They were happy.
For why? They were the first; they had no history, you comprehend, no
tradition. They married as they liked" (with a glance at Carroll),
"nobody objected; they increased and multiplied. But the plains were
fertile; the game was plentiful; it was not fit that it should be for
the beasts alone. And so, in the course of time, an Indian chief, a
heathen, Koorotora, built his wigwam here."

"I beg your pardon," said Garnier, in apparent distress, "but I caught
the gentleman's name imperfectly."

Fully aware that the questioner only wished to hear again her musical
enunciation of the consonants, she repeated, "Koorotora," with an
apologetic glance at Carroll, and went on. "This gentleman had no
history or tradition to bother him, either; whatever Senor Coyote
thought of the matter, he contented himself with robbing Senor
Koorotora's wigwam when he could, and skulking around the Indian's camp
at night. The old chief prospered, and made many journeys round the
country, but always kept his camp here. This lasted until the time
when the holy Fathers came from the South, and Portala, as you have all
read, uplifted the wooden Cross on the sea-coast over there, and left
it for the heathens to wonder at. Koorotora saw it on one of his
journeys, and came back to the canada full of this wonder. Now,
Koorotora had a wife."

"Ah, we shall commence now. We are at the beginning. This is better
than Senora Coyota," said Garnier, cheerfully.

"Naturally, she was anxious to see the wonderful object. She saw it,
and she saw the holy Fathers, and they converted her against the
superstitious heathenish wishes of her husband. And more than that,
they came here--"

"And converted the land also; is it not so? It was a lovely site for a
mission," interpolated Garnier, politely.

"They built a mission and brought as many of Koorotora's people as they
could into the sacred fold. They brought them in in a queer fashion
sometimes, it is said; dragoons from the Presidio, Captain Carroll,
lassoing them and bringing them in at the tails of their horses. All
except Koorotora. He defied them; he cursed them and his wife in his
wicked heathenish fashion, and said that they too should lose the
mission through the treachery of some woman, and that the coyote should
yet prowl through the ruined walls of the church. The holy Fathers
pitied the wicked man--and built themselves a lovely garden. Look at
that pear-tree! T