TRAVELS IN THE CAUFORNIAS. 
63 
occurred till the night came on, when the awe with which 
darkness sometimes inspires even the bravest minds, fell 
with such overwhelming power on the valorous garrison, 
that notwithstanding they were supported by the open 
mouths of the guns, the barking of their dog, the roar of the 
surf, and the hooting of an owl on a neighboring tree-top, 
they were absolutely compelled to forsake the ramparts, 
for the more certain protection of unmolested flight! 
Graham and his men perceiving the discomforture of their 
enemies, availed themselves of their absence by taking pos¬ 
session of the evacuated fort. Alvarado, meantime, actuated, 
it is to be presumed, by a desire to save life and a philosophi¬ 
cal conviction of the dangers incident to bullets rendered 
crazy by burning powder, restrained the fiery ardor of his 
twenty-five Californians, and held his own person beyond 
the reach of harm, in case some luckless horse or cow stray¬ 
ing over hostile ground on that memorable night, should 
scare the fleeing garrison into an act of defence. The next 
morning he and his brave men were found peering from 
their hiding-places in a state of great anxiety and alarm! 
A battle had almost been begun in Monterey ! The blood 
of their enemies had almost begun to fatten the soil of Cal- 
fornia ! They themselves had nearly stepped in blood knee 
deep, among the carcasses of the hated Mexicans ; the be¬ 
som of destruction had shaken itself, and had barely missed 
commencing the havoc of bone and flesh, which would have 
crushed every mote of Mexican life within their borders! 
Thus they gloried among the bushes !! 
Old Graham stood at sunrise on the earth embankments 
of the Gastello. A hunting shirt of buckskin, and pants of 
the same material, covered his giant frame; a slouched 
broad-brimmed hat hung aroand his head, and half covered 
his large, quiet, determined face! In his right hand he 
held his rifle, the tried companion of many fearful strifes 
among the savages ! Four or five of his men sat on a dis¬ 
mounted thirty-two pounder, querying whether they could 
