LIFE IN THE FAR WEST. 179 



Arkansas, having been duly and legally married by Fray Augustin 

 before their departure. 



But now the snow on the ridge of the Sierra Madre, and the 

 nightly ftosts ; the angular flights of geese and ducks constantly 

 passing overhead ; the sober tints of the foliage, and the dead 

 leaves that strew the ground ; the withering grass on the plain, 

 and the cold gusts, sometimes laden with snow and sleet, that 

 sweep from the distant snow-clad mountains ; — all these signs 

 warn us to linger no longer in the tempting valley of San Fer- 

 nando, but at once to pack our mules to cross the dreary and 

 desert plains and inhospitable sierras ; and to seek with our booty 

 one of the sheltered bayous of the Rocky Mountains. 



On the third day after their arrival, behold our mountaineers 

 again upon the march, driving before them — with the assistance 

 of half a dozen Indians, impressed for the first few days of the 

 journey until the cavallada get accustomed to travel without con- 

 fusion — a band of four hundred head of mules and horses, them- 

 selves mounted on the strongest and fleetest they could select from 

 at least a thousand. 



Fray Augustin and the Hidalgo, from the house-top, watched 

 them depart : the former glad to get rid of such unscrupulous 

 guests at any cost, the latter rather loth to part with his boon 

 companions, with whom he had quafled many a quartillo of Cali; 

 fornian wine. Great was the grief, and violent the sobbing, when 

 all the girls in the Mission surrounded Juanita to bid her adieu ; 

 as she, seated en cavalier o|i an easy pacing mule, bequeathed her 

 late companions to the keeping of every saint in the calendar, and 

 particularly to the great St. Ferdinand himself, under whose 

 especial tutelage all those in the Mission were supposed to live. 

 Pedrillo, poor forsaken Pedrillo, a sullen, sulky half-breed, was 

 overcome, not with grief, but with anger at the slight put upon 

 him, and voM^ed revenge. He of the " sangre regular," having 

 not a particle of enmity in his heart, waved his arm^that arm 



