urse you will visit our opulent south; but--"
They had dismounted at the Commandante's house in the southeast corner
of the square. Arguello impulsively led Rezanov back to the gates and
pointed to the east. "I have crossed those mountains and the mountains
beyond, Excellency, and seen fertile and beautiful valleys of a vast
extent, watered by five rivers and bound far, far away by mountains
covered with snow and gigantic trees. The valley beyond the southern
edge of the bay, where the Missions of Santa Clara and San Jose are, is
also rich, but those between the ranges is an empire; and one day when
the King sends us more colonists, we shall recompense Spain for all she
has lost."

"I congratulate you!" Rezanov, indifferent to his host's ancestral
tree, had lifted an alert ear. His quick incisive brain was at work.
"I should like to stretch my legs over a horse for a week at a time,
and even to climb your highest mountains. You may imagine how much
exercise a man may get on a vessel of two hundred and six tons, and it
is thirty-two days since I left Sitka. To look upon a vast expanse of
green--to say nothing of possible sport--after a winter of incessant
rain and impenetrable forests--what a prospect! I beg you will take me
off into the wilderness as soon as possible."

"I promise you the Governor shall not withhold his consent--and there
are bear and deer--quail, wild duck--your excellency will enjoy that
beautiful wild country as I have done." Arguello was enchanted at the
prospect of fresh adventure in the company of this fascinating
stranger. "But we are once more at our poor abode, senor. I beg you
to remember that it is your own."

They ascended the steps of the piazza, suddenly deserted, and it seemed
to Rezanov that every sense in his being quivered responsively to the
poignant sweetness of the Castilian roses. He throbbed with a sudden
exultant premonition that he stood on the threshold of an historic
future, with a pagan joy in mere existence, a sudden rush of desire for
the keen wild happiness of youth. Such is the elixir of California in
the north and the spring.

They entered a long sala typical of its day and of many to come;
whitewashed walls hung with colored prints of the Virgin and saints;
horsehair furniture, matting, deep window seats; and a perennial
coolness. The Chamberlain (his court title and the one commonly
attached to his name) made himself as comfortable as the slippery chair