Arguello, is well known to us as the +most respected, eminent and influential character in +the Californias. It was my intention, after paying +a visit of ceremony to his excellency, Governor Ar- +rillaga, to come to San Francisco for the sole pur- +pose of meeting a man whose record has inspired +me with the deepest interest. And we have all +heard such wonderful tales of your California, of +its beauty, its fertility, of the beneficent lives of +your missionaries--so different from ours--and of +the hospitality and elegance of the Spaniards, that +it has been the objective point of my travels, and I +have found it difficult to curb my impatience while +attending to imperative duties elsewhere." + +"Ay! senor!" exclaimed the young Californian. +"What you say fills me with a pride I cannot ex- +press, and I can only regret that the reports of our +poor habitations should be so sadly exaggerated. +Such as our possessions are, however, they are yours +while you deign to remain in our midst. This is +my father's house. I beg that you will regard it as +your own. Burn it if you will!" he cried with +more enthusiasm than commonly enlivened the +phrases of hospitality. "He will be proud to know +that a lifetime of severe attention to duty and of +devotion to his King have won him fame abroad +as well as at home. He has risen to his present +position from the ranks, but he is of pure Spanish +blood, not a drop of Indian; and my mother was a +Moraga, of the best blood of Spain," he added art- +lessly. "As to the beauty and variety of our country, +senor, of course you will visit our opulent south; +but--" They had dismounted at the Comman- +dante's house in the southeast corner of the square. +Arguello impulsively led Rezanov back to the gates +and pointed to the east. "I have crossed those +mountains and the mountains beyond, Excellency, +and seen fertile and beautiful valleys of a vast ex- +tent, watered by five rivers and bound far, far away +by mountains covered with snow and gigantic trees. +The valley beyond the southern edge of the bay, +where the Missions of Santa Clara and San Jose +are, is also rich, but those between the ranges is an +empire; and one day when the King sends us more +colonists, we shall recompense Spain for all she has +lost." + +"I congratulate you!" Rezanov, indifferent to his +host's ancestral tree, had lifted an alert ear. His +quick incisive brain was at work. "I should like to +stretch my legs over a horse for a week at a time, +and even to climb your highest mountains. You +may imagine how much exercise a man may get on +a vessel of two hundred and six tons, and it is +thirty-two days since I left Sitka. To look upon a +vast expanse of green--to say nothing of possible +sport--after a winter of incessant rain and impene- +trable forests--what a prospect! I beg you will take +me off into the wilderness as soon as possible." + +"I promise you the Governor shall not withhold +his consent--and there are bear and deer--quail, +wild duck--your excellency will enjoy that beauti- +ful wild country as I have done." Arguello was +enchanted at the prospect of fresh adventure in the +company of this fascinating stranger. "But we are +once more at our poor abode, senor. I beg you to +remember that it is your own." + +They ascended the steps of the piazza, suddenly +deserted, and it seemed to Rezanov that every sense +in his being quivered responsively to the poignant +sweetness of the Castilian roses. He throbbed +with a sudden exultant premonition that he stood +on the threshold of an historic future, with a pagan +joy in mere existence, a sudden rush of desire for +the keen wild happiness of youth. Such is the +elixir of California in the north and the spring. + +They entered a long sala typical of its day and +of many to come; whitewashed walls hung with +colored prints of the Virgin and saints; horsehair +furniture, matting, deep window seats; and a +perennial coolness. The Chamberlain (his court +title and the one commonly attached to his name) +made himself as comfortable as the slippery chair +would permit, and Arguello went for his mother. + +Langsdorff, who had lingered on the piazza with +the priest, entered in a moment. + +"The good padre tells me that this rose of Cas- +tile is the only imported flower in California," he +cried, with enthusiasm, for although not a bot- +anist, there was a bump between his eyes as big +as a child's fist and he had a nose like the prow +of a toy ship. "Many cuttings were brought from +Spain--" + +"What difference does it make where it came +from?" interrupted Rezanov testily. "Is it not +enough that it is beautiful, but it must have a pin +stuck through it like some poor devil of a butter- +fly?" + +"Your excellency has also the habit to probe +into things he deems worthy of his attention," re- +torted the offended scientist; but he was obliged +to closet his wrath. An inner door opened and +the host reappeared with his mother and a fair +demonstration of her virtues. She was a very +large woman dressed loosely in black, but she car- +ried herself with an air of complete, if somewhat +sleepy, dignity, and it was evident that her beauty +had been great. Her full face had lost its con- +tours, but time had spared the fine Roman nose and +the white skin, that birthright of the high-bred +Castilian. Arguello presented his family ceremo- +niously as the guest of honor rose and bowed with +formal deference. + +"My mother, Dona Ignacia Arguello, your ex- +cellency, who unites with me in praying that you +will regard our home as yours during your so- +journ in the north. My sister, Maria de la Con- +cepcion Marcella Arguello, and my little sisters, +Ana Paula and Gertrudis Rudisinda. My +brothers: Gervasio--soldado distinguido of the +San Francisco Company; Santiago, a cadet in the +same company; Francesco and Toribio, whose +presence at the table I beg you will overlook, for +when we are so fortunate as to be all together, +senor, we cannot bear to be separated. My oldest +brother, alas--Ignacio--is studying for holy or- +ders in Mexico, and my sister Isabel visits at the +Presidio of Santa Barbara. I beg that you will be +seated, Excellency." And he continued the intro- +duction to the lesser luminaries, with equal cour- +tesy but fewer periods. + +Rezanov exchanged a few pleasant words with +his smiling hostess before she returned to her dis- +tracted maids preparing the dinner; but his eyes +during Arguello's declamation had wandered with +a singular fidelity to the beautiful face of the eld- +est daughter of the house. She had responded +with a humorous twinkle in her magnificent black +eyes and not a hint of diffidence. As she entered +the room his brain had flashed out the thought: +"Thank heaven for a pretty girl after these three +abominable years!" Possibly his pleasure would +have been salted with pique had he guessed that her +thought was the twin of his own. He was the +first man of any world more considerable than the +petty court of the viceroy of Mexico that had vis- +ited California in her time, and excellent as she +found his tall military figure and pale cold face, +the novelty of the circumstance fluttered her more. + +Dona "Concha" Arguello was the beauty of +California, and although her years were but six- +teen her blood was Spanish, and she carried her +tall deep figure and fine head with the grace and +dignity of an accomplished woman. She had in- +herited the white skin and delicate Roman-Span- +ish profile of the Moragas, but there was an in- +telligent fire in her eyes, a sharp accentuation of +nostril, and a full mobility of mouth, childish, half- +developed as that feature still was, that betrayed +a strong cross-current forcing the placid maternal +flow into rugged and unexplored channels, while +assimilating its fine qualities of pride and high +breeding. Gervasio and Santiago resembled their +sister in coloring and profile, but lacked her subtle +quality of personality and divine innocence. Luis +was more the mother's son than the father's--sav- +ing his olive skin; a grandee, modified by the sim- +plicities of a soldier's life, amiable and upright. +Dona Ignacia recognized in Concha the quintes- +sence of the two opposing streams, and had long +since ceased to impose upon a girl who had little +else but her liberties, the conventional restrictions +of the Spanish maiden. Concha had already re- +ceived many offers of marriage and regarded men +as mere swingers of incense. Moreover, her cul- +tivated mind was filled with ideals and ideas far +beyond anything California would yield in her day. + +As Rezanov, upon Dona Ignacia's retreat, +walked directly over to her, she smilingly seated +herself on a sofa and swept aside her voluminous +white skirts. She was not sure that she liked him, +but in no doubt whatever of her delight at his +advent. + +Her manners were very simple and artless, as +are the manners of most women whom Nature has +gifted with complexity and depth. + +"It is now two years and more that we have +been excited over the prospect of this visit," she +said. "But if you will tell me what you have been +doing all this time, I, at least, will forgive you; +for you will never be able to imagine, senor, how +I long to hear of the great world. I stare at the +map, then at the few pictures we have. I know +many books of travel by heart; but I am afraid +my imagination is a poor one, for I cannot con- +jure up great cities filled with people--thousands +of people! DIOS DE MI ALMA! A world where +there is something besides mountains and water, +grain fields, orchards, forests, earthquakes, and +climate? Will you, senor?" + +"For quite as many hours as you will listen to +me. I propose a compact. You shall improve my +Spanish. I will impart all I know of Europe-- +and of Asia--if your curiosity reaches that far." + +"Even of Japan?" There was a wicked spark +in her eye. + +"I see you already have some knowledge of the +cause of my delay." His voice was even, but a +wound smarted. "It is quite true, senorita, that +the first embassy to Japan, from which we hoped +so much, was a humiliating failure, and that I was +played with for six months by a people whom we +had regarded as a nation of monkeys. When my +health began to suffer from the long confinement +on shipboard--we had previously been fourteen +months at sea--and I asked to be permitted to +live on shore while my claims to an audience were +under consideration, I was removed with my suite +to a cage on a strip of land nearly surrounded with +water, where I had less liberty and exercise than on +shipboard. Finally, I had a ridiculous interview +with a 'great man,' in which I accomplished nothing +but the preservation of what personal dignity a man +may while sitting on his heels; the superb presents +of the Tsar were returned to me, and I was politely +told to leave. Japan wanted neither the friendship +of Russia nor her gimcracks. That, senorita, is the +history of the first Russian Embassy--for the tenta- +tive visit of Adam Lanxmann, twelve years before, +can be dignified by no such title--to Oriental waters. +It is to be hoped that Count Golofkin, who was to +undertake a similar mission to China, has met with +a better fate." + +Underneath the polished armour of a man who +was a courtier when he chose and the dominating +spirit always, he was hot and quick of temper. His +light cold eyes glowed with resentment at the danc- +ing lights in hers, as he cynically gave her a bald +abstract of the unfortunate mission. He reflected +that commonly he would have fitted a different +mask to the ugly skull of fact, but this young bar- +barian, as he chose to regard her, excited the ele- +mental truth in him, defying him to appear at his +worst. He was astonished to see her eyes suddenly +soften and her mouth tremble. + +"It must have been a hateful experience--hate- +ful!" Her voice, beginning on its usual low soft +note, rose to a hoarse pitch of indignation. "I +should have killed somebody! To be a man, and +strong, and caressed all one's life by fortune--and +to be as helpless as an Indian! Madre de dios!" + +"I shall take my revenge," said Rezanov shortly; +but the wound closed, and once more he became +aware of the poignant sweetness of Castilian roses. +Concha wore one in her soft dusky hair, and an- +other where the little round jacket of white linen, +gaily embroidered with pink, met on her bosom. +But if sentiment tempted him he was quickly poised +by her next remarks. She uttered them in a low +tone, although the animated conversation of the rest +of the party would have permitted the two on the +sofa to exchange the vows of love unheard. + +"But what a practice for your diplomatic talents, +Excellency! Poor California! At least let me be +the first to hear what you have come for?" Her +voice dropped to a soft cooing note, although her +eyes twinkled. "For the love of God, senor! I am +so bored in this life on the edge of the world! To +see the seams and ravelings of a diplomatic in- +trigue! I have read and heard of many, but never +had I hoped to link my finger in anything subtler +than a quarrel between priest and Governor, or the +jealousy of Los Angeles for Monterey. I even will +help you--if you mean no harm to my father or my +country. And I am not a friend to scorn, senor, +for my blessed father is as wax in my hands, the +dear old Governor adores me, and even Padre +Abella, who thinks himself a great diplomat, and +is watching us out of the corner of his eye, while +I make him believe you pay me so many compli- +ments my poor little head turns round--Bueno +senor!" As she raised her voice she plucked the +rose from her dress and tossed it to Rezanov. Then +she lifted her chin and pouted her childish lips at +the ironical smile of the priest. + +Rezanov was close to betraying his surprise; but +as he cherished a belief that the souls of all pretty +women went to school to the devil before entering +upon earthly enterprise, he wondered that he had +been open to the illusion of complete ingenuousness +in a descendant of one of the oldest and subtlest +civilizations of earth. Within that luminous shell +of youth there were, no doubt, whispering memories +of men and women steeped in court intrigue from +birth, of triumphant beauties that had lived for love +and their power over the passions of men as ardent +as himself. It was quite possible that she might be +as useful as she desired. But his impulses were in +leash. He merely looked and murmured his ad- +miration. + +"Better ask, what chance have I, a defenceless +man, who has not seen a charming woman for three +years, against such practised art? If you can hood- +wink a Spanish priest, and manipulate a Governor +who has won the confidence of the most suspicious +court in Europe, what fortune for a barbarian of +the north? Less than with Japan, I should think." + +He divested the rose of its thorns and many +tight little buds, and thrust the stem underneath the +star of St. Ann. She lifted her chin again and +tossed her head. + +"You do not trust me, but you will. I fancy it +will be before long--for it is quite true that the +Californians are not so easily outwitted. And-- +even did I not help you, I would not--I vow, senor! +--betray you. Is it true that Russia is at war with +Spain?" + +"What?" + +"Have you not heard? It was for that we were +all so excited this morning. We thought your ship +might be the first of a fleet." + +"I have heard no such rumor, and you may dis- +miss it. Russia is too much occupied with Napo- +leon Bonaparte, who has had himself crowned Em- +peror, and by this time is probably at war with +half Europe--" + +She interrupted him with flashing eye. The pink +in her cheeks had turned red. The thin nostrils of +her pretty Roman nose fluttered like paper. "Ah!" +she exclaimed, again with that note of hoarseness +in her voice. "There is a great man, not a mere +king on a throne his ancestors made for him. Papa +hates him because he has seized a throne. AY YI! +DIOS, but you should hear the words fly when we go +to war together. But I do not care that"--she +snapped her firm white fingers--"for all the Bour- +bons that are in Europe. Bonaparte! Do you know +him? Have you seen him?" + +"I have seen him insult poor Markov, our ambas- +sador to France, when I can assure you that he +looked like neither a demi-god nor a gentleman. +When you have improved my Spanish I will tell you +many anecdotes of him. Meanwhile, am I to as- +sume that you reserve your admiration for the man +that carves his career in defiance of the rusty old +machinery?" + +"I do! I do! My father was of the people, a +poor boy. He has risen to be the most powerful of +all Californians, although the King he adores never +makes him Gobernador Proprietario. I tell him he +should be the first to recognize the genius and the +ambitions of a Bonaparte. The mere thought hor- +rifies him. But in me that same strong plebeian +blood makes another cry, and if my father had but +enough men at his back, and the will to make him- +self King of the Californias--Madre de Dios! how +I should help him!" + +"At least I know her better than she knows me," +thought Rezanov, as the inner door was thrown +open and another bare room with a long table laden +with savory food on a superb silver service was re- +vealed. "And if I know anything of women, I can +trust her--for as long as she may be necessary, at +all events." + + + +III + +"Santiago!" whispered Concha. "Do not go +down to the ship. Take me for a walk. I have +much to say." + +Santiago, who had not been asked to form one of +the escort upon the return of the Russians to the +Juno for the night, felt injured and sulky and +deigned no reply. + +"If you do not, I'll not braid your hair to-mor- +row," said his sister, giving his arm a little shake; +and he succumbed. The luxuriant tresses of the +male Arguellos were combed and braided and tied +with a ribbon every morning by the women of the +family, and Concha's fingers were the gentlest and +deftest. And Concha and Santiago were more inti- +mate than even the rest of that united family. They +had studied and read together, were equally dis- +satisfied with their narrow existence, ambitious for +a wider experience. Santiago consoled himself with +cards and training roosters for battle, and otherwise +as a man may. He was but fifteen, this haughty, +severe-looking young hidalgo, but while in some re- +spects many years older than his sister, in others +he was younger, for he possessed none of her +illuminating instinct. + +She led him through a postern gate, round the +first of the dunes, and they were alone in a waste of +sand. She demanded abruptly: + +"What do you think of our illustrious visitor?" + +"I like him. He would wring your neck if you +got in his way, but has a kind heart for those that +call him master. I like that sort of a man. I wish +he would take me away with him." + +"He shall--one of these days. Santiago mio, let +me whisper--" She pulled his ear down to her +lips. "He will marry me. I feel it. I know it. +He has talked to me the whole day. He has told +me grave secrets. Not even to you would I reveal +them. So many have loved me--why should not +he? I shall live in St. Petersburg, and see all +Europe!--thousands of people--Dios mio! Dios +mio!" + +"Indeed!" Santiago, still unamiable, responded +to this confidence with a sneer. "You aspire very +high for a little girl of the wilderness, without for- +tune, and only half a coat-of-arms, so to speak. Do +you know that this Rezanov--Dr. Langsdorff has +told us all about him--is a great noble, one of the +ten barons of Russia, and a Chamberlain in accord- +ance with a decree of Peter the Great that court +titles should be bestowed as a reward for distin- +guished services alone? He got a fortune in his +youth by marriage with a daughter of Shelikov-- +that Siberian who founded the Russian colonies in +America. The wife died almost immediately, but +the Baron's influence remained with Shelikov--for +his influence at court was even greater--and after +the older man's death, with his mother-in-law, who +is uncommonly clever. Shelikov's schemes were +but little sketches beside Rezanov's, who from merely a +courtier and a gay blood about town developed into +a great man of business, with an ambition to corre- +spond. It was he who got the Imperial ukase that +gave the Russian-American Company its power to +squeeze all the other fur hunters and traders out of +the northeast, and made Rezanov and everybody +belonging to it so rich your head would swim if I +told you the number of doubloons they spend in a +year. Nobody has ever been so clever at managing +those old beasts of autocrats as he. They think him +merely the accomplished courtier, a brilliant dilet- +tante, a condescending patron of art and letters, a +devotee of pleasure, and all the time he is pulling +their befuddled old brains about to suit himself. +The Tsar Paul was a lunatic and they murdered +him, but meanwhile he signed the ukase. The Tsar +Alexander, who is not so bad nor so silly as the +others, thinks there is no man so clever as Rezanov, +who addresses him personally when sending home +his reports. Do you know what all that means? +Your plenipotentiary is not only a Chamberlain at +court, a Privy Councillor, and the Tsar himself on +this side of the world, but when his inspections and +reforms are concluded, and he is one of the wealth- +iest men in Russia, he will return to St. Petersburg +and become so high and mighty that a princess +would snap at him. And you aspire! I never +heard such nonsense." + +"His excellency told me much of this," replied +Concha imperturbably. "And I am sure that he +cares nothing for princesses and will marry whom +he most admires. He would not say, but I know +he cared nothing for that poor little wife, dead so +long ago. It was a mariage de convenance, such +as all the great world is accustomed to. He will +love me more than all the fine ladies he has ever +seen. I feel it. I know it! And I am quite happy." + +"Do you love him?" asked Santiago, looking +curiously at his sister's flushed and glowing face. +It seemed to him that she had never looked so +young. "Many have loved you. I had begun to +think you had no heart for men, no wish for any- +thing but admiration. And now you give your +heart in a day to this Russian--who must be nearly +forty--unasked." + +"I have not thought of my heart at all. But I +could love him, of course. He is so handsome, so +kind, so grand, so gay! But love is for men and +wives--has not my mother said so? Now I think +only of St. Petersburg! of Paris! of London! of +the beautiful gowns and jewels I shall wear at court +--a red velvet train as long as a queen's, and all +embroidered with gold, a white veil spangled with +gold, a head-dress a foot high studded with jewels, +ropes of diamonds and pearls--I made him tell me +how the great ladies dressed. Ah! there is the +pleasure of being a girl--to think and dream of all +those beautiful things, not of when the wife must +live always for the husband and children. That +comes soon enough. And why should I not have +all!--there is so little in life for the girl. It seems +to me now that I have had nothing. When he asks +me to marry him he will tell me of the fine things +I shall have and the great sights I shall witness-- +the ceremonies at court, the winter streets--with +snow--snow, Santiago!--where the great nobles +drive four horses through the drifts like little hills, +and are wrapped in furs like bears! The grand +military parades--how I shall laugh when I think +of our poor little Presidios with their dozen officers +strutting about--" She stopped abruptly and +bursting wildly into tears flung herself into her +brother's arms. "But I never could leave you! And +my father! my mother! all! all! Ay, Dios de mi +alma! what an ingrate I am! I should die of home- +sickness! My Santiago! My Santiago!" + +Santiago patted her philosophically. "You are +not going to-morrow," he reminded her. "Don't +cross your bridges until you come to them. That is +a good proverb for maids and men. You might +take us all with you, or spend every third year or so +in California. No doubt you would need the rest. +And meanwhile remember that the high and mighty +Chamberlain has not yet asked for the honor of an +alliance with the house of Arguello, and that your +brother will match his best fighting cock against +your new white lace mantilla from Mexico, that +he is not meditating any project so detrimental to +his fortunes. Console yourself with the reflection +that if he were, our father and the priests, and the +Governor himself, would die of apoplexy. He is a +heretic--a member of the Greek Church! Hast thou +lost thy reason, Conchita? Dry your eyes and +come home to sleep, and let us hear no more of +marriage with a man who is not only a barbarian of +the north and a heretic, but so proud he does not +think a Californian good enough to wash his +decks." + + + +IV + +It was long before Rezanov slept that night. The +usual chill had come in from the Pacific as the sun +went down, and the distinguished visitor had inti- +mated to his hosts that he should like to exercise +on shore until ready for his detested quarters; but +Arguello dared not, in the absence of his father, in- +vite the foreigner even to sleep in the house so +lavishly offered in the morning; although he had +sent such an abundance of provisions to the ship +that the poor sailors were deep in sleep, gorged like +boa-constrictors; and he could safely promise that +while the Juno remained in port her larder should +never be empty. He shared the evening bowl of +punch in the cabin, then went his way lamenting +that he could not take his new friends with him. + +Rezanov paced the little deck of the Juno to keep +his blood in stir. There was no moon. The islands +and promontories on the great sheet of water were +black save for the occasional glow of an Indian +camp-fire. There was not a sound but the lapping +of the waves, the roar of distant breakers. The +great silver stars and the little green stars looked +down upon a solitude that was almost primeval, yet +mysteriously disturbed by the restless currents in +the brain of a man who had little in common with +primal forces. + +Rezanov was uneasy on more scores than one. +He was annoyed and mortified at the discovery-- +made over the punch bowl--that the girl he had +taken to be twenty was but sixteen. It was by no +means his first experience of the quick maturity of +southern women--but sixteen! He had never +wasted a moment on a chit before, and although he +was a man of imagination, and notwithstanding +her intelligence and dignity, he could not reconcile +properties so conflicting with any sort of feminine +ideal. + +And the pressing half of his mission he had con- +fided to her! No man knew better than he the +value of a tactful and witty woman in the political +dilemmas of life; more than one had given him +devoted service, nor ever yet had he made a mistake. +After several hours spent in the society of this clever, +politic, dissatisfied girl he had come to the conclu- +sion that he could trust her, and had told her of the +lamentable condition of the creatures in the employ +of the Russian-American Company; of their chronic +state of semi-starvation, of the scurvy that made +them apathetic of brain and body, and eventually +would exterminate them unless he could establish +reciprocal trade relations with California and obtain +regular supplies of farinaceous food; acknowl- +edged that he had brought a cargo of Russian and +Boston goods necessary to the well-being of the Mis- +sions and Presidios, and that he would not return +to the wretched people of Sitka, at least, without a +generous exchange of breadstuffs, dried meats, peas, +beans, barley and tallow. Not only had he no long- +er the courage to witness their misery, but his for- +tune and his career were at stake. His entire capi- +tal was invested in the Company he had founded, +and he had failed in his embassy to Japan--to the +keen mortification of the Tsar and the jubilation of +his enemies. If he left the Emperor's northeastern +dominions unreclaimed and failed to rescue the +Company from its precarious condition, he hardly +should care to return to St. Petersburg. + +Dona Concha had listened to this eloquent +harangue--they sat alone at one end of the long +sala while Luis at the other toiled over letters to the +Governor and his father advising them of the for- +midable honor of the Russian's visit--in exactly +the temper he would have chosen. Her fine eyes +had melted and run over at the moving tale of the +sufferings of the servants of the Company--until +his own had softened in response and he had im- +pulsively kissed her hand; they had dilated and +flashed as he spoke of his personal apprehensions; +and when he had given her a practical explanation +of his reasons for coming to California she had +given him advice as practical in return. + +He must withhold from her father and the Gov- +ernor the fact of his pressing need; they were high +officials with an inflexible sense of duty, and did all +they could to enforce the law against trading with +foreigners. He was to maintain the fiction of belt- +ing the globe, but admit that he had indulged in a +dream of commercial relations--for a benefit strictly +mutual--between neighbors as close as the Spanish +and Russians in America. This would interest +them--what would not, on the edge of the world? +--and they would agree to lay the matter, rein- +forced by a strong personal plea, before the Viceroy +of Mexico; who in turn would send it to the Cab- +inet and King at Madrid. Meanwhile, he was to +confide in the priests at the Mission. Not only +would their sympathies be enlisted, but they did +much trading under the very nose of the govern- +ment. Not for personal gain--they were vowed to +a life of poverty; but for their Indian converts; +and as there were twelve hundred at the Mission of +San Francisco, they would wink at many things con- +demnable in the abstract. He had engaged to visit +them on the morrow, and he must take presents to +tempt their impersonal cupidity, and invite them to +inspect the rest of his wares--which the Governor +would be informed his Excellency had been forced +to buy with the Juno from the Yankee skipper, +D'Wolf, and would rid himself of did opportunity +offer. + +Rezanov had never received sounder advice, and +had promptly accepted it. Now, as he reflected that +it had been given by a girl of sixteen, he was divided +between admiration of her precocity and fear lest +she prove to be too young to keep a secret. More- +over, there were other considerations. + +Rezanov, although in his earlier years he had so +far sacrificed his interests and played into the hands +of his enemies, in avoiding the too embarrassing par- +tiality of Catherine the Great, had nevertheless held +a high place at court by right of birth, and been a +man of the world always; rarely absent from St. +Petersburg during the last and least susceptible part +of the imperial courtesan's life, the brief reign of +Paul, and the two years between the accession of +Alexander and the sailing of the Nadeshda. More- +over, there was hardly another court of importance +in Europe with which he was not familiar, and few +men had had a more complete experience of life. +And the life of a courtier, a diplomat, a traveller, +noble, wealthy, agreeable to women by divine right, +with active enemies and a horde of flatterers, in +daily contact with the meaner and more disin- +genuous corners of human nature, is not conducive +to a broad optimism and a sweet and immutable +Christianity. Rezanov inevitably was more or less +cynical and blase', and too long versed in the ways +of courts and courtiers to retain more than a whim- +sical tolerance of the naked truth and an apprecia- +tion of its excellence as a diplomatic manoeuvre. +Nevertheless, he was by nature too impetuous ever +to become under any provocation a dishonest man, +and too normally a gentleman to deviate from a +certain personal code of honor. He might come to +California with fair words and a very definite in- +tention of annexing it to Russia at the first oppor- +tunity, but he was incapable of abusing the hospi- +tality of the Arguellos by making love to their six- +teen-year-old daughter. Had she been of the years +he had assumed, he would have had less scruple in +embarking upon a flirtation, both for the pastime +and the use he might make of her. A Spanish +beauty of twenty, still unmarried, would be more +than his match. But a child, however precocious, +inevitably would fall in love with the first uncom- +mon stranger she met; and Rezanov, less vain than +most men of his kind, and with a fundamental hu- +manity that was the chief cause in his efforts to im- +prove the condition of his wretched promuschleniki, +had no taste for the role of heart-breaker. + +But the girl had proved her timeliness; would, if +trustworthy, be of further use in inclining her +father and the Governor toward such of his de- +signs as he had any intentions of revealing; and, +weighing carefully his conversations with her, he +was disposed to believe that she would screen and +abet him through vanity and love of intrigue. After +the dinner, in the seclusion of the sala, he had taken +pains to explore for the causes of her mental ma- +turity. Concha had told him of Don Jose Arguello's +ambition that his children in their youth should have +the education he had been forced to acquire in his +manhood; he had taught them himself, and not- +withstanding his piety and the disapproval of the +priests, had permitted them to read the histories, +travels, and biographies he received once a year +from the City of Mexico. Rezanov had met +Madame de Stael and other bas bleus, and given +them no more of his society than politeness de- +manded, but although astonished at the amount of +information this young girl had assimilated, he +found nothing in her manner of wearing her intel- +lectual crown to offend his fastidious taste. She +was wholly artless in her love of books and of dis- +cussing them; and nothing in their contents had dis- +turbed the sweetest innocence he had ever met. Of +the little arts of coquetry she was mistress by inheri- +tance and much provocation, but her unawakened +inner life breathed the simplicity and purity of the +elemental roses that hovered about her in his +thoughts. Her very unsusceptibility made the game +more dangerous; if it piqued him--and he aspired +to be no more than human--he either should have +to marry her, or nurse a sore spot in his conscience +for the rest of his life; and for neither alternative +had he the least relish. + +He dismissed the subject at last with an impatient +shrug. Perhaps he was a conceited ass, as his Eng- +lish friends would say; perhaps the Governor would +be more amenable than she had represented. No +man could forecast events. It was enough to be +forearmed. + +But his thoughts swung to a theme as little dis- +burdening. His needs, as he had confided to Con- +cha, were very pressing. The dry or frozen fish, +the sea dogs, the fat of whales, upon which the em- +ployees of the Company were forced to subsist in +the least hospitable of climes, had ravaged them +with scorbutic diseases until their numbers were so +reduced by death and desertion that there was dan- +ger of depopulation and the consequent bankruptcy +of the Company. Since June of the preceding year +until his departure from New Archangel in the pre- +vious month, he had been actively engaged in inspec- +tion of the Company's holdings from Kamchatka +to Sitka: reforming abuses, establishing schools +and libraries, conceiving measures to protect the +fur-bearing animals from reckless slaughter both +by the promuschleniki and marauding foreigners; +punishing and banishing the worst offenders against +the Company's laws; encouraging the faithful, and +sharing hardships with them that sent memories of +former luxuries and pleasures scurrying off to the +realms of fantasy. But his rule would be incom- +plete and his efforts end in failure if the miserable +Russians and natives in the employ of the Com- +pany were not vitalized by proper food and cheered +with the hope of its permanence. + +In Santiago's story of the Russian visitor's +achievements and status there was the common +mingling of truth and fiction the exalted never fail +to inspire. Rezanov, although he had accomplished +great ends against greater odds, was too little of a +courtier at heart ever to have been a prime favorite +in St. Petersburg until the accession of a ruler with +whom he had something in common. A dissolute +woman and a crack-brained despot were the last to +appreciate an original and independent mind, and +the seclusion of Alexander had been so complete +during the lifetime of his father that Rezanov barely +had known him by sight. But the Tsarovitz, en- +thusiastic for reform and a passionate admirer of +enterprise, knew of Rezanov, and no sooner did he +mount his gory throne than he confirmed the Cham- +berlain in his enterprise, and two years later made +him a Privy Counsellor, invested him with the order +of St. Ann, and chose him for the critical embassy +to the verdant realm with the blind and gateless +walls. + +Rezanov had conquered so far in life even less by +address than by the demonstration of abilities very +singular in a man of his birth and education. When +he met Shelikov, during the Siberian merchant- +trader's visit to St. Petersburg in 1788, he was a +young man with little interest in life outside of its +pleasures, and a patrimony that enabled him to +command them to no great extent and barely to +maintain the dignity of his rank. Shelikov's plan +to obtain a monopoly of the fur trade in the islands +and territories added by his Company to Russia, +possibly throughout the entire possession, thus pre- +venting the destruction of sables, seals, otters, and +foxes by small traders and foreigners, interested +him at once; or possibly he was merely fascinated +at first by the shrewd and dauntless representative +of a class with which he had never before come +in contact. The accidental acquaintance ripened +into intimacy, Rezanov became a partner in the +Shelikov-Golikov Company, and married the daugh- +ter of his new friend. After the death of his +father-in-law, in 1795, his ambitions and business +abilities, now fully awake, prompted him to obtain +for himself and his partners rights analogous to +those granted by England to the East India Com- +pany. Shelikov had won little more than half the +power and privileges he had solicited of Catherine, +although he had amalgamated the two leading com- +panies, drawn in several others, and built ships and +factories and forts to protect them. And if the +regnant merchants made large fortunes, the enter- +prise in general suffered from the rivalries between +the various companies, and above all from lack of +imperial support. + +Rezanov, his plans made, brought to bear all the +considerable influence he was able to command, +called upon all his resources of brain and address, +and brought Catherine to the point of consenting +to sign the charter he needed. Before it was ready +for the imperial signature she died. Rezanov was +forced to begin again with her ill-balanced and in- +tractable son. Natalie Shelikov, his famous mother- +in-law, the old shareholders of the Company, and +the many new ones that had subscribed to Rezanov's +ambitious project, gave themselves up to despair. +For a time the outlook was dark. The personal +enemies of Rezanov and the bitter and persistent +opponents of the companies threw themselves eager- +ly into the scale with tales of brutality of the mer- +chants and the threatened extirpation of the fur- +bearing animals. Paul announced his attention to +abolish all the companies and close the colonies to +traders big and little. + +But the enemy had a very subtle antagonist in +Rezanov. Apparently dismissing the subject, he ap- +plied himself to gaining a personal ascendancy over +the erratic but impressionable Tsar. No one in the +opposing camp could compare with him in that fine +balance of charm and brain which was his peculiar +gift, or in the adroit manipulation of a mind pro- +pelled mainly by vanity. He studied Paul's moods +and character, discovered that after some senseless +act of oppression he suffered from a corresponding +remorse, and was susceptible to any plan that would +increase his power and add lustre to his name. The +commercial and historic advantages of prosperous +northeastern possessions were artfully instilled. At +the opportune moment Rezanov laid before him a +scheme, mature in every detail, for a great com- +pany that would add to the wealth of Russia, and +convince Europe of the sound commercial sense and +immortal wisdom of its sovereign. Without more +ado he obtained his charter. + +This momentous instrument granted to the "Rus- +sian-American Company under our Highest Protec- +tion," "full privileges, for a period of twenty years +on the coast of northwestern America, beginning +from latitude 55 degrees north, and including the +chain of islands extending from Kamchatka north- +ward, and southward to Japan; the exclusive right +to all enterprises, whether hunting, trading, or build- +ing, and to new discoveries; with strict prohibition +from profiting from any of these pursuits, not only +to all parties who might engage in them on their +own responsibility, but also to those who formerly +had ships and establishments there, except those who +have united with the new Company." All private +traders who refused to join the Company were to +be allowed to sell their property and depart in +peace. + +Thus was formed the first of the Trusts in +America; and the United States never has had so +formidable a menace to her territorial greatness as +this Russian nobleman who paced that night the +wretched deck of the little ship he had bought from +one of her skippers. Perturbed in mind at his re- +cent failures and immediate prospects, he was no +less determined to take California from the Span- +iards either by absorption or force. + +On his way from New Archangel to San Fran- +cisco he had met with his second failure since leav- +ing St. Petersburg. It was his intention to move +the Sitkan colony down to the mouth of the Colum- +bia River; not only pressed by the need of a more +beneficent soil, but as a first insidious advance upon +San Francisco Bay. Upon this trip it would be +enough to make a survey of the ground and bury a +copper plate inscribed: "Possession of the Rus- +sian Empire." The Juno had encountered terrific +storms. After three desperate attempts to reach +the mouth of the river, Rezanov had been forced to +relinquish the enterprise for the moment and hasten +with his diseased and almost useless crew to the +nearest port. It was true that the attempt could be +made again later, but Rezanov, sanguine of tem- +perament, was correspondingly depressed by failure +and disposed to regard it as an ill-omen. + +An ambassador inspired by heaven could have +accomplished no more with the Japanese at that +mediaeval stage of their development than he had +done, and the most indomitable of men cannot yet +control the winds of heaven; but sovereigns are +rarely governed by logic, and frequently by the fav- +orite at hand. The privilege of writing personally +to the Tsar, in his case, meant more and less than +appeared on the surface. It was a measure to keep +the reports of the Company out of the hands of the +Admiralty College, its bitterest enemy, and always +jealous of the Civil Service. Nevertheless, Rezanov +knew that he had no immediate reason to apprehend +the loss of Alexander's friendship and esteem; and +if he placed the Company, in which all the imperial +family had bought shares, on a sounder basis than +ever before, and doubled its earnings by insuring the +health of its employees, he would meet, when in St. +Petersburg again, with practically no opposition to +his highest ambitions. These ambitions he delib- +erately kept in a fluid state for the present. +Whether he should aspire to great authority in the +government, or choose to rule with the absolute +powers of the Tsar himself these already vast pos- +sessions on the Pacific--to be extended indefinitely +--would be decided by events. All his inherited and +cultivated instincts yearned for the brilliant and +complex civilizations of Europe, but the new world +had taken a firm hold upon his humaner and +appealed more insidiously to his despotic. More- +over, Europe, torn up by that human earthquake, +Napoleon Bonaparte, must lose the greater half of +its sweetness and savor. All that, however, could +be determined upon his return to St. Petersburg in +the autumn. + +But meanwhile he must succeed with these Cali- +fornians, or they might prove, toy soldiers as they +were, more perilous to his fortunes than enemies at +court. He could not afford another failure; and +news of this attempt and an exposition of all that +depended upon it were already on the road to the +capital of Russia. + +He had known, of course, of the law that forbade +the Spanish colonies to trade with foreign ships, +but he had relied partly upon the use he could make +of the orders given by the Spanish King at the +request of the Tsar regarding the expedition under +Krusenstern, partly upon his own wit and address. +But although the royal order had insured him imme- +diate hospitality and saved him many wearisome +formalities, he had already discovered that the +Spanish on the far rim of their empire had lost +nothing of their connate suspicion. Rather, their +isolation made them the more wary. Although they +little appreciated the richness and variousness of +California's soil, and not at all this wonderful bay +that would accommodate the combined navies of the +world, pocketing several, the pious zeal of the clergy +in behalf of the Indians, and the general policy of +Spain to hold all of the western hemisphere that +disintegrating forces would permit, made her as +tenacious of this vast territory she had so sparsely +populated as had she been aware that its founda- +tions were of gold, conceived that its climate and +soil were a more enduring source of wealth than +ever she would command again. If Rezanov was +not gifted with the prospector's sense for ores-- +although he had taken note of Arguello's casual ref- +erence to a vein of silver and lead in the Monterey +hills--no man ever more thoroughly appreciated the +visible resources of California than he. Baranhov, +chief-manager of the Company, had talked with +American and British skippers for twenty years, and +every item he had accumulated Rezanov had +extracted. To-day he had drawn further informa- +tion from Concha and her brothers; and their art- +less descriptions as well as this incomparable bay +had filled him with enthusiasm. What a gift to +Russia! What an achievement to his immortal +credit! The fog rolled in from the Pacific in great +white waves and stealthily enfolded him, obliterated +the sea and the land. But he did not see it. Appre- +hension left him. Once more he fell to dreaming. +In the course of a few years the Company would +attract a large population to the mouth of the +Columbia River, be strong enough to make use of +any favorable turn in European politics and sweep +down upon California. The geographical position +of Mexico, the arid and desolate, herbless and +waterless wastes intervening, would prohibit her +sending any considerable assistance overland; and, +all powerful at court by that time, he would take +care that the Russian navy inspired Spain with a +distaste for remote Pacific waters. He had long +since recovered from the disappointment induced +by the orders compelling him to remain in the col- +onies. The great Company he had heretofore re- +garded merely as a source of income and a means of +advancing his ambitions, he now loved as his child. +Even during the marches over frozen swamps and +mountains, during the terrible winter in Sitka when +he had become familiar with illness and even with +hunger, his ardor had grown, as well as his deter- +mination to force Russia into the front rank of +Commercial Europe. The United States he barely +considered. He respected the new country for +the independent spirit and military genius that +had routed so powerful a nation as Great Britain, +but he thought of her only as a new and tentative +civilization on the far shores of the Atlantic. After +some experience of travel in Siberia, and knowing +the immensity and primeval conditions of north- +western America, he did not think it probable that +the little cluster of states, barely able to walk alone, +would indulge in dreams of expansion for many +years to come. He had heard of the projected ex- +pedition of Lewis and Clarke to the mouth of the +Columbia, but--perhaps he was too Russian--he +did not take any adventure seriously that had not +a mighty nation at its back. And as it was almost +the half of a century from that night before the +American flag flew over the Custom House of Mon- +terey, there is reason to believe that Russian aggres- +sion under the leadership of so energetic and re- +sourceful a spirit as Nicolai Petrovich de Rezanov +was in a fair way to make history first in the New +Albion of Drake and the California of the incompe- +tent Spaniard. + + + +V + +The Russians were to call at the house of the Com- +mandante on their way to the Mission, and Concha +herself made the chocolate with which they were +to be detained for another hour. It was another spark- +ling morning, one of the few that came between +winter and summer, summer and winter, and made +even this bleak peninsula a land of enchantment be- +fore the cold winds took the sand hills up by their +foundations and drove them down to Yerba Buena, +submerging the battery and every green thing by +the way; or the great fogs rolled down from the +tule lands of the north and in from the sea, making +the shivering San Franciscan forget that not ten +miles away the sun was as prodigal as youth. For +a few weeks San Francisco had her springtime, +when the days were warm and the air of a wonder- +ful lightness and brightness, the atmosphere so clear +that the flowers might be seen on the islands, when +man walked with wings on his feet and a song in his +heart; when the past was done with, the future +mattered not, the present with its ever changing +hues on bay and hill, its cool electrical breezes stir- +ring imagination and pulse, was all in all. + +And it was in San Francisco's springtime that +Concha Arguello made chocolate for the Russian +to whom she was to give a niche in the history of +her land; and sang at her task. She whirled the +molinillo in each cup as it was filled, whipping the +fragrant liquid to froth; pausing only to scold when +her servant stained one of the dainty saucers or +cups. Poor Rosa did not sing, although the spring +attuned her broken spirit to a gentler melancholy +than when the winds howled and the fog was cold +in her marrow. She had been sentenced by the last +Governor, the wise Borica, to eight years of domes- +tic servitude in the house of Don Jose Arguello for +abetting her lover in the murder of his wife. Con- +cha, thoughtless in many things, did what she could +to exorcise the terror and despair that stared from +the eyes of the Indian and puzzled her deeply. Rosa +adored her young mistress and exulted even when +Concha's voice rose in wrath; for was not she +noticed by the loveliest senorita in all the Cali- +fornias, while others, envious and spiteful to a poor +girl no worse than themselves, were ignored? + +Concha's cheeks were as pink as the Castilian +roses that grew even before the kitchen door and +were quivering at the moment under the impas- +sioned carolling of a choir of larks. Her black eyes +were full of dancing lights, like the imprisoned sum- +flecks under the rose bush, and never had indolent +Spanish hands moved so quickly. + +"Mira! Mira!" she cried to the luckless Rosa. +"That is the third time thou hast spilt the chocolate. +Thy hands are of wood when they should be of +air. A soft bit of linen to clean them, not that +coarse rag. Dios de mi alma! I shall send for +Malia." + +"For the love of Mary, senorita, have pity!" +wailed Rosa. "There--see--thanks to the Virgin I +have poured three cups without spilling a drop. And +this rag is of soft linen. Look, Dona Concha, is it +not true?" + +"Bueno; take care thou leavest not one drop on +a saucer and I will forgive thee--do not kiss my +hand now, foolish one! How can I whirl the moli- +nillo? Be always good and I will burn a candle for +thee every time I go to the Mission. The Russians +go to the Mission this morning. Hast thou seen the +Russians, Rosa?" + +"I have seen them, senorita. Did I not serve at +table yesterday?" + +"True; I had forgotten. What didst thou think +of them?" + +"What matters it to such great folk what a poor +Indian girl thinks of them? They are very fair, +which may be the fashion in their country; but I +am not accustomed to it; and I like not beards." + +"His excellency wore no beard--he who sat on +my mother's right and opposite to me." + +"He is very grand, senorita; more grand than the +Governor, who after all has red hair and is old. He +is even grander than Don Jose, whom may the +saints preserve; or than the padres at the mission. +Perhaps he is a king, like our King and natural +lord in spain. (El rey nuestro y senor natural.) +Is he a king, senorita?" + +"No, but he should be. Rosa, thou mayest have +my red cloak that came from Mexico--last year. +I have a new one and that is too small. I had +intended to give it to Ana Paula, but thou art a +good girl and should have a gay mantle for Sunday, +like the other girls. I have also a red ribbon for +thy hair--" + +Rosa spilt half the contents of the chocolate pot +on the floor and Concha gave her a sound box on +the ear. However, she did not dismiss her, a sen- +tence for which the trembling girl prepared herself. + +"Make more--quickly!" cried the lady of caprice. +"They come. I hear them. But this is enough for +the first. Make the rest and beat with the molinillo +as I have done, and Malia will bring all to the cor- +ridor." + +She ran to her room and her mirror. Both were +small, the room little more luxurious than the cell +of a nun. But the roses hung over the window, +the birds had built in the eaves, and over the wall +the sun shone in. In one corner was an altar and +a crucifix. If the walls were rough and white, +they were spotless as the hands that shook out and +then twisted high the fine dusky masses of hair. +When a fold had been drawn over either ear, in +the modest fashion of the California maid and wife, +and the tall shell comb had fastened the rest, Con- +cha instead of finishing the headdress with her long +Spanish pins, divested the stems of two half-blown +roses of their thorns and thrust them obliquely +through the knot. Her dress was of simple white +linen made with a very full skirt and little round +jacket, but embroidered by her own deft fingers +with the color she loved best. She patted her frock, +rolled down her sleeves, and went out to the "corri- +dor" to stand demurely behind her mother as the +Russians, escorted by Father Ramon Abella, rode +into the square. + +Rezanov had intended merely to pay a call of +ceremony upon the hospitable Arguellos, but after +he had dismounted and kissed the hands of the +smiling senora and her beautiful daughter he was +nothing loath to linger over a cup of chocolate. + +It was served out there in the shade of the vines. +Rezanov and Concha sat on the railing, and the +man stared over his cup at the girl with the roses +touching her cheeks and ruffling her hair. + +"Do you like chocolate, senor?" asked Concha, +who was not in the intellectual mood of yesterday. +"I made it myself--I and my poor Rosa." + +"It is the most delectable foam I have ever tasted. +I am interested to know that it has the solid founda- +tion of a name. What is the matter with your +Rosa?" + +"She is an unfortunate. Her lover killed his +wife, and it is said that she is not innocent herself. +The lover serves in chains for eight years, and she +is with us that we may make her repent and keep +her from further sin. She is unhappy and will +marry the man when his punishment is over. I am +very sorry for her." + +"Fancy you living close to a woman like that! +I find it detestable." + +"Why?--if I can do her good--and make her +happy, sometimes?" + +"Does she ever talk about her life--before she +came here?" + +"Oh, no; she is far too sad. Once only, when I +told her I would pray for her in the Mission Church, +she asked me to burn a candle that her lover might +serve his sentence more quickly and come out and +marry her. Will you light one for her to-day, +senor?" + +"With the greatest pleasure; if you really want +your maid to marry a man who no doubt will mur- +der her for the sake of some other woman." + +"Oh, surely not! He loves her. I know that +many men love more than once, but when they are +punished like that, they must remember." + +"Is it true that you are only sixteen? Is that an +impertinent question? I cannot help it. Those +years are so few, and so much wisdom has gone +into that little head." + +"Sixteen is quite old." Concha drew herself up +with an air of offended dignity. "Elena Castro, +who lives on the other side, is but eighteen and she +has three little ones. The Virgin brought them in +the night and left them in the big rosebush you see +before the door--one at a time, of course. Only +the old nurse knew; the Virgin whispered it while +she was saying a prayer for Elena; and early in the +morning she came and found the dear little baby +and put it in Elena's arms. I am the godmother of +the first--Conchitita. In Santa Barbara, where we +lived for some years, Anita Amanda Carillo, the +friend of Ana Paula, is married, although she is +but twelve and sits on the floor all day and plays +with her dolls. She prays every night to the Virgin +to bring her a real baby, but she is not old enough +to take care of it and must wait. Twelve is too +young to marry." Concha shook her head. Her +eyes were wise, and Rezanov noted anew that her +mouth alone was as young as her years. "My father +would not permit such a thing. I am glad he is not +anxious we should marry soon. I should love to +have the babies, though; they are so sweet to play +with and make little dresses for. But my mother +says the Virgin does not bring the little ones to +good girls--poor Rosa had one but it died--until +their parents find them a husband first. I have +never wanted a husband--" Concha darted a +swift glance over her shoulder, but Santiago was in +the clutches of the learned doctor and wishing that +he knew no Latin; "so I go every day and play with +Elena's babies, which is well enough." + +Rezanov listened to this innocent revelation with +the utmost gravity, but for the first time in many +years he was conscious of a novel fascination in a +sex to which he had paid no niggard's tribute. In +his world the married woman reigned; it was doubt- +ful if he had ever had ten minutes' conversation +with a young girl before, never with one whose face +and form were as arresting as her crystal purity. +He was fascinated, but more than ever on his guard. +As he rode over the sand hills to the Mission she +clung fast to his thoughts and he speculated upon +the woman hidden away in the depths of that lovely +shell like the deep color within the tight Castilian +buds that opened so slowly. He recalled the per- +sonalities of the young officers that surrounded her. +They were charming fellows, gay, kindly, honest; +but he felt sure that not one of them was fit to hold +the cup of life to the exquisite young lips of Concha +Arguello. The very thought disposed him to twist +their necks. + + + +VI + +The Mission San Francisco de Assisi stood at the +head of a great valley about a league from the +Presidio and facing the eastern hills. Behind it, +yet not too close, for the priests were ever on their +guard against Indians more lustful of loot than sal- +vation, was a long irregular chain of hills, break- +ing into twin peaks on its highest ridge, with a +lone mountain outstanding. It was an imposing +but forbidding mass, as steep and bare as the walls +of a fortress; but in the distance, north and south, +as the range curved in a tapering arc that gave +the valley the appearance of a colossal stadium, +the outlines were soft in a haze of pale color. The +sheltered valley between the western heights and +the sand hills far down the bay where it turned to +the south, was green with wheat fields, and a small +herd of cattle grazed on the lower slopes. The +beauty of this superbly proportioned valley was +further enhanced by groves of oaks and bay trees, +and by a lagoon, communicating with an arm of the +bay, which the priests had named for their Lady +of Sorrows--Nuestra Senora de los Dolores. The +little sheet of water was almost round, very green +and set in a thicket of willows that were green, too, +in the springtime, and golden in summer. Near +its banks, or closer to the protecting Mission--on +whose land grant they were built--were the com- +fortable adobe homes of the few Spanish pioneers +that preferred the bracing north to the monotonous +warmth of the south. Some of these houses were +long and rambling, others built about a court; all +were surrounded by a high wall, enclosing a gar- +den where the Castilian roses grew even more lux- +uriantly than at the Presidio. The walls, like the +houses, were white, and on those of Don Juan +Moraga, a cousin of Dona Ignacia Arguello, the +roses had been trained to form a border along the +top in a fashion that reminded Rezanov of the pink +edged walls of Fiesole. + +The white red-tiled church and the long line of +rooms adjoining were built of adobe with no effort +at grandeur, but with a certain noble simplicity of +outline that harmonized not only with the lofty re- +serve of the hills but with the innocent hope of creat- +ing a soul in the lowest of human bipeds. The +Indians of San Francisco were as immedicable as +they were hideous; but the fathers belabored them +with sticks and heaven with prayer, and had so far +succeeded that if as yet they had sown piety no +higher than the knees, they had trained some twelve +hundred pairs of hands to useful service. + +On the right was a graveyard, with little in it as +yet but rose trees; behind the church and the many +spacious rooms built for the consolation of virtue +in the wilderness was a large building surrounding +a court. Girls and young widows occupied the cells +on the north side, and the work rooms on the east, +while the youths, under the sharp eye of a lay +brother, were opposite. All lived a life of unwill- +ing industry: cleaning and combing wool, spinning, +weaving, manufacturing chocolate, grinding corn +between stones, making shoes, fashioning the simple +garments worn by priest and Indian. Between the +main group of buildings and the natural rampart +of the "San Bruno Mountains" was the Rancheria, +where the Indian families lived in eight long rows +of isolated huts. + +In spite of vigilance an Indian escaped now and +again to the mountains, where he could lie naked in +the sun and curse the fetich of civilization. As the +Russians approached, a friar, with deer-skin armor +over his cassock, was tugging at a recalcitrant mule, +while a body-guard of four Indians stood ready to +attend him down the coast in search of an enviable +brother. The mule, as if in sympathy with the +fugitive, had planted his four feet in the earth and +lifted his voice in derision, while the young friar, a +recruit at the Mission, and far from enamored of +his task, strained at the rope, and an Indian pelted +the hindquarters with stones. Suddenly, the mule +flung out his heels, the enemy in the rear sprawled, +the rope flew loose, the beast with a loud bray fled +toward the willows of Dolores. But the young +priest was both agile and angry. With a flying leap +he reached the heaving back. The mule acknowl- +edged himself conquered. The body-guard trotted +on their own feet, and the party disappeared round +a bend of the hills. + +Rezanov laughed heartily and even the glum vis- +age of Father Abella relaxed. + +"It is a common sight, Excellency," he said. "We +are thankful to have a younger friar for such +fatiguing work. Many a time have I belabored +stubborn mules and bestrode bucking mustangs +while searching for one of these ungrateful but no +doubt chosen creatures. It is the will of God, and +we make no complaint; but we are very willing, +Father Landaeta and I, that youth should cool its +ardor in so certain a fashion while we attend to the +more reasonable duties at home." + +They were dismounted at the door of the church. +The horses were led off by waiting Indians. The +soldiers on guard saluted and stepped aside, and +the party entered. Two priests in handsome vest- +ments stood before the altar, but the long dim nave +was empty. The Russians had been told that a +mass would be said in their honor, and they +marched down the church and bent their knees +with as much ceremony as had they been of the +faith of their hosts. When the short mass was +over, Rezanov bethought himself of Concha's re- +quest, and whispering its purport to Father Abella +was led to a double iron hoop stuck with tallow dips +in various stages of petition. Rezanov lit a candle +and fastened it in an empty socket. Then with a +whimsical twist of his mouth he lit and adjusted +another. + +"No doubt she has some fervent wish, like all +children," he thought apologetically. "And whether +this will help her to realize it or not, at least it will +be interesting to watch her eyes--and mouth-- +when I tell her. Will she melt, or flash, or receive +my offering at her shrine as a matter of course? +I'll surprise her to-night in the middle of a dance." + +He deposited a gold piece among the candles on +the table and followed Father Abella through a side +door. A corridor ran behind the long line of rooms +designed not only for priests but for travellers al- +ways sure of a welcome at these hospitable Mis- +sions. Father Abella shuffled ahead, halted on the +threshold of a large room, and ceremoniously in- +vited his guests to enter. Two other priests stood +before a table set with wine and delicate confec- +tions, their hands concealed in their wide brown +sleeves, but their unmatched physiognomies--the one +lean and jovial, the other plump and resigned-- +alight with the same smile of welcome. Father +Abella mentioned them as his coadjutor Father +Martin Landaeta, and their guest Father Jose Uria +of San Jose; and then the three, with the scant rites +of genuine hospitality, applied themselves to the tick- +ling of palates long unused to ambrosial living. Re- +sponding ingenuously to the glow of their home- +made wines, they begged Rezanov to accept the Mis- +sion, burn it, plunder it, above all, to plan his own +day. + +"I hope that I am to see every detail of your great +work," replied the diplomatic guest of honor. "But +at your own leisure. Meanwhile, I beg that you +will order one of your Indians to bring in the little +presents I venture to offer as a token of my respect. +You may have heard that the presents of his Im- +perial Majesty were refused by the Mikado of +Japan. I reserved many of them for possible use in +our own possessions, particularly a piece of cloth of +gold. This I had intended for our church at New +Archangel, but finding the priests there more in +need of punishment than reward, I concluded to +bring it here and offer it as a manifest of my ad- +miration for what the great Franciscan Order of +the Most Holy Church of Rome has accomplished +in the Californias. Have I been too presump- +tuous?" + +The priests all wore the eager expressions of chil- +dren. + +"Could we not see them first?" asked Father Lan- +daeta of his superior; and Father Abella sent a ser- +vant with an order to unload the horse and bring in +the presents. + +Not a vestige of reserve lingered. Priests and +guests sat about the table eating and drinking and +chatting as were they old friends reunited, and +Rezanov extracted much of the information he de- +sired. The white population--"gente de razon"-- +of Alta California, the peculiar province of the +Franciscans--the Jesuits having been the first to +invade Baja California, and with little success-- +numbered about two thousand, the Christianized +Indians about twenty thousand. There were nine- +teen Missions and four Presidial districts--San +Diego, close to the border of Baja California, Santa +Barbara, Monterey, and San Francisco. Each Mis- +sion had an immense grant of land, or rancho-- +generally fifteen miles square--for the raising of +live stock, agricultural necessities, and the grape. +At the Presidio of San Francisco there were some +seventy men, including invalids; and the number +varied little at the other military centres, Rezanov +inferred, although there was a natural effort to im- +press the foreigner with the casual inferiority of +the armed force within his ken. Cattle and horses +increased so rapidly that every few years there was +a wholesale slaughter, although the agricultural +yield was enormous. What the Missions were un- +able to manufacture was sent them from Mexico, +and disposed of the small salaries of the priests; +the "Pious Fund of California" in the city of +Mexico being systematically embezzled. The first +Presidio and Mission were founded at San Diego +in July of 1769; the last at San Francisco in Sep- +tember and October of 1776. + +Rezanov's polite interest in the virgin country +was cut short by the entrance of two Indians carry- +ing heavy bundles, which they opened upon the floor +without further delay. + +The cloth of gold was magnificent, and the padres +handled it as rapturously as had their souls and fin- +gers been of the sex symbolized while exalted by the +essence of maternity, in whose service it would be +anointed. Rezanov looked on with an amused +sigh, yet conscious of being more comprehending +and sympathetic than if he had journeyed straight +from Europe to California. It was not the first time +he had felt a passing gratitude for his uncomfort- +able but illuminating sojourn so close to the springs +of nature. + +The priests were as well pleased with the pieces +of fine English cloth; and as their own homespun +robes rasped like hair shirts, they silently but uni- +formly congratulated themselves that the color was +brown. + +Father Abella turned to Rezanov, his saturnine +features relaxed. + +"We are deeply grateful to your excellency, and +our prayers shall follow you always. Never have +we received presents so timely and so magnificent. +And be sure we shall not forget the brave officers +that have brought you safely to our distant shores, +nor the distinguished scholar who guards your ex- +cellency's health." He turned to Langsdorff and +repeated himself in Latin. The naturalist, whose +sharp nose was always lifted as if in protest against +oversight and ready to pounce upon and penetrate +the least of mysteries, bowed with his hand on his +heart, and translated for the benefit of the officers. + +"Humph!" said Davidov in Russian. "Much the +Chamberlain will care for the prayers of the Cath- +olic Church if he has to go home with his cargo. +But he has a fine opportunity here for the display +of his diplomatic talents. I fancy they will avail him +more than they did at Nagasaki--where I am told +he swore more than once when he should have kow- +towed and grinned." + +"I shouldn't like to see him grin," replied Khos- +tov, as they finally started for the outbuildings. "If +he could go as far as that he would be the most +terrible man living. Were it not for the fire in him +that melts the iron just so often he would be crafty +and cruel instead of subtle and firm. He is a for- +tunate man! There were many fairies at his cradle! +I have always envied him, and now he is going to +win that beautiful Dona Concha. She will look at +none of us." + +"We will doubtless meet others as beautiful at +the ball to-night," said Davidov philosophically. +"You are not in love with a girl who has barely +spoken to you, I suppose." + +"She had almost given me a rose this morning, +when Rezanov, who was flattering the good Dona +Ignacia with a moment of his attention, turned too +soon. I might have been air. She looked straight +through me. Such eyes! Such teeth! Such a form! +She is the most enchanting girl I have ever seen. +And he will monopolize her without troubling to +notice whether we even admire her or not. Pray +heaven he does not break her heart." + +"He is honorable. One must admit that, if he +does fancy his own will was a personal gift from +the Almighty. Perhaps she will break his. I never +saw a more accomplished flirt." + +"I know women," replied the shrewder Khos- +tov. When men like Rezanov make an effort to +please--" He shrugged his shoulders. "Some +men are the offspring of Mars and Venus and most +of us are not. We can at least be philosophers. +Let us hope the dinner will be excellent." + + + +VII + +It proved to be the most delicate and savory repast +that had excited their appetites this side of Europe. +The friars had their consolations, and even Dona +Ignacia Arguello was less gastronomic than Father +Landaeta. Rezanov, whose epicurianism had sur- +vived a year of dried fish and the coarse luxuries +of his managers, suddenly saw all life in the light of +the humorist, and told so many amusing versions of +his adventures in the wilderness, and even of his +misadventure with Japan, that the priests choked +over their wine, and Langsdorff, who had not a +grain of humor, swelled with pride in his chance +relationship to a man who seemed able to manip- +ulate every string in the human network. + +"He will succeed," he said to Davidov. "He will +succeed. I almost hoped he would not, he is so in- +different--I might almost say so hostile--to my +own scientific adventures. But when he is in this +mood, when those cold eyes brim with laughter and +ordinary humanity, I am nothing better than his +slave." + +Rezanov, in reply to an entreaty from Father +Uria to tell them more of his mission and of the +strange picture-book country they had never hoped +to hear of at first hand, assumed a tone of great +frankness and intimacy. "We were, with astound- +ing cleverness, treated from the first like an audi- +ence in a new theatre. After we had solemnly been +towed by a string of boats to anchor, under the +Papen mountains, all Nagasaki appeared to turn +out, men, women and children. Thousands of little +boats, decorated with flags by day and colored lan- +terns by night, and filled with people in gala attire, +swarmed about us, gazed at us through telescopes, +were so thick on the bay one could have traversed +it on foot. The imperial sailors were distinguished +by their uniforms of a large blue and white check, +suggesting the pinafores of a brobdingnagian baby. +The barges of the imperial princes were covered +with blue and white awnings and towed to the sound +of kettledrums and the loud measured cries of the +boatmen. At night the thousands of illuminated +lanterns, of every color and shade, the waving of +fans, the incessant chattering, and the more har- +monious noise that rose unceasingly above, made up +a scene as brilliant as it was juvenile and absurd. +In the daytime it was more interesting, with the +background of hills cultivated to their crests in the +form of terraces, varied with rice fields, hamlets, +groves, and paper villas encircled with little gardens +as glowing and various of color as the night lan- +terns. When, at last, I was graciously permitted to +have a residence on a point of land called Megasaki, +I was conveyed thither in the pleasure barge of the +Prince of Fisi. There was place for sixty oarsmen, +but as one of the few tokens of respect, I was en- +abled to record for the comfort of the mighty sov- +ereign whose representative I was, the barge was +towed by a long line of boats, decorated with flags, +the voices of the rowers rising and falling in meas- +ured cadence as they announced to all Japan the +honor about to be conferred upon her. I sat on a +chair of state in the central compartment of the +barge, and quite alone; my suite standing on a +raised deck beyond. Before me on a table, mar- +vellously inlaid, were my credentials. I was sur- +rounded by curtains of sky-blue silk and panels of +polished lacquer inwrought with the Imperial arms +in gold. The awning of blue and white silk was +lined with a delicate and beautiful tapestry, and the +reverse sides of the silken partitions were of canvas +painted by the masters of the country. The pol- +ished floor was covered by a magnificent carpet +woven with alarming dragons whose jaws pointed +directly at my chair of state. And such an escort +and such a reception, both of ceremony and of +curiosity, no Russian had ever boasted before. +Flags waved, kettledrums beat, fans were flung into +my very lap to autograph. The bay, the hills, were +a blaze of color and a confusion of sound. The +barracks were hung with tapestries and gay silks. I, +with my arms folded and in full uniform, my fea- +tures composed to the impassivity of one of their +own wooden gods, was the central figure of this +magnificent farce; and it may be placed to the ever- +lasting credit of the discipline of courts that not +one of my staff smiled. They stood with their arms +folded and their eyes on the inlaid devices at their +feet. + +"When this first act was over and I was locked +in for the night and felt myself able to kick my way +through the flimsy walls, yet as completely a pris- +oner as if they had been of stone, I will confess +that I fell into a most undiplomatical rage; and +when I found myself played with from month to +month by a people I scorned as a grotesque mix- +ture of barbarian and mannikin, I was alternately +infuriated, and consumed with laughter at the van- +ity of men and nations." + +His voice dropped from its light ironical note, +and became harsh and abrupt with reminiscent dis- +gust. "And the end of it all was failure. The +superb presents of the Tsar were rejected. These +presents: coats of black fox and ermine, vases of +fossil ivory and of marble, muskets, pistols, sabers, +magnificent lustres, table services of crystal and +porcelain, tapestries and carpets, immense mirrors, +a clock in the form of an elephant, and set with +precious stones, a portrait of the Tsar by Madame +le Brun, damasks, furs, velvets, printed cotton, +cloths, brocades of gold and silver, microscopes, +gold and silver watches, a complete electrical ma- +chine--presents in all, of the value of three hundred +thousand roubles, were returned with scant cere- +mony to the Nadeshda and I was politely told to +leave. + +"But the mortification was the least of my wor- +ries. The object of the embassy was to establish not +only good will and friendship between Russia and +Japan, for which we cared little, but commercial +intercourse between this fertile country and our +northeastern and barren possessions. It would have +been greatly to the advantage of the Japanese, and +God knows it would have meant much to us." + +Then Rezanov having tickled the imaginations +and delighted the curiosity of the priests, began to +play upon their heartstrings. His own voice +vibrated as he related the sufferings of the servants +of the Company, and while avoiding the nomen- +clature and details of their bodily afflictions, gave +so thrilling a hint of their terrible condition that his +audience gasped with sympathy while experiencing +no qualms in their own more fortunate stomachs. + +He led their disarmed understandings as far +down the vale of tears as he deemed wise, then per- +mitted himself a magnificent burst of spontaneity. + +"I must tell you the object of my mission to +California, my kind friends!" he cried, "although I +beg you will not betray me to the other powers until +I think it wise to speak myself. But I must have +your sympathy and advice. It has long been my +desire to establish relations between Russia and +Spain that should be of mutual benefit to the col- +onies of both in this part of the western hemis- +phere. I have told you of the horrible condition +and needs of my men. They must have a share in +the superfluities of this most prodigal land. But I +make no appeal to your mercy. Trade is not +founded on charity. You well know we have much +you are in daily need of. There should be a bi- +yearly interchange." He paused and looked from +one staring face to the other. He had been wise +in his appeal. They were deeply gratified at being +taken into his confidence and virtually asked to out- +wit the military authorities they detested. + +Rezanov continued: + +"I have brought the Juno heavy laden, my +fathers, and for the deliberate purpose of barter. +She is full of Russian and Boston goods. I shall +do my utmost to persuade your Governor to give +me of his corn and other farinaceous foods in ex- +change. It may be against your laws, and I am well +aware that for the treaty I must wait, but I beg +you in the name of humanity to point out to his ex- +cellency a way in which he can at the same time +relieve our necessities and placate his conscience." + +"We will! We will!" cried Father Abella. +"Would that you had come in the disguise of a +common sea-captain, for we have hoodwinked the +commandantes more than once. But aside from the +suspicion and distrust in which Spain holds Russia +--with so distinguished a visitor as your excellency, +it would be impossible to traffic undetected. But +there must be a way out. There shall be! And will +your excellency kindly let us see the cargo? I am +sure there is much we sadly need: cloth, linen, cot- +ton, boots, shoes, casks, bottles, glasses, plates, +shears, axes, implements of husbandry, saws, sheep- +shears, iron wares--have you any of these things, +Excellency?" + +"All and more. Will you come to-morrow?" + +"We will! and one way or another they shall be +ours and you shall have breadstuffs for your pitiable +subjects. We have as much need of Europe as you +can have of California, for Mexico is dilatory and +often disregards our orders altogether. One way +or another--we have your promise, Excellency?" + +"I shall not leave California without accomplish- +ing what I came for," said Rezanov. + + + +VIII + +Concha boxed Rosa's ears twice while being +dressed for the ball that evening. It was true that +excitement had reigned throughout the Presidio all +day, for never had a ball been so hastily planned. +Don Luis had demurred when Concha proposed it +at breakfast; officially to entertain strangers not yet +officially received exceeded his authority. Concha, +waxing stubborn with opposition, vowed that she +would give the ball herself if he did not. Business +immediately afterward took the Commandante ad. +in. down to the Battery at Yerba Buena. Before +he left he gave orders that the large hall in the bar- +racks, where balls usually were held, should be +locked and the key given up to no one but himself. +He returned in the afternoon to find that Concha +had outwitted him. The sala of the Commandante's +house was very large. The furniture had been re- +moved and the walls hung with flags, those of +Spain on three sides, the Russian, borrowed by San- +tiago from the ship, at the head of the room. Con- +cha laughed gaily as Luis stormed about the sala +rasping his spurs on the bare floor. + +"Whitewashed walls for guests from St. Peters- +burg!" she jeered, as Luis menaced the flags. "We +have little enough to offer. Besides--what more +wise than to flaunt our flag in the face of the Rus- +sian bear? Their flag, of course, is a mere idle +compliment. Let me tell you two things, Luis mio: +this morning I invited the Russians to dance to- +night, and told Padre Abella to ask all our neigh- +bors of the Mission besides; and Rafaella Sal +helped me to drape every one of those flags. +When I told her you might tear them down, she +vowed that if you did she would dance all night +with the Bostonian." + +Luis lifted his shoulders and mustache to express +an attitude of contemptuous resignation, but his face +darkened, and a moment later he left the room and +strolled up the square to the grating of Rafaella Sal. + +Concha well knew that the frank gray eyes of the +Bostonian--all citizens of the United States were +Bostonians in that part of the world, for only Bos- +ton skippers had the enterprise to venture so far-- +were for no one but herself. But his face was +bony and freckled, and his figure less in height and +vigor than her own. He was rich and well-born, +but shy and very modest. Concha Arguello, La +Favorita of California, was for some such dashing +caballero as Don Antonio Castro of Monterey, or +Ignacio Sal, the most adventurous rider of the +north. Meanwhile he could look at her and adore +her in secret, and Dona Rafaella Sal was very kind +and danced as well as himself. He never dreamed +that he was being used as a stalking horse to keep +alive in the best match in the Californias the jealous +desire for exclusive possession that had animated +him in 1800 when he had applied through the Vice- +roy of Mexico for royal consent to his marriage +with the Favorita of her year. That was six years +ago and never a word had come from Madrid. Luis +was faithful, but men were men, and girls grew +older every day. So the wise Rafaella was alter- +nately indifferent and alluring, the object of more +admiration than a maid could always repel, yet with +wells of sentiment that only one man could dis- +cover. And the American was patient, and even +had he known, would not in the least have minded +the use she made of him. He still could look at +Concha Arguello. + +William Sturgis had sailed in one of his father's +ships, now six years ago, from Boston in search of +health. The ship in a dense fog had gone on the +rocks in the straits between the Farallones and +the Bay of San Francisco. He alone, and after +long hours of struggle with the wicked currents, +not even knowing in what direction land might be, +was flung, senseless, on the shore below the Fort. +For the next month he was an invalid in the house +of the Commandante. Fortunately, his papers and +money were sewn in an oilskin belt and his father's +name was well known in California. Moreover, +there never was a more likable youth. His illness +interested all the matrons and maids of the Presidio +in his fate; when he recovered, his good dancing +and unselfishness gave him a permanent place in the +regard of the women, while his entire absence of +beauty, and his ability to hold his own in the mess +room, established his position with the men. + +In due course word of his plight reached Boston, +and a ship was immediately despatched, not only to +bring the castaway home, but with the fine ward- +robe necessary to a young gentleman of his station. +But the same ship brought word of his father's +death--his mother had gone long since--and as +there were brothers enamored of the business he +hated, he decided to remain in the country that had +won his heart and given him health. For some time +there was demur on the part of the authorities; +Spain welcomed no foreigners in her colonies. +But Sturgis swore a mighty oath that he would +never despatch a letter uninspected by the Com- +mandante, that he would make no excursions into +the heart of the country, that he would neither en- +gage in traffic nor interfere in politics. Then hav- +ing already won the affections of the Governor, he +was permitted to remain, even to rent an acre of +land from the Church in the sheltered Mission val- +ley, and build himself a house. Here he raised +fruit and vegetables for his own hospitable table, +chickens and game cocks. Books and other lux- +uries came by every ship from Boston; until for a +long interval ships came no more. One of these +days, when the power of the priests had abated, and +the jealousy which would keep all Californians land- +less but themselves was counterbalanced by a great +increase in population, he meant to have a ranch +down in the south where the sun shone all the year +round and he could ride half the day with his +vaqueros after the finest cattle in the country. He +should never marry because he could not marry +Concha Arguello, but he could think of her, see her +sometimes; and in a land where a man was neither +frozen in winter nor grilled in summer, where life +could be led in the open, and the tendency was to +idle and dream, domestic happiness called on a +feebler note than in less equable climes. In his +heart he was desperately jealous of Concha's fav- +ored cavaliers, but it was a jealousy without hatred, +and his kind, earnest, often humorous eyes, were +always assuring his lady of an imperishable desire +to serve her without reward. Of course Concha +treated him with as little consideration as so humble +a swain deserved; but in her heart she liked him bet- +ter than either Castro or Sal, for he talked to her +of something besides rodeos and balls, racing and +cock-fights; he had taught her English and lent her +many books. Moreover, he neither sighed nor lan- +guished, nor ever had sung at her grating. But +she regarded him merely as an intelligence, a well +of refreshment in her stagnant life, never as a man. + +"Rose," she said, as she caught her hair into a +high golden comb that had been worn in Spain by +many a beauty of the house of Moraga, and spiked +the knot with two long pins globed at the end with +gold, while the maid fastened her slippers and +smoothed the pink silk stockings over the thin in- +step above; "what is a lover like? Is it like meet- +ing one of the saints of heaven?" + +"No, senorita." + +"Like what, then?" + +"Like--like nothing but himself, senorita. You +would not have him otherwise." + +"Oh, stupid one! Hast thou no imagination? +Fancy any man being well enough as he is! For +instance, there is Don Antonio, who is so hand- +some and fiery, and Don Ignacio, who can sing and +dance and ride as no one else in all the Californias, +and Don Weeliam Sturgis, who is very clever and +true. If I could roll them into one--a tamale of +corn and chicken and peppers--there would be a +man almost to my liking. But even then--not +quite. And one man--what nonsense! I have too +much color to-night, Rosa." + +"No, senorita, you have never been so beautiful. +When the lover comes and you love him, senorita, +you will think him greater than our natural king +and lord, and all other men poor Indians." + +"But how shall I know?" + +"Your heart will tell you, senorita." + +"My heart? My father and my mother will +choose for me a husband whom I shall love as all +other women love their husbands--just enough and +no more. Then--I suppose--I shall never know?" + +"Would you marry at your parents' bidding, like +a child, senorita? I do not think you would." + +Concha looked at the girl in astonishment, but +with a greater astonishment she suddenly realized +that she would not. Even her little fingers stiffened +in a rush of personality, of passionate resentment +against the shackles bound by the ages about the +feminine ego. Her individuality, long budding, +burst into flower; her eyes gazed far beyond her +radiant image in the mirror with a look of terrified +but dauntless insight; then moved slowly to the girl +that sat weeping on the floor. + +"I know not what thy sin was," she said musingly. +"But I have heard it said thou didst obey no law +but thine own will--and his. Why should the pun- +ishment have been so terrible? Thou hast sworn to +me thou didst not help to murder the woman." + +"I cannot tell you, senorita. You will never +know anything of sin; but of love--yes, I think you +will know that, and before very long." + +"Before long?" Concha's lips parted and the ner- +vous color she had deprecated left her cheeks. +"What meanest thou, Rosa?" Her voice rose +hoarsely. + +And the Indian, with the insight of her own +tragedy, replied: "The Russian has come for you, +senorita. You will go with him, far away to the +north and the snow. These others never could win +your heart; but this man who looks like a king, and +as if many women had loved him, and he had cared +little-- Oh, senorita, Carlos was only a poor In- +dian, but the men that women love all have some- +thing that makes them brothers--the Great Rus- +sian and the poor man who goes mad for a moment +and kills one woman that he may live with another +forever. The great Russian is free, but he is the +same, senorita--he too could kill for love, and such +are the men we women die for!" + +Concha, ambitious and romantic, eager for the +brilliant life the advent of this Russian nobleman +seemed to herald, had assured Santiago that he +would love her; but they had been the empty words +of the Favorita of many conquests; of love and pas- +sion she had known, suspected, nothing. As she +watched Rosa, huddled and convulsed, little pointed +arrows flew into her brain. Girls in those old Span- +ish days went to the altar with a serene faith in +miracles, and it was a matter of honor among those +that preceded their friends to abet the parents in a +custom which assuredly did not err on the side of +ugliness. Concha had a larger vocabulary than +other Californians of her sex, for she had read +many books, and if never a novel, she knew some- +thing of poetry. Sturgis had filled the sala with +the sonorous roll of his favorite masters and it had +pleased her ear; but the language of passion had +been so many beautiful words, neither vibrating nor +lingering in her consciousness. But the rude expres- +sion of the miserable woman at her feet, whose +sobs grew more uncontrollable every moment, made +it forever impossible that she should prattle again +as she had to Santiago and Rezanov in the last day +and night; and although she felt as if straining her +eyes in the dark, her cheeks burned once more, and +she rose uneasily and walked to the window. + +She returned in a moment and stood over Rosa, +but her voice when she spoke had lost its hoarseness +and was cold and irritated. + +"Control thyself," she said. "And go and bathe +thine eyes. Wouldst look like a tomato when it is +time to pass the dulces and wines? And think no +more of thy lover until he can come out of prison +and marry thee." She drew herself away as the +woman attempted to clutch her skirts. "Go," she +said. "The musicians are tuning." + + + +IX + +"The sash, Excellency?" Jon longed to see his +master in full regalia once more, and after all, was +not this an embassy of a sort? But Rezanov, who +already regarded his reflection with some humor, +shook his head. + +"I'll go as far as decency permits, for no one is +so impressed by external magnificence as the Span- +iard. But full dress uniform and orders are enough; +an ambassador's sash and they might suspect I took +them for the children they are. Children are not +always fools. My stock is too tight. Remember +that I am to dance, and am too tall for most wom- +men's pretty little ears. And I doubt if an ear is +less thirsty for being so provocatively screened." + +Jon, a "prince" whose family had fallen upon evil +days long since, but whose thin, clever fingers were +no mean inheritance, unwound and readjusted the +folds of soft batiste, that most becoming neck ves- +ture man has ever worn. He fain would have +pressed the matter of the sash, but Rezanov, most +indulgent of masters to this devoted servant, was +never patient of insistence. Jon also regretted the +powdered wig and queue, which he privately thought +more befitting a fine gentleman than his own hair, +even though the latter were thick and bright. He +said tentatively: + +"I notice these Californians still wear the hair +long; and with their gay ribbons and showy hats +look much better no doubt than if they followed a +fashion of which it would seem they had not heard +--and perhaps do not admire. I ventured to pack +two of your excellency's wigs when we were leav- +ing St. Petersburg--" + +"Good heavens, no!" cried Rezanov, rising to his +feet and casting a last impatient glance at the mir- +ror. "When a man has escaped from a furnace +does he run back of his own accord? My brain +would cook under a wig in this climate, and I need +all my wits--for more reasons than one." And he +went up on deck. + +There, while awaiting his horses and escort, he +had another glimpse of the happy Arcadian life of +the Californians. Over the sand hills through +which he had floundered twice that day rode young +men in gala attire, a maiden, her attire as brilliant +as the sunset along the western summits, on the +saddle before them. These saddles were heavy with +silver, the blanket beneath was embroidered with +both silver and gold. Gay light laughter floated out +on the cool evening breeze to the little ship in the +harbor. + +"It has been a good day," thought Rezanov, low- +ering his glass. "It is like her to arrange so charm- +ing a finale." + +When he arrived at the Presidio the guitars were +tinkling and the sala was full of eager and somber +faces. The Californians had come early, deter- +mined to witness the arrival of the Russians. Very +pretty most of the girls were, and by no means a +bevy of brunettes. There was hair of every shade +of brown, looped over the ears, drawn high and +confined by the high comb and the long pins; and +Rafaella Sal, with her red hair and gray eyes, was +still celebrated as a beauty, although no longer in +her first youth--she was twenty-two, and should +have been a matron and mother long since! But +she looked very handsome and coquettish in her +daring yellow frock that no other red head would +have dared to wear, and she displayed three ropes +of Baja California pearls; one strand being the com- +mon possession. The matrons, young and old, wore +heavy satins or brocades, either red or yellow, but +the maids were in flowered silks, sometimes with +coquettish little jacket, generally with long pointed +bodice and full flowing skirt. Concha's frock was +made in this fashion, but quite different otherwise; +an aunt in the City of Mexico being mindful at +whiles of the cravings of relatives in exile. It was +of a soft shimmering white stuff covered with gold +spangles and cut to reveal her young neck and arms. +She stood at the head of the room with her mother +as Rezanov entered, and he noticed for the first +time how tall she was. She held herself proudly; +mischievous twinkle, nor child-like trust, nor flashing +coquetry possessed her eyes; these, even more star- +like than usual, nevertheless looked upon her guests +with a dignified composure. Her lips, her skin, +were luminous. In this well-cut evening gown he +saw that her figure was superb; and that she could +command stateliness as well as vivacity moved her +toward a pedestal in his regard that had been occu- +pied by few and never for long. + +Rezanov, in his splendid uniform and blazing +orders, filled the sala with his presence as he walked +past the rows of bright critical eyes toward his +hostesses. The young lips of the maids parted with +delight and the men frowned. For the first time +William Sturgis felt the sickness of jealousy instead +of its not unagreeable pain. Davidov and Khostov, +both handsome and well-bred young men, were also +in full naval uniform, and by no means ignored; +while Langsdorff, in the severe black of the scholar, +was an admirable foil. + +Rezanov, wondering at the subtle change in +Concha, bowed ceremoniously and murmured: +"You will give me the first dance, senorita?" + +"Certainly, Excellency. Are you not the guest +of honor?" + +She motioned to the Indian musicians, fiddles +and guitars fairly leaped to position, and in a mo- +ment Rezanov enjoyed the novel delusion of en- +circling a girl's floating wraith. + +"We can waltz, you see! Are you not sur- +prised?" + +"It is but one accomplishment the more. I feared +a preference for your native dances, but ventured +to hope you would teach me." + +"They are easy to learn. You will watch us +dance the contra-danza after this." + +"With whom do you dance it?" + +Her black eyelashes were very thick; he barely +caught the glance she shot him. + +"The Russian bear growls," she said lightly. +"Did you expect to dance every dance with me?" + +"I came for no other purpose." + +"You would have several duels to fight to-mor- +row." + +"I have no objection." + +"You have fought others, then?" Her voice was +the softer with the effort to turn its edge. + +"No more than most men, I suppose. May I ask +how many have been fought for you?" + +"My memory is no better than yours. Why +should I burden it with trifles?" + +"True. It doubtless is charged with matters far +more serious than the desires of mere men. Tell +me, senorita, what is your dearest wish?" He had +bent his head and fixed his powerful gaze on her +stubborn lashes. As he hoped, she raised startled +eyes in which an angry glitter dawned. + +"My dearest wish? If I had one should I tell +you? Why do you ask me such a question?" + +"Because I lit a candle at the Mission to-day that +you might realize it," he answered, smiling. + +To his surprise he saw a flash of terror in her +eyes before she dropped them, and felt her shiver. +But she answered coldly: + +"You have wasted a candle, senor. I have never +had a wish that was not instantly gratified. But I +thank you for the kind thought. Will you finish +this waltz with my friend, and the fiancee of Luis, +Rafaella Sal? She has quarrelled with Luis, I see; +Don Weeliam is dancing with Carolina Xime'no, and +she cares to waltz with no one else. Pardon me if +I say that no one has ever waltzed as well as your +excellency, and I must not be selfish." + +"I will release you if you are tired, but otherwise +I shall do myself the honor to waltz with your +friend later." + +"I must look after my other guests," she said +coldly; and he was led with what grace he could +summon to the fair but sulky Rafaella. + +"How am I to help flirting with that girl?" he +thought as he mechanically guided another light and +graceful partner through the crowded room. "If +she were one girl I might resist. But since eleven +o'clock yesterday morning she has been three. And +if she was twenty yesterday, twelve this morning, +she is twenty-eight to-night, and this might be a +court ball in Madrid. I shall leave the day after I +bring the Governor to terms." + +He sat beside Dona Ignacia during the contra- +danza and found the scene remarkably brilliant and +animated considering the primitive conditions. In +addition to the bright flags on the wall and the vivid +colors of the women, the officers of the Presidio and +forts wore full dress uniform, either white coats +with red velvet vest, red pantaloons and sash, or +white trousers and scarlet coat and waistcoat faced +with green. The young men from the Mission wore +small clothes of a black silk, fastened at the knee +with silver buckles, and white silk stockings; two +gentlemen from Monterey wore the evening costume +of the capital, dove-colored small clothes, with white +silk waistcoat and stockings, and much fine lawn +and lace. The room was well lighted by many +wicks stuck in lumps of tallow. The Indian musi- +cians, soldiers recruited from a superior tribe in +the Santa Clara valley, were clad almost entirely +in scarlet, and danced sometimes as they played; +and Indian girls, in short red skirts and snow-white +smocks open at the throat, their long hair decorated +with flowers and ribbons, already passed about wine +and dulces. The windows were open. The sweet +night air blew in. + +The contra-danza was not unlike the square +dances of England except that it was far more +graceful, and the men rivalled the women in their +supple glidings and bendings, doublings and sway- +ings. Concha danced with Ignacio Sal, Rafaella +with William Sturgis; their pliant grace, as facile +as grain rippling before the wind, would have put the +best ballet in Europe to the blush. Concha's skirts +swept Rezanov's feet, her little slippers twinkled +before his admiring eyes, and he lost no sinuous +turn or undulation of her beautiful figure; but she +never vouchsafed him a glance. + +When the dance finished his host introduced him +to the prettiest of the girls and he paid them as many +compliments as their heads would stand. He even +took some trouble to talk to them, if only to fathom +the sources of their unlikeness to Concha Arguello. +He concluded that the gulf that separated her from +these charming, vivacious, shallow young girls was +not dug by education alone. Individualities were +rare enough in Europe; out here, in earthly, but +sparsely settled paradises, they must be rarer still; +but that one had wandered into the lovely shell of +Concha Arguello he no longer doubted. The fact +that it had developed haphazardly, with little or no +help from her sentience, and was still fluid and un- +certain, but multiplied her in interest and charm. +The women to whom he was accustomed knew +themselves, consequently were no riddle to a man of +his experience, but here he had an odd sense of hav- +ing entered into a compact in the dark with a girl +who might one day symbolize some high and im- +passioned ideal he had cherished in the days before +ideals had been cast aside with the negative virtues +that bred them. + +As he coolly studied the good looks of the young +caballeros and the plain intellectual face and slight +little figure of the Bostonian, noted the utter in- +difference with which they were treated by the +Favorita of Presidio and Mission, he felt a sudden +rush of arrogance, a youthful tingling of nerves, +the same prophetic sense of imminent happiness and +power that his first contact with the light electrical +air and the beauty of the country had induced. +After all, he was but forty-two. Life on the whole +had been very kind to him. And, although he did +not realize it as yet, his frame, blighted by the rigors +of the past three years, was already sensible to a +renewal of juice and sap. He admitted that he was +more interested than he had been for many years, +and that if he was not in love, he tingled with a +very natural masculine desire for an adventure with +a pretty girl. + +But he was by no means a weak man, and his +mind counted the cost even while his imagination +hummed. He had almost decided to bid Dona +Ignacia an abrupt good-night, pleading fatigue, +which his pallor indorsed, when the door of the din- +ing-room was thrown open to the liveliest of +fiddling, and a white hand with a singular sugges- +tion of tenacity both in appearance and clasp took +possession of his arm. + +"My mother has gone to Gertrudis Rudisinda, +who is crying," said Concha. "It is my pleasure to +lead your excellency in to supper." + +They sat side by side at the head of the long +table almost covered by the massive service of sil- +ver and loaded with evidences of Dona Ignacia's +generosity and skill; chickens in red rice and gravy, +oysters, tamales, dulces, pastries, fruits and pleasant +drinks. Luis, with Rafaella Sal dimpling and +sparkling at his side, and now quite resigned to the +semi-official nature of the ball, rose and drank the +health of the distinguished guest in long and flow- +ery praises. Rezanov responded in briefer but no +less felicitous vein, and concluded by remarking +that the only rift in the lute of his present enchant- +ing experience was the fear that whereas he had +nearly died of starvation several times during the +past three years, he was now threatened with a far +more ignominious end, so delicious and irresistible +were the temptations that beset the wayfarer in this +most hospitable land. Both speeches were gaily ap- +plauded, the conversation became animated and gen- +eral, and Concha dropped her voice to the attentive +ear beside her. + +"You were very successful to-day at the Mission, +Excellency." + +"May I ask how you know?" + +"I never saw anything so serenely--arrogantly, +perhaps would be a truer description--triumphant +as your bearing when you walked down our humble +sala to-night. You looked like Caesar returned from +Gaul; but I suppose that all great conquests are +merely the sum of many small ones." + +"I do not regard the friendship of so shrewd a +man as Father Abella a trifling conquest. And ac- +cording to yourself, dear senorita, it is essential to +the success of a mission upon which many lives and +my own honor depend." + +"Is it really so serious?" she asked with a faint +sneer. + +He drew himself up stiffly and his light eyes +glowed with anger. "It is a subject I never should +have thought of introducing at a festivity like this," +he said suavely. "May I be permitted to compli- +ment you, senorita, upon your marvellous grace in +the contra-danza? It quite turned my head, and I +am delighted to hear that you will dance alone after +supper." + +Her face had flushed hotly. She dropped her +eyes and her voice trembled as she replied: "You +humiliate me, senor, and I deserve it. I--my poor +Rosa told me something of her great tragedy while +dressing me, and for the moment other things +seemed unimportant. What is hunger and court +favor beside a broken heart and a desolate life? +But that of course is the attitude of an ignorant +girl." She raised her eyes. They were soft, and +her voice was softer. "I beg that you will forgive +me, senor. And be sure that I take an even deeper +interest in your great mission than yesterday. I +have thought much about it, and while I have told +my mother nothing, I have expressed certain peev- +ish hopes that a ship would not come all the way +from Sitka without taking a hint more than one +Boston skipper must have given, and brought us +many things we need. She is quite excited over +the prospect of a new shawl for herself, and of send- +ing several as presents to the south; besides many +other things: cotton, shoes, kitchen utensils. Have +you any of these things, Excellency?" + +Rezanov stared at her face, barely tinted with +color, dully wondering why it should be so different +from the one roguish, pathetically innocent, that +had haunted him all day. He asked abruptly: + +"Which is the friend whose little ones you envy? +You have made me wish to see them and her?" + +"That is Elena--beside Gervasio." She indicated +a young woman with soft, patient, brown eyes, the +dignity of her race and the sweetness of young +motherhood, who would have looked little older +than herself had it not been for an already shape- +less figure. "I can take you to-morrow to see them +if you wish." + +She had cast down her eyes and her face was +white. Still he groped on. + +"Pardon me if I say that I am surprised your +parents should permit such a woman as this Rosa +to attend you. Why should your happy life be dis- +turbed by the lamentations of an abandoned crea- +ture--who can do you no good, and possibly much +harm?" + +Still Concha did not raise her eyes. "I do not +think poor Rosa would do anyone harm. But per- +haps it were as well she went elsewhere. We have +had her long enough. I have taken a dislike to her. +I reproach myself bitterly, but I cannot help it. I +should like never to see her again." + +"What has she told you?" Concha glanced up +swiftly. His eyes were blazing. She felt quite cer- +tain that he rolled a Russian oath under his tongue, +and she made a slight involuntary motion toward +him, her lips trembling apart. + +"Nothing," she murmured. "I do not know--I +do not know. But I no longer wish her near me. +She--life is very strange and terrible, senor. You +know it well--I, so little." + +Rezanov felt his breath short and his hands cold. +For a moment he made no reply. Then he smiled +charmingly and said in the conventional tone that +was ever at his command: "Of course you know +little of life in this Arcadia. One who hopes to be +numbered among the best of your friends prays +that you never may. Yes, senorita, life is strange +--strangely commonplace and disillusionizing--but +sometimes picturesque. Believe me when I say that +nothing stranger has ever befallen me than to find +out here on the lonely brink of a continent nearly +twenty thousand versts from Europe, a girl of six- +teen with the grand manner, and an intellect with- +out the detestable idiosyncrasies of the fashionable +bas bleus I have hitherto had the misfortune to en- +counter." + +She was tapping the table slowly with her fork, +and he noted that her soft, childish mouth was set. +"No doubt you are quite right to put me off," she +said finally, and in a voice as even as his own. "And +my intellect would do me little good if it did not +teach me to ignore mysteries I can never hope to +fathom. There is no such thing as life in your sense +in this forgotten corner of the world, nor ever will +be in my time. If you come back and visit us +twenty years hence you will find me fat and worn +like Elena, and busy every minute like my mother +--unless, indeed, I marry Don Weeliam Sturgis +and become a great lady in Boston. It would not be +so mean a fate." + +Rezanov darted a look of angry contempt at the +pale young man who was eating little and miser- +ably watching the handsome pair at the head of the +table. "You will not marry him!" he said briefly. + +"I could do far worse." Concha's lashes framed +an adorable glance that sent the blood to the hair +of the sensitive youth. "You have no idea how +clever and good he is. And--Madre de Dios!-- +I am so tired of California." + +"But you are a part of it--the very symbol of its +future, it seems to me. I wish I had a sculptor in +my suite. I should make him model you, label the +statue 'California,' and erect it on the peak of that +big island out there." + +"That is very poetical, but after all, you are only +saying that I am a pretty savage with an education +that will be more common in the next generation. +It is little consolation for an existence where the +most exciting event in a lifetime is the arrival of a +foreign ship or the inauguration of a governor." +And once more she smiled at Sturgis. He raised +his glass impulsively, and she hers in gay response. A +moment later she gave the signal to leave the table. +Rezanov followed her back to the sala chewing the +cud of many reflections. + + + +X + +Concha had eaten no supper. As she entered the +sala she clapped her hands, the guests ranged +themselves against the wall, the musicians, livelier +than ever, flew to their instruments; with the drift- +ing, swaying movement she could assume at will, +she went slowly, absently, to the middle of the room. +Then she let her head drop backward, as if with +the weight of her hair, and Rezanov, vaguely angry, +expected one of those appeals to the senses for +which Spanish women of another sort were +notorious. But Concha, after tapping the floor +alternately with the points and the wooden heels of +her slippers, for a few moments, suddenly made +an imperious gesture to Ignacio Sal. He sprang to +her side, took her hand, and once more there was +the same monotonous tapping of toes and heels. +Then they whirled apart, bent their lithe backs until +their brows almost touched the floor in a salute of +mock admiration, and danced to and from each +other, coquetry in the very tilt of her eyebrows, the +bare semblance of masculine indulgence on his eager, +passionate face. Suddenly to the surprise of all, she +snapped her fingers directly under his nose, waved +her hand, turned her back, and made a peremptory +gesture to that other enamoured young swain, Cap- +tain Antonio Castro of Monterey. Don Ignacio, +surprised and discomfited, retired amidst the jeers +of his friends, and Concha, with her most vivacious +and gracious manner, met Castro half way, and, tak- +ing his hand, danced up and down the sala, slowly +and with many improvisations. Then, as they re- +turned to the center of the room and stepped lightly +apart before joining in a gay whirl, she snapped her +fingers under HIS nose, made a gesture of dismissal +over her shoulder, and fluttered an uplifted hand +in the direction of Sturgis. Again there was a de- +lighted laughter, again a discomforted knight and +a triumphant partner. + +"Concha always gives us something we do not +expect," said Santiago to Rezanov, whose eyes were +twinkling. "The other girls dance El Son and La +Jota very gracefully--yes. But Conchita dances +with her head, and the musicians and the partner, +when she takes one, have all they can do to follow. +She will choose you, next, senor." + +Rezanov turned cold, and measured the distance +to the door. "I hope not!" he said. "I should hate +nothing so much as to make an exhibition of myself. +The dances I know--that is all very well--but to +improvise--for the love of heaven help me to get +out!" + +But Santiago, who was watching his sister in- +tently, replied: "Wait a moment, Excellency. I do +not think she will choose another. I know by her +feet that she intends to dance El Son--in her own +way, of course--after all." + +Concha circled about the room twice with Sturgis, +lifted him to the seventh heaven of expectancy, dis- +missed him as abruptly as the others. Lifting her +chin with an expression of supreme disdain for all +his sex, she stood a moment, swaying, her arms +hanging at her sides. + +"I am glad she will not dance with Weeliam," +muttered Santiago. "I love him--yes; but the +Spanish dance is not for the Bostonian." + +Rezanov awaited her performance with an in- +terest that caused him some cynical amusement. +But in a moment he had surrendered to her once +more as a creature of inexhaustible surprise. The +musicians, watching her, began to play more slowly. +Concha, her arms still supine, her head lifted, her +eyes half veiled, began to dance in a stately and +measured fashion that seemed to powder her hair +and dissolve the partitions before an endless vista +of rooms. Rezanov had a sudden vision of the Hall +of the Ambassadors in the royal palace at Madrid, +where, when a young man on his travels, he had +attended a state ball. There he had seen the most +dignified beauties of Europe dance at the most for- +mal of its courts. But Concha created the illusion +of having stepped down from the throne in some +bygone fashion to dance alone for her subjects and +adorers. + +She raised her arms, barely budding at the top, +with a gesture that was not only the poetry of +grace but as though bestowing some royal favor; +when she curved and swayed her body, again it was +with the lofty sweetness of one too highly placed +to descend to mere seductiveness. She glided up and +down, back and forth, with a dreamy revealing mo- +tion as if assisting to shape some vague impas- +sioned image in the brain of a poet. She lifted her +little feet in a manner that transformed boards into +clouds. There were moments when she seemed +actually to soar. + +"She is a little genius!" thought Rezanov en- +thusiastically. "Anything could be made of a +woman like that." + +It was not her dancing alone that interested him, +but its effect on her audience. The young men had +begun with audible expressions of approval. They +were now shouting and stamping and clapping. +Suddenly, as once more she danced back to the very +center of the room, her bosom heaving, her eyes +like stars, her red lips parted, Don Ignacio, long +since recovered from his spleen, invaded his pocket +and flung a handful of silver at her feet. It was a +signal. Gold and silver coins, chains, watches, +jewels, bounced over the floor, to be laughingly +ignored. Rezanov looked on in amazement, won- +dering if this were a part of the performance and +if he should follow suit. But after a glance at the +faces of the young men, lost to everything but their +passionate admiration for the unique and beautiful +dancing of their Favorita, and when Sturgis, after +wildly searching in his pockets, tore a large pearl +from the lace of his stock, he doubted no longer-- +nor hesitated. Fastened by a blue ribbon to the +fourth button of his closely fitting coat was a golden +key, the outward symbol of his rank at court. He +detached it, then made a sudden gesture that caught +her attention. For a moment their eyes met. He +tossed her the bauble, and mechanically she lifted +her hand and caught it. Then she laughed con- +fusedly, shrugged her shoulders, bowed graciously +to her audience, and signalled to the musicians to +stop. Rezanov was at her side in a moment. + +"You must be tired," he said. "I insist that you +come out on the veranda and rest." + +"Very well," she said indifferently; "it is quite +time we all went out to the air. Santiago mio, wilt +thou bring my reboso--the white one?" + +Santiago, more flushed than his sister at her +triumphs, fetched the long strip of silk, and Rez- +anov detached her from her eager court and led her +without. Elena Castro followed closely, yet with +a cavalier of her own that her friend might talk +freely with this interesting stranger. The night air +was cool and stimulating. The hills were black +under the sparks of white fire in the high arch of the +California sky. In the Presidio square were long +blue shadows that might have been reflections of +the smoldering blue beyond the stars. Rezanov +and Concha sat on the railing at the end of the +"corridor." + +"It is a custom--all that very material admira- +tion?" he asked. + +"A very old one, but not too often followed. +Otherwise we should not prize it. But when some +Favorita outdoes herself then she receives the +greatest reward that man can think of--gold and +silver jewels. We do not dare to return the tributes +in common fashion, but they have a way of appear- +ing where they belong as soon as their owners are +supposed to have forgotten the incident. As you +are not a Californian, senor, I take the liberty of re- +turning this without any foolish subterfuge." She +handed him his contribution. "I thank you all the +same. It was a spontaneous act, and I am very +proud." + +He accepted the key awkwardly, not daring to +press it upon her, with the obvious banalities. But +he felt a sudden desire to give her something, and, +nothing better offering, he gathered half a dozen +roses and laid them on her lap. + +"I was disappointed that you did not wear your +roses to-night," he said. "I associate them with you +in my thoughts. Will you put one in your hair?" + +She found a place for two and thrust another in +the neck of her gown. The rest she held closely in +her hands. Then he noticed that she was very +white, and again she shivered. + +"You are cold and tired," he murmured, his eyes +melting to hers. "It was entrancing, but I hope +never to see you give so much of yourself to others +again." His hand in arranging the reboso touched +hers. It lingered, and she stared up at him, help- +lessly, her eyes wide, her lips parted. She reminded +him of a rabbit caught in a trap, and he had a sud- +den and violent revulsion of feeling. He rose and +offered his arm. "I should be a brute if I kept you +talking out here. Slip off and go to bed. I shall +start the guests, for I am very tired myself." + + + +XI + +He did not talk with her again for several days. He +called in state, but remained only a few moments. +His officers went to several impromptu dances at +the Presidio and Mission, but he pleaded fatigue, +natural in the damaged state of his constitution, +and left the ship only for a gallop over the hills or +down the coast with Luis Arguello. + +But he had never felt better. At the end of a +week his pallor had gone, his skin was tanned and +fresh. Even his wretched crew were different men. +They were given much leave on shore, and already +might be seen escorting the serving-women over +the hills in the late afternoon. Rezanov gave them +a long rope, although he knew they must be ger- +minating with a mutinous distaste of the Russian +north; he kept strict watch over them and would +have given a deserter his due without an instant's +pause. + +The estafette that had gone with Luis' letters to +Monterey had taken one from Rezanov as well, ask- +ing permission to pay a visit of ceremony to the +Governor. Five days later the plenipotentiary re- +ceived a polite welcome to California, and protest +against another long journey; the humble servant +of the King of Spain would himself go to San +Francisco at once and offer the hospitality of Cali- +fornia to the illustrious representative of the Em- +peror of all the Russias. + +Rezanov was not only annoyed at the Governor's +evident determination that he should see as little +as possible of the insignificant military equipment of +California, but at the delay to his own plans for ex- +ploration. He knew that Luis would dare take him +upon no expedition into the heart of the country +without the consent of the Governor, and he began +to doubt this consent would be given. But he was +determined to see the bay, at least, and he no sooner +read the diplomatic epistle from Monterey than he +decided to accomplish this part of his purpose before +the arrival of the Governor or Don Jose. He knew +the material he had to deal with at the moment, +but nothing of that already, no doubt, on its way to +the north. + +Early in the morning after the return of the +courier he wrote an informal note to Dona Ignacia, +asking her to give him the honor of entertaining +her for a day on the Juno, and to bring all the young +people she would. As the weather was so fine, he +hoped to see them in time for chocolate at nine +o'clock. He knew that Luis, who was pressingly +included in the invitation, had left at daybreak for +his father's rancho, some thirty miles to the south. + +There was a flutter at the Presidio when the invi- +tation of the Chamberlain was made known. The +compliment was not unexpected, but there had been +a lively speculation as to what form the Russian's +return of hospitality would take. Concha, whose +tides had thundered and ebbed many times since the +night of her party, submerging the happy inconse- +quence of her sixteen years, but leaving her un- +shaken spirit with wide clarified vision, felt young +to-day from sheer reaction. She would listen to no +protest from her prudent mother and smothered her +with kisses and a torrent of words. + +"But, my Conchita," gasped Dona Ignacia, "I +have much to do. Thy father and his excellency +come in two days. And perhaps they would not +approve--before they are here!--to go on the for- +eign ship! If Luis were not gone! Ay yi! Ay yi!" + +"We go, we go, madre mia! And his excellency +will give you a shawl. I feel it! I know it! And +if we go now we disobey no law. Have they ever +said we could not visit a foreign ship when they +were not here? We are light-headed, irresponsible +women. And if they should not let us go! If the +Governor and the Russian should disagree! Now +we have the opportunity for such a day as we never +have had before. We should be imbeciles. We go, +madre mia, we go!" + +So it proved. At a few minutes before nine the +Senora Arguello, clad in her best black skirt and +jacket, a red shawl embroidered with yellow draped +over her bust with unconquerable grace, and a black +reboso folded about her fine proud head, rode down +to the beach with Ana Paula on the aquera behind +and Gertrudis Rudisinda on her arm. The boys +howled on the corridor, but the good senora felt +she could not too liberally construe the kind invita- +tion of a chamberlain of the Russian Court. + +Behind her rode Concha, in white with a pink +reboso; Rafaella Sal, Carolina Xime'no, Herminia +Lopez, Delfina Rivera, the only other girls at the +Presidio old enough to grace such an occasion; +Sturgis, who happened to have spent the night at +the Presidio, Gervasio, Santiago and Lieutenant +Rivera. Castro had returned to Monterey, Sal was +officer of the day, and the other young men had +sulkily declined to be the guests of a man who looked +as haughty as the Tsar himself and betrayed no dis- +position to recognize in Spain the first nation of +Europe. But no one missed them. The girls, in +their flowered muslins and bright rebosos, the men +in gay serapes and embroidered botas, looked a +fine mass of color as they galloped down to the +beach and laughed and chattered as youth must on +so glorious a morning. Even Sturgis, always care- +ful to be as nearly one with these people as his dif- +ferent appearance and temperament would permit, +wore clothes of green linen, a ruffled shirt, deer-skin +botas and sombrero. + +Three of the ship's canoes awaited the guests, and +as not one of the women had ever set foot in a boat, +there was a chorus of shrieks. Dona Ignacia mur- +mured an audible prayer, and clutched Gertrudis +Rudisinda to her breast. + +"Madre de Dios! The water! I cannot!" she +muttered. But Santiago took her firmly by one +elbow, Sturgis by the other, Davidov caught up the +children with a reassuring laugh, and in a moment +she was trembling in the middle of the canoe. Con- +cha had already leaped into the second and waved a +careless little salutation to the Juno. Her eyes +sparkled. Her nostrils fluttered. She felt indif- +ferent to everything but the certain pleasure of the +day. Rezanov was sure to be charming. What +mattered the morrow, and possible nights of doubt, +despair, hatred of life and wondering self-contempt? + +Rezanov awaited the canoes in the prow of the +ship. He wore undress uniform and a cap instead +of the cocked hat of ceremony which had excited +their awe. He too tingled with a sense of youthful +gaiety and adventure. As he helped his guests up +the side of the vessel and listened to the delightful +laughter of the girls, saw the dancing eyes of even +the haughty and reserved Santiago, he also dismissed +the morrow from his thoughts. + +As Dona Ignacia was hauled to the deck, uttering +embarrassed apologies for bringing the two little +girls, Rezanov protested that he adored children, +patted their heads and told off a young sailor to +amuse them. + +Four tables on the deck were set with coffee, +chocolate, Russian tea, and strange sweets that the +cook had fashioned from ingredients to which his +skilful fingers had long been strangers. + +Dona Ignacia sat beside the host, and when she +had tried both the tea and the coffee and had de- +manded the recipe of the sweets, he said casually: +"After breakfast I shall ask you to go down to the +cabin for a few moments. I bought the cargo with +the Juno, and find there are several articles which I +shall beg as a great favor to present to my kindest +hostesses and the young girls she has been good +enough to bring to my ship. Shawls and ells of +cotton and all that sort of thing are of no use to a +bachelor, and I hope you will rid me of some of +them." + +Dona Ignacia lost all interest in the breakfast, +and presently, murmuring an excuse, was escorted +by Langsdorff down to the cabin. When the light +repast was over, Rezanov made a signal to several +sailors who awaited commands, and they sprang to +the anchor and sails. + +"We are going to have a cruise," announced the +host to his guests. "The bay is very smooth, there +is a fine breeze, we shall neither be becalmed nor +otherwise the sport of inclement waters. I know +that most of you have never seen this beautiful bay +and that you will enjoy its scenery as much as I +shall." + +He moved to Concha's side and dropped his voice. +"This is for you, senorita," he said. "You want +change, variety, and I have planned to give you all +that I can in one day. I expect you to be happy." + +"I shall be," she said dryly, "if only in watching +a diplomat get his way. You will see every corner +of our bay, and I shall have the delightful sensation +of doing something for which I cannot be held re- +sponsible." + +He laughed. "I am quite willing that you should +understand me," he said. "But it is true that I +thought as much of you as of myself." + +In a few moments the ship was under way. San- +tiago and Sturgis had gone down to the cabin to +reassure Dona Ignacia, who uttered a loud cry as +the Juno gave a preliminary lurch. Gervasio and +Rivera had opened their eyes as Rezanov abruptly +unfolded his plan, but dropped them sleepily before +the delight of the girls. After all, it was none of +their affair, and what was a bay? If they requested +him, as a point of honor, to refrain from examining +the battery of Yerba Buena with his glass, their con- +sciences would be as light as their hearts. + +As Rezanov stood alone with Concha in the prow +of the ship and alternately cast softened eyes on her +intense, rapt face, and shrewd glances on the rami- +fications of the bay, he congratulated himself upon +his precipitate action and the collusion of nature. +They were sailing east, and would turn to the north +in a moment. The mountain range bent abruptly +at the entrance to the bay, encircling the immense +sheet of water in a chain of every altitude and form: +a long hard undulating line against the bright blue +sky; smooth and dimpled slopes as round as cones, +bare but for the green of their grasses; lofty ridges +tapering to hills in the curve at the north but with +blue peaks multiplying beyond. There were dense +forests in deep canyons on the mountainside, bare +and jagged heights, the graceful sweep of valleys, +promontories leaping out from the mainland like +mammoth crocodiles guarding the bay. The view +of the main waters was broken by the largest of +the islands, but far away were the hills of the east +and the soft blue peaks behind. And over all, hills +and valley and canyon and mountain, was a bright +opalescent mist. Green, pink, and other pale col- +ors gleamed as behind a thin layer of crystal. +Where the sun shone through a low white cloud +upon a distant slope there might have been a great +globe of iridescent glass illuminated within. The +water was a light, soft, filmy yet translucent blue. +Concha gazed with parted lips. + +"I never knew before how wonderful it was," +she murmured. "I have been taught to believe that +only the south is beautiful, and when we had to +come here again from Santa Barbara it was exile. +But now I am glad I was born in the north." + +"I have watched the light on these hills and +islands, and what I could see of the fine lines of the +mountains ever since I came, and were there but +villas and castles, these waters would be far more +beautiful than the Lake of Como or the Bay of +Naples. But I am glad to see trees again. From +our anchorage I had but a bare glimpse of two or +three. They seem to hide from the western winds. +Are they so strong, then?" + +"We have terrible winds, senor. I do not wonder +the trees crouch to the east. But I must tell you +our names." She pointed to the largest of the +islands, a great bare mass that looked as had it been, +when viscid, flung out in long folds from a central +peak, concaving here and there with its own weight. +Its southern point was on a line with a point of +mainland far to the west, and its northern, from +their vantage looking to be but a continuation of +the curve of the mainland, finished an arc of almost +perfect proportions, whose deep curve was a tumbled +mass of hills and one great mountain. "That is +Nuestra Senora de los Angeles, and it opens a triple +jaw, Luis has told me, at Point Tiburon--you will +soon see the straits between. The big rock over +there is Alcatraz, and farther away still is Yerba +Buena--that looks like a camel on its knees." + +But Rezanov was examining the scene before +him. The lines of this bay within a bay were +superb, and in its wide embrace, slanting from Point +Tiburon toward an inner point two miles opposite +was another island, as steep as Alcatraz, but long +and waving of outline, with a glimpse of trees on +its crest. Rezanov, while he lost nothing of the pic- +turesque beauty surrounding him, was more deeply +interested in noting the many foundations, sheltered +and solid, for fortifications that would hold these +rich lands against the fleets of the world. Never +had he seen so many strategic advantages on one +sheet of water. The islands farther south he had +examined through his glass from the deck of the +Juno until he knew every convolution they turned +to the west. + +Concha was directing his attention to the tremen- +dous angular peak rising above the tumbled hills. +"That is Mount Tamalpais--the mountain of peace. +It was named by the Indians, not by us. Sometimes +it is like a great purple shadow, and at others the +clouds fight about it like the ghosts of big sea gulls." +They were sailing past the rounded end of the +western inner point of the little bay. It was almost +detached from the bare ridge behind and half cov- +ered with oaks and willow trees. "That is Point +Sausalito. I have often looked at it through the +glass and longed for a merienda in the deep shade." +She turned to Rezanov with lips apart. "Could we +not--oh, senor!--have our dinner on shore?" + +"It is only for you to select the spot. We can +sail many miles before it is time for dinner, and you +may find a place even more to your liking. I fancy +we can not go far here. It looks swampy and shal- +low. Nothing could be less romantic than to stick +in the mud." + +"May I ask," said Concha demurely, "how you +dare to run the risks of an unknown sheet of water? +I have heard it said that there is more than one rock +and shoal in this bay." + +"I am not as rash as I may appear," replied Reza- +nov dryly, but smiling. "In 1789 there was a chart +of this bay, taken from a Spanish MSS., published +in London; and I bought it there when I ran up +from the Nadeshda--anchored at Falmouth--three +years ago. Davidov, who, you may observe, is +steering, oblivious to the charms of even Dona Caro- +lina, knows every sounding by heart." + +"Oh!" Concha shrugged her shoulders. "The +Governor, too, is very clever. It will be a drawn +battle. Perhaps I shall remain neutral after all. It +would be more amusing." The ship was turning, +and she waved her hand to the island between the +deep arc of the hilly coast. "I have heard so much +of the beauty of that island," she said, "that I have +called it La Bellissima, but I never hoped to see +anything but the back of its head, from which the +wind has blown all the hair. And now I shall. How +kind of you, senor!" + +"How easily you are made happy!" he said, with +a sigh. "You look like a child." + +"To-day I shall be one; and you the kind fairy +god-father," she added, with some malice. "How +old are you, senor?" + +"Forty-two." + +"That is twenty-six years older than myself. But +your excellency might pass for thirty-five," she +added politely. "We have all said it. And now +that you are not so pale you will soon look younger +--and even more triumphant than when you came." + +"I have never felt so triumphant as on this morn- +ing, dear senorita. I had not hoped to give you +so much pleasure." + +Her cheeks were as pink as her reboso, her great +black eyes were dancing. Her hands strained at +the railing. "I shall see La Bellissima! La Bellis- +sima!" she cried. + +They rounded the low broken point of the island, +sailed through the racing currents between the lower +end of La Bellissima and "Our Lady of the An- +gels," more slowly past what looked to be a per- +pendicular forest. From water to crest the gulches +and converging spurs of this hillside in the sea were +a dense mass of oaks, bays, underbrush; here and +there a tall slender tree with a bark like red kid and +a flirting polished leaf, at which Concha clapped her +hands as at sight of an old friend and called "El +Madrono." It was a primeval bit of nature, but +sweet and silent and peaceful; there was no sugges- +tion either of gloom or of discourteous beast. + +"We shall have our dinner here, Excellency. +There on that little beach; and afterward we shall +climb to the top. See, there are trails! The In- +dians have been here." + +They stood out through the straits between Point +Tiburon and the Isle of the Angels, where the tide +ran fast. Then, for the first time, was Rezanov able +to form a definite idea of the size and shape of this +great natural harbor. To the south it extended be- +yond the peninsula in an unbroken sheet for some +forty English miles. Ten miles to the north there +was a gateway between the lower hills which Luis +had alluded to as leading into the bay of Saint +Pablo, another large body of tidewater, but inferior +in depth and beauty to the Bay of San Francisco. + +The mist had dissolved. The greens were vivid +where the sun shone on island and hill. The woods +of Bellissima, the groves of Point Sausalito, the for- +ests in the northern canyons, deepened to purple like +that of the great bare sweep of Tamalpais. Only +the farther peaks remained a pale misty blue, and +were of an indescribable floating delicacy. + +Concha pointed to the eastern double cone. "That +is Monte del Diablo. Once they say it spouted fire, +but that was long ago, and all our volcanoes are +dead. But perhaps not so long ago. The Indians +tell the strange story that their grandfathers remem- +bered when this bay was a valley covered with oak +trees, and the rivers of the north flowed through +and emptied into Lake Merced and a rift by the +Fort. Then came a tremendous earthquake and +rent the mountains apart where you came through +--we call it the Mouth of the Gulf of the Faral- +lones--the valley sank, the sea flowed in, only these +hills that are islands now keeping their heads above +the flood. Perhaps it is true, for Drake was close +to this bay for a long while and never saw it, and +it would have given him a better shelter than the +little harbor he found a few miles higher on the +coast. I believe it was not here. Madre de Dios, +I hope California shakes no more. She would--is +it not true, Excellency?--be the most perfect coun- +try in all the world did she not have the devil in +her." + +"Are you afraid of earthquakes?" asked Rezanov, +who once more had transferred his comprehensive +gaze from battery sites to her face. + +"I cross myself. It is like feeling your grave +turn over. But I fancy the poor old earth is like +the people on her; she gets tired of being good and +is all the naughtier for having been sober too long. +Don Vincente Rivera is an example; he is cold, +haughty, solemn, stern to others and himself, as +you see him; but once in a while--Madre de Dios! +The Presidio does not sleep for three nights!" + +Rezanov laughed heartily, then turned abruptly +away. "Come," he said. "I had almost forgotten. +Will you ask the others to go to the cabin, while I +give orders that dinner shall be served on your +island?" + +In the cabin, Concha forgot him for a few mo- +ments. Her mother, her eyes dwelling fondly upon +several shawls she hoped were intended for herself +alone, was hushing the baby to sleep in the deep +chair of his excellency. Ana Paula was playing +with an Alaskan doll she had appropriated without +ceremony. Rezanov came in when his guests were +assembled, and he had a gift for each; curious ob- +jects of Alaskan workmanship for the men, minia- +ture totem poles and fur-bordered moccasins; but +silk and cotton, linen, shawls, and find handker- +chiefs for senora and maiden. + +"They are trifles," he said, in response to an en- +thusiastic chorus. "The cargo I was obliged to +take over was a very large one. You must not +protest. I shall never miss these things." And he +knew that he had sown the seeds of a rapacity simi- +lar to that implanted in the worthy bosoms of the +priests when they had paid him their promised visit. +If the Governor were insensible to diplomacy he +would have pressure brought to bear upon his offi- +cial integrity from more quarters than one. + +"There are also many of the presents rejected by +the Mikado, somewhere," he added carelessly. "But +I could not find them. They must have found their +way to the bottom of the hold during one of the +storms we encountered on our way from Sitka." + +He certainly looked the fairy godfather, and +quite impartial as he distributed his offerings with +a chosen word to each; his memory for little char- +acteristics was as remarkable as for names and faces. +He had taken off his cap on deck, and the breeze had +ruffled his thick fair hair, brought the blood to his +thin cheeks. The lines of his face, cut by privation +and anxiety and illness, had almost disappeared with +the renewed elasticity of the flesh, and his blue eyes +were wide open, and sparkling in sympathy with +the pleasure of his guests and the success of his own +strategy. These few insignificant Spaniards dis- +lodged, a half-dozen forts in this harbor, and the +combined navies of the world might be defied; while +a great chain of hungry settlements fattened and +prospered exceedingly on the beneficence of the most +fertile land in all the Americas. + + + +XII + +The eastern mountains looked very close from the +crest of La Bellissima and of a singular transpar- +ency and variety of hue. It was as if the white +masses of cloud sailing low overhead flung down +great splashes of color from prismatic stores stolen +from the sun. There was a vivid pale green on the +long sweep of a rounding slope, deep violet and +pale purple in dimple and hollow, red showing +through green on a tongue of land running down +from the north; and on the lower ridges and little +islands, pale and dark blue, and the most exquisite +fields of lavender. This last tint was reflected in +the water immediately below the ridge, and farther +out there were lakelets of pale green, as if the +islands, too, had the power to mirror themselves +when the sea itself was glass. + +Santiago, Davidov, Carolina Xime'no, Delfina Ri- +vera, Concha and Rezanov, had climbed to the ridge. +The other young people had given out halfway up +the steep and tangled ascent and returned to the +beach. Dona Ignacia immediately after dinner had +frankly asked her host for the hospitality of his +stateroom. She and her little ones must have their +siesta, and the good lady was convinced that so +high and mighty a personage as the Russian Cham- +berlain was all the chaperon the proprieties de- +manded. + +Four of the party strayed along the crest in search +of the first wild pansies. Rezanov and Concha +looked under the sloping roof of brittle leaves into +dim falling vistas, arches, arbors, caverns, a forest +in miniature with natural terraces breaking the pre- +cipitous wall of the island. + +"I should like to live here," said Concha defi- +nitely. + +"It would make a fine estate for summer life--or +for a honeymoon." He smiled down upon his com- +panion, who stood very tall and straight and proud +beside him. "If you conclude to marry your little +Bostonian no doubt he will buy it for you," he said. + +If he had hoped to see a look of blank dismay +after his hours of devotion he was disappointed. +She made a little face. + +"I do not think I could stand a desert island with +the good Weeliam. For that I should prefer one +of my own sort--Ignacio, or Fernando. Better +still, I could come here and be a hermit." + +"A hermit?" + +"In some ways that would suit me very well. All +human beings become tiresome, I find. I shall have +a little hut just below the crest where I can look +from my window right into the woods that are so +quiet and green and beautiful. That is a thought +that has always fascinated me. And when I walk +on the crest I can see all the beauty of mountain +and bay. What more could I want? What more +have you in your world when you know it too well, +senor?" + +"Nothing; but you might tire, too, of this." + +"What of it? It would be the gentle sad ennui +of peace, not of disillusion, senor. How I wish you +would tell me all you know of life!" + +"God forbid. And do not remind me of ennui and +disillusions. I have forgotten both in California. +Perhaps, after all, I shall not return to St. Peters- +burg. There is a vast empire here--" + +"But it is not yours or Russia's to rule, Excel- +lency," she interrupted him softly. + +He did not color nor start, but met her eyes with +his deep amused glance. "I, too, can dream, seno- +rita. Of a great and wonderful kingdom--that +never will exist, perhaps. I have always been called +a dreamer, but the habit has grown since I came +to this lovely unreal land of yours." + +"Have you the intention to take it from us, Ex- +cellency?" she asked quietly. + +"Would you betray me if you thought I had?" + +Her eyes responded for a moment to the mag- +netism of his, and then she drew herself up. + +"No, senor, I could not betray a man who had +been our guest, and Spain needs no assistance from +a weak girl to hold her own against Russia." + +"Well said! I kiss your hands, as they say in +Vienna. But we must sail again. I told them to be +ready at three o'clock." + +Dalliance with the most alluring girl he had ever +known was all very well, but the day's work was +not yet done. When they returned to the ship he +deliberately engaged all the Spaniards in a game of +cards, ordered cigarettes and a bowl of punch for +their refreshment, and then the Juno steered south. + +They sailed swiftly past Nuestra Senorita de los +Angeles and the eastern side of Alcatraz, Rezanov +sweeping every inch with his glass; more slowly +past the peninsula where it came down in a succes- +sion of rough hills almost in a straight line from +the Presidio, ascending to a high outpost of solid +rock, whence it turned abruptly to the south in a +waving line of steep irregular cliffs, harsh, barren, +intersected with gullies. Then the land became sud- +denly as flat as the sea, save for the shifting dunes: +the desert porch of the great fertile valley hidden +from the water by the waves of sand, but indicated +by its rampart of mountains. The shallow water +curved abruptly inward between the rocky mass on +the right and a gentler incline and point two miles +below. At its head was the "Battery of Yerba +Buena," facing the island from which it took its +name. Rezanov scrupulously kept his word and did +not raise his glass, but one contemptuous glance +satisfied his curiosity. His eye rolled over the steep +hills that were designed to bristle with forts, and, +as sometimes happened, when he spoke again to +Concha, whom he kept close to his side, for the other +girls bored him, his words did not express the work- +ings of his mind. + +"Athens has no finer site than this," he said. "I +should like to see a white marble city on these hills, +and on that plain, when all the sand dunes are +leveled. Not in our time, perhaps! But, as I told +you, I have surrendered myself to the habit of +dreaming." + +Concha shrugged her shoulders and made no re- +ply at the moment. As they sailed toward the east +before turning south again, she pointed across the +great silvery sheet of water melting into the misty +southern horizon, to a high ridge of mountains that +looked to be a continuation of the San Bruno range +behind the Mission, but slanting farther west with +the coast line. + +"Those are behind our rancho, senor--Rancho El +Pilar, or Las Pulgas, as some prefer. Perhaps my +father will take you there. I hope so, for we love to +go, and may not too often; my father is very busy +here. He is one of the few that has received a large +grant of land, and it is because the clergy love him +so much they oppose his wish in nothing. Do you +see those sharp points against the sky? They are +the tops of lofty trees, like the masts of giant ships, +and with many rigid arms spiked like the pines. +You saw a few of them in the hollow below Tamal- +pais, but up on those mountains there are miles and +miles of mighty forests. No white man has ever +penetrated them, nor ever will, perhaps. We have +no use for them, and even if you made this your +kingdom, senor, I suppose not many would come +with you. Far, far down where the water stops +are the Mission of Santa Clara and the pueblo of +San Jose; but I have heard you cannot approach +within many miles of the land in a boat." + +When they had sailed south for a few moments +the boat came about sharply. Concha laughed. "I +had forgotten the chart. I rather hoped you would +run on a shoal." + +But as they approached the cove of Yerba Buena +again she caught his arm suddenly, unconscious of +the act, and the little dancing lights of humor in +her eyes went out. "Your white city, senor! Ay, +Dios! what a city of dreams that can never come +true!" + +The soft white fog that sometimes, even at this +season, came in from the sea, was rolling over the +hills between the Battery and the Presidio, wreath- +ing about the rocky heights and slopes. It broke +into domes and cupolas, spires and minarets. Great +waves rolled over the sand dunes and beat upon +the cliffs with the phantoms clinging to its sides. +Then the sun struggled with a thousand colors. +The sun conquered, the mist shimmered into sun- +light, and once more the hills were gray and bare. + +Rezanov laughed, but his eyes glowed down upon +her. "I am not sure it was there," he said. "I +have an idea your imagination and touch acted as +a sort of enchanter's wand. The others evidently +saw nothing." + +"The others saw only fog and shivered. But it +was there, senor! We have had a vision. A Rus- +sian city! Ay, yi!" + +But Rezanov had forgotten the city. Her reboso +had fallen and a strand of her hair blew across his +face. His lips caught it and his eyes burned. They +rounded a headland and the world looked green +and young. + +"Concha!" he whispered. + +Her eyes flashed and melted, she lifted her chin; +then burst into a merry ripple of laughter. + +"Senor!" she said, "if you make love to me, I +shall have to compare you with many others, and I +might not like the Russian fashion. You are much +better as you are--very grand seigneur, iron- +handed and absolute, haughty and arrogant, but the +most charming person in the world, with ends to +gain, even from such humble folk as a handful of +stranded Californians. But to sigh! to languish +with the eye! to sing at the grating! I fear that +the lightest headed of the caballeros you despise +could transcend you in all." + +"Very likely! I have not the least intention of +sighing or languishing or singing at gratings. But +if we were alone I certainly should kiss you." + +But her eyes did not melt again at the vision. +She flushed hotly with annoyance. "I am a child +to you! Were it not that I have read a few books, +you would find me but a year older than Ana +Paula. Well! Regard me as a child and do not +attempt to flirt with me again. Shall it be so?" + +"As you wish!" Rezanov looked at her half in +resentment, half wistfully, then shrugged his +shoulders, and called to Davidov to steer for the +anchorage. She was quite right; and on the whole +he was grateful to her. + + + +XIII + +"Concha," said Sturgis abruptly, "will you marry me?" + +Concha, who was sitting in the shade of the rose +vines on the corridor making a dress for Gertrudis +Rudisinda, ran the needle into her finger. + +"Madre de Dios!" she cried angrily. "Who +would have expected such foolish words from you? +and now I have pricked my finger and stained my +little frock. It will have to be washed before worn, +and is never so pretty after." + +"I am sorry," said Sturgis humbly. "But it seems +to me that if a man wishes to marry a maid he +should ask her in a straightforward manner, with +no preliminary sighs and hints and serenades--and +all sorts of insincere stage play. + +"He should at least address her parents first." + +"True. I was wholly the American for the mo- +ment. May I speak to Don Jose and Dona Ignacia, +Concha?" + +"How can I prevent? No, I will not coquet with +you, Weeliam. But I am angry that you have +thought of such nonsense. Such friends as we +were! We have talked and read together by the +hour, and my parents have thought no more of it +than if it had been Santiago. There! You have a +new book in your pocket. Why did you not read it +to me instead of making love? Let me see it." + +"I brought it to read later if you wished, but I +came to ask you to marry me and to receive your +answer. I never expected to ask you--but--lately +--things have changed--life seems, somehow, more +real. The thought of losing you has suddenly be- +come terrible." + +"You have been drinking Russian tea," said Con- +cha, stitching quietly but flashing him a glance of +amusement, not wholly without malice. + +"It is true," he replied. "I suppose I never really +believed you would marry Raimundo or Ignacio or +any of the caballeros. They think and talk of noth- +ing but horse-racing, gambling, cock-fighting, love +and cigaritos. I thought of you always here, where +at least I could look at you or read with you. But +one must admit that this Russian is no ordinary +man. I hate him, yet like him more than any I have +ever met. Last night I stayed to punch with him, +and we talked English for an hour. That is to say, +he did; I could have listened to him till morning. +Langsdorff says that he has the greatest possible +command of his native tongue, but he speaks Eng- +lish well enough. I wish I could despise him, but +I do not believe I even hate him." + +"Well?" demanded Concha. She kept her eyes on +her work (and the delight that rose in her breast +from her voice). + +"Well?" + +"Why should you hate him?" + +"Do you ask me that, Concha, when he makes a +fence of himself about you, and his fine eyes--prac- +tised is nearer the mark--look at no one else?" + +"But why should that cause you jealousy? He +is a man of the world, accustomed to make himself +agreeable, and I am the daughter of the Com- +mandante." + +"He is more in love with you than he knows." + +"Do you think so, Weeliam?" Still her voice was +innocent and even, although the color rose above +the inner commotion. "But even so, what of it? +Have not many loved me? Am I to be won by the +first stranger?" + +"I do not know." + +The tumult in Concha turned to wrath, and she +lifted flashing eyes to his moody face. "Do you +presume to say you are jealous because you think +I love him--a stranger I have known but a week-- +who looks upon me as a child--who has never-- +never thought--" But her dignity, flying to the +rescue, assumed control. Her upper lip curled, her +body stiffened for a moment, and she went on with +her stitching. "You deserve I should rap your silly +little skull with my thimble. You are no better +than Ignacio and Fernando. Such scenes as I have +had with them! They wanted to fight the Russian! +How he would laugh at them! I have threatened +they shall both be sent to San Diego if there is any +more nonsense." Then curiosity overcame her. +"You never had the least, least reason to think I +would marry you, and now, according to your own +words, you think you have less. Then why, pray, +did you address me?" + +"Because I am a man, I suppose. I could not +sit tamely down and see you go." + +She looked at him with a slight access of interest. +A man? Perhaps he was, after all. And his well- +bred, bony face looked very determined, albeit the +eyes were wistful. Suddenly she felt sorry for +him; and she had never experienced a pang of sym- +pathy for a suitor before. She leaned forward and +patted his hand. + +"I cannot marry you, dear Weeliam," she said, +and never had he seen her so sweet and adorable, +although he noted with a pang that her mouth was +already drawn with a firmer line. "But what mat- +ter? I shall never marry at all. For many years-- +forty, fifty perhaps--I shall sit here on the veranda, +and you shall read to me." + +And then she shivered violently. But she set her +mouth until it was almost straight, and picked up +the little dress. "Not that, perhaps," she said +quietly in a moment. "I sometimes think I should +like to be a nun, that, after all, it is my vocation. +Not a cloistered one, for that is but a selfish life. +But to teach, to do good, to forget myself. There +are no convents in California, but I could join the +Third Order of the Franciscans, and wear the gray +habit, and be set aside by the world as one that only +lived to make it a little better. To forget oneself! +That, after all, may be the secret of happiness. I +envy none of my friends that are married. They +have the dear children, it is true. But the children +grow up and go away, and then one is fat and eats +many dulces and the siesta grows longer and longer +and the face very brown. That is life in California. +I should prefer to work and pray, and"--with a +flash of insight that made her drop her work again +and stare through the rose-vines--"to dream always +of some beautiful thing that youth promised but +never gave, and that given might have ended in dull +routine and a brain so choked with little things that +memory too held nothing else." + +"But Concha," cried Sturgis eagerly, "I could +give you far better than that. I could take you +away from here--to Boston, to Europe. You +should see--live your life--in the great cities you +have dreamed of--that you hardly believe in--that +were made to enjoy. I have told you of the theater, +the opera--you should go to the finest in the world. +You should wear the most beautiful gowns and +jewels, go to courts, see the great works of art--I +am not trying to bribe you," he stammered, flushing +miserably. "God forbid that I should stoop to any- +thing as mean as that. But it all rushed upon me +suddenly that I could give you so much that you +were made for, with this worthless money of mine. +And what happiness to be in Europe with you-- +what--what--" + +His voice trembled and broke, and he dared not +look at her. Again she stared through the vines. +A splendid and thrilling panorama rose beyond +them, her bosom heaved, her lips parted. She saw +herself in it, and not alone. And not, alas, with +the honest youth whose words had inspired it. In +a moment she shook her head and turned her eyes +on the flushed, averted face of her suitor. + +"I shall never see Europe," she said gently, "and +I shall never marry." + +"Not if this Russian asks you?" cried Sturgis, in +his jealous misery. + +But Concha's anger did not rise again. "He has +no intention of asking a little California girl to +share the honors of one of the most brilliant careers +in Europe," she said calmly. "Set your mind at +rest. He has paid me no more attention than is due +my position as the daughter of the Commandante, +and perhaps of La Favorita. If I flirt a little and +he flirts in response, that is nothing. Is he not then +a man? But he will forget me in a month. The +world, his world, is full of pretty girls." + +"A week ago you would not have said that," said +Sturgis shrewdly. "There has been nothing in your +life to make you so humble." + +"I cannot explain, but he seems to have brought +the great world with him. I know, I understand +so many things that I had not dreamed of a week +ago. A week! Madre de Dios!" + +And Sturgis, who after all was a gallant gentle- +man, made no comment. + + + +XIV + +Governor Arrillaga, Commandante Arguello, +and Chamberlain Rezanov sat in the familiar sala +at the Presidio content in body after a culinary +achievement worthy of Padre Landaeta, but per- +turbed and alert of mind. Upon the arrival of the +two California dignitaries in the morning, Rezanov +had sent Davidov and Langsdorff on shore to assure +them of his gratitude and deep appreciation of the +hospitality shown himself, his officers and men. The +Governor had replied with a fulsome apology for +not repairing at once to the Juno to welcome his dis- +tinguished guest in person, and, pleading his age +and the one hundred and seventy-five English miles +he had ridden from Monterey, begged him as a +younger man to waive informality, and dine at the +house of the Commandante that very day. Rezanov +had complied as a matter of course, and now he was +alone with the men who held his fate in their hands. +The dark worn rugged face of Don Jose, who had +been skilfully prepared by his oldest daughter to +think well of the Russian, beamed with good-will +and interest, in spite of lingering doubts; but the +lank, wiry figure of the Governor, who was as digni- +fied as only a blond Spaniard can be, was fairly +rigid with the severe formality he reserved for occa- +sions of ceremony--being a gentleman who loved +good company and cheer--and his sharp gray eyes +were almost shut in the effort to penetrate the de- +signs of this deputy, this symbol, this index in cipher, +of a dreaded race. Rezanov smoked calmly, made +himself comfortable on the slippery horse-hair chair, +though with no loss of dignity, and beat about the +bush with the others until the Governor betrayed +himself at last by a chance remark: + +"What you say of the neighborly instincts of the +Russian colonists for the Spanish on this coast in- +terests me deeply, Excellency, but if Russia is at +war with Spain--" + +"Russia is not at war with Spain," said Rezanov, +with a flash of amusement in his half-closed eyes. +"Napoleon Bonaparte is encamped about half way +between the two countries. They could not get at +each other if they wished. While that man is at +large, Europe will be at war with him, no two na- +tions with each other." + +"Ah!" exclaimed Arrillaga. "That is a manner +of reasoning that had not occurred to me." + +The Commandante had spat at the mention of the +usurper's name and muttered "Chinchosa!" and +Rezanov, recalling his first conversation with Con- +cha, looked into the honest eyes of the monarchist +with a direct and hearty sympathy. + +"No better epithet for him," he said. "And the +sooner Europe combines to get rid of him the bet- +ter. But until it does, count upon a common griev- +ance to unite your country and mine." + +"Good!" muttered the Governor. "Good! I am +glad that nightmare has lifted its bat's wings from +our poor California. Captain O'Cain's raid two +years ago made me apprehensive, for he took away +some eleven hundred of our otter skins and his +hunters were Aleutians--subjects of the Tsar. A +negro that deserted gave the information that they +were furnished the Bostonian by the chief manager +of your Company--Baranhov--whose reputation we +know well enough!--for the deliberate purpose of +raiding our coast." + +Rezanov shrugged his shoulders and replied indif- +ferently: "I will ask Baranhov when I return to +Sitka, and write you the particulars. It is more +likely that the Aleutians were deserters. This +O'Cain would not be the first shrewd Bostonian to +tempt them, for they are admirable hunters and +ready for any change. They make a greater de- +mand upon the Company for variety of diet than +we are always prepared to meet, so many are the +difficulties of transportation across Siberia. When, +therefore, the time arrived that I could continue my +voyage, I determined to come here and see if some +arrangement could not be made for a bi-yearly +exchange of commodities. We need farinaceous +stuffs of every sort. I will not pay so poor a com- +pliment to your knowledge of the northern settle- +ments as to enlarge upon the advantages California +would reap from such a treaty." + +The Governor, who had permitted himself to +touch the back of his chair after the dispersal of +the war cloud, stiffened again. "Ah!" he said. +"Ah!" He looked significantly at the Com- +mandante, who nodded. "You come on a semi- +official mission, after all, then?" + +"It is entirely my own idea," said Rezanov care- +lessly. "The young Tsar is too much occupied with +Bonaparte to give more than a passing thought to +his colonies. But I have a free hand. Can I arrange +the preliminaries of a treaty, I have only to return +to St. Petersburg to receive his signature and highest +approval. It would be a great feather in my cap I +can assure your excellencies," he added, with a quick +human glance and a sudden curve of his somewhat +cynical mouth. + +"Um!" said the Governor. "Um!" + +But Arguello's stern face had further relaxed. +After all, he was but eleven years older than the +Russian, and, although early struggles and heavy +responsibilities and many disappointments had de- +prived life of much of its early savor, what was left +of youth in him responded to the ambition he divined +in this interesting stranger. Moreover, the idea of +a friendly bond with another race on the lonely +coast of the Pacific appealed to him irresistibly. He +turned eagerly to the Governor. + +"It is a fine idea, Excellency. We need much +that they have, and it pleases me to think we should +be able to supply the wants of others. Fancy any +one wanting aught of California, except hides, to +be sure. I did not think our existence was known +save to an occasional British or Boston skipper. It +is true we are here only to Christianize savages, but +even they have need of much that cannot be manu- +factured in this God-forsaken land. And we our- +selves could be more comfortable--God in heaven, +yes! It is well to think it over, Excellency. Who +knows?--we might have a trip to the north once +in a while. Life is more excellent with something +to look forward to." + +"You should have a royal welcome. Baranhov is +the most hospitable man in Russia, and I might have +the happiness to be there myself. I see, by the way, +that you have not engaged in shipbuilding. I need +not say that we should supply the ships of com- +merce, with no diminution of your profits. We build +at Okhotsk, Petropaulovski, Kadiak, and Sitka. +Moreover, as the Bostonians visit us frequently, and +as your laws prohibit you from trading with them, +we would see that you always got such of their com- +modities as you needed. They come to us for furs, +and generally bring much for which we have no +use. Captain D'Wolf, from whom I bought the +Juno, had a cargo I was forced to take over. I +unloaded what was needed at Sitka, but as there +was no boat going for some months to the other +islands, I brought the rest with me, and you are wel- +come to it, if in exchange you will ballast the Juno +with samples of your agricultural products; while +the treaty is pending, I can experiment in our col- +onies and make sure which are the most adaptable +to the market. + +"Um!" said the Governor. "Um!" + +Rezanov did not remove his cool direct gaze from +the snapping eyes opposite. + +"I have not the least objection to making a trade +that would fill my promuschleniki with joy; but that +was by no means the first object of my voyage; +which was partly inspired by a desire to see as much +of this globe as a man may in one short life, partly +to arrange a treaty that would be of incalculable +benefit to both colonies and greatly redound to my +own glory. I make no pretence of being disinter- +ested. I look forward to a career of ever increasing +influence and power in St. Petersburg, and I wish +to take back as many credits as possible." + +"I understand, I understand!" The Governor +rested his lame back once more. "Your ambition is +the more laudable, Excellency, since you have +achieved so much already. I am not one to balk the +honest ambition of any man, particularly when he +does me the honor to take me into his confidence. I +like this suggested measure. I like it much. I be- +lieve it would redound to our mutual benefit and +reputation. Is it not so, Jose?" + +The Commandante nodded vigorously. "I am +sure of it! I am sure of it! I like it--much, +much." + +"I will write at once to the Viceroy of Mexico +and ask that he lay the matter before the Cabinet +and King. Without that high authority we can do +nothing. But I see no reason to doubt the issue when +we, who know the wants and needs of California, +approve and desire. We are doomed to failure in +this unwieldy land of worthless savages, but it is the +business of the wretched servants of a glorious mon- +arch to do the best they can." + +Rezanov had an inspiration. "You might remind +the viceroy that Spain and the United States of +America have been on the verge of war for years, +and suggest the benefit of an alliance with Russia +in the case of the new country taking advantage of +the situation in Europe to extend its western +boundaries--" + +Arrillaga had bounced to his feet, his small eyes +injected and blazing. "Those damned Bostonians!" +he shouted. "I distrusted them years ago. They +have too much calculation in their bluntness. They +cheated us, sold us short, traded under my very +nose, stole our otters, until I ordered them never to +drop an anchor in California waters again. If +their ridiculous upstart government dares to cast its +eyes on California we shall know how to meet them +--the sooner they march on Mexico and lose their +conceit the better. How they do brag! Faugh! It +is sickening. I shall remember all you say, Excel- +lency; and thank you for the hint." + +Rezanov rose, and the Commandante solemnly +kissed him on either cheek. "Governor Arrillaga is +my guest, Excellency," he said. "I beg that you will +dine with us daily--unofficially--that you will re- +gard California as your own kingdom, and come +and go at your pleasure. And my daughter begs +me to remind you and your young officers that there +will be informal dancing every night." + +"So far so good," thought Rezanov, as he +mounted his horse to return to the Juno. "But +what of my cargo? I fancy there will be more diffi- +culty in that quarter." + + + +XV + +The Chamberlain was in a towering bad humor. +As he made his appearance at least two hours earlier +than he was expected, he found the decks of the +Juno covered with the skins of sea-dogs, foxes, and +birds. He had heard Langsdorff go to his cabin +later than usual the night before, and that his pet +aversion was the cause of a fresh grievance, but +hastened the eruption of his smouldering resentment +toward life in general. + +"What does this mean?" he roared to the sailor +on watch. "Clear them off--overboard, every one +of them. What are you staring at?" + +The sailor, who was a "Bostonian," an inheri- +tance with the ship, opened his mouth in favor of +the unfortunate professor, but like his mates, he +stood in much awe of a master whose indulgence +demanded implicit obedience in return. Without +further ado, he flung the skins into the sea. + +Rezanov, to do him justice, would not have acted +otherwise had he risen in the best of tempers. He +had inflicted himself with the society of the learned +doctor that he might always have a physician and +surgeon at hand, as well as an interpreter where +Latin was the one door of communication. He +should pay him handsomely, make him a present in +addition to the sum agreed upon, but he had not the +least intention of giving up any of the Juno's +precious space to the vagaries of a scientist, nor to +submit to the pollution of her atmosphere. Langs- +dorff was his creature, and the sooner he realized +the fact the better. + +"Remember," he said to the sailor, "no more of +this, or it will be the worse for you-- What is +this?" He had come upon a pile of ducks, gulls, +pelicans, and other aquatic birds. "Are these the +cook's or the professor's?" + +"The professor's, Excellency." + +"Overboard." And the birds followed the skins. + +Rezanov turned to confront the white and +trembling Langsdorff. The naturalist was enfolded +in a gorgeous Japanese dressing-gown, purple bro- +cade embroidered with gold, that he had surrepti- +tiously bought in the harbor of Nagasaki. To +Rezanov it was like a red rag to a bull; but the pro- +fessor was oblivious at the moment of the tactless +garment. His eyes were glaring and the extended +tip of his nose worked like a knife trying to leap +from its sheath. But although he occasionally ven- +tured upon a retort when goaded too far in conver- +sation, he was able to curb his just indignation when +the Chamberlain was in a bad temper. In that vague +gray under winking stars in their last watch, Rez- +anov seemed to tower six feet above him. + +"Excellency," he murmured. + +"Well?" + +"My--my specimens." + +"Your what?" + +"The cause of science is very dear to me, Excel- +lency." + +"So it is to me--in its proper place. Were those +skins yours?" His voice became very suave. "I am +sorry you should have fatigued yourself for noth- +ing, but I am forced to remind you that this is not +an expedition undertaken for the promotion of nat- +ural history. I am not violating my part in the con- +tract, I believe. Upon our arrival at Sitka you are +at liberty to remain as my guest and make use of +the first boat that sails for this colony; but for the +present I beg that you will limit yourself to the re- +quirements of your position on my staff." + +He turned his back and ordered a canoe to be +lowered. Since the arrival of the Governor and +Commandante, now three days ago, all restrictions +on his liberty had been removed, and the phrases +of hospitality were a trifle less meaningless. He +had been asked to give his word to keep away from +the fortifications, and as he knew quite as much of +the military resources of the country as he desired, +he had merely suppressed a smile and given his +promise. + +This morning he wanted nothing but a walk. He +had slept badly, the blood was in his head, his +nerves were on edge. He went rapidly along the +beach and over the steep hills that led to the north- +eastern point of the peninsula. But he had taken +the walk before and did not turn his head to look +at the great natural amphitheater formed by the +inner slopes of those barren heights, so uninterest- +ing of outline from the water. Once when Luis +had left him to go down with an order to the Bat- +tery of Yerba Buena, he had examined it critically +and concluded that never had there been so fine a +site for a great city. Nor a more beautiful, with +the broken line of the San Bruno mountains in the +distance and a glimpse of the Mission valley just +beyond this vast colosseum, whose steep imposing +lines were destined by nature to be set with palaces +and bazaars, minarets and towers and churches, +with a thousand gilded domes and slender crosses +glittering in the crystal air and sunlight. If not +another Moscow, then an Irkutsk in his day, at +least. + +But he did not give the chosen site of his city a +glance to-day, although in this gray air before +dawn when mystery and imagination most closely +embrace, he might at another time have forgotten +himself in one of those fits of dreaming that slipped +him out of touch with realities, and sometimes pre- +cipitated action in a manner highly gratifying to +his enemies. + +But much as he loved Russia, there were times +when he loved his own way more, and since the +arrival of Governor Arrillaga he was beginning to +feel as he had felt in the harbor of Nagasaki. Not +a word since that first interview had been said of +his cargo; nor even of the treaty, although nothing +could have been more natural than the discussion +of details. Whenever he had delicately broached +either subject, he had been met with a polite indif- +ference, that had little in common with the cor- +diality otherwise shown him. He foresaw that he +might be obliged to reveal the more pressing object +of his visit without further diplomacy, and the +thought irritated him beyond endurance. + +Whether Concha were giving him her promised +aid he had no means of discovering, and herein lay +another cause of his general vexation. He had +dined every day at the Commandante's, danced +there every night. Concha had been vivacious, +friendly--impersonal. Not so much as a coquettish +lift of the brow betrayed that the distinguished +stranger eclipsed the caballeros for the moment; nor +a whispered word that he retained the friendship +she had offered him on the day of their meeting. +He had not, indeed, had a word with her alone. +But his interest and admiration had deepened. It +was evident that her father and the Governor adored +her, would deny her little. Her attitude to them +was alternately that of the petted child and the +chosen companion. As her mother was indisposed, +she occupied her place at the table, presiding with +dignity, guiding the conversation, revealing the rare +gift of making everyone appear at his best. In the +evening she had sometimes danced alone for a few +moments, but more often with her Russian guests, +and readily learning the English country dances +they were anxious to teach. Rezanov would have +found the gay informality of these evenings delight- +ful had his mind been at ease about his Sitkans, and +Concha a trifle more personal. He had begun by +suspecting that she was maneuvering for his scalp, +but he was forced to acquit her; for not only did +she show no provocative favor to another, but she +seemed to have gained in dignity and pride since his +arrival, actually to have kissed her hand in farewell +to the childhood he had been so slow in divining; +grown--he felt rather than analyzed--above the +pettiness of coquetry. Once more she had stirred +the dormant ideals of his early manhood; there +were moments when she floated before his inner +vision as the embodiment of the world's beauty. +Nor ever had there been a woman born more elab- +orately equipped for the position of a public man's +mate; nor more ingenerate, perhaps, with the power +to turn earth into heaven. + +He had wondered humorously if he were fallen +in love, but, although he retained little faith in the +activities of the heart after youth, he was begin- +ning seriously to consider the expedience of marry- +ing Concha Arguello. He had not intended to +marry again, and it was this old and passionate +love of personal freedom that alone held him back, +for nothing would be so advantageous to the Russian +colonies in their present crisis as a strong individual +alliance with California. Concha Arguello was the +famous daughter of its first subject, and with the +powerful friends she would bring to her husband, +the consummation of ends dearer to his heart than +aught on earth would be a matter of months instead +of years. And he thrilled with pride as he thought +of Concha in St. Petersburg. Two years of court +life and she would be one of the greatest ladies in +Europe. That he could win her he believed, and +without undue vanity. He had much to offer an +ambitious girl conscious of her superiority to the +men of this province of Spain, and chafing at the +prospect of a lifetime in a bountiful desert. His +only hesitation lay in his own doubt if she were +worth the loss of his freedom, and all that word +involved to a man of his position and adventurous +spirit. + +He shrugged his shoulders at this argument; he +had walked off some of his ill-humor, and reverted +willingly to a theme that alone had given him satis- +faction during the past few days. At the same time +he made a motion as if flinging aside an old burden. + +"It is time for such nonsense to end," he thought +contemptuously. "And in truth these three years +should have wrought such changes in me I doubt I +should have patience for an hour of the old trifling. +My greatest need from this time on, I fancy, is +work. I could never be idle a month again. And +when a man is in love with work--and power-- +and has passed forty--does he want a constant com- +panion? That is the point. At my time of life +power exercises the most irresistible and lasting of +all fascinations. A man that wins it has little left +for a woman." + +He had reached the summit of the rocky outpost; +the highest of the hills where the peninsula turned +abruptly to the south, and, scrupulously refraining +from a downward glance at the Battery of Yerba +Buena, stood looking out over the bay to the eastern +mountains: dark, almost formless, wrapped in the +intense and menacing mystery of that last hour be- +fore dawn. + +"Senor!" called a low cautious voice. + +Rezanov stepped hastily back from the point of +the bluff and glanced about in wonder, his pulses +suddenly astir. But he could see no one. + +This time the direction was unmistakable, and +he went to the edge of the plateau facing the south +and looked over. Halfway down a shallow and +almost perpendicular gully, he saw a girl forcing a +mustang up the harsh, loose path. The girl's white +and oval face looked from the folds of a black re- +boso like the moon emerging from clouds, and its +young beauty was out of place in that wild and for- +bidding setting. She reined in her horse as she +caught his eye and beckoned superfluously; then +guided her mustang to a little ledge where he could +plant his feet firmly, permitting her to reassume her +usual pride of carriage and averting the danger of +a sudden scramble or need of assistance. + +As Rezanov reached her side, she gave him a +grave and friendly smile, but no opportunity to kiss +her hand. + +"I have followed your excellency," she said. "I +saw you leave the Juno, and as I am often up at +this hour, and as no one else ever is, my father +ignores the fact that I sometimes ride alone. I have +never come as far as this before, but there is some- +thing I wish to say to you, and there is no oppor- +tunity at home. I asked Santiago to find me one +last night, but he was in a bad temper and would +not. Men! However--I suppose you have heard +nothing of the cargo?" + +"I have not," said Rezanov grimly, although +acutely sensible that the subject suited neither his +mood nor the hour. + +"But the Governor has! Madre de Dios! all the +women of the Presidio and the Mission have pes- +tered him. They are sick with jealousy at the +shawls you gave us that day--those that did not go +to the ship. How clever of your excellency to give +us just enough for ourselves and nothing for our +friends! And those that went want more and more. +They have called upon him--one, two, four, and +alone. They have wept and scolded and pleaded. I +did not know until yesterday that your commissary +had also shown the things to the priests from San +Jose--Father Jose Uria and Father Pedro de la +Cueva. They and the priests of San Francisco have +argued with the Governor not once but three times. +Dios! how his poor excellency swore yesterday. He +threatened to return at once to Monterey. I flew +into a great rage and threatened in turn to follow +with all the other girls and all the priests--vowed he +should not have one moment of peace until that +cargo was ours." + +"Well?" asked Rezanov sharply, in spite of his +amusement. + +Concha shook her head. "When he does not +swear, he answers only: 'Buy if you have the +money. I have never broken a law of Spain, and +I shall not begin in my old age.' He knows well +that we have no money to send out of New Spain; +but I have conceived a plan, senor. It is for you, +not for me, to suggest it. You will never betray +that I have been your friend, Excellency?" + +"I will swear it if you wish," said Rezanov +frigidly. + +"Pardon, senor. If I thought you could I should +not be here. One often says such things. This is +the plan: You shall suggest that we buy your wares, +and that you buy again with our money. The dear +Governor only wants to save his conscience an ache, +for we have driven him nearly distracted. I am +sure he will consent, for you will know how to put +it to him very diplomatically." + +"But if he refused to understand, or his con- +science remained obdurate? I should then have +neither cargo nor ballast." + +"He would never trick a guest, nor would he let +the money go out of the country. And he knows +well how much we need your cargo and longs to be +able to state in his reports that he sold you a hold +full of breadstuffs. Moreover, I think the time has +come to tell him of the distress at Sitka. He is very +soft-hearted and is now in that distracted state of +mind when only one more argument is required. I +hope I have given you good advice, Excellency. It +is the best I can think of. I have given it much +thought, and the terrible state of those miserable +creatures has kept me awake many nights. I must +return now. Will your excellency kindly remain +here until I am well on my way?--and then return +by the beach? I shall go as I came, through the +valley. Neither of us can be seen from the Bat- +tery." + +"I will obey all your instructions," said Rezanov. +But he did not move, nor could the mustang. Con- +cha smiled and pointed to the other side of the +cleft, which was about as wide as a narrow street. + +"Pardon, senor, I cannot turn." + +For a moment Rezanov stared at her, through +her. Then his heavy eyes opened and flashed. It +seemed to him that for the first time he saw how +beautiful, how desirable she was, set in that gray +volcanic rock with the heavens gray above her, and +the stars fading out. It was not the bower he would +have imagined for the wooing of a mate, but neither +moonlight nor the romantic glades of La Bellissima +could have awakened in him a passion so sudden +and final. Her face between the black folds turned +whiter and she shrank back against the jagged wall: +and when his eyes flashed again with a wild eager +hope she involuntarily crossed herself. He threw +himself against the horse and snatched her down +and kissed her as he had kissed no woman yet, +recognizing her once for all. + +When he finally held her at arm's length for a +moment he laughed confusedly. + +"The Russian bear is no longer a figure of +speech," he said. "Forgive me. I forgot that you +are as tender as you are strong." + +Her hands were tightly clasped against her +breast and the breath was short in her throat, but +she made no protest. Her eyes were radiant, her +mouth was the only color in that gray dawn. In a +moment she too laughed. + +"Dios de mi alma! What will they say? A +heretic! If Tamalpais fell into the sea it would not +make so great a sensation in this California of ours +where civilized man exists but to drive heathen souls +into the one true church." + +"Will it matter to you? Are you strong enough? +It will be only a question of time to win them over, +if you are." + +She nodded emphatically. "I was born with +strength. Now--Dios!--now I can be stronger than +the King of Spain himself, than the Governor, my +parents and all the priests-- You would not be- +come a Catholic?" she asked abruptly. + +He shook his head, although he still smiled at her. +"Not even for you." + +"No," she said thoughtfully. "I will confess-- +what matters it?--I often dreamed that this would +come just because I believed it would not. But why +should one control the imagination when it alone +can give us happiness for a little while? I gave it +rein, for I thought that one-half of my life was to +be passed in that unreal but by no means niggardly +world. And I thought of everything. To change +your religion would mean the ruin of your career; +moreover, it is not a possibility of your character. +Were it I think I should not love you so much. Nor +could I bear to think of any change in you. Only +it will be harder--longer." Then she stretched out +her hand, and closed and opened it slowly. The +most obtuse could not have failed to read the old +simile of the steel in the velvet. "I shall win be- +cause it is my nature--and my power--to hold what +I grasp." + +"But if they persistently refuse--" + +"Dios!" she interrupted him. "Do you think that +your love is greater than mine? I was born with a +thousand years of love in me and had you not come +I should have gone alone with my dreams to the +grave. I am all women in one, not merely Concha +Arguello, a girl of sixteen." She clasped her hands +high above her head, lifting her eyes to the ashen +vault so soon to yield to the gay brush of dawn. + +"Before all that great mystery," she said solemnly, +"I give myself to you forever, how much or how +little that may mean here on earth. Forever." + + + +XVI + +The Commandante of the San Francisco Company +sat opposite Rezanov with his mouth open, the lines +of his strong face elongated and relaxed. It was +the hour of siesta, and they were alone in the sala. + +"Mother of God!" he exclaimed. "Mother of +God! Are you mad, Excellency?" + +"No man was ever saner," said Rezanov cheer- +fully. "What better proof would you have than +this final testimony to Dona Concha's perfections?" + +"But it cannot be! Surely, Excellency, you +realize that? The priests! Ay yi! Ay yi!" + +"I think I understand the priests. Persuade the +Governor to buy my cargo and they will look upon +me as an amicus humani generis to whom common +rules do not apply. And I have won their sincere +friendship." + +"You have won mine, senor. But, though I say +it, there is no more devout Catholic in the Cali- +fornias than Jose Arguello. Do you know what +they call me? El santo. God knows I am not, but +it is not for want of the wish. Did I give my daugh- +ter to a heretic, not only should I become an outcast, +a pariah, but I should imperil my everlasting soul +and that of my best beloved child. It is impossible, +Excellency--unless, indeed, you embrace our faith." + +"That is so impossible that the subject is not +worth the waste of a moment. But surely, Com- +mandante, in your excitement at this perfectly nat- +ural issue you are misrepresenting yourself. I do +not believe, devout Catholic as you are, that your +soul is steeped in fanaticism. You are known far +and wide as the first and most intelligent of His +Catholic Majesty's subjects in New Spain. When +you have my word of honor that your daughter's +faith shall never be disturbed, it is impossible you +should believe that marriage with me would ruin +her chances of happiness in the next world. But I +doubt if your soul and conscience will have the peace +you desire if you ruin her happiness in this. What +pleasure do you find in the thought of an old age +companioned by a heart-broken daughter?" + +Don Jose turned pale and hitched his chair. +"Other maids have been balked when young, and +have forgotten. Concha is but sixteen--" + +"She is also unique. She will marry me or no +one. Of that I am as certain as that she is the +woman of women for me." + +"How can you be so certain?" asked the Com- +mandante sharply. "Surely you have had little talk +alone with her?" + +"The heart has a language of its own. Recall +your own youth, senor." + +"It is true," said Don Jose, with a heavy sigh, as +he had a fleeting vision of Dona Ignacia, slim and +lovely, at the grating, with a rose in her hair. "But +this tremendous passion of the heart--it passes, +senor, it passes. We love the good wife, but we +sometimes realize that we could have loved another +good wife as well." + +"That is a bit of philosophy I should have uttered +myself, Commandante--yesterday. But there are +women and women, and your daughter is one of the +chosen few who take from the years what the years +take from others. I am not rushing into matri- +mony for the sake of a pair of black eyes and a fine +figure. I have outlived the possibility of making a +fool of myself if I would. Before I realized how +deeply I loved your daughter I had deliberately +chosen her out of all the women I have known, as +my friend and companion for the various and diffi- +cult ways of life which I shall be called upon to +follow. Your daughter will have a high place at +the Russian Court, and she will occupy it as nat- +urally as if I had found her in Madrid and you in +the great position to which your attainments and +services entitle you." + +Don Jose, despite his consternation, titillated +agreeably. He privately thought no one in New +Spain good enough for his daughter, and his +weather-beaten self was not yet insensible to the +rare visitation of winged darts tipped with honey. +But the situation was one of the most embarrassing +he had ever been called upon to face, and perhaps +for the first time in his direct and honest life his +resolution was shaken in a crisis. + +"Believe me, your excellency, I appreciate the +honor you have done my house, and I will add with +all my heart that never have I liked a man more. +But--Mother of God! Mother of God!" + +Rezanov took out his cigarette case, a superb bit +of Russian enamel, graven with the Imperial arms, +and a parting gift from his Tsar. He passed it to +his host, who had developed a preference for Rus- +sian cigarettes. + +"There are other things to consider besides the +happiness of your daughter and myself," he re- +marked. "This alliance would mean the consolida- +tion of Spanish and Russian interests on the Pacific +coast. It would mean the protection of California +in the almost certain event of 'American' aggres- +sion. And I hear that a courier brought word again +yesterday that the Russian and the Spanish fleets +had sailed for these waters. I do not believe a word +of it; but should it be true, I would remind you of +two things: that I have the powers of the Tsar him- +self in this part of the world, and that the Russian +fleet is likely to arrive first." + +Again the Commandante moved uneasily. The +news from Mexico had kept himself and the Gov- +ernor awake the better part of the night. He fully +appreciated the importance of this powerful Rus- +sian's friendship. Nothing would bind and commit +him like taking a Californian to wife. If only he +had fallen in love with Carolina Xime'no or Delfina +Rivera! Don Jose had an uneasy suspicion that his +scruples as a Catholic might have gone down before +his sense of duty to this poor California. But a +heretic in his own family! He was justly renowned +for his piety. Aside from the wrath of the church, +the mere thought of one of his offspring in matri- +monial community beyond its pale made him sick +with repugnance. And yet--California! And he +would have selected Rezanov for his daughter out +of all men had he been of their faith. And he was +deeply conscious of the honor that had descended, +however unfruitfully, upon his house. Madre de +Dios! How would it end? Suddenly he felt him- +self inspired. In blissful ignorance of her subtle +feminine rule, he reminded himself that Concha's +mind was the child of his own. When she saw his +embarrassment, filial duty and woman's wit would +extricate them both with grace and avert the enmity +of the Russian even though the latter's more per- +sonal interest in California must die in his disap- +pointment. He would make her feel the weight of +the stern paternal hand, and then indicate the part +she had to play. + +He rang a bell and directed the servant to sum- +mon his daughter, drew himself up to his full height, +and set his rugged face in hard lines. As Concha +entered he looked the Commandante, the stern disci- +plinarian, every inch of him. + +There was no trace of the siesta in Concha's +cheeks. They were very white, but her eyes were +steady and her mouth indomitable as she walked +down the sala and took the chair Rezanov placed +for her. Except for her Castilian fairness, she +looked very like the martinet sitting on the other +side of the table. The Commandante regarded her +silently with brows drawn together. Dimly, he felt +apprehension, wondered, in a flash of insight, if girls +held fast to the parental recipe, or recombined with +tongue in cheek. The bare possibility of resistance +almost threw him into panic, but he controlled his +features until the effort injected his eyes and drew +in his nostrils. Concha regarded him calmly, al- +though her heart beat unevenly, for she dreaded the +long strain she foresaw. + +"My daughter," said Don Jose finally, his tones +harsh with repressed misgiving, "do you suspect +why I have sent for you?" + +"I think that his excellency wishes to marry me," +replied Concha; and the Commandante was so stag- +gered by the calm assurance of her tone and manner +that his pent-up emotion exploded. + +"Dios!" he roared. "What right have you to +know when a man wishes to marry you? What +manner of Spanish girl is this? Truly has his ex- +cellency said that you are not as other women. The +place for you is your room, with bread and water +for a week. Sixteen!" + +"Ignacio was born when my mother was sixteen," +said Concha coolly. + +"What of that? She married whom and when +she was told to marry." + +"I have heard that you serenaded nightly beneath +her grating--" + +"So did others." + +"I have heard that when of all her suitors her +father chose one more highly born, a gentleman of +the Viceroy's court, she pined until they gave their +consent to her marriage with you, lest she die." + +"But I was a Catholic! The prejudice against my +birth was an unworthy one. I had distinguished +myself. And she had the support of the priests." + +"It is my misfortune that M. de Rezanov is not +a Catholic, but it will make no difference. I shall +not fall ill, for I am like you, not like my dear +mother--and the education you have given me is +very different from hers. But I shall marry his +excellency or no one, and whether I marry him or +live alone with the thought of him until the end of +my mortal days, I do not believe that my soul will +be imperilled in the least." + +"You do not!" shouted the irate Spaniard. "How +dare you presume to decide such a question for +yourself? What does a woman know of love until +she marries? It is nothing but a sickening imag- +ination before; and if the man goes, the doctor soon +comes." + +"You may not have intended--but you have +taught me to think for myself. And I have seen +others besides M. de Rezanov--the flower of Cali- +fornia and more than one fine gentleman from +Mexico. I will have none of them. I will marry +the man of my choice or no one. It may be that I +know naught of love. If you wish, you may think +that my choice of a husband is determined by ambi- +tion, that I am dazzled with the thought of court +life in St. Petersburg, of being the consort of a +great and wealthy noble. It matters not. Love or +ambition, I shall marry this Russian or I shall never +marry at all." + +"Mother of God! Mother of God!" Don Jose's +face was purple. The veins swelled in his neck. He +was the more wroth because he recognized his own +daughter and his own handiwork, because he saw +that he confronted a Toledo blade, not a woman's +brittle will. Concha regarded him calmly. + +"If you refuse your consent you will lose me in +another way. I may not be able to marry as I wish, +but I will have no worldly alternative. I shall join +the Third Order of the Franciscans, and enter a +convent as soon as one is built in California. To +that you cannot withhold your consent, or they no +longer would call you El santo." + +Don Jose leaped from his chair. "Go to your +room!" he thundered. "And do not dare to leave it +without my permission--" + +But Concha sprang forward and flung herself +upon his neck. She rubbed her warm elastic cheek +against his own in the manner he loved, and softened +her voice. "Papacito mio, papacito mio," she +pleaded. "Thou wilt not refuse thy Concha the only +thing she has ever begged of thee. And I beg! I +beg! Papa mio! I love him! I love him!" And +she broke into wild weeping and kissed him franti- +cally, while Rezanov who had followed her plan of +attack and resistance in silent admiration, did not +know whether he should himself be moved to tears +or further admire. + +Don Jose pushed her from him with a heavy sob +and hastily left the room, oblivious in the confusion +of his faculties of the boon he conferred on the +lovers. Concha dried her eyes, but her face was +deathly pale. It had not been all acting, by any +means, and she was beginning to feel the tyranny of +sleepless nights; and the joy and wonder of the +morning had left her with but a remnant of endur- +ance for the domestic battleground. + +"Go," she whispered, as he took her in his arms. +"Return for the dance to-night as if nothing had +happened-- I forgot, there is to be a bull-bear +fight in the square. So much the better, for it is in +your honor, and you could not well remain away. +There is much trouble to come, but in the end we +shall win." + + + +XVII + +The muscles in Dona Ignacia's cheeks fell an inch +as she listened, dumbfounded, to the tale her husband +poured out. To her simple aristocratic soul Rez- +anov had loomed too great a personage to dream of +mating with a Californian; and as her sharp mater- +nal instinct had recognized his personal probity, +even his gallantries had seemed to her no more con- +sequent than the more catholic trifling of his officers. + +"Holy Mary!" she whimpered, when her voice +came back. "Holy Mary! A heretic! And he +would take our Concha from us! And she would +go! To St. Petersburg! Ten thousand miles! +To the priests with her--now--this very day!" + +Concha had thrown herself on her bed in belated +hope of siesta, when Malia (Rosa had been sent to +the house of Don Mario Sal in the valley) entered +with the message that she was to accompany her +parents to the Mission at once. She rose sullenly, +but in the manifold essentials of a girl's life she +had always yielded the implicit obedience exacted +by the Californian parent. In a few moments she +was riding out of the Presidio beside her father. +Dona Ignacia jolted behind in her carreta, a low and +clumsy vehicle, on solid wheels and springless, +drawn by oxen, and driven by a stable-boy on a +mustang. The journey was made in complete si- +lence save for the maledictions addressed to the oxen +by the boy, and an occasional "Ay yi!" "Madre de +Dios!" "Sainted Mary, but the sun bores a hole in +the head," from Dona Ignacia, whose increasing +discomfort banished wrath and apprehension for +the hour. + +Don Jose did not even look at his daughter, but +his face was ten years older than in the morning. +He had begun dimly to appreciate that she was suf- +fering, and in a manner vastly different from the +passionate resentment he had seen her display when +the contents of a box from Mexico disappointed her, +or she was denied a visit to Monterey. That his +best-loved child should suffer tore his own heart, +but he merely cursed Rezanov and resolved to do +his best to persuade the Governor to yield to his +other demands, that California might be rid of him +the sooner. + +Father Abella was walking down the long outer +corridor of the Mission reading his breviary, and +praying he might not be diverted from righteousness +by the comforting touch of his new habit, when he +looked up and saw the party from the presidio +floundering over the last of the sand hills. He +shuffled off to order refreshments, and returned in +time to disburden the carreta of Dona Ignacia--no +mean feat--volubly delighted in the visit and the +gossip it portended. But as he offered his arm to +lead her into the sala, she pushed him aside and +pointed to Concha, who had sprung to the ground +unassisted. + +"She has come to confess, padre!" she exclaimed, +her mind, under the deep tiled roof of the corridor, +readjusting itself to tragedy. "I beg that you will +take her at once. Padre Landaeta can give us +chocolate and we will tell our terrible news to him +and receive advice and consolation." + +Father Abella, not without a glimmering of the +truth, for better than any one he understood the +girl he had confessed many times, besides himself +having succumbed to the Russian, led the way to +the confessional in some perturbation of spirit. He +walked slowly, hoping that the long, cool church, +its narrow high windows admitting so scant a meed +of sunlight that no one of its worshippers had ever +read the legends on the walls, and even the stations +were but deeper bits of shade, would attune her +mind to holy things, and throw a mantle of un- +reality over those of the world. + +He covered his face with his hand as she told her +story. This she did in a few words, disjointed, for +she was both tired and seething. For a few mo- +ments afterward there was a silence; the good priest +was increasingly disturbed and by no means certain +of his course. He was astonished to feel a tug at +his sleeve. Before he could reprove this impenitent +child for audacity she had raised herself that she +might approach her lips more closely to his ear. + +"Mi padre!" she whispered hoarsely, "you will +take my part! You will not condemn me to a life of +misery! I am too proud to speak openly to others +--but I love this man more than my soul--more +than my immortal soul. Do you hear? I am in +danger of mortal sin. Perhaps I am already in that +state. You cannot save me if he goes. I will not +pray. I will not come to the church. I will be an +outcast. If I marry him, I will be a good Catholic +to the end of my days. If I marry him I can think +of other things besides--of my church, my father, +my mother, my sisters, brothers. If he goes, I shall +pass my life thinking of nothing but him, and if it +be true that heretics are doomed to hell, then I will +live so that I may go to hell with him." + +In spite of his horror the priest was thrilled by +the intense passion in the voice so close to his ear. +Moreover, he knew women well, this good padre, +for even in California they differed little from those +that played ball with the world. So he dismissed the +horror and spoke soothingly. + +"What you have said would be mortal sin, my +daughter, were it not that you are laboring under +strong and natural excitement; and I shall absolve +you freely when you have done the penance I must +impose. You have always been such a good child +that I am able to forgive you even in this terrible +moment. But, my daughter, surely you know that +this marriage can never take place--" + +"It shall! It shall!" + +"Control yourself, my daughter. You cannot +bring this man into the true church. His character +is long since formed and cast--it is iron. Even love +will not melt it. Were he younger--" + +"I should hate him. All young men are insuffer- +able to me--always have been. I have found my +mate, and have him I will if I have to hide in the +hold of his ship. Ah, padre mio, I know not what +I say. But you will help me. Only you can. My +father thinks you as wise as a saint. And there +are other things--my head turns round--I can +hardly think--but you dare not lose the friendship +of this Russian. And my marriage to him would +be as much for the good of the Missions as for Cali- +fornia herself. Champion our course, point out +that not only would it be a great match for me, but +that many ends would be lost by ruining my life. +The Governor will find himself in a position to grant +your prayers for the cargo, particularly if you first +persuaded my father--so long they have been +friends, the Governor could not resist if he joined +our forces. What is one girl that she should be +held of greater account than the welfare of this +country to which you are devoting your life? The +happier are your converts, the more kindly will +they take to Christianity--which they do not love +as yet!--the more faithful and contented will they +be, in the prospect of the luxuries and the toys and +the trinkets of the Russian north. What is one girl +against the friendship of Russia for Spain? Who +am I that I should weigh a peseta in the scale?" + +"You are Concha Arguello, the flower of all the +maidens in California, and the daughter of the best +of our men," replied Father Abella musingly. "And +until to-day there has been no Catholic more de- +vout--" + +"It lies with you, mi padre, whether I continue +to be the best of Catholics or become the most +abandoned of heretics. You know me better than +anyone. You know that I will not weaken and +bend and submit, like a thousand other women. I +could be bad--bad--bad--and I will be! Do you +hear?" And she shook his arm violently, while her +hoarse voice filled the church. + +"My child! My child! I have always believed +that you had it in you to become a saint. Yes, yes, +I feel the strength and maturity of your nature, I +know the lengths to which it might lead another; +but you could not be bad, Conchita. I have known +many women. In you alone have I perceived the +capacity for spiritual exaltation. You are the stuff +of which saints and martyrs are made. The vio- +lent will, the transcendent passions--they have +existed in the greatest of our saints, and been con- +quered." + +"I will not conquer. I-- Oh, padre--for the +love of heaven--" + +He left the box hastily and lifted her where she +had fallen and carried her into the room adjoining +the church. He laid her on the floor, and ran for +Dona Ignacia, who, refreshed with wine and +chocolate, came swiftly. But when Concha, under +practical administrations and maternal endearments, +finally opened her eyes, she pushed her mother +coldly aside, rose and steadied herself against the +wall for a moment, then returned to the church, +closing the door behind her. + +When a woman has borne thirteen children in the +lost corners of the world, with scarce a thought in +thirty years for aught else save the husband and +his comforts, it is not to be expected that her wits +should be rapiers or her vocabulary distinguished. +But Dona Ignacia's unresting heart had an intelli- +gence of its own, and no inner convulsion could +alter the superb dignity of mien which Nature had +granted her. As she rose and confronted Father +Abella he moved forward with the instinct to kiss +her hand, as he had seen Rezanov do. + +"Mi padre," she said, "Concha is the first of my +children to push me aside, and it is like a blow on +the heart; but I have neither anger nor resentment, +for it was not the act of a child to its parent, but +of one woman to another. Alas! this Russian, what +has he done, when her own mother can give her no +comfort? We all love when young, but this is more. +I loved Jose so much I thought I should die when +they would have compelled me to marry another. +But this is more. She will not die, nor even go to +bed and weep for days, but it is more. I should +not have died, I know that now, and in time I should +have married another, and been as happy as a wom- +an can be when the man is kind. Concha will love +but once, and she will suffer--suffer-- She may +be more than I, but I bore her and I know. And +she cannot marry him. A heretic! I no longer +think of the terrible separation. Were he a Cath- +olic I should not think of myself again. But it +cannot be. Oh, padre, what shall we do?" + +They talked for a long while, and after further +consultation with Don Jose and Father Landaeta, +it was decided that Concha should remain for the +present in the house of Juan Moraga, where she +could receive the daily counsels of the priests, and +be beyond the reach of Rezanov. Meanwhile, all +influence would be brought to bear upon the Gov- +ernor that the Russian might be placated even while +made to realize that to loiter longer in California +waters would be but a waste of precious time. + + + +XVIII + +There was no performance after all in the Presidio +square that night, for the bear brought in from the +hills to do honor to the Russians died of excitement, +and it rained besides. Rezanov made the storm his +excuse for not dining and dancing as usual at the +house of the Commandante. But the relations be- +tween the Presidio and the Juno during the next +few days were by no means strained. Davidov and +Khostov were always with the Spanish officers, +drinking and card playing, or improving their danc- +ing and Spanish with the girls, whose guitars were +tuned for the waltz day and night. The dignitaries +met as usual and conversed on all topics save those +paramount in the minds of each. Nevertheless, +there were three significant facts as well known to +Rezanov as had they been aired to his liking. + +He had sought an interview with Father Abella, +and tactfully ignoring the question of his marriage, +had persuaded that astute and influential priest to +make the proposition regarding his cargo that Con- +cha had suggested. The priest, backed by his three +coadjutors, had made it, and been repulsed with +fury. From another quarter Rezanov learned that +during his absence little else was discussed in the +house of the Commandante save his formidable mat- +rimonial project, and the supposed designs to his +country. Troops had been ordered from the south +to reinforce the San Francisco garrisons, and were +even now massed at Santa Clara, within a day's +march of the bay. + +About a mile from the Presidio and almost oppo- +site the Juno's anchorage were six great stone tubs +sunken in the ground and filled by a spring of clear +water. Here, once a week, the linen, fine and +heavy, of Fort and Presidio was washed, the +stoutest serving women of households and barracks +meeting at dawn and scrubbing for half a day. +Rezanov had watched the bright picture they made +--for they wore a bit of every hue they could com- +mand--with a lazy interest, which quickened to +thirst when he heard that they were the most re- +liable newsmongers in the country. In every Pre- +sidial district was a similar institution, and the four +were known as the "Wash Tub Mail." Many of +the women were selected by the tyrants of the tubs +for their comeliness, and each had a lover in the +couriers that went regularly with mail and official +instructions from one end of the Californias to the +other. All important news was known first by these +women, and much was discussed over the tubs that +was long in reaching higher but no less interested +circles; and domestic bulletins were as eagerly +prized. The sailor that brought this information to +Rezanov was a good-looking and susceptible youth, +already the victim of an Indian maiden from the +handsome tribe in the Santa Clara Valley, and sister +of Dona Ignacia's Malia. Rezanov furnished him +with beads and other trinkets and was at no dis- +advantage thereafter. + +There was nothing Rezanov would have liked +better than to see a Russian fleet sail through the +straits, but he also knew that nothing was less likely, +and that from such rumors he should only derive +further annoyance and delay. Two of his sailors +deserted at the prospect of war, and his hosts, if +neutral, were manifestly alert. Luis and Santiago +had been obliged to go to Monterey for a few days, +and there was no one at the Presidio in whom Rez- +anov could confide either his impatience to see Con- +cha or at the adjournment of his more prosaic but +no less pressing interests. These two young men +had been with him almost constantly since his +arrival, and demonstrated their friendship and even +affection unfailingly; but there was no love lost be- +tween himself and Gervasio. This young hidalgo +had the hauteur and intense family pride of San- +tiago without his younger brother's frank intelli- +gence and lingering ingenuousness. With all the +superiority and inferiority, he had made himself so +unpopular that his real kindness of heart atoned for +his absurdities only with those that knew him best. +Rezanov was not one of these nor aspired to be. +Like all highly seasoned men of the world, he had +no patience with the small vanities of the provincial, +and although diplomatically courteous to all, in his +present precarious position, he had taken too little +trouble to conciliate Gervasio to find him of use in +the absence of his friends. + +At the end of three days Rezanov had forgotten +his cargo, and would have sent the Juno to the bot- +tom for ten minutes alone with Concha. He had +been on fire with love of her since the moment of +his actual surrender, and he was determined to have +her if there were no other recourse but elopement. +All his old and intense love of personal freedom +had melted out of form in the crucible of his lover's +imagination. That he should have doubted for a +moment that Concha was the woman for whom his +soul had held itself aloof and unshackled was a +matter for contemptuous wonder, and the pride he +had taken in his keen and swift perceptive faculties +suffered an eclipse. Mind and soul and body he +was a lover, a union unknown before. + +On the fourth morning, his patience at an end, +he was about to leave the Juno to demand a formal +interview with Don Jose when he saw Luis and San- +tiago dismount at the beach and enter the canoe al- +ways in waiting. A few moments later they had +helped themselves to cigarettes from the gift of the +Tsar and were assuring Rezanov of their partisan- +ship and approval. + +"We were somewhat taken aback at the first mo- +ment," Luis admitted. "But--well, we are both in +love--Santiago no less than I, although I have had +these six long years of waiting and am likely to +have another. And we love Concha as few men +love their sisters, for there is no one like her--is +it not so, Rezanov? And we quite understand why +she has chosen you, and why she stands firm, for +we know the strength of her character. We would +that you were a Catholic, but even so, we will not sit +by and see her life ruined, and we have called to +assure you that we shall use all our influence, every +adroit argument, to bring our parents to a more +reasonable frame of mind. They have already risen +above the first natural impulse of selfishness, and +would consent to the inevitable separation were you +only a Catholic. I have also talked with the Gov- +ernor--we arrived at midnight--and he flew into a +terrible temper--the poor man is already like a mad +bull at bay--but if my father yielded, he would-- +on all points. This morning I shall ride over and +talk with Father Abella, who, I fancy, needs only +a little extra pressure--you may be sure Concha has +not been idle--to yield; and for more reasons than +one. I shall enlist Father Uria and Father de la +Cueva as well. They also have great influence +with my parents, and as they return to San Jose in +two days to prepare for the visit of the most estim- +able Dr. Langsdorff, there is no time to lose. I +shall go this morning. One more cigarito, senor, +and when that treaty is drawn remember the con- +version of your brother to Russian tobacco." + +Rezanov thanked him so warmly, assured him +with so convincing an emphasis that with his fate +in such competent hands his mind was at peace, that +the ardent heart of the Californian exulted; Rez- +anov, with his splendid appearance, and typical of +the highest civilizations of Europe, had descended +upon his narrow sphere with the authority of a +demigod, and he not only thirsted to serve him, but +to fasten him to California with the surest of human +bonds. + +As he dropped over the side of the ship, Rezanov's +hand fell lightly on the shoulder of Santiago. + +"I can wait no longer to see your sister," he +whispered, mindful of the sterner responsibilities of +the older brother. "Do you think you could--" + +Santiago nodded. "While Luis is at the Mission +I shall go to my cousin Juan Moraga's. You will +dine with us at the Presidio, and I shall escort you +back to the ship." + + + +XIX + +It was ten o'clock when Rezanov, who had supped +on the Juno, met Santiago in a sandy valley half a +mile from the Presidio and mounted the horse his +young friend himself had saddled and brought. +The long ride was a silent one. The youth was not +talkative at any time, and Rezanov was conscious of +little else save an overwhelming desire to see Con- +cha again. One secret of his success in life was his +gift of yielding to one energy at a time, oblivious +at the moment to aught that might distract or en- +feeble the will. To-night, as he rode toward the +Mission on as romantic a quest as ever came the +way of a lover, the diplomat, the anxious director +of a great Company, the representative of one of +the mighty potentates of earth, were submerged, +forgotten, in the thrilling anticipation of his hour +with the woman for whom every fiber of his being +yearned. + +Nor ever was there more appropriate a setting +for one of those inaugural chapters in mating, half +appreciated at the time, that glimmer as a sort of +morning twilight on mountain tops over the mild +undulations of matrimony. The moon rode without +a masking cloud across the ambiguous night blue of +the California sky, a blue that looks like the fire of +strange elements, where the stars glow like silver +coals, and out of whose depths intense shadows of +blue and black fall; shadows in which all the terres- +trial world seems to float and recombine, where +houses are ghosts of ancient selves and men but the +eidola of forgotten dust. To-night the little estate +of Juan Moraga, the most isolated and eastern of +the settlement, surrounded by its high white wall, +looked as unreal and formless as the blue oval of +water and black trees behind it, but Rezanov knew +that it enfolded warm and palpitating womanhood +and was steeped in the sweetness of Castilian roses. + +The riders, who had taken a path far to the east +of the Mission dismounted and tied their horses +among the willows, then, in their dark cloaks but a +part of the shadows, stole toward the wall designed +to impress hostile tribes rather than to resist on- +slaught; at the first warning the settlement invari- +ably fled to the church, where walls were massive +and windows high. + +In three of Moraga's four walls was a grille, or +wicket of slender iron bars, whence the open could +be swept with glass, or gun at a pinch; and toward +the grille looking eastward went Rezanov as swiftly +as the uneven ground would permit. As Concha +watched him gather form in the moonlight and saw +him jerk his cloak off impatiently, she flung her +soft body against the wall and shook the bars with +her strong little hands. But when he faced her she +was erect and smiling; in a sudden uprush of spirits, +almost indifferent. She wore a white gown and a +rose in her hair. A rosebush as dense as an +arbor spread its prickly arms between herself and +the windows of the house. + +"Good-evening," she whispered. + +Rezanov gave the grill an angry shake. (San- +tiago had considerately retired.) "Come out," he +said peremptorily, "or let me in." + +"There is but one gate, senor, and that is directly +in front of the house door, that stands open--" + +"Then I shall get over the wall--" + +"Madre de Dios! You would leave your fine +clothes and more on the thorns. My cousin planted +those roses not for ornament, but to let the blood of +defiant lovers. Not one has come twice--" + +"Do you think I came here to talk to you through +a grating? I am no serenading Spaniard." + +His eyes were blazing. Adobe is not stone. +Rezanov took the light bars in both hands and +wrenched them out; then, as Concha, divided be- +tween laughter and a sudden timidity, would have +retreated, he dexterously clasped her neck and drew +her head through the embrasure. As Santiago, +who had watched Rezanov from a distance with +some curiosity, saw his sister's beautiful face +emerge from the wall to disappear at once behind +another rampart, he turned abruptly on his heel and +could have wept as he thought of Pilar Ortego of +Santa Barbara. But there was a hope that he would +be a cadet of the Southern Company before the year +was out, and his parents and hers were indulgent. +Even as he sighed, his own impending happiness in- +fused him with an almost patronizing sympathy for +the twain with the wall between, and he concealed +himself among the willows that they might feel to +the full the blessed isolation of lovers. His Pilar +presented him with twenty-two hostages, and he +lived to enjoy an honorable and prosperous career, +but he never forgot that night and the part he had +played in one of the poignant and happy hours of +his sister's life. + +Day and night a great silence reigned in the Mis- +sion valley, broken only by the hoot of the owl, the +singing of birds, the flight of horses across the +plain. Even the low huddle of Mission buildings +and the few homes beyond looked an anomaly in +that vast quiet valley asleep and unknown for so +many centuries in the wide embrace of the hills. Its +jewel oasis alone made it acceptable to the Spaniard, +but to Rezanov the sandy desert, with its close com- +panionable silences, its cool night air sweet with +the light chaste fragrance of the roses, the simple, +almost primitive, conditions environing the girl, +possessed a power to stir the depths of his emotions +as no artful reinforcement to passion had ever +done. He forgot the wall. His ego melted in a +sense of complete union and happiness. Even when +they returned to earth and discussed the dubious +future, he was conscious of an odd resignation, +very alien in his nature, not only to the barrier but +to all the strange conditions of his wooing. He +had felt something of this before, although less defi- +nitely, and to-night he concluded that she had the +gift of clothing the inevitable with the semblance +and the sweetness of choice; and wondered how +long it would be able to skirt the arid steppes of +philosophy. + +She told him that she had talked daily with +Father Abella. "He will say nothing to admit he is +weakening, but I feel sure he has realized not only +that our marriage will be for the best interests of +California, but that to forbid it would wreck my +life; and from this responsibility he shrinks. I can +see it in his kind, shrewd, perplexed eyes, in the +hesitating inflections of his voice, to say nothing of +the poor arguments he advances to mine. What of +my father and mother?" + +"They look troubled, almost ill, but nothing could +exceed their kindness to me, although they have +pointedly given me no opportunity to introduce the +subject of our marriage again. The Governor +makes no sign that he knows of any aspiration of +mine above corn, but he informed me to-day that +California is doomed to abandonment, that the In- +dians are hopeless, that Spain will withdraw troops +before she will send others, and that the country +will either revert to savagery or fall a prey to the +first enterprising outsider. As he was in compari- +son cheerful before, I fancy he apprehends the irre- +sistible appeal of your father's surrender." + +Concha nodded. "If my father yields he will see +that you have everything else that you wish. He +may have advocated meeting your wishes in other +respects in order to leave you without excuse to lin- +ger, but that argument is not strong enough for the +Governor, whereas if he made up his mind to ac- +cept you as a son he would throw the whole force +of his character and will into the scale; and when +he reaches that pitch he wins--with men. I must, +must bring you good fortune," she added anxiously. +"Marriage with a little California girl--are you +sure it will not ruin your career?" + +"I can think of nothing that would advantage it +more. What are you going to call me?" + +"I cannot say Petrovich or Nicolai--my Spanish +tongue rebels. I shall call you Pedro. That is a +very pretty name with us." + +"My own harsh names suit my battered self +rather better, but the more Californian you are and +remain the happier I shall be. When am I to see +your ears? Are they deformed, pointed and furry +like a fawn's? Do they stand out? Were all the +women of California tattooed in some Indian +raid--" + +Concha glanced about apprehensively, but not +even Santiago was there to see the dreadful deed. +With a defiant sweep of her hands she lifted both +loops of hair, and two little ears, rosy even in the +moonlight, commanded amends and more from +penitent lips. + +"No man has ever seen them before--since I +was a baby; not even my father and brothers," said +Concha, trembling between horror and rapture at +the tremendous surrender. "You will never remind +me of it. Ay yi! promise--Pedro mio!" + +"On condition that you promise not to confess +it. I should like to be sure that your mind belonged +as much to me and as little to others as possible. I +do not object to confession--we have it in our +church; but remember that there are other things +as sacred as your religion." + +She nodded. "I understand--better than you +understand Romanism. I must confess that I met +you to-night, but Father Abella is too discreet to +ask for more. It is such blessed memories that feed +the soul, and they would fly away on a whisper." + + + +XX + +The next morning Father Abella rode over to the +Presidio and was closeted for an hour with the +Commandante and the Governor. Then the three +rode down to the beach, entered a canoe, and paddled +out to the Juno. Rezanov met them on deck with a +gravity as significant as their own, but led them +at once to the cabin where wine, and the cigarettes +for which alone they would have counselled the +treaty, awaited them. + +The quartette pledged each other in an embar- +rassed silence, disposed of a moment more with ob- +durate matches. Don Jose inhaled audibly, then +lifted his eyes and met the veiled and steady gaze of +the Russian. + +"Senor," he said, "I have come to tell you that I +consent to your marriage with my daughter." + +"Thank you," said Rezanov. And their hands +clasped across the table. + +But this was far too simple for the taste of a +Governor. So important an occasion demanded +official dignity and many words. + +"Your excellency," he said severely, sitting very +erect, with one white hand on the table and the +other on the hilt of his sword (yet full of courtesy, +and longing to enjoy the cheer and conversation of +his host); "the peaceful monotony of our lives has +been rudely shaken by a demand upon three fallible +human beings to alter the course of history in two +great nations. That is a sufficient excuse for the +suspense to which we have been forced to subject +you. The marriage of a Russian and a Spaniard is +of no great moment in itself, but the marriage of +the Plenipotentiary of the Tsar himself with the +daughter of Jose Mario Arguello, not only one of +the most eminent, respected, and distinguished of +His Most Catholic Majesty's subjects in New Spain, +but a man so beloved and influential that he could +create a revolution were he so minded--indeed, +Jose, no one knows better than I how incapable you +are of treason"--as the Commandante gave a loud +exclamation of horror--"I merely illustrate and +emphasize. My sands are nearly run, Excellency; +it is to the estimable mind and strong paternal hand +of my friend that this miserable colony must look +before long, would she continue even this hand to +mouth existence--a fact well known to our king +and natural lord. When he hears of this projected +alliance--" + +"Projected?" exclaimed Rezanov. "I wish to +marry at once." + +Father Abella shook his head vigorously, but he +spoke with great kindness. "That, Excellency, alas, +is the one point upon which we are forced to dis- +appoint you. Indeed, our own submission to your +wishes is contingent. This marriage cannot take +place without a dispensation from Rome and the +consent of the King." + +Rezanov looked at Don Jose. "You, too?" he +asked curtly. + +The Commandante stirred uneasily, heaved a deep +sigh; he thought of the long impatience of his Con- +cha. "It is true," he said. "Not only would it +be impossible for my conscience to resign itself to +the marriage of my daughter with a heretic--par- +don, Excellency--without the blessing of the Pope; +not only would no priest in California perform the +ceremony until it arrived, but it would mean the +degradation of Governor Arrillaga and myself, and +the ruin of all your other hopes. We should be +ordered summarily to Mexico, perhaps worse, and +no Russian would ever be permitted to set foot in +the Californias again. I would it were otherwise. +I know--I know--but it is inevitable. Your excel- +lency must see it. Even were you a Catholic, Gov- +ernor Arrillaga and the President of the Missions, +at least, would not dare to countenance this mar- +riage without the consent of the King." + +Rezanov was silent for a few minutes. In spite +of the emotions of the past few days he was aston- +ished at the depth and keenness of his disappoint- +ment. But never yet had he failed to realize when +he was beaten, nor to trim his sails without loss +of precious time. + +"Very well," he said. "I will go to St. Peters- +burg at the earliest possible moment, obtain personal +letters from the Tsar and proceed post haste to +Rome and Madrid. At the same time I shall +arrange for the treaty with full authority from the +Tsar. Then I shall sail from Spain to Mexico and +reach here as soon as may be. It will take a long +while, the best part of two years; but I have your +word--" + +"You have," the three asserted with solemn em- +phasis. + +"Very well. But there is one thing more. I am +not in a diplomatic humor. My Sitkans are starv- +ing. I must leave here with a shipload of bread- +stuffs." + +Again the Governor drew up his slim soldierly +figure; deposited his cigarette on the malachite ash +tray. "You may be sure that we have given that +momentous question our deepest consideration. +Father Abella's suggestion that we buy your com- +modities for cash, and that with our Spanish dol- +lars you buy again of us, did not strike me favor- +ably at first, for it savored of sophistry. I may have +failed in every attempt to benefit and advance this +Godforsaken country, but at least I have been the +honest agent of my King. But the circumstances +are extraordinary. You are about to become one of +us, to do our unhappy colony the greatest service +that is in the power of any mortal, and personally +you have inspired us with affection and respect. I +have, therefore, decided that the exchange shall be +made on these terms, but that your cargo shall be +received by Don Jose Arguello, Commandante of +the San Francisco Company, and held in trust until +the formal consent of the King to the purchase shall +arrive." + +Rezanov glowed to his finger tips. Not even the +assurance of his union with the woman of his heart, +which after all had met but the skeleton of his de- +sires, gave him the acute satisfaction of this sud- +den fulfilment of his self-imposed mission. He +dropped his own official demeanor and throwing +himself across the table gripped the Governor's +hand while he poured out his thanks in a voice thick +with feeling, his eyes glittering with more than vic- +tory. He did not lose sight of his ultimate designs +and pledge himself to external friendship, but he un- +wittingly conveyed the impression that Spain had +that day made a friend she ill could afford to lose; +and his three visitors rose well pleased with the cul- +mination of the interview. + +"You must stay here no longer, Rezanov," said +Don Jose, as they were taking leave. "My house is +now literally your own. It will be some weeks be- +fore the large quantities of corn and flour and other +stores you wish can be got together--for we must +lay a requisition on the fertile Mission ranchos in +the valleys--and you will exchange these narrow +quarters for such poor comfort as my house affords +--I take no denial. Concha will remain at Juan +Moraga's for the present." + + + +XXI + +Concha, after her father left her, sat for a long +while in an attitude of such complete repose that +Sturgis, watching her miserably from the veranda, +remembered the consolations of his sketch book; +and he was able to counterfeit the graceful, proud +figure, under the wall and roses, before she stirred. + +Concha had sent her father away deeply puzzled. +When, after embracing her with unusual emotion, +he had informed her of his consent to her marriage, +she had received the news as a matter of course, +her hopes and desires having mounted too high to +contemplate a fall. Then the Commandante, after +dwelling at some length upon his discussions with +the Governor and the priests, and admonishing her +against conceiving herself too important a factor in +what might prove to be an alliance of international +moment (she had laughed merrily and called him +the most callous of parents and subtlest of diplo- +mats), had announced with some trepidation and his +most official manner that the consent of the Pope +and the King would be sought by Rezanov in per- +son, involving a delay and separation of not less +than two years. But to his surprise she did not fling +herself upon his neck with blandishments and tears. +She merely became quite still, her light high spirits +retreating as a breeze might before one of Nature's +sudden and portentous calms. Don Jose, after a +fruitless attempt to recapture her interest, mounted +his horse and rode away; and Concha sat down on +a bench under the wall and thought for an hour +without moving a finger. + +Her first sensation was one of bitter anger and +disappointment with Rezanov. He had, apparently, +in the first brief interview with their tribunal, given +his consent to this long delay of their nuptials. + +Her thoughts since his advent had flown on many +journeys and known little rest. She had been rudely +awakened and stripped of her girlish illusions in +those days and nights of battle between pride and +her dazzled womanhood when, in the new humility +of love, she believed herself to be but one of a hun- +dred pretty girls in the eyes of this accomplished and +fortunate Russian. The interval had been brief, +but not long enough for the grandeur in her nature to +awaken almost concurrently with her passions, and +she had planned a life, in which, guided and uplifted +by the star of fidelity, and delivered from the friv- +olous and commonplace temptations of other wom- +en, she should devote herself to the improvement +and instruction not only of the Indians but of the +youth of her own class. The schools founded by the +estimable and enterprising Borica had practically +disappeared, and she was by far the best educated +woman in California. For such there was a mani- +fest and an inexorable duty. She would live to be +old, she supposed, like all the Arguellos and +Moragas; but hidden in her unspotted soul would +be the flame of eternal youth, fed by an ideal and +a memory that would outlive her weary, insignifi- +cant body. And in it she would find her courage +and her inspiration, as well as an unwasting sym- +pathy for those she taught. + +Then had come the sudden and passionate woo- +ing of Rezanov. All other ideals and aspirations +had fled. She had alternated between the tragic +extremes of bliss and despair. So completely did +the ardor of her nature respond to his, so fierce and +primitive was the cry of her ego for its mate, that +she cared nothing for the distress of her parents +nor the fate of California. There is no love com- +plete without this early and absolute selfishness, +which is merely the furious determination of the +race to accomplish its object before the spirit +awakens and the passions cool. + +Last night life had seemed serious; she had been +girlishly, romantically happy. It is true that her +heart had thumped against the wall as he kissed her, +and that she had been full of a wild desire to sing, +although she could hardly shape and utter the words +that danced in her throbbing brain. But she had +been conscious through it all of the romantic circum- +stance, of the lonely beauty of the night, of the de- +lightful wickedness of meeting her lover in the si- +lence and the dark, even with a wall ten feet high be- +tween them. For the wall, indeed, she had been +confusedly and deliciously grateful. + +And this was what a man's love came to: ardors +by night and expedience by day! Or was it merely +that Rezanov was the man of affairs always, the +lover incidentally? But how could a man who had +seemed the very epitome of all the lovers of all the +world but a few hours before, contemplate, far less +permit, a separation of years? Poor Concha groped +toward the great unacceptable fact of life the whole, +lit by love its chief incident; and had a fleeting +vision of the waste lands in the lives of women oc- +cupied only with matrimony. But she dropped her +lashes upon this unalluring vision, and as she did so, +inevitably she began to excuse the man. + +None knew better than she every side of the great +question that was shaking not only her life but Cali- +fornia itself. Appeal from the dictum of state and +clergy would be a mere waste of time. The only +alternative was flight. That would mean the wreck +of Rezanov's avowed purposes in coming to this +quarter of New Spain, and perhaps of others she +dimly suspected. It would mean the very acme of +misery for his Sitkans, and an indefensible blow to +the Company. It might even prove the fatal mistake +in his career, for which his enemies were ever on the +alert. He was not communicative about himself +except when he had an object in view, but he had +told her something of his life, and his officers and +Langsdorff had told more. He was no silly cabal- +lero warbling and thrumming at her grating when +she longed for sleep, but a man in his forties whose +passions were in the leash of a remarkably acute +and ambitious brain. She even thrilled with pride +in his strength, for she knew how he loved her; and +although his part was action, her stimulated in- +stincts taught her that she would rarely be long from +his mind. And what was she to seek to roll +stumbling blocks into the career of a man like that? +In this very garden, for four long days, she had +dreamed exalted dreams of the manifold gifts she +should develop for his solace at home and his +worldly advancement. She had once felt all a +girl's impatience when her mother's tears made her +father's departure on some distant mission more +difficult than need be, and although she knew now +that her capacity for tenderness was as great, she +resolved to mould herself in a larger shape than +that. + +But she sighed and drooped a little. The burden +of woman's waiting seemed already to have de- +scended upon her. Two years were long--long. +There might be other delays. He might fall ill; he +had been ill before in that barbarous Russian north. +And in all that time it was doubtful if she received +a line from him, a hint of his welfare. The Boston +and British skippers came no more, and it was cer- +tain that no Russian ship would visit California +again until the treaty was signed and official news +of it had made its slow way to these uttermost +shores. She had resented, in her young ambition +and indocility, the chance that had stranded her, +equipped for civilization, on this rim of the world, +but never so much as in that moment, when she sat +with arrested breath and realized to the full the +primitive conditions of a country thousands of miles +from the very outposts of Europe, and with never +the sight of a letter that did not come from Spain +or one of her colonies. + +"Would that we lived a generation later," she +thought with a heavy sigh. Progress is almost +automatic, and to a land as fertile and desirable as +this the stream must turn in due course. But not +in my time. Not in my time." + +She rose and leaned her elbows in the embrasure +of the grille, where Santiago had restored the bars, +and looked out over the fields of grain planted by +the padres, the immense sand dunes beyond that +shut the lovely bay from sight; the hills embracing +the primitive scene in a frowning arc. With all her +imagination it was long before she could picture a +great city covering that immense and almost deserted +space. A pueblo in time, perhaps, for Rezanov had +awakened her mind to the importance of the har- +bor as a port of call. Many more adobe homes +where the sand was not hot and shifting, a few +ships in the bay when Spain had been compelled to +relax her jealous vigilance--or--who knew?--per- +haps!--a flourishing colony when the Russian bear +had devoured the Spanish lion. She knew some- +thing and suspected more of the rottenness and in- +efficiency of Spain, and, were Russia a nation of +Rezanovs, what opposition in California against the +tide thundering down from the north? Then, per- +haps, the city that had travelled from the brain of +the Russian to hers when the fog had rolled over +the heights; the towers and palaces and bazaars, the +thousand little golden domes with the slender cross +atop; the forts on the crags and the villas in the +hollows, and on all the island and hills. But when +she and her lover were dust. When she and her +lover were dust. + +But she was too young and too ardent to listen +long to the ravens of the spirit. Two years are not +eternity, and in happiness the past rolls together like +a scroll and is naught. She fell to dreaming. Her +lips that had been set with the gravity of stone re- +laxed in warm curves. The color came back to her +cheek, the light to her eyes. She was a girl at her +grating with the roses poignant above her, and the +world, radiant, alluring, and all for her, swimming +in the violet haze beyond. + + + +XXII + +Rezanov in those days was literally lord and mas- +ter at the Presidio. If he did not burn the house of +his devoted host he ran it to suit himself. He +turned one of its rooms into an office, where he re- +ceived the envoys from the different Missions and +examined the samples of everything submitted to +him, trusting little to his commissary. His leisure +he employed scouring the country or shooting deer +and quail in the company of his younger hosts. The +literal mind of Don Jose accepted him as an actual +son and embryonic California, and, his conscience +at peace, revelled in his society as a sign from +propitiated heaven; rejoicing in the virtue of his +years. The Governor, testily remarking that as +California was so well governed for the present he +would retire to Monterey and take a siesta, rode off +one morning, but not without an affectionate: "God +preserve the life of your excellency many years." + +But although Rezanov saw the most sanguine +hopes that had brought him to California fulfilled, +and although he looked from the mountain ridges +of the east over the great low valleys watered by +rivers and shaded by oaks, where enough grain +could be raised to keep the blood red in a thousand +times the colonial population of Russia, although he +felt himself in more and more abundant health, more +and more in love with life, it is not to be supposed +for a moment that he was satisfied. Concha he +barely saw. She remained with the Moragas, and +although she came occasionally to the afternoon +dances at the Presidio, and he had dined once at +her cousin's house, where the formal betrothal had +taken place and the marriage contract had been +signed in the presence of her family and more inti- +mate friends, the priests, his officers, and the Gov- +ernor, he had not spoken with her for a moment +alone. Nor had her eyes met his in a glance of +understanding. At the dances she showed him no +favor; and as the engagement was to be as secret +as might be in that small community, until his re- +turn with consent of Pope and King, he was forced +to concede that her conduct was irreproachable; but +when on the day of the betrothal she was oblivious +to his efforts to draw her into the garden, he +mounted his horse and rode off in a huff. + +The truth was that Concha liked the present +arrangement no better than himself, and knowing +that her own appeal against the proprieties would +result in a deeper seclusion, she determined to goad +him into using every resource of address and subtlety +to bring about a more human state of affairs. And +she accomplished her object. Rezanov, at the end +of a week was not only infuriated but alarmed. He +knew the imagination of woman, and guessed that +Concha, in her brooding solitude, distorted all that +was unfortunate in the present and dwelt morbidly +on the future. He knew that she must resent his +part in the long separation, no doubt his lack of im- +pulsiveness in not proposing elopement. There was +a priest in his company who, although he ate below +the salt and found his associates among the sailors, +could have performed the ceremony of marriage +when the Juno, under full sail in the night, was +scudding for the Russian north. It is not to be +denied that this romantic alternative appealed to +Rezanov, and had it not been for the starving +wretches so eagerly awaiting his coming he might +have been tempted to throw commercial relations to +the winds and flee with his bride while San Fran- +cisco, secure in the knowledge of the Juno's empty +hold, was in its first heavy sleep. It is doubtful if +he would have advanced beyond impulse, for Rez- +anov was not the man to lose sight of a purpose to +which he had set the full strength of his talents, +and life had tempered his impetuous nature with +much philosophy. Moreover, while his conscience +might ignore the double dealing necessary to the ac- +complishment of patriotic or political acts, it re- +volted at the idea of outwitting, possibly wrecking, +his trusting and hospitable host. But the mere +fact that his imagination could dwell upon such an +issue as reckless flight, inflamed his impatience, and +his desire to see Concha daily during these last few +weeks of propinquity. Finally, he sought the co- +operation of Father Abella--Santiago was in Mon- +terey--and that wise student of maids and men +gave him cheer. + +On Thursday afternoon there was to take place +the long delayed Indian dance and bull-bear fight; +not in the Presidio, but at the Mission, the pride of +the friars inciting them to succeed where the mili- +tary authorities had failed. All the little world of +San Francisco had been invited, and it would be +strange if in the confusion between performance +and supper a lover could not find a moment alone +with his lady. + +The elements were kind to the padres. The after- +noon was not too hot, although the sun flooded the +plain and there was not a cloud on the dazzling blue +of the sky. Never had the Mission and the man- +sions looked so white, their tiles so red. The trees +were blossoming pink and white in the orchards, the +lightest breeze rippled the green of the fields; and +into this valley came neither the winds nor the fogs +of the ocean. + +The priests and their guests of honor sat on the +long corridor beside the church; the soldiers, sailors, +and Indians of Presidio and Mission forming the +other three sides of a hollow square. The Indian +women were a blaze of color. The ladies on the +corridor wore their mantillas, jewels, and the gay- +est of artificial flowers. There were as many fans +as women. Rezanov sat between Father Abella and +the Commandante, and not being in the best of +tempers had never looked more imposing and re- +mote. Concha, leaning against one of the pillars, +stole a glance at him and wondered miserably if this +haughty European had really sought her hand, if it +were not a girl's foolish dream. But Concha's +humble moments at this period of her life were rare, +and she drew herself up proudly, the blood of the +proudest race in Europe shaking angrily in her +veins. A moment later, in response to a power +greater than any within herself, she turned again. +The attention of the hosts and guests was riveted +upon the preliminary antics of the Indian dancers, +and Rezanov seized the opportunity to lean forward +unobserved and gaze at the girl whom it seemed to +him he saw for the first time in the full splendor of +her beauty. She wore a large mantilla of white +Spanish lace. In the fashion of the day it rose at +the back almost from the hem of her gown to de- +scend in a point over the high comb to her eyes. +The two points of the width were gathered at her +breast, defining the outlines of her superb figure, +and fastened with one large Castilian rose sur- +rounded by its mass of tiny sharp buds and dull +green leaves. As the familiar scent assailed Rez- +anov's nostrils they tingled and expanded. His +lids were lifted and his eyes glowing as he finally +compelled her glance, and her own eyes opened +with an eager flash; her lips parted and her should- +ers lost their haughty poise. For a moment their +gaze lingered in a perfect understanding; his ill- +humor vanished, and he leaned back with a compli- +mentary remark as Father Abella directed his atten- +tion to the most agile of the Indians. + +The swart natives of both sexes with their thick +features and long hair were even more hideous than +usual in bandeaux of bright feathers, scant gar- +ments made from the breasts of water-fowls, +rattling strings of shells, and tattooing on arm and +leg no longer concealed by the decorous Mission +smock. Rezanov had that day sent them presents +of glass beads and ribbons, and in these they took +such extravagant pride that for some time their +dancing was almost automatic. + +But soon their blood warmed, and after the first +dance, which was merely a series of measured +springs on the part of the men and a beating of time +by the women, a large straw figure symbolizing an +entire hostile tribe was brought in, and about this +pranced the men with savage cries and gestures, ad- +vancing, attacking, retreating, finally piercing it with +their arrows and marching it off with sharp yells +of triumph that reverberated among the hills; the +women never varying from a loud monotonous +chant. + +There was a peaceful interlude, during which the +men, holding bow and arrow aloft, hopped up and +down on one spot, the women hopping beside them +and snapping thumb and forefinger on the body, +still singing in the same high measured voice. But +while they danced a great bonfire was laid and +kindled. The gyrations lasted a few minutes longer, +then the chief seized a live ember and swallowed it. +His example was immediately followed by his tribe, +and, whether to relieve discomfort or with energies +but quickened, they executed a series of incredible +handsprings and acrobatic capers. When they +finally whirled away on toes and finger tips, another +chief, in the horns and hide of a deer, rushed in, +pursued by a party of hunters. For several mo- +ments he perfectly simulated a hunted animal +lurking and dodging in high grass, behind trees, +venturing to the brink of a stream to drink, search- +ing eagerly for his mate; and when he finally escaped +it was amidst the most enthusiastic plaudits as yet +evoked. + +After an hour of this varied performance, the +square was enlarged by several mounted vaqueros +galloping about with warning cries and much flour- +ishing of lassos. They were the cattle herders of +the Mission ranch just over the hills, and were in +gala attire of black glazed sombrero with silver +cord, white shirt open at the throat, short black vel- +vet trousers laced with silver, red sash and high yel- +low boots. Four, pistol in hand, stationed them- +selves in front of the corridor, while the others rode +out and in again, dragging a bear and a bull, with +hind legs attached by two yards of rope. The cap- +tors left the captives in the middle of the square, +and without more ado the serious sport of the day +began. The bull, with stomach empty and hide in- +flamed, rushed at the bear, furious from captivity, +with such a roar that the Indian women screamed +and even the men shuffled their feet uneasily. But +neither combatant was interested in aught but the +other. The one sought to gore, his enemy to strike +or hug. The vaqueros teased them with arrows +and cries, the dust flew; for a few moments there +was but a heaving, panting, lashing bulk in the +middle of the arena, and then the bull, his tongue +torn out, rolled on his back, and another was driven +in before the victor could wreak his unsated ven- +geance among the spectators. The bear, dragging +the dead bull, rushed at the living, who, unmartial +at first, stiffened to the defensive as he saw a bulk +of wiry fur set with eyes of fire, almost upon him. +He sprang aside, lowered his horn and caught the +bear in the chest. But the victor was a compact +mass of battle and momentum. His onslaught +flung the bear over backward, and quickly disen- +gaging himself he made another leap at his equally +agile enemy. This time the battle was longer and +more various, for the bull was smaller, more active +and dexterous. Twice he almost had the bear on his +horns, but was rolled, only saving his neck and back +from the fury of the mountain beast by such kick- +ing and leaping that both combatants were indis- +tinguishable from the whirlwind of dust. Out of +this they would emerge to stand panting in front +of each other with tongues pendant and red eyes +rolling. Finally the bear, nearly exhausted, made +a sudden charge, the bull leaped aside, backed again +with incredible swiftness, caught the bear in the +belly, tossed him so high that he met the hard earth +with a loud cracking of bone. The vaqueros circled +about the maddened bull, set his hide thick with ar- +rows, tripped him with the lasso. A wiry little +Mexican in yellow, galloping in on his mustang, ad- +ministered the coup de grace amidst the wild +applause of the spectators, whose shouting and +clapping and stamping might have been heard by +the envious guard at the Presidio and Yerba Buena. + +As the party on the corridor broke, Rezanov +found no difficulty in reaching Concha's side, for +even Dona Ignacia was chattering wildly with sev- +eral other good dames who renewed their youth +briefly at the bull-fight. + +"Did you enjoy that?" he asked curiously. + +"I did not look at it. I never do. But I know +that you were not affronted. You never took your +eyes from those dreadful beasts." + +"I am exhilarated to know that you watched me. +Yes, at a bull-fight the primitive man in me has its +way, although I have the grace to be ashamed of +myself afterward. In that I am at least one degree +more civilized than your race, which never repents." + +The door of one of the smaller rooms stood open, +and as they took advantage of this oversight with +a singular concert of motive, he clasped both her +hands in his. "Are you angry with me?" he asked +softly. He dared not close the door, but his back +was square against it, and the other guests were +moving down to the refectory. + +"For liking such horrid sport?" + +"We have no time to waste in coquetry." + +Her eyes melted, but she could not resist planting +a dart. "Not now--I quite understand: love could +never be first with you. And two years are not so +long. They quickly pass when one is busy. I shall +find occupation, and you will have no time for long- +ings and regrets." + +They were not yet alone, women were talking in +their light, high voices not a yard away. The hin- +drance, and her new loveliness in the soft mantilla, +the pink of the roses reflected in her throat, the +provocative curl of her mouth, sent the blood to his +head. + +"You have only to say the word," he said +hoarsely, "and the Juno will sail to-night." + +Never before had she seen his face so unmasked. +Her voice shook in triumph and response. + +"Would you? Would you?" + +"Say the word!" + +"You would sacrifice all--the Company--your +career--your Sitkans?" + +"All--everything." His own voice shook with +more than passion, for even in that moment he +counted the cost, but he did not care. + +But Concha detected that second break in his +voice, and turned her head sadly. + +"You would not say that to-morrow. I hate my- +self that I made you say it now. I love you enough +to wait forever, but I have not the courage to hand +you over to your enemies." + +"You are strangely far-sighted for a young girl." +And between admiration and pique, his ardor suf- +fered a chill. + +"I am no longer a young girl. In these last days +it has seemed to me that secrets locked in my brain, +secrets of women long dead, but of whose essence I +am, have come forth to the light. I have suffered +in anticipation. My mind has flown--flown--I +have lived those two years until they are twenty, +thirty, and I have lived on into old age here by the +sea, watching, watching--" + +She had dropped all pretence of coquetry and +was speaking with a passionate forlornness. But +before he could interrupt her, take advantage of the +retreating voices that left them alone at last, she +had drawn herself up and moved a step away. "Do +not think, however," she said proudly, "that I am +really as weak and silly as that. It was only a +mood. Should you not return I should grieve, yes; +and should I live as long as is common with my +race, still would my heart remain young with your +image, and with the fidelity that would be no less a +religion than that of my church. But I should not +live a selfish life, or I should be unworthy of my +election to experience a great and eternal passion. +Memory and the life of the imagination would be +my solace, possibly in time my happiness, but my +days I should give to this poor little world of ours; +and all that one mortal, and that a woman, has to +bestow upon a stranded and benighted people. It +may not be much, but I make you that promise, +senor, that you will not think me a foolish, romantic +girl, unworthy of the great responsibilities you have +offered me." + +"Concha!" He was deeply moved, and at the +same time her words chilled him with subtle +prophecy, sank into some unexplored depth of his +consciousness, meeting response as subtle, filling +him with impatience at the mortality of man. He +glanced over his shoulder, then took her recklessly +in his arms. + +"Is it possible you doubt I will come back?" he +demanded. "My faith?" + +"No, not that. But such happiness seems to me +too great for this life." + +He remembered how often he had been close to +death; he knew that during the greater part of the +next two years he should see the glimmer of the +scythe oftener yet. For a moment it seemed to +him that he felt the dark waters rise in his soul, +heard the jeers of the gods at the vanity of mortal +will. But the blood ran strong and warm in his +veins. He shook off the obsession, and smiled a +little cynically, even as he kissed her. + +"This is the hour for romance, my dear. In the +years to come, when you are very prosaically my +wife with a thousand duties, and grumbling at my +exactions, your consolation will be the memory of +some moment like this, when you were able to feel +romantic and sad. I wish I could arrange for +some such set of memories for myself, but I am +unequal to your divine melancholy. When I can- +not see you I am cross and sulky; and just now--I +am, well--philosophically happy. Some day I shall +be happier, but this is well enough. And I can har- +bor no ugly presentiments. As I entered California +I was elated with a sense of coming happiness, of +future victories; and I prefer to dwell upon that, +the more particularly as in a measure the prophetic +hint has been fulfilled. So make the most of the +present. I shall see you daily during this last +precious fortnight, for I am determined this +arrangement shall cease; and you must exorcise +coquetry and abet me whenever there is a chance +of a word alone." + +She nodded, but she noted with a sigh that he +said no more of sudden flight. She would never +have consented to jeopardize the least of his inter- +ests, but she fain would have been besought. +The experience she had had of the vehemence +and fire in Rezanov made her long for his complete +subjugation and the happiness it must bring to her- +self. But as he smiled tenderly above her she saw +that his practical brain had silenced the irresponsible +demands of love, and although she did not with- +draw from his arms she stiffened her head. + +"I fancy I shall return home to-morrow," she +said. "My mother tells me that she can live with- +out me no longer, and that Father Abella has re- +minded her that if I stay in the house of Elena Cas- +tro I shall be as free from gossip as here. I infer +that he has rated my two parents for making a +martyr of me unnecessarily, and told them it was +a duty to enliven my life as much as possible before +I enter upon this long period of probation. The grat- +ing of my room at Elena's is above a little strip of +Garden, and faces the blank wall of the next house. +Sometimes--who knows?" She shrugged her +shoulders and gave a gay little laugh, then stood +very erect and moved past him to the door. She +had recognized the shuffling step of Father Abella. + +"Is supper ready, padre mio?" she asked sweetly. +"His excellency and I have talked so much that we +are very hungry." + +"There is no need to deceive me," said Father +Abella dryly. "You are not the first lovers I have +known, although I will admit you are by far the +most interesting, and for that reason I have had the +wickedness to abet you. But I fancy the good God +will forgive me. Come quickly. They are scat- +tered now, but will go to the refectory in a moment +and miss you. Excellency, will you give your arm +to Dona Ignacia and take the seat at the head of the +table? Concha, my child, I am afraid you must +console our good Don Weeliam. He is having a +wretched quarter of an hour, but has loyally diverted +the attention of your mother." + +"That is the vocation of certain men," said Con- +cha lightly. + + + +XXIII + +Life was very gay for a fortnight. An hour after +the Commandante's surrender he had despatched +invitations to all the young folk of the gente de +razon of Monterey, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, +and San Diego, and to such of the older as would +brave the long journeys. The Monterenos had +arrived for the Mission entertainment, and during +the next few days the rest poured over the hills: +De la Guerras, Xime'nos, Estudillos, Carrillos, +Este'negas, Morenos, Cotas, Estradas, Picos, +Pachecos, Lugos, Orte'gas, Alvarados, Bandinis, +Peraltas, members of the Luis, Rodriguez, Lopez +families, all of gentle blood, that made up the +society of Old California; as gay, arcadian, irre- +sponsible, yet moral a society as ever fluttered over +this planet. Every house in the Presidio and val- +ley, every spare room at the Mission, opened to +them with the exuberant hospitality of the country. +The caballeros had their finest wardrobes of col- +lored silks and embroidered botas, sombreros laden +with silver, fine lawn and lace, jewel and sash, vel- +vet serape for the chill of the late afternoon. The +matrons brought their stiff robes of red and yellow +satin, the girls as many flowered silks and lawns, +mantillas and rebosos, as the family carretas would +hold. The square of the Presidio was crowded +from morning until midnight with the spirited +horses of the country, prancing impatiently under +the heavy Mexican saddle, heavier with silver, made +a trifle more endurable by the blanket of velvet or +cloth. No Californian walked a dozen rods when +he had a horse to carry him. + +But the horses were not always champing in the +square. There was more than one bull-bear fight, +and twice a week at least they carried their owners +to the hills of the Mission ranch, or the rocky cliffs +and gorges above Yerba Buena, the Indian servants +following with great baskets of luncheon, perhaps +roasting an ox whole in a trench. This the Cali- +fornians called barbecue and the picnic merienda. + +There was dancing day and night, the tinkling of +guitars, flirting of fans. Rezanov vowed he would +not have believed there were so many fans and +guitars in the world, and suddenly remembered he +had never seen Concha with either. The lady of +his choice reigned supreme. Many had taken the +long blistering journey for no other purpose than +to see the famous beauty and her Russian; the en- +gagement was as well known as if cried from the +Mission top. The girls were surprised and de- +lighted to find Concha sweet rather than proud and +envied her with amiable enthusiasm. The cabal- +leros, fewer in number, for most of the men in +California at that period before a freer distribution +of land were on duty in the army, artfully ignored +the unavowed bond, but liked Rezanov when he took +the trouble to charm them. + +Khostov and Davidov watched the loading of the +Juno with a lively regret. Never had they enjoyed +themselves more, nor seen so many pretty girls in +one place. Both had begun by falling in love with +Concha, and although they rebounded swiftly from +the blow to their hopes, it happily saved them from +a more serious dilemma; unwealthed and graceless +as they were, they would have been regarded with +little favor by the practical California father. As +it was, their pleasures were unpoisoned by regrets +or rebuffs. When they were not flirting in the dance +or in front of a lattice, receiving a lesson in Spanish +behind the portly back of a duena, or clasping brown +little fingers under cover of a fan when all eyes +were riveted on the death struggle of a bull and a +bear, they were playing cards and drinking in the +officers' quarters; which they liked almost as well. +It is true they sometimes paid the price in a cutting +rebuke from their chief, but the rebukes were not +as frequent as in less toward circumstances, and were +generally followed by some fresh indulgence. This, +they uneasily guessed, was not only the result of +the equable state of his excellency's temper, but be- +cause he had a signal unpleasantness in store, and +would not hazard their resignation. They had +taken advantage of an imperial ukase to enter the +service of the Russian-American Company tempor- +arily, and they knew that if they evaded any be- +hest of Rezanov's their adventurous life in the Pa- +cific would be over. Therefore, although they re- +sented his implacable will, they pulled with him in +outward amity; and indeed there were few of the +Juno's human freight that did not look back upon +that California springtime as the episode of their +lives, commonly stormy or monotonous, in which +the golden tide flowed with least alloy. Even +Langsdorff, although impervious to female charms +and with scientific thirst unslaked, enjoyed the +Spanish fare and the society of the priests. The +sailors received many privileges, attended bull-fights +and fandangos, loved and pledged; and were only +restrained from emigration to the interior of this +enchanted land of pretty girls and plentiful food +by the knowledge of the sure and merciless venge- +ance of their chief. Had the rumor of war still held +it might have been otherwise, but that raven had +flown off to the limbo of its kind, and the Com- +mandante let it be known that deserters would be +summarily captured and sent in irons to the Juno. + +In the mind of Concha Arguello there was never +a lingering doubt of the quality of that fortnight +between the days of torturing doubts and acute emo- +tional upheaval, and the sailing away of Rezanov. +It was true that what he banteringly termed her +romantic sadness possessed her at times, but it +served as a shadow to throw into sharper relief an +almost incredible happiness. If she seldom saw +Rezanov alone there was the less to disturb her, and +at least he was never far from her side. There were +always the delight of unexpected moments unseen, +whispered words in the crowd, the sense of com- +plete understanding, broken now and again by poig- +nant attacks of unreasoning jealousy, not only on +her part but his; quite worth the reconciliation at +the lattice, while Elena Castro, gentle duena, pitched +her voice high and amused her husband so well he +sought no opportunity for response. + +Then there was more than one excursion about +the bay on the Juno, dinner on La Bellissima or +Nuestra Senora de los Angeles, a long return after +sundown that the southerners might appreciate the +splendor of the afterglow when the blue of the +water was reflected in the lower sky, to melt into +the pink fire above, and all the land swam in a pearly +mist. + +Once the Commandante took twenty of his guests, +a gay cavalcade, to his rancho, El Pilar, thirty miles +to the south: a long valley flanked by the bay and +the eastern mountains on the one hand, and a high +range dense with forests of tall thin trees on the +other. But the valley itself was less Californian +than any part of the country Rezanov had seen. +Smooth and flat and free of undergrowth and set +with at least ten thousand oaks, it looked more like +a splendid English park, long preserved, than the +recent haunt of naked savages. There were deer +and quail in abundance, here and there an open field +of grain. Long beards of pale green moss waved +from the white oaks, wild flowers, golden red and +pale blue, burst underfoot. There were hedges of +sweet briar, acres of lupins, purple and yellow. Al- +together the ideal estate of a nobleman; and Reza- +nov, who had liked nothing in California so well, +gave his imagination rein and saw the counterpart +of the castle of his ancestors rise in the deep shade +of the trees. + +Don Jose's house was a long rambling adobe, red +tiled, with many bedrooms and one immense hall. +Beyond were a chapel and a dozen outbuildings. +Dinner was served in patriarchal style in the hall, +the Commandante--or El padrone as he was known +here--and his guests at the upper end of the table; +below the salt, the vaqueros, their wives and chil- +dren, and the humble friar who drove them to +prayer night and morning. The friar wore his +brown robes, the vaqueros their black and silver +and red in honor of the company, their women glar- +ing handkerchiefs of green or red or yellow about +their necks, even pinned back and front on their +shapeless garments; and affording a fine vegetable +garden contrast to the delicate flower bed surround- +ing the padrone. + +There was a race track on the ranch and many +fine horses. After siesta the company mounted +fresh steeds and rode off to applaud the feats of the +vaqueros, who, not content with climbing the greased +pole, wrenching the head of an unfortunate rooster +from his buried body as they galloped by, submit- +ting the tail of an oiled pig in full flight to the +same indignity, gave when these and other native +diversions were exhausted, such exhibitions of rid- +ing and racing as have never been seen out of Cali- +fornia. As lithe as willow wands, on slender horses +as graceful as themselves, they looked like meteors +springing through space, and there was no trick of +the circus they did not know by instinct, and trans- +late from gymnastics into poetry. Even Rezanov +shared the excitement of the shouting, clapping +Californians, and Concha laughed delightedly when +his cap waved with the sombreros. + +"I think you will make a good Californian in +time," she said as they rode homeward. + +"Perhaps," said Rezanov musingly. His eyes +roved over the magnificent estate and at the mo- +ment they entered a portion of it that deepened to +woods, so dense was the undergrowth, so thick the +oak trees. Here there was but a glimpse, now and +again, of the mountains swimming in the dark blue +mist of the late afternoon, the moss waved thickly +from the ancient trees; over even the higher branches +of many rolled a cascade of small brittle leaves, with +the tempting opulence of its poisonous sap. The +path was very abrupt, cut where the immense spread- +ing trees permitted, and Rezanov and Concha had +no difficulty in falling away from the chattering, +excited company. + +"Tell me your ultimate plans, Pedro mio," said +Concha softly. "You are dreaming of something +this moment beyond corn and treaties." + +"Do you want that final proof?" he asked, smil- +ing. "Well, if I could not trust you that would be +the end of everything, and I know that I can. I +have long regarded California as an absolutely +necessary field of supplies, and since I have come +here I will frankly say that could I, as the represen- +tative of the Tsar in all this part of the world, make +it practically my own, I should be content in even +a permanent exile from St. Petersburg. I could at- +tract an immense colony here and in time import +libraries and works of art, laying the foundation of +a great and important city on that fine site about +Yerba Buena. But now that these kind people have +practically adopted me I cannot repay their hospi- +tality by any overt act of hostility. I must be con- +tent either slowly to absorb the country, in which +case I shall see no great result in my lifetime, or-- +and for this I hope--what with the mess Bonaparte +is making of Europe, every state may be at the +others' throat before long, including Russia and +Spain. At all events, a cause for rupture would +not be far to seek, and it would need no instigation +of mine to despatch a fleet to these shores. In that +case I should be sent with it to take possession in +the name of the Tsar, and to deal with these simple, +kind--and inefficient people, my dear girl--as no +other Russian could. They cannot hold this coun- +try. Spain could not--would not, at all events, for +she has not troops enough here to protect a territory +half its size--hold it against even the 'Americans,' +should they in time feel strong enough to push their +way across the western wilderness. It is the destiny +of this charming Arcadia to disappear; and did +Russia forego an opportunity to appropriate a do- +main that offers her literally everything except civil- +ization, she would be unworthy of her place among +nations. Moreover--a beneficent triumph impossi- +ble to us otherwise--with a powerful and flourish- +ing colony up and down this coast, and sending +breadstuffs regularly to our other possessions in +these waters until the natives, immigrants, and exiles +were healthy, vitalized beings, it would be but a +question of a few years before we should force open +the doors of China and Japan." He caught Concha +from her horse and strained her to him in the mount- +ing ardor of his plunge down the future. "You +must resent nothing!" he cried. "You must cease +to be a Spanish woman when you become my wife, +and help me as only you can in those inevitable +years I have mapped out; and not so much for +myself as for Russia. My enemies have sought to +persuade three sovereigns that I am a visionary, but +I have already accomplished much that met with +resentment and ridicule when I broached it. And I +know my powers! I tingle with the knowledge of +my ability to carry to a conclusion every plan I +have thought worth the holding when the ardor of +conception was over. I swear to you that death +alone--and I believe that nothing is further aloof-- +shall prevent my giving this country to Russia be- +fore five years have passed, and within another brief +span the trade of China and Japan. It is a glorious +destiny for a man--one man!--to pass into history +as the Russian of his century who has done most +to add to the extent and the wealth and the power +of his empire! Does that sound vainglorious, and +do you resent it? You must not, I tell you, you +must not!" + +Concha had never seen him in such a mood. Al- +though he held her so closely that the horses were +angrily biting each other, she felt that for once there +was nothing personal in his ardor. His eyes were +blazing, but they stared as if a great and prophetic +panorama had risen in this silent wood, where the +long faded moss hung as motionless as if by those +quiet waters that even the most ardent must cross +in his time. She felt his heart beat as she had felt +it before against her soft breast, but she knew that +if he thought of her at all it was but as a part of +himself, not as the woman he impatiently desired. +But she was sensible of no resentment, either for +herself or her race, which, indeed, she knew to be +but a wayfarer in the wilderness engaged in a brief +chimerical enterprise. For the first time she felt +her individuality melt into, commingle with his: and +when he lowered his gaze, still with that intensity +of vision piercing the future, her own eyes reflected +the impersonalities of his; and in time he saw it. + + + +XXIV + +"We should all wear black for so mournful an oc- +casion," said Rafaella Sal, spreading out her scarlet +skirts. + +"Father Abella is right. The occasion is sad +enough without giving it the air of a funeral." + +"Sad! Dios de mi alma! Will he return?" + +Elena Castro shook her wise head. She was +nearly twenty, and four years of matrimony had +made her sceptical of man's capacity for romance. +"Two years are long, and he will see many girls, +and become one again of a life that is always more +brilliant than our sun in May. His eyes will be +dazzled, his mind distracted, full to the brim. To +sit at table with the Tsar, to talk with him alone in +his cabinet, to have for the asking audience of the +Pope of Rome and the King of Spain! Ay yi! Ay +yi! Perhaps he will be made a prince when he re- +turns to St. Petersburg and all the beautiful prin- +cesses will want to marry him. Can he remember +this poor little California, and even our lovely Con- +cha? I doubt! Valgame Dios, I doubt!" + +"Concha has always been too fortunate," said +Rafaella with a touch of spite, for years of waiting +had tried her temper and the sun always freckled +her nose. The flower of California stood on the +corridor of the Mission and before the church await- +ing the guest of honor and his escort. A mass was +to be said in behalf of the departing guests; the +Juno would sail with the turn of the afternoon tide. +Men and women were in their gayest finery, an ex- +otic mass of color against the rough white-washed +walls, chattering as vivaciously as if the burden of +their conversation were not regret for the Chamber- +lain and his gay young lieutenants. Concha, alone, +wore no color; her frock was white, her mantilla +black. She stood somewhat apart, but although she +was pale she commanded her eyes to dwell absently +on the shifting sand far down the valley, her +haughty Spanish profile betraying nothing of the +despair in her soul. + +"Yes, Concha has always been too fortunate," re- +peated Rafaella. "Why should she be chosen for +such a destiny--to go to the Russian court and wear +a train ten yards long of red velvet embroidered +with gold, a white veil spangled with gold, a head- +dress a foot high set so thick with jewels her head +will ache for a week--Madre de Dios! And we +stay here forever with white walls, horsehair fur- +niture, Baja California pearls and three silk dresses +a year!" + +"No one in all Russia will look so grand in court +dress as our Conchita," said Elena loyally. "But I +doubt if it is the dress and the state she thinks of +losing to-day. She will not talk even to me of +him-- Ay yi! she grows more reserved every +day, our Concha!--except to say she will wed him +when he returns, and that I know, for did not I +witness the betrothal? She only mocks me when I +beg her to tell me if she loves him, languishes, or +sings a bar of some one of our beautiful songs with +ridiculous words. But she does. She did not sleep +last night. Her room is next to mine. No, it is of +Rezanov she thinks, and always. Those proud, +silent girls, who jest when others would weep and +use many words and must die without sympathy-- +they have tragedy in their souls, ay yi! And you +think she is fortunate? True she is beautiful, she +is La Favorita, she receives many boxes from Mex- +ico, and she has won the love of this Russian. But +--I have not dared to remind her--I remembered it +only yesterday--she came into this world on the +thirteenth of a month, and he into her life but one +day before the thirteenth of another--new style! +True some might say that it was an escape, but if +he came on the twelfth, it was on the thirteenth she +began to love him--on the night of the ball; of +that I am sure." + +Rafaella shuddered and crossed herself. "Poor +Concha! Perhaps in the end she will always stand +apart like that. Truly she is not as others. I +have always said it. Thanks be to Mary it was +Luis that wooed me, not the Russian, for I might +have been tempted. True his eyes are blue, and +only the black could win my heart. But the court +of St. Petersburg! Dios de mi vida! Did I lie +awake at night and think of Concha Arguello in red +velvet and jewels all over, I should hate her. But +no--to-day--I cannot. Two years! Have I not +waited six? It is eternity when one loves and is +young." + +"They come," said Elena. + +The cavalcade was descending the sand hills on +the left, Rezanov in full uniform between the Com- +mandante and Luis Arguello and followed by a +picked escort of officers from Presidio and Fort. +The Californians wore full-dress uniform of white +and scarlet, Don Jose a blue velvet serape, embroid- +ered in gold with the arms of Spain. + +As they dismounted Rezanov bowed ceremoni- +ously to the party on the corridor, and they returned +his salutation gravely, suddenly silent. He walked +directly over to Concha. + +"We will go in together," he said. "It matters +nothing what they think. I kneel beside no one +else." + +And Concha, with the air of leading an honored +guest to the banquet, turned and walked with him +into the dark little church. + +"Why did you not wear a white mantilla?" he +whispered. "I do not like that black thing." + +"I am not a bride. I knew we should kneel to- +gether--it would have been ridiculous. And I could +not wear a colored reboso to-day." + +"I should have liked to fancy we were here for +our nuptials. Delusions pass but are none the less +sweet for that." + +They knelt before the altar, the Commandante, +Dona Ignacia, Luis, Santiago, Rafaella Sal and +Elena Castro just behind; the rest of the party, +their bright garments shimmering vaguely in the +gloom, as they listened; and enough fervent prayers +went up to insure the health and safety of the de- +parting guests for all their lives. + +Rezanov, who had much on his mind, stared +moodily at the altar until Concha, who had bowed +her head almost to her knees, finished her suppli- +cation; then their eyes turned and met simultane- +ously. For a moment their brains did swim in the +delusion that the priest with his uplifted hands pro- +nounced benediction upon their nuptials, that proba- +tion was over and union nigh. But Father Abella +dismissed all with the same blessing, and they shiv- +ered as they rose and walked slowly down the +church. + +Dona Ignacia took her husband's arm, and mut- +tering that she feared a chill, hurried the others +before her. The priests had gone to the sacristy. +Before they reached the door Rezanov and Concha +were alone. + +His hands fell heavily on her shoulders. + +"Concha," he said, "I shall come back if I live. I +make no foolish vows, so idle between us. There +is only one power that can prevent our marriage in +this church not later than two years from to-day. +And although I am in the very fulness of my health +and strength, with my work but begun, and all my +happiness in the future, and even to a less sanguine +man it would seem that his course had many years +to run, still have I seen as much as any man of the +inconsequence of life, of the insignificance of the +individual, his hopes, ambitions, happiness, and even +usefulness, in the complicated machinery of natural +laws. It may be that I shall not come back. But +I wish to take with me your promise that if I have +not returned at the end of two years or you have +received no reason for my detention, you will be- +lieve that I am dead. There would be but one in- +supportable drop in the bitterness of death, the doubt +of your faith in my word and my love. Are you +too much of a woman to curb your imagination in +a long unbroken silence?" + +"I have learned so much that one lesson more is +no tax on my faith. And I no longer live in a +world of little things. I promise you that I shall +never falter nor doubt." + +He bent his head and kissed her for the first time +without passion, but solemnly, as had their nuptials +indeed been accomplished, and the greater mystery +of spiritual union isolated them for a moment in +that twilight region where the mortal part did not +enter. + +As they left the church they saw that all the In- +dians of the Mission and neighborhood, in a gala of +color, had gathered to cheer the Russians as they +rode away. Concha was to return as she had come, +beside the carreta of her mother, and as Rezanov +mounted his horse she stood staring with unseeing +eyes on the brilliant, animated scene. Suddenly she +heard a suppressed sob, and felt a touch on her +skirt. She looked round and saw Rosa, kneeling +close to the church. For a moment she continued +to stare, hardly comprehending, in the intense con- +centration of her faculties, that tangible beings, +other than herself and Rezanov, still moved on the +earth. Then her mind relaxed. She was normal +in a normal world once more. She stooped and +patted the hands clasping her skirts. + +"Poor Rosa!" she said. "Poor Rosa!" + + +Over the intense green of islands and hills were +long banners of yellow and purple mist, where the +wild flowers were lifting their heads. The whole +quivering bay was as green as the land, but far +away the mountains of the east were pink. Where +there was a patch of verdure on the sand hills the +warm golden red of the poppy flaunted in the sun- +shine. All nature was in gala attire like the Cali- +fornians themselves, as the Juno under full sail sped +through "The Mouth of the Gulf of the Faral- +lones." Fort San Joaquin saluted with seven guns; +the Juno returned the compliment with nine. The +Commandante, his family and guests, stood on the +hill above the fort, cheering, waving sombreros and +handkerchiefs. Wind and tide carried the ship +rapidly out the straits. Rezanov dropped the +cocked hat he had been waving and raised his field- +glass. Concha, as ever, stood a little apart. As +the ship grew smaller and the company turned +toward the Presidio, she advanced to the edge of +the bluff. The wind lifted her loosened mantilla, +billowing it out on one side, and as she stood with +her hands pressed against her heart, she might, save +for her empty arms, have been the eidolon of the +Madonna di San Sisto. In her eyes was the same +expression of vague arrested horror as she looked +out on that world of menacing imperfections the +blind forces of nature and man had created; her +body was instinct with the same nervous leashed im- +potent energy. + + + +XXV + +The white rain clouds, rolling as ever like a nervous +intruder over the great snow peaks behind the steep +hills black with forest that rose like a wall back of +the little settlement of Sitka, parted for a moment, +and the sun, a coy disdainful guest, flung a glitter- +ing mist over what Nature had intended to be one +of the most enchanting spots on earth, until, in a +fit of ill-temper--with one of the gods, no doubt-- +she gave it to Niobe as a permanent outlet for her +discontent. When it does not rain at Sitka it pours, +and when once in a way she draws a deep breath of +respite and lifts her grand and glorious face to the +sun, in pathetic gratitude for dear infrequent favor, +comes a wild flurry of snow or a close white fog +from the inland waters; and, like a great beauty +condemned to wear a veil through life, she can but +stare in dumb resentment through the folds, consol- +ing herself with the knowledge that could the world +but see it must surely worship. Perhaps, who +knows? she really is a frozen goddess, condemned +to the veil for infidelity to him imprisoned in the +great volcano across the sound--who sends up a +column of light once in a way to dazzle her shrouded +eyes, and failing that batters her with rock and +stone like any lover of the slums. One day he +spat forth a rock like a small hill, and big enough +to dominate the strip of lowland at least, standing +out on the edge of the island like a guard at the +gates, and never a part of the alien surface. Be- +tween this lofty rock and the forest was the walled +settlement of New Archangel, that Baranhov, the +dauntless, had wrested from the bloodthirsty Kolosh +but a short time since and purposed to hold in the +interest of the Russian-American Company. His +log hut, painted like the other buildings with a yel- +low ochre found in the soil, stood on the rock, and +his glass swept the forest as often as the sea. + +As Rezanov, on the second of July, thirty-one +days after leaving San Francisco, sailed into the +harbor with its hundred bits of volcanic woodland +weeping as ever, he gave a whimsical sigh in trib- +ute to the gay and ever-changing beauties of the +southern land, but was in no mood for sentimental +reminiscence. Natives, paddling eagerly out to sea +in their bidarkas to be the first to bring in good +news or bad, had given him a report covering the +period of his absence that filled him with dismay. +There had been deaths from scurvy; one of the +largest ships belonging to the Company had been +wrecked and the entire cargo lost; of a hunting +party of three hundred Aleuts in one hundred and +forty bidarkas, which had gone from Sitka to +Kadiak in November of the preceding year, not one +had arrived at its destination, and there was reason +to believe that all had been drowned or massacred; +and the Russians and Aleuts at Behring's Bay settle- +ment had been exterminated by one of the native +tribes. + +But the Juno was received with salvos of artil- +lery from the fort, and cheered by the entire popu- +lation of the settlement, crowded on the beach. +Baranhov, looking like a monkey with a mummy's +head in which only a pair of incomparably shrewd +eyes still lived, his black wig fastened on his bald, +red-fringed pate with a silk handkerchief tied under +his chin, stood, hands on hips, shaking with excite- +ment and delight. The bearded, long-haired priests, +in full canonicals of black and gold, were beside the +Chief-Manager, ready to escort the Chamberlain to +the chapel at the head of the solitary street, where +the bells were pealing and a mass of thanksgiving +was to be said for his safe return. + +But it was some time before Rezanov could reach +the chapel or even exchange salutations with Baran- +hov. As he stepped on shore he was surrounded, +almost hustled by the shouting crowd of Russians, +--many of them convicts--Aleuts and Sitkans, who +knelt at his feet, endeavored to kiss his hand, his +garments, in their hysterical gratitude for the food +he had brought them. For the first time he felt +reconciled to his departure from California, and +Concha's image faded as he looked at the tearful +faces of the diseased, ill-nourished wretches who +gave their mite of life that he might live as became +a great noble of the Russian Empire. But although +he tingled with pleasure and was deeply moved, he +by no means swelled with vanity, for he was far +too clear-sighted to doubt he had done more than +his duty, or that his duty was more than begun. +He made them a little speech, giving his word they +should be properly fed hereafter, that he would make +the improvement of their condition as well as that +of all the employees of the Company throughout +this vast chain of settlements on the Pacific, the chief +consideration of his life; and they believed him and +followed him to the chapel rejoicing, reconciled for +once to their lot. + +After the service Rezanov went up to the hut of +the Chief-Manager, a habitation that leaked winter +and summer, and was equally deficient in light, ven- +tilation and order. But Baranhov in the sixteen +years of his exile had forgotten the bare lineaments +of comfort, and devoted his days to advancing the +interests of the Company, his nights, save when +sleep overcame him, to potations that would have +buried an ordinary man under Alaskan snows long +since. But Baranhov had fourteen years more of +good service in him, and rescued the Company from +insolvency again and again, nor ever played into +the hands of marauding foreigners; with brain on +fire he was shrewder than the soberest. + +He listened with deep satisfaction to the Cham- +berlain's account of his success with the Californi- +ans and his glowing pictures of the country, nod- +ding every few moments with emphatic approval. +But as the story finished his wonderful eyes were +two bubbling springs of humor, and Rezanov, who +knew him well, recrossed his legs nervously. + +"What is it?" he asked. "What have I done +now? Remember that you have been in this busi- +ness for sixteen years, and I one--" + +"How many measures of corn did you say you +had brought, Excellency?" + +"Two hundred and ninety-four," replied Reza- +nov proudly. + +"A provision that exceeds my most sanguine +hopes. The only thing that mitigates my satisfac- +tion is that there is not a mill in the settlement to +grind it." + +Rezanov sprang to his feet with a violent ex- +clamation, his face very red. There was no one +whose good opinion he valued as he did that of this +brilliant, dissipated, disinterested old genius; and +he felt like a schoolboy. But although he started +for the door, he recovered half-way, and reseating +himself joined in the laughter of the little man who +was rocking back and forth on his bench, his weaz- +ened leg clasped against his shrunken chest. + +"How on earth was I to know all your domestic +arrangements?" he said testily. "God knows I +found them limited enough last winter, but it never +occurred to me there was any mysterious process +involved in converting corn into meal. Is it quite +useless, then?" + +"Oh, no, we can boil or roast it. It will dispose +of what teeth we have left, but that will serve the +good purpose of reminding us always of your ex- +cellency's interest in our welfare." + +Rezanov shrugged his shoulders. "Give the corn +to the natives. It is farinaceous at all events. And +you can have nothing to say against the flour I +have brought, and the peas, beans, tallow, butter, +barley, salt, and salted meats--in all to the value of +twenty-four thousand Spanish dollars." + +The Chief-Manager's head nodded with the vigor +and rapidity of a mechanical toy. "It is a God-send, +a God-send. If you did no more than that you would +have earned our everlasting gratitude. It will make +us over, give us renewed courage in this cursed ex- +istence. Are you not going to get me out of it?" + +Rezanov shook his head with a smile. "Literally +you are the whole Company. As long as I live +here you stay--although when I reach St. Peters- +burg I shall see that you receive every possible re- +ward and honor." + +Baranhov lifted his shoulders to his ears in quiz- +zical resignation. "I suppose it matters little where +the last few years left me are spent, and I can hang +the medals on the walls to console me when I have +rheumatism, and shout my titles from the top of +the fort when the Kolosh are yelling at the barri- +cades." + +"You must make yourself more comfortable," +said Rezanov emphatically. "You are wrong to +carry your honesty and enthusiasm to the point of +living like the promuschleniki. Take enough of +their time to build you a comfortable dwelling, and +I will send you, on my own account, far more sub- +stantial rewards than orders and titles. Build a +big house, for that matter. I shall be here more +or less--when I am not in California." And he told +Baranhov of his proposed marriage with the daugh- +ter of Don Jose Arguello. + +The Chief-Manager listened to this confidence +with an even livelier satisfaction than to the list +of the Juno's cargo. + +"We shall have California yet!" he cried, his eyes +snapping like live coals under the black thatch of +wig. "Absorption or the bayonet. It matters little. +Ten years from now and we shall have a line of +settlements as far south as San Diego. My plan +was to feel my way down the northern coast of +California with a colony, which should buy a tract +of land from the natives and engage immediately +in otter hunting--somewhere between Cape Mendo- +cino and Drake's Bay. The Spanish have no settle- +ments above San Francisco and are too weak to +drive us out. They would rage and bluster and do +nothing. Then quietly push forward, building forts +and ships. But you have taken hold in the grand +manner and will accomplish in ten years what would +have taken me fifty. Marry this girl, use your ad- +vantage over the entire family--whose influence I +well know--and that great personal power with +which the Almighty has been so lavish, and you +will have the whole weakly garrisoned country un- +der your foot before they know where they are, and +the Russian settlers pouring in. Spain cannot +come to the rescue while this devil Bonaparte is +alive, and he is young, and like yourself a favorite +of destiny. Those damned Bostonians inherit the +grabbing instincts of the too paternal race they have +just rejected, but there are thousands of miles of +desert between California and their own western +outposts, hundreds of savage tribes to exterminate. +By the time they are in a position to attempt the +occupation of California we shall be so securely en- +trenched they will either let us alone or send troops +that would be half dead by the time they reach +us. As to ships, we could soon build enough at Ok- +hotsk and Petropaulovsky for our purpose. For +the matter of that, if your gifted tongue impressed +the Tsar with the riches of California there would +always be war ships on her coast." He leaned for- +ward and caught the strong shoulders above him in +hands that looked like a tangle of baked nerves, and +shook them vigorously. "You are a great boy!" he +said with a sort of quizzical solemnity. "A great +boy. This damned, God-forsaken, pestilential, de- +moralizing, brutalizing factory for enriching a few +with the very life blood and vitals of thousands that +will suffer and starve and never be heard of" (all +his language cannot be recorded), "will make two +or three reputations by the way. Mine will be one, +although I'll get nothing else. Shelikov is safe; +but you will have a monument. Well, God bless +you. I grudge you nothing. Not even the happi- +ness you deserve and are bound to have--for when +all is said and done, Rezanov, you are a lucky dog, +a lucky dog! Any man may see that, even when +these infernal snows have left him with but half an +eye. To quarrel with a destiny like yours would be +as great a waste of time as to protest that California +is warm and fertile, while this infernal North is +like living in a refrigerator with the deluge to vary +the monotony. Now let us get drunk!" + +But Rezanov laughingly extricated himself, and +sending a message to Davidov and Khostov to come +to him immediately, walked toward the tent he had +ordered erected on the edge of the settlement; only +the worst of weather drove him indoors in these +half-civilized communities. + +As he was passing the chapel, followed again by +the employees of the Company, to whom he had +granted a holiday, he suddenly found his hand taken +possession of, and looked up to see himself con- +fronted by a dissipated-looking person in plain +clothes. His hand became so limp that it was +dropped as if it had put forth a sting, and he nar- +rowed his eyes and demanded with a bend of his +mouth that brought the blood to the face of the in- +truder: + +"And who are you, may I ask?" + +The man threw back his head defiantly. "I am +Lieutenant Sookin of the Imperial Navy of Russia," +he said in a loud, defiant tone. + +"And I am Chamberlain of the Russian Court +and Commander of all America," replied Rezanov +coolly. "Now go to your quarters, dress yourself +in your uniform, and present your report to me an +hour hence." + +The officer, concentrating in his injected eyes all +the lively hatred and jealousy of his service for the +Russian-American Company in this region where it +reigned supreme and cared no more for the Ad- +miralty than for some native chieftain covered with +shells and warpaint, glared at its plenipotentiary as +if calling upon his deeper resources of insolence; +but the steady, contemptuous gaze of the man who +had dealt with his kind often and successfully over- +came his sodden spirit, and he turned sulkily and +slouched off to his quarters to console himself with +more brandy. Rezanov shrugged his shoulders +and went on to his tent. + +There was no furniture in it as yet, and he was +obliged to receive Davidov and Khostov standing, +but this he preferred. They followed him almost +immediately, apprehensive and nervous, and before +speaking he looked at them for a moment with his +strong, penetrating gaze. He well knew the power +of his own personality, and that it was immeasur- +ably enhanced by the fact that of all with whom he +had to do in these benighted regions his will alone +was never weakened by liquor. These young men, +clever, high-bred, with an honorable record not only +in Russia, but in England and America, looked upon +a hilarious night as the just reward of work well +done by day. Brandy was debited to their account +by the "bucket" (a bucket being a trifle less than +two gallons), and they found little fault with life. +But the profligacy gave a commanding spirit like +Rezanov's an advantage which they did not under- +estimate for a moment; and they alternately hated +and worshiped him. + +"I think you have an inkling of what I am going +to ask you to do." The Chamberlain brought out +the euphemism with the utmost suavity. "I have +made up my mind not to ignore the indignity to +which Russia was subjected last year by Japan, but +to inflict upon it such punishment as I find it in my +power to compass. It was my intention to build a +flotilla here, but owing to the diseased condition and +reduced numbers of the employees, that was im- +possible, and I shall be obliged to content myself +with the Juno and the Avos, whose keel, as you +know, was laid in November, and is no doubt fin- +ished long since. These I shall fit with armaments +in Okhotsk. I shall place the enterprise I have +spoken of in your charge, sailing with you from +Sitka five days hence. From Okhotsk I desire that +you proceed to the Japanese settlements in the lower +Kurile Islands, take possession of them and bring +all stores and as many of the inhabitants as the +vessels will accommodate, to Sitka, where Baran- +hov will see that they are comfortably established +on that large island in the harbor--which we shall +call Japonsky--and converted into good servants of +the Company. The excuse for this enterprise is +that those islands were formally taken possession +of by Shelikov; and although abandoned later, the +fact remains that the Russian flag was the first to +float over them. The stores captured may not be +worth much and the islands are of no particular use +to us, but it is wise that Japan should have a taste +of Russian power; and the consequences may be +salutary in more ways than one. I hope you will +do me this great favor, for there is no one of your +tried probity and skill to whom I can trust so deli- +cate an enterprise. I am doing it wholly upon my +own responsibility, for although I wrote tentatively +to the Tsar on this subject before I sailed for Cali- +fornia, it is not yet time for a reply. However, I +take the consequences upon my own shoulders. You +shall not suffer in any way, for your orders are to +obey mine while you remain in these waters." + +He paused a moment, and then suddenly smiled +into the unresponsive faces before him. He held +out his hand and shook their limp ones warmly. + +"Let me thank you here for all your inestimable +services in the past, and particularly during our late +hazardous voyages. Be sure that whether you suc- +ceed in this enterprise or not, your rewards shall be +no less for what you have already done. I shall +make it a personal matter with the Tsar. You shall +have promotion and a substantial increase in pay, +besides the orders and Imperial thanks you so richly +deserve. Lest anything happen to me on my home- +ward journey, I shall write to St. Petersburg before +I leave." + +The lieutenants, overcome as ever when he chose +to put forth his full powers, assured him of their +fidelity and, if with misgivings, vowed to mete out +vengeance to the Japanese. And although their +misgivings were not unfounded, and they paid a +high price in suffering and mortification, they ac- +complished their object and in due course received +the rewards the Chamberlain had promised them. + +They did not retire, and Rezanov, noting their +sudden hesitation and embarrassment, felt an in- +stant thrill of apprehension. + +"What is it?" he demanded. "What has hap- +pened?" + +"Life has moved slowly in Sitka during your +absence, Excellency," replied Davidov. "There has +been little work done on the Avos. It will not be +finished for a month or six weeks." + +Then, had the young men been possessed by a +not infrequent mood, they would have glowed with +a sense of just satisfaction. Rezanov felt himself +turn so white that he wheeled about and left the +tent. A month or six weeks! And the speed and +safety of his journey across Siberia depended upon +his making the greater part of it before the heavy +autumn rains swelled the rivers and flooded the +swamps. Winter or summer the journey from Ok- +hotsk to St. Petersburg might be made in four +months; with the wealth and influence at his com- +mand, possibly in less; but in the deluge between +he was liable to detentions lasting nearly as long +again, to say nothing of illness caused by inevitable +exposure. + +He stood staring at the palisades for many min- +utes. The separation must be long enough, the +dangers numerous enough if he started within the +week, but at least he had in a measure accustomed +himself to the idea of not seeing Concha again for +"the best part of two years," and the sanguineness +of his temperament had led him to hope that the +time might be reduced to eighteen months. If he +delayed too long, only by means of an unprece- +dented run of good fortune would he reach St. +Petersburg but a month behind his calculations. +And the chances were in favor of four, or three at +the best! Never since the morning that the real +nature of his feeling for Concha had declared itself +had he yearned toward her as at that moment; never +since the dictum of what she called their "tribunal" +had he so rebelled against the long delay. And yet +he hesitated. To leave Japan unpunished for the +senseless humiliations to which it had subjected +Russia in his person was not to be thought of, and +yet did he leave without seeing the Avos finished, +the two boats supplied with armaments at Okhotsk, +and under way before he started across Siberia, he +knew it was doubtful if the expedition took place +before his return; in that case might never take +place, for these two young men might have drifted +elsewhere, and he knew no one else to whom he +could entrust such a commission. In spite of their +idiosyncrasies he could rely upon them implicitly-- +up to a certain point. That point involved keeping +them in sight until exactly the right moment and +leaving nothing to their executive which could be +certainly accomplished by himself alone. Did he +sail five days hence on the Juno one of the officers +would be exposed for an indeterminate time to the +temptations of Okhotsk, the ship, perhaps, at the +mercy of some sudden requirement of the Com- +pany. His authority was absolute when enforced +in person, but it was a proverb west of the Ural: +"God reigns and the Tsar is far away." If the +Juno were wanted the manager of Okhotsk would +argue that two years was a period in which an ar- +dent servant of the Company would find many an +excuse to justify its seizure. + +And here in Sitka it was doubtful if the work on +the Avos proceeded at all. Baranhov was not in +sympathy with the enterprise against the Japanese, +fearing the consequences to himself in the event of +the Tsar's disapproval, and resenting the impress- +ment of the promuschleniki into a service that de- +prived him of their legitimate work. Moreover, al- +though he loved Rezanov personally, he had en- +joyed supreme power in the wilderness too long not +to chafe under even the temporary assumption of +authority by his high-handed superior. With the +best of intentions Davidov could make little head- +way against the passive resistance of the Chief- +Manager, and those intentions would be weakened +by the consolidations the Company so generously +afforded. + +The result was hardly open to doubt. If he left +Sitka before the completion of the Avos, Russia +would go unavenged for the present. Or himself? +Rezanov, sanguine and imaginative as he was, even +to the point of creating premises to rhyme with ends, +was very honest fundamentally. He turned abruptly +on his heel, and calling to the officers that he would +announce his decision on the morrow, ordered the +sentry to open the gate and passed out of the en- +closure. + +He crossed the clearing and entered the forest. +The warlike tribes themselves had trodden paths +through the dense undergrowth of young trees and +ferns. Rezanov, despite Baranhov's warning, had +tramped the forest many times. It was the one +thing that reconciled him to Sitka, for there are +few woods more beautiful. In spite or because of +the incessant rains, it is pervaded by a rich golden +gloom, the result of the constant rotting of the +brown and yellow bark, not only of the prostrate +trees, but of the many killed by crowding and un- +able to seek the earth with the natural instinct of +death. And above, the green of hemlock and spruce +was perennially fresh and young, glistening and fra- +grant. Here and there was a small clearing where +the clans had erected their ingenious and hideous +totem poles, out of place in the ancient beauty of +the wood. + +The ferns brushed his waist, the roar of the river +came to his ears, the forest had never looked more +primeval, more wooing to a man burdened with civil- +ization, but Rezanov gave it less heed than usual, +although he had turned to it instinctively. He was +occupied with a question to which nature would +turn an aloof disdainful ear. Was his own wounded +vanity at the root of his desire to humiliate Japan? +Russia was too powerful, too occupied, for the pres- +ent at least, greatly to care that her overtures and +presents had been scorned. Upon her ambassador +had fallen the full brunt of that wearisome and in- +comparably mortifying experience, and unfortu- +nately the ambassador happened to be one of the +proudest and most autocratic men in her empire. +No man of Rezanov's caliber but accommodates that +sort of personal vanity that tenaciously resents a +blow to the pride of which it is a part, to the love of +power it feeds. As well expect a lover without pas- +sion, a state without corruption. Rezanov finally +shrugged his shoulders and admitted the impeach- +ment, but at the same time he recognized that the +desire for vengeance still held, and that the tenacity +of his nature, a tenacity that had been no mean +factor in the remodeling of himself from a voluptu- +ous young sprig of nobility into one of the most +successful business men and subjugator of other +men that the Russian Empire could show, was not +likely to weaken when its very roots had been stiff +with purpose for fifteen months. Power had been +Rezanov's ruling passion for many years before he +met Concha Arguello, and, although it might mate +very comfortably with love, it was not to be expected +that it would remain submerged beyond the first +enthusiasm, nor even assume the position of the +"party of the second part." Rezanov was Rezanov. +He was also in that interval between youth and age +when the brain rules if it is ever to rule at all. That +the ardor of his nature had awakened refreshed +after a long sleep was but just proved, as well as +the revival of his early ideals and capacity for genu- +ine love; but the complexities, the manifold inter- +ests and desires of the ego had been growing and +developing these many years; and no mere mortal +that has given up his life for a considerable period +to the thirst for dominance can ever, save in a brief +exaltation, sacrifice it to anything so normal as the +demands of sex and spirit. For good or ill, the +man who has burned with ambition, exulted in the +exercise of power, bitterly resented the temporary +victories of rivals and enemies, fought with all the +resources of brain and character against failure, is +in a class apart from humanity in the mass. Reza- +nov loved Concha Arguello to the very depths of +his soul, but he had lived beyond the time when +even she could engage successfully with the ruth- +less forces that had molded into immutable shape +the Rezanov she knew. Her place was second, and +it is probable that she would have loved him less +had it been otherwise; she, in spite of her fine intel- +lect and strong will, being all woman, as he, despite +his depth of intuition, was all man. Equality is +possible in no relation or condition of life. When +woman subjugates man the conquered will enjoy a +sense of revenge proportionate to the meanness of +his state. + +It is possible that had Concha awaited Rezanov in +St. Petersburg her attraction would have focused +his desires irresistibly; but his mind had resigned +itself to the prospect of separation for a definite +period, and while it had not relegated her image to +the background, her part in his life had been settled +there among many future possibilities, and all the +foreground was crowded with the impatient sym- +bols of the intervening time. Moreover, he well +knew that the savor would be gone from his happi- +ness with the woman were the taste of another fail- +ure acrid in his mouth. + +As he realized that the die was cast, the sanguine- +ness of his temperament rushed to do battle against +apprehension and self-accusing. After all, he was +rarely balked of his way, accustomed to ride down +obstacles, to the amiable cooperation of fate. He +could arrive in Okhotsk late in September or early +in October. Captain D'Wolf, who had been de- +tained at Sitka during his absence by the same in- +difference that had operated against the completion +of the Avos, would precede him and order that all +be in readiness at Okhotsk both for the ships and +his journey to Yakutsk. He could proceed at once; +and, no doubt, with twice the number or horses +needed, would make the first and most difficult stage +of the journey in the usual time, and with no great +embarrassment from the rains. From Yakutsk to +Irkutsk the greater part of the travel was by water +in any case, and after that the land was flat for the +most part and bridges were more numerous. The +governor of every town in Siberia would be his +obsequious servant, the entire resources of the +country would be at his disposal. He was sound in +health again, as resistant against hardships as when +he had sailed from Kronstadt. And God knew, he +thought with a sigh, his will and purpose had never +been stronger. + + + +XXVI + +Rezanov disembarked from the Juno at Okhotsk +during the first days of October. Had it not been +for a touch of fever that had returned in the filth +and warm dampness of Sitka, he would have felt +almost as buoyant in mind and body as in those days +when California had gone to his head. The Juno +had touched at Kadiak, Oonalaska, and others of +the more important settlements, and he had found +his schools and libraries in good condition, seals +and otters rapidly increasing, in their immunity +from indiscriminate slaughter, new and stronger +forts threatening the nefarious Bostonian and Bri- +ton. At Okhotsk he learned that the embassy of +Count Golofkin to China had failed as signally as +his own, and this alone would have put him in the +best of tempers even had he not found his arma- +ment and caravan awaiting him, facilitating his im- +mediate departure. He wrote a gay letter to Con- +cha, giving her the painful story of the naturalist +attached to the Golofkin embassy, Dr. Redovsky, +who had remained in the East animated by the same +scientific enthusiasm as that of his colleague, the +good Langsdorff; parted some time since from his +too exacting master. Rezanov had written Concha +many letters during his detention in Sitka, and left +them with Baranhov to send at the first opportun- +ity. The Chief-Manager, deeply interested in the +romance of the mighty Chamberlain with whom he +alone dared to take a liberty, vowed to guard all +that came to his care and sooner or later to send +them to California. Rezanov had also written com- +prehensively to the Tsar and the directors of the +Russian-American Company, adroitly placing his +marriage in the light of a diplomatic maneuver, and +painting California in colors the more vivid and en- +ticing for the sullen clouds and roaring winds, the +dripping forests and eternal snows of that derelict +corner of Earth where he had been stranded so +long. He had also, when Langsdorff announced his +intention to start upon a difficult journey in the in- +terest of science, provided him not only with letters +of recommendation, but with all the comforts pro- +curable in a land where the word comfort was the +stock in trade of the local satirist. But Langsdorff, +although punctiliously acknowledging the favors, +never quite forgave the indifference of a mere am- +bassador and chamberlain, rejoicing in the dignity +of an honorary membership in the St. Petersburg +Academy of Sciences, to the supreme division of +natural history. + +The first stage of the journey--from Okhotsk to +Yakutsk--was about six hundred and fifty English +miles, not as the crow flew, but over the Stanovoi +mountains in a southwesterly direction to the Maya, +by this river's wavering course to the Youdoma, +then northwest to the Aldan, and south beside the +Lena. The beaten track lay entirely alongside the +rivers at this season, upon their surface in winter; +and in addition to these great streams there were +many too unimportant for the map, but as erratic +in course and as irresistible in energy after the first +rains of autumn. + +Captain D'Wolf had proved himself capable and +faithful, and a caravan of forty horses had been in +Okhotsk a week; twenty for immediate use, twenty +for relief, or substitutes in almost certain emer- +gency. As there were but one or two stations of +any importance between Okhotsk and Yakutsk, and +as a week might pass without the shelter of so much +as a hut, it was necessary to take tents and bearskin +beds for the Chamberlain, his Cossack guard, valet- +de-chambre, cook and other servants, one set of fine +blankets and linen, cooking utensils, axes, arms, +tinder-boxes, provisions for the entire trip, besides +a great quantity of personal luggage. + +Rezanov lost no time. He had changed his origi- +nal plan and dispatched Davidov on the Avos from +Oonalaska. Guns and provisions awaited the Juno +at Okhotsk, and in less than a week after his ar- +rival Rezanov was able to start on his long journey +with a mind at rest. Although the almost extrava- +gant delight that his body had taken in the com- +forts of his manager's home, after ten weeks on the +Juno, warned him that he might be in a better con- +dition to begin a journey of ten thousand versts, he +hearkened neither to the hint nor to the insistence +of his host. His impatient energy and stern will, +combined with the passionate wish to accomplish +the double object of his journey, returning in the +least possible time to California with his treaty and +the consent of the Pope and King to his marriage, +would have carried him out of Okhotsk in forty- +eight hours had disease declared itself. Nor were +there any inducements aside from a comfortable +bed and refined fare, in the flat, unhealthy town +with its everlasting rattle of chains, and the hideous +physiognomies of criminals always at work to the +rumbling accompaniment of Cossack oaths. + +For the first week the exercise he loved best and +the long days in the crisp open air renewed his +vigor, and he even looked forward to the four +months of what was then the severest traveling in +the world, in a boyish spirit of adventure. He re- +flected that he might as well give his brain a relief +from the constant revolving of schemes and plans +for the advancement of his country, his company, +and himself, and let his thoughts have their car- +nival of anticipation with the unparalleled happiness +and success that awaited him in the future. There +was no possible doubt of the acquiescence and assist- +ance of the Tsar, and no man ever looked down a +fairer perspective than he, as he galloped over the +ugly country, often far ahead of his caravan, splash- +ing through bogs and streams, fording rivers with- +out ferries, camping at night in forests so dense the +cold never escaped their embrace, muffled to the eyes +in furs as he made his way past valleys whose eter- +nal ice fields chilled the country for miles about; +sometimes able to procure a little fresh milk and +butter, oftener not; occasionally passing a caravan +returning for furs, generally seeing nothing but a +stray reindeer for hours together, once meeting the +post and finding much for himself that in nowise +dampened his spirit. + +But on the eighth day the rains began: a fine +steady mist, then in torrents as endless. Wrapped +in bearskins at night within the shelter of a tent or +of some wayside hut, and closely covered by day, +Rezanov at first merely cursed the inconvenience of +the rain; but while crossing the river Allach Juni, +his guides without consulting him having taken him +miles out of his way in order to avoid the hamlet of +the same name where the small-pox was raging, but +where there was a government ferry, his horse lost +his footing in the rapid, swollen current and fell. +Rezanov managed to retain his seat, and pulled the +frightened, plunging beast to its feet while his Cos- +sacks were still shouting their consternation. But +he was soaked to the skin, his personal luggage was +in the same condition, and they did not reach a hut +where a fire could be made until nine hours later. +It was then that the seeds of malaria, accumulated +during the last three years in unsanitary ports and +sown deep by exceptional hardships, but which he +believed had taken themselves off during his six +weeks in California, stirred more vigorously than +in Sitka or Okhotsk. He rode on the next day in a +burning fever. Jon, minding Langsdorff's instruc- +tions, doctored him--not without difficulty--from +the medicine chest, and for a day or two the fever +seemed broken. But Jon, sick with apprehension, +implored him to turn back. He might as well have +implored the sky to turn blue. + +"How do you think men accomplish things in +this world?" asked Rezanov angrily. "By turning +back and going to bed every time they have a mi- +graine?" + +"No, Excellency," said the man humbly. "But +health is necessary to the accomplishment of every- +thing, and if the body is eaten up with fever--" + +"What are drugs for? Give me the whole +damned pharmacopeia if you choose, but don't talk +to me about turning back." + +"Very well, Excellency," said Jon, with a sigh. + +The next day he and one of the Cossack guard +caught him as he fell from his horse unconscious. +A Yakhut hut, miserable as it was, offered in the +persistent downpour a better shelter than the tent. +They carried him into it, and his bedding at least +was almost as luxurious as had he been in St. +Petersburg. Jon, at his wits' end, remembered the' +practice of Langsdorff in similar cases, and used +the lancet, a heroic treatment he would never have +accomplished had his master been conscious. The +fever ebbed, and in a few days Rezanov was able +to continue the journey by shorter stages, although +heavy with an intolerable lassitude. But his will +sustained him until he reached Yakutsk, not at the +end of twenty-two days, but of thirty-three. Here +he succumbed immediately, and although his sick- +bed was in the comfortable home of the agent of +the Company, and he had medical attendance of a +sort, his fever and convalescence lasted for eight +weeks. Then, in spite of the supplications of his +friends, chief among whom was his faithful Jon, +and the prohibition of the doctor, he began the sec- +ond stage of his journey. + +The road from Yakutsk to Irkutsk, some two +thousand six hundred versts, or fifteen hundred and +fifty English miles, lay for the most part alternately +on and along the river Lena in a southeasterly di- +rection; there being no attempt to cross Siberia at +any point in a straight line. By this time the river +was frozen, and the only concession Rezanov would +make to his enfeebled frame was an arrangement +to cover the entire journey by private sledge instead +of employing the swifter course of post sledge on +the long stretches and horseback on the shorter cuts. + +The weather was now intensely cold, the river +winding, the delays many, but there were adequate +stations for the benefit and accommodation of trav- +elers every hundred versts or less. Rezanov felt so +invigorated by the long hours in the open after the +barbarous closeness of his sick room, that at the +end of a fortnight he was again possessed with all +his old ardor of desire to reach the end of his jour- +ney. He vowed he was well again, abandoned his +comfortable sledge, and pushed on in the common +manner. In the wretched post sledges he was often +exposed to the full violence of a Siberian winter, +and although the horseback exercise stirred his blood +and refreshed him for the moment, he suffered in +reaction and was several times forced to remain two +nights instead of one at a station. But he was muf- +fled in sables to his very eyes, and the road was +diverting, often beautiful, with its Gothic moun- +tains, its white plains set with villages and farms, +the high thin crosses above the open or swelling +domes of the little churches. Sometimes the Lena +narrowed until its frozen surface looked like a mass +of ice that had ground its way between perpendicu- +lar walls or overhanging masses of rock that awaited +the next convulsion of nature to close the pass alto- +gether. Then the dogs trotted past caves and grot- +tos, left the abrupt and craggy banks, crossed level +plains once more; where herds of cattle grazed in +the summertime, now a vast uncheckered expanse +of white. The Government and Company agents +fawned upon him, the best of horses and beds, food +and wine, were eagerly placed at the disposal of the +favorite of the Tsar. Rezanov's spirit, always of +the finest temper, suffered no eclipse for many days. +He reveled in the belief that his sorely tried body +was regenerating its old vigors. + +From Wercholensk to Katschuk the journey was +so winding by river that it consumed more than +twice the time of the land route, which although +only thirty versts in extent was one of the most +difficult in Siberia. Rezanov chose the latter with- +out hesitation, and would listen to no discussion +from the Commissary of the little town or from his +distracted Jon: the journey from Yakutsk had now +lasted five weeks and the servant's watchful eye +noted signs of exhaustion. + +The hills were very high and very steep, the roads +but a name in summer. Had not the snow been +soft and thin, the horses could not have made the +ascent at all; and, as it was, the riders were forced +to walk the greater part of the way and drag their +unwilling steeds behind them. They were twelve +hours covering the thirty versts, and at Katschuk +Rezanov succumbed for two days, while Jon scoured +the country in search of a telega; as sometimes hap- +pened there was a long stretch of country without +snow, and sledges, by far the most comfortable +method of travel in Siberia, could not be used. The +rest of the journey, but one hundred and ninety- +six versts, must be made by land. Rezanov admit- +ted that he was too weary to ride, and refused to +travel in the post carriage. On the third day the +servant managed to hire a telega from a superior +farmer and they started immediately, the heavy lug- +gage having been consigned to a merchant vessel at +Yakutsk. + +Rezanov stood the telega exactly half a day. +Little larger than an armchair and far lighter, it +was drawn by horses that galloped up and down +hill and across the intervening valleys with no +change of gait, and over a road so rough that the +little vehicle seemed to be propelled by a succession +of earthquakes. Rezanov, in a fever which he at- +tributed to rage, dismissed the telega at a village +and awaited the coming of Jon, who followed on +horseback with the personal luggage. + +It was a village of wooden houses built in the +Russian fashion, and inhabited by a dignified tribe +wearing long white garments bordered with fur. +They spoke Russian, a language little heard farther +north and east in Siberia, and when Rezanov de- +clined their hospitality they dispatched a courier at +once to the Governor-General of Irkutsk acquaint- +ing him with the condition of the Chamberlain and +of his imminent arrival. In consequence, when +Rezanov drew rein two days later and looked down +upon the city of Irkutsk with its pleasant squares +and great stone buildings beside the shining river, +the gilded domes and crosses of its thirty churches +and convents glittering in the sun, the whole pic- +ture beckoning to the delirious brain of the traveler +like some mirage of the desert, his appearance was +the signal for a salute from the fort; and the Gov- +ernor-General, privy counselor and senator de +Pestel, accompanied by the civil governor, the com- +mandant, the archbishop, and a military escort, sal- +lied forth and led the guest, with the formality of +officials and the compassionate tenderness of men, +into the capital. + +For three weeks longer Rezanov lay in the pal- +ace of the Governor. Between fever and lassitude, +his iron will seemed alternately to melt in the fiery +furnace of his body, then, a cooling but still viscous +and formless mass, sink to the utmost depths of his +being. But here he had the best of nursing and +attendance, rallied finally and insisted upon continu- +ing his journey. His doctor made the less demur +as the traveling was far smoother now, in the early +days of March, than it would be a month hence, +when the snow was thinner and the sledges were +no longer possible. Nevertheless, he announced his +intention to accompany him as far as Krasnoiarsk, +where the Chamberlain could lodge in the house of +the principal magistrate of the place, Counselor Kel- +ler, and, if necessary, be able to command fair nurs- +ing and medical attendance; and to this Rezanov +indifferently assented. + +The prospect of continuing his journey and the +bustle of preparation raised the spirits of the in- +valid and gave him a fictitious energy. He had +fought depression and despair in all his conscious +moments, never admitted that the devastation in his +body was mortal. With but a remnant of his for- +mer superb strength, and emaciated beyond recog- +nition, he attended a banquet on the night preced- +ing his departure, and on the following morning +stood up in his sledge and acknowledged the God- +speed of the population of Irkutsk assembled in the +square before the palace of the Governor. All his +life he had excited interest wherever he went, but +never to such a degree as on that last journey when +he made his desperate fight for life and happiness. + + + +XXVII + +The snow rarely falls in Krasnoiarsk. It is a little +oasis in the great winter desert of Siberia. Reza- +nov, his face turned to the window, could see the +red banks on the opposite side of the river. The +sun transformed the gilded cupolas and crosses into +dazzling points of light, and the sky above the spires +and towers, the stately square and narrow dirty +streets of the bustling little capital, was as blue and +unflecked as that which arched so high above a land +where Castilian roses grew, and one woman among +a gay and thoughtless people dreamed, with all the +passion of her splendid youth, of the man to whom +she had pledged an eternal troth. Rezanov's mind +was clear in those last moments, but something of +the serenity and the selfishness of death had already +descended upon him. He heard with indifference +the sobs of Jon, crouched at the foot of his bed. +Tears and regrets were a part of the general futility +of life, insignificant enough at the grand threshold +of death. + +No doubt that his great schemes would die with +him, and were he remembered at all it would be as +a dreamer; or as a failure because he had died be- +fore accomplishing what his brain and energy and +enthusiasm alone could force to fruition. None +realized better than he the paucity of initiative and +executive among the characteristics of the Slav. +What mattered it? He had had glimpses more than +once of the apparently illogical sequence of life, the +vanity of human effort, the wanton cruelty of Na- +ture. He had known men struck down before in +the maturity of their usefulness, cities destroyed by +earthquake or hurricane in the fairest and most +promising of their days: public men, priests, par- +ents, children, wantons, criminals, blotted out with +equal impartiality by a brutal force that would +seem to have but a casual use for the life she flung +broadcast on her planets. Man was the helpless +victim of Nature, a calf in a tiger's paws. If she +overlooked him, or swept him contemptuously into +the class of her favorites, well and good; otherwise +he was her sport, the plaything of her idler mo- +ments. Those that cried "But why?" "What rea- +son?" "What use?" were those that had never +looked over the walls of their ego at the great dra- +matic moments in the career of Nature, when she +made immortal fame for herself at the expense of +millions of pigmies. + +And if his energies, his talents, his usefulness, +were held of no account, at least he could look back +upon a past when he would have seemed to be one +of the few supreme favorites of the forces that +shaped man's life and destiny. Until he had started +from Kronstadt four years before on a voyage that +had humiliated his proud spirit more than once, and +undermined as splendid a physique as ever was +granted to even a Russian, he had rolled the world +under his foot. With an appearance and a personal +magnetism, gifts of mind and manner and charac- +ter that would have commanded attention amid the +general flaccidity of his race and conquered life +without the great social advantages he inherited, he +had enjoyed power and pleasure to a degree that +would have spoiled a coarser nature long since. +True, the time had come when he had cared little +for any of his endowments save as a means to great +ends, when all his energies had concentrated in the +determination to live a life of the highest possible +usefulness--without which man's span was but exist- +ence--his ambitions had cohered and been driven +steadily toward a permanent niche in history; then +paled and dissolved for an hour in the glorious vision +of human happiness. + +And wholly as he might realize man's insignifi- +cance among the blind forces of nature, he could +accept it philosophically and die with his soul uncor- +roded by misanthropy, that final and uncompromis- +ing admission of failure. The misanthrope was the +supreme failure of life because he had not the in- +telligence to realize, or could not reconcile himself +to, the incomplete condition of human nature. Man +was made up of little qualities, and aspirations for +great ones. Many yielded in the struggle and sank +into impotent discontent among the small material +things of life, instead of uplifting themselves with +the picture of the inevitable future when develop- +ment had run its course, and indulgently pitying the +children of their own period who so often made life +hateful with their greed, selfishness, snobbery-- +most potent obstacle to human endeavor--and in- +justice. The bad judgment of the mass! How +many careers it had balked, if not ruined, with its +poor ideals, its mean heroes, its instinctive avoid- +ance of superior qualities foreign to itself, its con- +temptible desire to be identified with a fashion. It +was this low standard of the crowd that induced +misanthropy in many otherwise brave spirits who +lacked the insight to discern the divine spark un- +derneath, the persistence, sure of reward, to fight +their way to this spark and reveal it to the gaze of +astonished and flattered humanity. Rezanov's very +arrogance had led him to regard the mass of man- +kind as but one degree removed from the nursery; +his good nature and philosophical spirit to treat +them with an indulgence that kept sourness out of +his cynicism and inevitably recurring weariness and +disgust; his ardent imagination had consoled itself +with the vision of a future when man should live in +a world made reasonable by the triumph of ideals +that now lurked half ashamed in the high spaces of +the human mind. + +He looked back in wonder at the moment of wild +regret and protest--the bitterer in its silence-- +when they had told him he must die; when in the +last rally of the vital forces he had believed his will +was still strong enough to command his ravaged +body, to propel his brain, still teeming with a vast +and complicated future, his heart, still warm and +insistent with the image it cherished, on to the ulti- +mates of ambition and love. How brief it had been, +that last cry of mortality, with its accompaniment +of furious wonder at his unseemly and senseless +cutting off. In the adjustment and readjustment +of political and natural forces the world ambled on +philosophically, fulfilling its inevitable destiny. + +If he had not been beyond humor, he would have +smiled at the idea that in the face of all eternity it +mattered what nation on one little planet eventually +possessed a fragment called California. To him +that fair land was empty and purposeless save for +one figure, and even of her he thought with the +terrible calm of dissolution. During these last +months of illness and isolation he had been less +lonely than at any time of his life save during those +few weeks in California, for he had lived with her +incessantly in spirit; and in that subtle imaginative +communion had pressed close to a profound and +complex soul, revealed before only in flashes to a +vision astray in the confusion of the senses. He +had felt that her response to his passion was far +more vital and enduring than dwelt in the capacity +of most women; he had appreciated her gifts of +mind, her piquant variousness that scotched monot- +ony, the admirable characteristics that would give +a man repose and content in his leisure, and subtly +advance his career. But in those long reveries, at +the head of his forlorn caravan or in the desolate +months of convalescence, he had arrived at an abso- +lute understanding of what she herself had divined +while half comprehending. + +Theirs was one of the few immortal loves that +reveal the rarely sounded deeps of the soul while +in its frail tenement on earth; and he harbored not +a doubt that their love was stronger than mortality +and that their ultimate union was decreed. Mean- +while, she would suffer, no one but he could dream +how completely, but her strong soul would conquer, +and she would live the life she had visioned in mo- +ments of despair; not of cloistered selfishness, but +of incomparable usefulness to her little world; and +far happier, in her eternal youthfulness of heart, in +that divine life of the imagination where he must +always be with her as she had known him briefly at +his best, than in the blunt commonplaceness of daily +existence, the routine and disillusionment of the +world. Perhaps--who knew?--he had, after all, +given her the best that man can offer to a woman +of exalted nature; instead of taking again with his +left hand what his right had bestowed; completed +the great gift of life with the priceless beacon of +death. + +How unlike was life to the old Greek tragedies! +He recalled his prophetic sense of impending hap- +piness, success, triumph, as he entered California, +the rejuvenescence of his spirit in the renewal of +his wasted forces even before he loved the woman. +Every event of the past year, in spite of the obstacles +that mortal must expect, had marched with his am- +bitions and desires, and straight toward a future +that would have given him the most coveted of all +destinies, a station in history. There had not been a +hint that his brain, so meaningly and consummately +equipped, would perish in the ruins of his body in +less than a twelvemonth from that fragrant morn- +ing when he had entered the home of Concha Ar- +guello tingling with a pagan joy in mere existence, +a sudden rush of desire for the keen, wild happiness +of youth-- + +His eyes wandered from the bright cross above +the little cemetery where he was to lie, and con- +tracted with an expression of wonder. Where had +Jon found Castilian roses in this barren land? No +man had ever been more blest in a servant, but +could even he--here-- With the last triumph of +will over matter he raised his head, his keen, search- +ing gaze noting every detail of the room, bare and +unlovely save for its altar and ikons, its kneeling +priests and nuns. His eyes expanded, his nostrils +quivered. As he sank down in the embrace of that +final delusion, his unconquerably sanguine spirit +flared high before a vision of eternal and unthink- +able happiness. + +So died Rezanov; and with him the hope of Rus- +sians and the hindrance of Americans in the west; +and the mortal happiness and earthly dross of the +saintliest of California's women. + + + + + +Note: I have made the following changes to the text: +PAGE LINE ORIGINAL CHANGED TO +ii 13 unforgetable unforgettable +ii 26 vizu- visu- +vi 29 Krasnioarsk Krasnoiarsk +14 22 Arguella Arguello +15 28 Anna Ana +15 28 Gertrudes Gertrudis +16 6 Ignacia Ignacio +18 17 Dios de mi alma! <i>Dios de mi alma!</i>* +20 11 Madre de Dios!" <i>Madre de Dios!</i>"* +23 3 Ay yi! <i>Ay yi!* +23 4 Dios, Dios</i>,* +23 20 Propietario Proprietario +23 23 plebian plebeian +23 26 Madre de Dios! <i>Madre de Dios!</i>* +25 18 Dios mio! <i>Dios mio! +25 19 mio!" mio!</i>"* +33 17 embarassing embarrassing +33 24 Nadesha Nadeshda +40 10 commercal commercial +40 13 momentuous momentous +43 28 disintergrating disintegrating +51 5 He lover Her lover +55 4 Morga Moraga +71 22 Rafella Rafaella +72 3 straights straits +75 9 "You "Your +94 16 inexhautible inexhaustible +103 2 embarassed embarrassed +105 3 preciptate precipitate +106 28 Bueno Buena +111 8 Madre de Dios, <i>Madre de Dios</i>,* +117 30 prefer, prefer. +118 20 I "I +128 10 Arillaga Arrillaga +128 18 ride of rid of +133 8 Arillaga Arrillaga +133 22 Arillaga Arrillaga +135 10 Are "Are +137 28 Arrilaga Arrillaga +137 29 Nakasaki Nagasaki +146 21 refuse--' refuse--" +155 24 dumfounded dumbfounded +169 29 Moragas Moraga +171 7 twice--' twice--" +177 14 said said he said +178 16 phasis." phasis. +178 26 modoties modities +195 17 civilized that civilized than +200 27 gente de <i>gente de</i>* +201 1 razon <i>razon</i>* +201 21 silk silks +204 29 Duena duena +209 2 beneficient beneficent +211 13 Ay yi! <i>Ay yi!* +211 14 yi! yi!</i>* +212 22 Ay yi! <i>Ay yi!</i>* +213 3 ay yi! <i>ay yi!</i>* +I have also omitted the accents over proper names such as Rezanov, +Baranhov, and Jose, and have omitted the umlaut over the u in +Arguello. + + +* indicates that the italics were NOT used as emphasis, but merely +as indicators of SOME of the non-English words, and were eventually +stripped of their italicism for easier reading. + +The first words of each chapter were also capitalized on paper, +as least most of them. These have also been uncapitalized. + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Rezanov, by Gertrude Atherton + diff --git a/old/reznv10.zip b/old/reznv10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bdd8927 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/reznv10.zip |