TRAVELS IN THE CAL1F0RNI AS. 
71 
versed together in low tones of voice. I stopped Jose Cas¬ 
tro, and asked him what was the matter. He replied that he 
was going to march against the Commandante General 
Yiego, at San Francisco, to depose him from the command 
of the forces. His two companions made the same assertion. 
I knew that Alvarado was afraid of Viego, and that Jose 
Castro was ambitious for his place; and for these reasons, I 
partly concluded that they spoke the truth. 
u A little later in the day, however, the vagabond Garner 
called at my house, and having drunk freely of whisky be¬ 
came rather boisterous, and said significantly, that the time 
of some people would be short; that Jose Castro had re¬ 
ceived orders from the governor to drive the foreigners out of 
California, or to dispose of them in some other way. He boast¬ 
ed that he himself should have a pleasant participation in 
the business. I could not persuade him to inform me when 
or in what manner this was to take place. I had heard the 
same threat made a number of times within the past year, but 
it resulted in nothing. Believing, therefore, that Garner’s 
words proceeded from the whisky he had drunk, rather than 
the truth, I left him in the yard, and in company with my 
partner, Mr. Niel, went to bed. Messrs. Morris and Bar¬ 
ton, as usual, took to their couches in the still-house. 
u We slept quietly, until about three o’clock in the morn¬ 
ing, when I was awakened by the discharge of a pistol near 
my head, the ball of which passed through the handkerchief 
about my neck. I sprang to my feet, and jumped in the 
direction of the villains, when they discharged six other 
pistols, so near me that my shirt took fire in several places. 
Fortunately, the darkness and the trepidation of the cow¬ 
ards prevented their taking good aim ; for only one of their 
shots took effect, and that in my left arm. 
u After firing they fell back a few paces and commenced 
reloading their pieces. I perceive by the light of their pis¬ 
tols that they were too numerous for a single man to contend 
with, and determined to escape. But I had scarcely got six 
