. I know that most
of you have never seen this beautiful bay and that you will enjoy its
scenery as much as I shall."

He moved to Concha's side and dropped his voice. "This is for you,
senorita," he said. "You want change, variety, and I have planned to
give you all that I can in one day. I expect you to be happy."

"I shall be," she said dryly, "if only in watching a diplomat get his
way. You will see every corner of our bay, and I shall have the
delightful sensation of doing something for which I cannot be held
responsible."

He laughed. "I am quite willing that you should understand me," he
said. "But it is true that I thought as much of you as of myself."

In a few moments the ship was under way. Santiago and Sturgis had gone
down to the cabin to reassure Dona Ignacia, who uttered a loud cry as
the Juno gave a preliminary lurch. Gervasio and Rivera had opened
their eyes as Rezanov abruptly unfolded his plan, but dropped them
sleepily before the delight of the girls. After all, it was none of
their affair, and what was a bay? If they requested him, as a point of
honor, to refrain from examining the battery of Yerba Buena with his
glass, their consciences would be as light as their hearts.

As Rezanov stood alone with Concha in the prow of the ship and
alternately cast softened eyes on her intense, rapt face, and shrewd
glances on the ramifications of the bay, he congratulated himself upon
his precipitate action and the collusion of nature. They were sailing
east, and would turn to the north in a moment. The mountain range bent
abruptly at the entrance to the bay, encircling the immense sheet of
water in a chain of every altitude and form: a long hard undulating
line against the bright blue sky; smooth and dimpled slopes as round as
cones, bare but for the green of their grasses; lofty ridges tapering
to hills in the curve at the north but with blue peaks multiplying
beyond. There were dense forests in deep canyons on the mountainside,
bare and jagged heights, the graceful sweep of valleys, promontories
leaping out from the mainland like mammoth crocodiles guarding the bay.
The view of the main waters was broken by the largest of the islands,
but far away were the hills of the east and the soft blue peaks behind.
And over all, hills and valley and canyon and mountain, was a bright
opalescent mist. Green, pink, and other pale colors gleamed as behind
a thin layer of crystal. Where the sun shone throu