LIFE IN THE FAR WEST. 177 



This being conveyed to him in mountain Spanish, which fear 

 alone made him understand, the padre gave orders to the men to 

 leave the Mission, advising them moreover, not to recommence 

 hostilities, as himself was kept as hostage, and if a finger was lift- 

 ed against the mountaineers, he would be killed at once, and the 

 Mission burned to the ground. Once inside, the hunters had no 

 fear of attack, they could have kept the building against all 

 California ; so, leaving a guard of two outside the gate, and first 

 seeing their worn-out animals supplied with piles of corn and 

 shucks, they made themselves at home, and soon were paying at- 

 tention to the hot tortillas, meat, and chile Colorado, which were 

 quickly placed before them, washing down the hot-spiced viands 

 with deep draughts of wine and brandy. It would have been 

 amusing to have seen the faces of these rough fellows as they grave- 

 ly pledged each other in the grateful liquor, and looked askance at 

 the piles of fruit served by the attendant Hebes. These came in 

 for no little share of attention, it may be imagined ; but the utmost 

 respect was paid to them, for your mountaineer, rough and bear- 

 like though he be, never, by word or deed, offends the modesty of a 

 woman, although sometimes obhged to use a compulsory wooing, 

 when time is not allowed for regular courtship, and not unfre- 

 quently known to jerk a New Mexican or Californian beauty be- 

 hind his saddle, should the obdurate parents refuse consent to their 

 immediate union. It tickled the Americans not a little to have 

 all their wants supplied, and to be thus waited upon, by what they 

 considered the houris of paradise ; and after their long journey, and 

 the many hardships and privations they had suffered, their present 

 luxurious situation seemed scarcely real. 



The hidalgo, released from the durance vile of the lasso, as- 

 sisted at the entertainment ; his sense of what was due to the 

 " sangre regular" which ran in his veins being appeased by the 

 fact, that he sat above the wild, uncouth mountaineers, these pre- 

 ferring to squat crosslegged on the floor in their own fashion, to the 



