88 
SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 
the Rocky Mountains in search of furs, have from time to 
time been subjected to losses and the most degradingpersonal 
treatment from the Californian and New Mexican authorities. 
Whites and Indians having been injured in this manner, with¬ 
out personal resistance, until all hope of retribution from the 
federal government, and every prospect of better morals on 
the part of the robbers, had forsaken them, have taken the 
club into their own hands : and the ruined Indian and 
white man put on the red paint of battle, band together, 
make incursions among the covyards of Santa Fe, and 
even cross the mountains, and lay tribute upon the mules 
and horses of the Californians. Such were the Indians 
whose presence created the alarm at Monterey. They number¬ 
ed about fifty. And the vagabond government well knew that 
those fifty rifles if brought upon the town at that time would 
send every poltroon of them to their last rest. No wonder, 
then, that there was quaking at Monterey. Old scores and la¬ 
ter ones would have been balanced, if those men had dream¬ 
ed that Americans and Britons were in the prisons of Monterey. 
It was suggested by several persons that the prisoners 
would be shot during the week without trial. Acting upon 
this hint the American intimated to some of the more pru¬ 
dent and intelligent among them, his willingness to aid them 
in breaking prison, taking the town, and disposing of the 
authorities at rope’s end, if they did not give them a fair 
trial within three days thereafter. These propositions in¬ 
spired them with such new life, or rather so kindled into 
action the little that was left in them, that those who had 
strength enough to make themselves heard, struck up u Hail 
Columbia,” and u Rule Britannia,” with a fervor that at 
intervals choked their utterance ! 
I never before felt the force of these national sono-s. The 
o 
night was still! Scarcely a sound was heard save the heavy 
surf beating on the rocks of Puentos Pinos. I walked 
around the prisons till eleven o’clock, to the peril of life, in¬ 
deed, but in the enjoyment of feelings dearer than life itself. 
