Rezanov ................................................................................................................................................................1

Gertrude Atherton....................................................................................................................................1

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 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

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

The story has the merit of being, to some extent historically, and wholly artistically, true. For the

matteroffacts 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 Russiaall 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 sunsoaked 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 selfpossessed, wellpoised but withal so gracious personality. The life there at the time is a sort of

lotuseating 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

And he meets the girl, Concha Arguello. He sees her in the setting of burning and sweet Cas tilian rosesa

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

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 hopethe 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 himit 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

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

"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 aswell, 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

"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

"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

"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

The highspirited 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

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 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

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 deerskin 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 seagull 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

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 RussoAmerican

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 RussoAmerican 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

"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

"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 RussoAmerican 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 faraway waters, there was

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

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

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.

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 springtimethe

summer of the peninsulathe 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 everchanging 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

"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

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 missionariesso different from

oursand 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

"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 thirtytwo days since I left Sitka. To look upon a vast expanse of greento

say nothing of possible sportafter a winter of incessant rain and impene trable forestswhat a prospect! I

"I promise you the Governor shall not withhold his consentand there are bear and deerquail, wild

duckyour 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

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

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

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

"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 highbred Castilian. Arguello presented his family ceremo niously as the guest of

"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: Gervasiosoldado

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, alasIgnaciois 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

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 RomanSpan 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 crosscurrent 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'ssav 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 manners were very simple and artless, as are the manners of most women whom Nature has gifted with

"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 peoplethousands 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,

"For quite as many hours as you will listen to me. I propose a compact. You shall improve my Spanish. I will

"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 shipboardwe had previously

been fourteen months at seaand 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 Embassyfor the tenta tive visit of Adam Lanxmann, twelve years before, can be dignified by no

such titleto Oriental waters. It is to be hoped that Count Golofkin, who was to undertake a similar mission

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

"It must have been a hateful experiencehate 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

"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

"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 youif 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 roundBueno 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

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

"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

He divested the rose of its thorns and many tight little buds, and thrust the stem underneath the star of St.

"You do not trust me, but you will. I fancy it will be before longfor it is quite true that the Californians are

not so easily outwitted. And even did I not help you, I would notI vow, senor! betray you. Is it true

"Have you not heard? It was for that we were all so excited this morning. We thought your ship might be the

"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

"I have seen him insult poor Markov, our ambas sador to France, when I can assure you that he looked like

neither a demigod 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

"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

"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 herfor as long as she may be necessary, at all events."

"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

"If you do not, I'll not braid your hair tomor 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, severelooking young hidalgo, but while in some re spects many years older than his sister, in

She led him through a postern gate, round the first of the dunes, and they were alone in a waste of sand. She

"I like him. He would wring your neck if you got in his way, but has a kind heart for those that call him

"He shallone 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 mewhy should not he? I shall live in St. Petersburg, and see

"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 coatofarms, so to speak. Do you know that

this RezanovDr. Langsdorff has told us all about himis 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 Shelikovfor his influence at court was even greaterand after the

older man's death, with his motherinlaw, 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

RussianAmerican 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

"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 Russianwho

"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 wiveshas 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 headdress a foot high studded

with jewels, ropes of diamonds and pearlsI made him tell me how the great ladies dressed. Ah! there is the

pleasure of being a girlto 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

streetswith snowsnow, Santiago!where the great nobles drive four horses through the drifts like little

hills, and are wrapped in furs like bears! The grand military paradeshow 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 tomorrow," 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 heretica

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

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 boaconstrictors; 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 campfire.

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 bowlthat 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 womenbut 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

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 RussianAmerican Company; of their chronic state of semistarvation, 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 wellbeing 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 Japanto 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 haranguethey 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 visitin 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 Companyuntil 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

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

relationsfor a benefit strictly mutualbetween neighbors as close as the Spanish and Russians in America.

This would interest themwhat 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 gainthey 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 wareswhich 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

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 teenyearold 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

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 himand he aspired to be

no more than humanhe either should have to marry her, or nurse a sore spot in his conscience for the rest

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

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 furbearing 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

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 crackbrained

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

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 ShelikovGolikov Company,

and married the daugh ter of his new friend. After the death of his fatherinlaw, 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

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

illbalanced and in tractable son. Natalie Shelikov, his famous mother inlaw, 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

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

This momentous instrument granted to the "Rus sianAmerican 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

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

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 Pacificto 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 hillsno man ever more thoroughly

appreciated the visible resources of California than he. Baranhov, chiefmanager of the Company, had talked

with American and British skippers for twenty years, and every item he had accumulated Rezanov had

extracted. Today 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,

butperhaps he was too Russianhe 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 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,

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

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

"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

"For the love of Mary, senorita, have pity!" wailed Rosa. "Thereseethanks 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 theedo 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?"

"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 beardhe 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 Mexicolast 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 morequickly!" 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 halfblown 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

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

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

"It is the most delectable foam I have ever tasted. I am interested to know that it has the solid founda tion of

"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."

"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

"With the greatest pleasure; if you really want your maid to marry a man who no doubt will mur der her for

"Oh, surely not! He loves her. I know that many men love more than once, but when they are punished like

"Is it true that you are only sixteen? Is that an impertinent question? I cannot help it. Those years are so few,

"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 doorone 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 firstConchitita. 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 girlspoor Rosa had one but it dieduntil 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

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

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 SorrowsNuestra 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 Missionon

whose land grant they were builtwere 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 redtiled 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

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

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 deerskin armor over his

cassock, was tugging at a recalcitrant mule, while a bodyguard 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 bodyguard trotted on their

"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

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

"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 eyesand 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 tonight in

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

physiognomiesthe 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

"Could we not see them first?" asked Father Lan daeta of his superior; and Father Abella sent a ser vant

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 Franciscansthe 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

districtsSan 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 squarefor 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;

Rezanov's polite interest in the virgin country was cut short by the entrance of two Indians carry ing heavy

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.

"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

"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 Nagasakiwhere I am told he swore

"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.

"We will doubtless meet others as beautiful at the ball tonight," said Davidov philosophically. "You are not

"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.

"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

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

"He will succeed," he said to Davidov. "He will succeed. I almost hoped he would not, he is so in

differentI might almost say so hostileto 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

picturebook 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 skyblue 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

"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

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 chinepresents

in all, of the value of three hundred thousand roubles, were returned with scant cere mony to the Nadeshda

"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

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

He led their disarmed understandings as far down the vale of tears as he deemed wise, then per mitted

"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

"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

"We will! We will!" cried Father Abella. "Would that you had come in the disguise of a common

seacaptain, 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 wareshave you

"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

"I shall not leave California without accomplish ing what I came for," said Rezanov.

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. Besideswhat 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

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 Bostonianall 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 wellborn, 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

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 deathhis mother had gone long sinceand 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 cockfights; 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

"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

"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

onea tamale of corn and chicken and peppersthere would be a man almost to my liking. But even

"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."

"My heart? My father and my mother will choose for me a husband whom I shall love as all other women

"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

"I know not what thy sin was," she said musingly. "But I have heard it said thou didst obey no law but thine

own willand his. Why should the pun ishment have been so terrible? Thou hast sworn to me thou didst

"I cannot tell you, senorita. You will never know anything of sin; but of loveyes, I think you will know

"Before long?" Concha's lips parted and the ner vous color she had deprecated left her cheeks. "What

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 brothersthe

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, senoritahe too could kill for love, and such

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

She returned in a moment and stood over Rosa, but her voice when she spoke had lost its hoarseness and was

"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."

"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

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

"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 witsfor 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

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 youthshe was twentytwo, 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 childlike 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 wellcut 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

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 wellbred 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

She motioned to the Indian musicians, fiddles and guitars fairly leaped to position, and in a mo ment

"It is but one accomplishment the more. I feared a preference for your native dances, but ventured to hope

"The Russian bear growls," she said lightly. "Did you expect to dance every dance with me?"

"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?"

"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

"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 today 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

"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

"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

"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 twentyeight

tonight, 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, dovecolored 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 snowwhite 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 contradanza 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

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

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 fortytwo. 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

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 goodnight, pleading fatigue, which his pallor indorsed,

when the door of the din ingroom 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

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 semiofficial 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

"I never saw anything so serenelyarrogantly, perhaps would be a truer descriptiontriumphant as your

bearing when you walked down our humble sala tonight. You looked like Caesar returned from Gaul; but I

"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

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 contradanza? It quite turned my head, and I am delighted to hear that you

Her face had flushed hotly. She dropped her eyes and her voice trembled as she replied: "You humiliate me,

senor, and I deserve it. Imy 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 Elenabeside 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 tomorrow to see them if you wish."

"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 turewho can do you

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

"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

"Nothing," she murmured. "I do not knowI do not know. But I no longer wish her near me. Shelife is

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 disillusionizingbut 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

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

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. AndMadre de Dios! I am so tired of

"But you are a part of itthe 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.

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

"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 gracefullyyes. 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

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 knowthat is all very wellbut to improvisefor

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 Sonin her own way, of courseafter

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,

"I am glad she will not dance with Weeliam," muttered Santiago. "I love himyes; but the Spanish dance is

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 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

"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

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

"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 ofgold 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

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

"I was disappointed that you did not wear your roses tonight," he said. "I associate them with you in my

She found a place for two and thrust another in the neck of her gown. The rest she held closely in her hands.

"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."

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

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 servingwomen 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

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

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

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

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 today from sheer reaction. She would listen to no protest from her prudent

"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 approvebefore they are here!to go on the for eign ship! If Luis were

"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

lightheaded, 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.

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

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

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

"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,

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

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

"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

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

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

"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

"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 Tiburonyou will soon see the straits between. The big rock over there

is Alcatraz, and farther away still is Yerba Buenathat 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

Concha was directing his attention to the tremen dous angular peak rising above the tumbled hills. "That is

Mount Tamalpaisthe 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.

"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

"May I ask," said Concha demurely, "how you dare to run the risks of an unknown sheet of water? I have

"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

Nadeshdaanchored at Falmouththree years ago. Davidov, who, you may observe, is steering, oblivious

"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!"

"Today I shall be one; and you the kind fairy godfather," she added, with some malice. "How old are you,

"That is twentysix years older than myself. But your excellency might pass for thirtyfive," she added

politely. "We have all said it. And now that you are not so pale you will soon look younger and even more

"I have never felt so triumphant as on this morn ing, dear senorita. I had not hoped to give you so much

Her cheeks were as pink as her reboso, her great black eyes were dancing. Her hands strained at the railing. "I

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

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

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

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 lonesthe 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 wouldis 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

"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

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 furbordered moccasins; but silk and cotton, linen,

"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

"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

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 halfdozen 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.

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

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

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

"It would make a fine estate for summer lifeor 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

If he had hoped to see a look of blank dismay after his hours of devotion he was disappointed. She made a

"I do not think I could stand a desert island with the good Weeliam. For that I should prefer one of my own

"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

"What of it? It would be the gentle sad ennui of peace, not of disillusion, senor. How I wish you would tell

"God forbid. And do not remind me of ennui and disillusions. I have forgotten both in California. Perhaps,

"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 kingdomthat never will exist, perhaps. I have always been called a dreamer, but the

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

"Well said! I kiss your hands, as they say in Vienna. But we must sail again. I told them to be ready at three

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

"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

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

"Those are behind our rancho, senorRancho 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

When they had sailed south for a few moments the boat came about sharply. Concha laughed. "I had

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

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

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,

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.

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 arevery 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

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

"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.

Concha, who was sitting in the shade of the rose vines on the corridor making a dress for Gertrudis

"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

"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 serenadesand all sorts of insincere

"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

"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 youbutlately things have changedlife seems, somehow, more real. The

"You have been drinking Russian tea," said Con cha, stitching quietly but flashing him a glance of

"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 horseracing, gambling, cockfighting, 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

"Do you ask me that, Concha, when he makes a fence of himself about you, and his fine eyesprac tised is

"But why should that cause you jealousy? He is a man of the world, accustomed to make himself agreeable,

"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?"

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 hima stranger I have known but a week who looks upon me as

a childwho 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

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 perhapsI shall sit here on the veranda, and you shall read to

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 rosevines"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

hereto Boston, to Europe. You should seelive your lifein the great cities you have dreamed ofthat

you hardly believe inthat were made to enjoy. I have told you of the theater, the operayou 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 artI 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

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

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.

"A week ago you would not have said that," said Sturgis shrewdly. "There has been nothing in your life to

"I cannot explain, but he seems to have brought the great world with him. I know, I understand so many

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 seventyfive 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 goodwill 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 ceremonybeing a

gentleman who loved good company and cheerand 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 horsehair 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

"Russia is not at war with Spain," said Rezanov, with a flash of amusement in his halfclosed 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

"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

"No better epithet for him," he said. "And the sooner Europe combines to get rid of him the bet ter. But until

"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 Aleutianssubjects of the Tsar. A negro that deserted gave

the information that they were furnished the Bostonian by the chief manager of your

CompanyBaranhovwhose reputation we know well enough!for the deliberate purpose of raiding our

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 biyearly 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

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

"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

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

"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 Godforsaken

land. And we our selves could be more comfortableGod 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

"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.

"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 itmuch, 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

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 dailyunofficiallythat 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

"So far so good," thought Rezanov, as he mounted his horse to return to the Juno. "But what of my cargo? I

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 seadogs, 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 offoverboard, every one of them.

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?"

Rezanov turned to confront the white and trembling Langsdorff. The naturalist was enfolded in a gorgeous

Japanese dressinggown, 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.

"So it is to mein 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

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

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

But he did not give the chosen site of his city a glance today, 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

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

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, friendlyimpersonal. 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; grownhe felt rather

than analyzedabove 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

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

He shrugged his shoulders at this argument; he had walked off some of his illhumor, 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

"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

workand power and has passed fortydoes 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

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

Rezanov stepped hastily back from the point of the bluff and glanced about in wonder, his pulses suddenly

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

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! HoweverI suppose you have

"I have not," said Rezanov grimly, although acutely sensible that the subject suited neither his mood nor the

"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 daythose 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 himone, 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 JoseFather 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 priestsvowed he should not have one moment of peace until that cargo was ours."

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

"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

"But if he refused to understand, or his con science remained obdurate? I should then have neither cargo nor

"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 softhearted

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

"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.

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

"The Russian bear is no longer a figure of speech," he said. "Forgive me. I forgot that you are as tender as

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

"Will it matter to you? Are you strong enough? It will be only a question of time to win them over, if you

She nodded emphatically. "I was born with strength. NowDios!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

"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 onehalf 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 harderlonger." 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 natureand my powerto hold what I

"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,

"Before all that great mystery," she said solemnly, "I give myself to you forever, how much or how little that

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.

"No man was ever saner," said Rezanov cheer fully. "What better proof would you have than this final

"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, Excellencyunless, indeed,

"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

Don Jose turned pale and hitched his chair. "Other maids have been balked when young, and have forgotten.

"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

"How can you be so certain?" asked the Com mandante sharply. "Surely you have had little talk alone with

"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 heartit 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, Commandanteyesterday. 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

Don Jose, despite his consternation, titillated agreeably. He privately thought no one in New Spain good

enough for his daughter, and his weatherbeaten 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

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

yetCalifornia! 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,

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

"My daughter," said Don Jose finally, his tones harsh with repressed misgiving, "do you suspect why I have

"I think that his excellency wishes to marry me," replied Concha; and the Commandante was so stag gered

"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,

"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

"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 motherand 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

"You may not have intendedbut you have taught me to think for myself. And I have seen others besides M.

de Rezanovthe 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

"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

Don Jose leaped from his chair. "Go to your room!" he thundered. "And do not dare to leave it without my

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

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 tonight as if nothing had happened

I forgot, there is to be a bullbear 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."

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

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 stableboy 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

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 bestloved 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

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 Ignaciano mean featvolubly

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

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

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

"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 soulmore 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 besidesof 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

"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,

"Control yourself, my daughter. You cannot bring this man into the true church. His character is long since

"I should hate him. All young men are insuffer able to mealways 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 thingsmy head turns

roundI can hardly thinkbut 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 fatherso 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 Christianitywhich 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

"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 today 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 badbadbadand I will be! Do you hear?" And she shook his arm

"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 passionsthey

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,

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 suffersuffer 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

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

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

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

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 mandwith 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 goodlooking 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

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

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

"We were somewhat taken aback at the first mo ment," Luis admitted. "Butwell, we are both in

loveSantiago 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 heris 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 ernorwe arrived at midnightand he flew into a terrible temperthe poor man is already like a

mad bull at baybut 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 pressureyou may be sure Concha has not been

idleto 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

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

Santiago nodded. "While Luis is at the Mission I shall go to my cousin Juan Moraga's. You will dine with us

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. Tonight, 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. Tonight 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,

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

Rezanov gave the grill an angry shake. (San tiago had considerately retired.) "Come out," he said

"There is but one gate, senor, and that is directly in front of the house door, that stands open"

"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

twentytwo 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 tonight he

concluded that she had the gift of clothing the inevitable with the semblance and the sweetness of choice; and

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

"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 today 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

winswith men. I must, must bring you good fortune," she added anxiously. "Marriage with a little

"I can think of nothing that would advantage it more. What are you going to call me?"

"I cannot say Petrovich or Nicolaimy Spanish tongue rebels. I shall call you Pedro. That is a very pretty

"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

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,

"No man has ever seen them beforesince 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!

"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 confessionwe have it in our church; but remember

She nodded. "I understandbetter than you understand Romanism. I must confess that I met you tonight,

but Father Abella is too discreet to ask for more. It is such blessed memories that feed the soul, and they

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."

But this was far too simple for the taste of a Governor. So important an occasion demanded official dignity

"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 mindedindeed, 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 existencea fact well known to our king and natural lord. When he hears of this

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."

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 hereticpar don, Excellencywithout 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

knowI knowbut 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

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

"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

"Very well. But there is one thing more. I am not in a diplomatic humor. My Sitkans are starv ing. I must

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

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 selfimposed 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 togetherfor we must lay a requisition on the fertile Mission ranchos in the valleysand

you will exchange these narrow quarters for such poor comfort as my house affords I take no denial.

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

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

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

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

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

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

But she sighed and drooped a little. The burden of woman's waiting seemed already to have de scended

upon her. Two years were longlong. 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 vigilanceorwho 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

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

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

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 AbellaSantiago was in Mon tereyand that wise student

On Thursday afternoon there was to take place the long delayed Indian dance and bullbear 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

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 waterfowls, 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

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

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

"I did not look at it. I never do. But I know that you were not affronted. You never took your eyes from those

"I am exhilarated to know that you watched me. Yes, at a bullfight 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

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.

Her eyes melted, but she could not resist planting a dart. "Not nowI 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,

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

"You have only to say the word," he said hoarsely, "and the Juno will sail tonight."

Never before had she seen his face so unmasked. Her voice shook in triumph and response.

"Alleverything." His own voice shook with more than passion, for even in that moment he counted the

"You would not say that tomorrow. I hate my self that I made you say it now. I love you enough to wait

"You are strangely farsighted for a young girl." And between admiration and pique, his ardor suf fered a

"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 flownflownI have lived those two years until they are twenty, thirty, and I have lived on

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

"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.

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

nowI am, wellphilosophically 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

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 tomorrow," 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. Sometimeswho 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

"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."

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.

But the horses were not always champing in the square. There was more than one bullbear 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

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

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 RussianAmerican 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 bullfights 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

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

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

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

Commandanteor El padrone as he was known hereand 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

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

"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

"Tell me your ultimate plans, Pedro mio," said Concha softly. "You are dreaming of something this moment

"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

hopewhat 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, kindand inefficient people, my dear

girlas no other Russian could. They cannot hold this coun try. Spain could notwould not, at all events,

for she has not troops enough here to protect a territory half its sizehold 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.

Moreovera beneficent triumph impossi ble to us otherwisewith 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 aloneand 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 manone 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,

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

"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."

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 whitewashed 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

"Yes, Concha has always been too fortunate," re peated Rafaella. "Why should she be chosen for such a

destinyto 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

weekMadre de Dios! And we stay here forever with white walls, horsehair fur niture, Baja California

"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 today. 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 herI

remembered it only yesterdayshe came into this world on the thirteenth of a month, and he into her life but

one day before the thirteenth of anothernew 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 himon the night of the ball; of that I am

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 notodayI cannot. Two years! Have I not waited six?

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 fulldress uniform of white and scarlet, Don Jose a blue velvet serape, embroid ered in

As they dismounted Rezanov bowed ceremoni ously to the party on the corridor, and they returned his

"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

"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 getherit would have been ridiculous. And I could not wear a

"I should have liked to fancy we were here for our nuptials. Delusions pass but are none the less sweet for

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

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.

"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 today. 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

"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

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

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

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 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 illtemperwith 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 soundwho 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 RussianAmerican 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

As Rezanov, on the second of July, thirtyone 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

everchanging 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

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, redfringed pate with a silk

handkerchief tied under his chin, stood, hands on hips, shaking with excite ment and delight. The bearded,

longhaired priests, in full canonicals of black and gold, were beside the ChiefManager, ready to escort the

Chamberlain to the chapel at the head of the solitary street, where the bells were pealing and a mass of

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 convictsAleuts 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, illnourished

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 clearsighted 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

After the service Rezanov went up to the hut of the ChiefManager, 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

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,

"What is it?" he asked. "What have I done now? Remember that you have been in this busi ness for sixteen

"A provision that exceeds my most sanguine hopes. The only thing that mitigates my satisfac tion is that

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 halfway, 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

"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

"Oh, no, we can boil or roast it. It will dispose of what teeth we have left, but that will serve the good purpose

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

The ChiefManager's head nodded with the vigor and rapidity of a mechanical toy. "It is a Godsend, a

Godsend. 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

stayalthough 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 lesswhen I am not in California." And

he told Baranhov of his proposed marriage with the daugh ter of Don Jose Arguello.

The ChiefManager listened to this confidence with an even livelier satisfaction than to the list of the Juno's

"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 huntingsomewhere 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 familywhose influence I well

knowand 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, Godforsaken,

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 havefor 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

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

dissipatedlooking 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

The man threw back his head defiantly. "I am Lieutenant Sookin of the Imperial Navy of Russia," he said in a

"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

RussianAmerican 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, highbred, 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

"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 harborwhich we shall call Japonskyand 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

He paused a moment, and then suddenly smiled into the unresponsive faces before him. He held out his hand

"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

They did not retire, and Rezanov, noting their sudden hesitation and embarrassment, felt an in stant thrill of

"Life has moved slowly in Sitka during your absence, Excellency," replied Davidov. "There has been little

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

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

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 highhanded

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

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

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

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

As he realized that the die was cast, the sanguine ness of his temperament rushed to do battle against

apprehension and selfaccusing. 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.

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 ChiefManager, 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

RussianAmerican 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

The first stage of the journeyfrom Okhotsk to Yakutskwas 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

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 dechambre, cook and other servants, one set of fine blankets and linen, cooking

utensils, axes, arms, tinderboxes, 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

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

smallpox 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 himnot without difficultyfrom 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

"How do you think men accomplish things in this world?" asked Rezanov angrily. "By turning back and

"No, Excellency," said the man humbly. "But health is necessary to the accomplishment of every thing, and

"What are drugs for? Give me the whole damned pharmacopeia if you choose, but don't talk to me about

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 twentytwo days, but of thirtythree. 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

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 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

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

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

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

GovernorGeneral 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 ernorGeneral, 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

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

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

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

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 usefulnesswithout which man's span was but exist encehis ambitions

had cohered and been driven steadily toward a permanent niche in history; then paled and dissolved for an

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

endeavorand 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

He looked back in wonder at the moment of wild regret and protestthe 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

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

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. Perhapswho 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;

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

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 hehere 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

So died Rezanov; and with him the hope of Rus sians and the hindrance of Americans in the west; and the