58 
SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 
u Give me water, you merciless devils ! give me water !” 
kC You infernal sons of the Inquisition, give me drink or fire 
on me !” 
And then another voice at the grate exclaimed, u Give 
us something to eat! 0 God, we shall die here ! We can’t 
breathe ! Half of us can’t speak!” 
And then another voice, husky and weak, said u Why!” 
in a tone of despairing agony, which became so low and 
inarticulate that I could not hear what followed. I had not 
seen the prisoners, but their cries banished sleep and all 
desire to rest. I therefore went out upon the balcony and 
seating myself in a dark nook w r atched, as well as I was 
able, the movements in the town. 
A portion of the troops were on duty as an armed patrol. 
The tap of the drum and the challenge, te Quin vive ?” with 
the reply, c< Californias u Quin jente 1” and the response, 
cc Mexicanos,” broke in upon their heavy, sounding tramp! 
About four o’clock the men in the castello, or fort, became 
alarmed by the cracking of dry brush in the neighboring 
wood, and the patrol rushed to their rescue. It proved to 
be the echo of their fears. The patrol soon returned to 
their posts, and silence again reigned. It was a horrid 
night! Nature was laughing and bright on earth and in the 
sky. But fiends had gone forth to mar her beauty. The 
same spirit which had devastated the virtues and freedom 
of half the earth was abroad in the wilds of California, as 
of old in Chili, torturing those whose courage their bravado 
could not subdue, or their pretension intimidate! 
The sun came up next morning most brightly in that clear 
blue sky of California : but it shone on sadder hearts than I 
had ever before seen. The flowers were creeping up along 
the streets; and the grasses, invigorated by the winter rains 
and the warm days of spring, were growing on the hills ; the 
cattle and wild animals roamed about enjoying the rich liberty 
which nature gave them. They possessed no qualities which 
could excite the wakefulness of Spanish malignity! They 
