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[Illustration: "'IT WAS ONLY THE PEARLS YOU WANTED.'"]
THE SPLENDID IDLE FORTIES
STORIES OF OLD CALIFORNIA
BY
GERTRUDE ATHERTON
AUTHOR OF "THE CONQUEROR," "SENATOR NORTH" "THE ARISTOCRATS," ETC.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY HARRISON FISHER
1902
TO
THE BOHEMIAN CLUB
OF SAN FRANCISCO
AS A SLIGHT ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF
ITS COURTESY IN PLACING
ITS FINE
LIBRARY OF CALIFORNIAN LITERATURE
AT MY DISPOSAL
NOTE
This is a revised and enlarged edition of the volume which was issuedsome years ago under the title, "Before the Gringo Came."
CONTENTS
THE PEARLS OF LORETO
THE EARS OF TWENTY AMERICANS
THE WASH-TUB MAIL
THE CONQUEST OF DOÑA JACOBA
A RAMBLE WITH EULOGIA
THE ISLE OF SKULLS
THE HEAD OF A PRIEST
LA PÉRDIDA
LUKARI'S STORY
NATALIE IVANHOFF: A MEMORY OF FORT ROSS
THE VENGEANCE OF PADRE ARROYO
THE BELLS OF SAN GABRIEL
WHEN THE DEVIL WAS WELL
THE PEARLS OF LORETO
I
Within memory of the most gnarled and coffee-coloured Montereño neverhad there been so exciting a race day. All essential conditions seemedto have held counsel and agreed to combine. Not a wreath of fog floatedacross the bay to dim the sparkling air. Every horse, every vaquero,was alert and physically perfect. The rains were over; the dust was notgathered. Pio Pico, Governor of the Californias, was in Monterey onone of his brief infrequent visits. Clad in black velvet, covered withjewels and ropes of gold, he sat on his big chestnut horse at the upperend of the field, with General Castro, Doña Modeste Castro, and otherprominent Montereños, his interest so keen that more than once theofficial dignity relaxed, and he shouted "Brava!" with the rest.
And what a brilliant sight it was! The flowers had faded on the hills,for June was upon them; but gayer than the hills had been was therace-field of Monterey. Caballeros, with silver on their wide gray hatsand on their saddles of embossed leather, gold and silver embroidery ontheir velvet serapes, crimson sashes about their slender waists, silverspurs and buckskin botas, stood tensely in their stirrups as the racersflew by, or, during the short intervals, pressed each other with eagerwagers. There was little money in that time. The golden skeleton withinthe sleeping body of California had not yet been laid bare. But ranchoswere lost and won; thousands of cattle would pass to other hands at thenext rodeo; many a superbly caparisoned steed would rear and plungebetween the spurs of a new master.
And caballeros were not the only living pictures of that memorable dayof a time for ever gone. Beautiful women in silken fluttering gowns,bright flowers holding the mantilla from flushed awakened faces, sattheir impatient horses as easil