RANCH LIFE. 245 



take good care of my money and not spend it foolishly. I 

 thought better of them at parting and bore them no ill will. 

 Then I left that, to me, singular family, sitting in state ; the 

 pretty, aristocratic Inez, her good-looking husband, the ven- 

 erable Patron and wife and the little Anita, and with my 

 blankets slung over my shoulder shook the "adobe" of the 

 ranch from my feet and turned from it, casting no lingering 

 look backward. 



It w^as a beautiful day when I left, so different from the 

 morning I came there. I was different myself. In place of 

 the seedy tramp with his humble demeanor, and fearing he 

 could not secure work, I departed erect, in good spirits and clad 

 respectably. I took the route of " Scottie" and the one over which 

 Signor Augustina had brought us. It was the 21st of April, 

 and the hills through which the unfenced road wound were 

 clothed in the greenest of grass, on which herds of cattle were 

 pasturing. The range on my left was dotted at intervals with 

 live-oaks, and with the verdure about them looked like a series 

 of apple orchards ; for at a distance an apple-tree and live-oak 

 look much alike. At about 9 I came to Sonoma, a town 

 I had passed through before, but then almost invisible in the 

 morning fog. This old town possesses historical interest in 

 connection with the conquest of California, for here Colonel 

 Fremont proclaimed its independence before he knew of the 

 war between the United States and Mexico, and hoisted the 

 "Bear Flag" in the square. It was typical of the towns found 

 in the province previous to 1847 ; a bare plaza surrounded by 

 low, adobe structures, whitewashed and glaring, mainly public 

 buildings, stores and drinking places, before which numerous 

 saddle-horses were standing. Extending from this at increas- 

 ing intervals were more adobe buildings, humble enough the 

 most of them. In spite of this the town had a pleasant look 

 in its setting of green fields and outlying pasture ranges. I 

 stopped here but a few minutes, and walking over the level 



