Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 66 — page 5: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

SE ee ae ee — ee ——-- =< - -- — their ages. There is none, or only a little. more than between the mids themselves. 1 is, aS may be supposed, the senior of her niece. And, as Fate have been cast in conformity—in proper symmet and proportion. Crozier is in love with the tia; Cad- wallader with the sobrina. Tuse these Spanish words, because the same that have been for some time sounding in the ears Their sweethearts are Spanish of the purest blood. They are respect- the daughter and grand-daughter of Don Gre- gorio Montijo, whose dwelling can be seen from the ship—a mansion of imposing appearance, in the pitched upon the summit of rom the shore, at some dis- of the two young officers. ivel Mexican hacienda an a hill, that slopes up tance off, outside the city walls. While conversing the two young officers have their n it, one of the two assisting his eyes turned u vision with a telescope. It is Cadwallader who uses the glass. fg on ds to his eye, he says: “T think I see them, Ned. At all events, on the housetop there’s something—like two heads just T'll take odds_ it’s the pe mya over the parapet. dear girls! Iwonder if they can see us?” ‘Not likely, unless, like ourselves, they are pro- vided with telescopes.” ‘‘ By Jove! I believe they’ve got that. I see some- I'll warrant one of them is look- thin ing t that glances. ough a lens, and it’s my sweetheart.” ‘““Bah! give me the glass, Cad. With all those bright blue eyes you're so proud of, I can sight a sail further than you.” ‘*A sail—yes. Ease old aunt, leaving the niece to me. 1a)" all on your ‘l’s head. Look at that.” Crozier pulls out a lock, and holds it up before the It gleams golden with a radiance of other’s eyes. red. He adds pure amber!”’ ‘“*Oakum!”’ cries Cadwallader, sneeringly. look at this!” he adds, also exhibiting a tress. suppose you fancied yourself the only one who has received favors. You see I’ve got one as wellas you. There’s a bit of hair that beside yours is like costly silk alongside cheap cotton. What do you think of it? There’s a color for you?” ** The color of tar!"’ retorts Crozier. The two stand holding the locks of hair, each ca- ressing his own. Then both burst into laughter and stow away their tresses. Crozier in turn taking hold of the glass levels it on the hacienda. After a time he says: “You're right about one thing, Will—those heads are the same from which we've got our hair. The “You two girls, to a certainty. AndI fancy they’re look- ing this way—I hope expecting us. Well, we'll be with them, please God, before the sun goes down, and then you'll see how much superior bright amber is to dull black anywhere in the world, but especially in the light of a California sunset.” ‘*Nowhere, Ned, under either sun or moon, Give me the girl that’s got raven hair.” ‘For me her with locks of gold.” . ** Hada uno asu gusto, as my sweetheart has taught me to say in her sweet Castilian. But now, Ned, talking serious, do you think the captain will allow us to go ashore?”’ ‘“‘He must; it’s our right, both of us. Besides, I know he will." ** How do you know it?” ‘Bah, ma bohil, as our Irish second would say; you're the son of a poor man—good blood, I admit— while I am the heir of ten thousand a be with a father who stands well at Washington. I have asked leave for both. Therefore, don’t be uneasy about our getting it. Captain Bracebridge is no snob; but for all that he knows his own interest, and won't re- fuse a fair request. See, there's the first lieutenant coming to give his answer, which, I'll bet ten dollars, will be in the affirmative.’ ‘** Young gentlemen, the captain gives you leave to go ashore. The gig will é you, landing where you wish. You are to send the boat back, and give the coxswain orders where and when he is to await you on your return to the ship. Take my advice, youngsters, and don't be gétting into any difficulties on land, As you know, San Francisco is now full of all sorts of queer characters—a very pandemonium of devils. For the sake of the service and the honor of the uniférm you wear, steer clear of scrapes; and above all, give a wide berth to wine and women.” The lieutenant, a grave man, after thus delivering himself, turns on his heel and walks away, leaving the two mids to their meditations, They do not meditate long. Leave has been grant- ed to go ashore, and with it an order for the to be got ready. The boat is tn the water, and her crew swarming over the side. Crozier and wallader only stay to give a touch to their toilet—preparatory to pppearn under eyes both have more reason to n a broadside of great guns, This arranged, they drop down the man-ropes, seat themselves in the stern-sheets, and give the or- der to shove off, Soon they are gliding over the tranquil waters of San Francisco Bay, not in the direction of the land- ing-wharf, but for a point on the beach, some dis- tance outside the city walls, wl dag The beacon tow. which they are steering is the house of Don Gregorio Montijo. CHAPTER X, A COUPLE OF CAVALLEROS. At the same time that the two young officers are rowed away from the ship, two men on horseback ride out from the suburbs of San Francisco, taking the road along shore. 1 Both are garbed in nd style in the national cos- tume of New Spain, which in picturesque splendor is not exceeded by any other in the world. They wear the wide trowsers, calzoneras, lashed with gold-lace and studded with buttons from hip to ankle—whi wers, cal as, here and there Such kinship might seem to apy aie eee iH ot muc The aunt as willed it, the lots of the lovers But not a pretty face. No—you're blind to beauty, else you’d never have taken on to Ha! ha! “Old, indeed! She’s as young as yours—younger —at least looks so. One tress of her hair—is worth ** Did you ever see anything in the way of woman's hair so beautiful? Observe the gloss and color—. bes | penchant for gaming, with him a Specter Barque. showing alon and spurs with silver rowels, several inc eter, glittering like great stars behind the heels, They have tight-fitting jaqguelas of velvet, close in front, and over the bosom elaborately embroidered; scarfs of China crape around their waists, the ends dangling adown the left hip, terminating in a fringe of gold cord; on their heads, sombreros, with broad brims, and bands of bullion—the toquilla. Tn addition, each has over his shoulders a manga— the most magnificent of outside garments—draping grantor as @ woman’s toga, at of one is scar- et, the other is sky-blue. Their horses are not less splendidly caparisoned, Saddles of stamped leather, scintillating with silver studs; housings elaborately broidered, bridles of laited hair, jointed with tags and tassels; bits of ameluke pattern, having checks and curbs power- ful enough to break the jaw ata single jerk. The steeds thus i eae caparisoned are worthy of it. Though small, they are of perfect shape, pure blood of Arabian sires transmitted through dams of An- dalusia. They are the descendants of the stock taken to the New World rd the Conquistadores, and the an- cestor of one or both may have carried Alvarado or Sandoval, if not Cortez himself. The riders are both of them men of dark com- olexion, with traits that tell of Latinic race. Their eatures are Spanish, in one more pronounced than the other. He who wears the sky-colored manga is undoubtedly a Mexican. The blood that gives the brown tinge to his skin is not Moorish, but more lik comes from the aborigines of California. For that, he is not mestizo; only one among whose remote ancestry an Indian woman has figured as one of the roots of the family tree. He isa man of medium size, with a somewhat spare, sitti part of the animal. squat frame, his horse as though he were ere he afoot, his legs would spree bowed below the thighs, almost. bandied; - owing that he has spent most of his life in the sad- e. His face is flat, in outline rather rounded, with a nose much comp nostrils agape, and lips thick enough to suggest the idea of an African ori- gin. But his hair contradicts this. It is straight as needles, and black as the skin of a Colobus monkey, More like he has it from the Malay, through the Californian Indian—some tribes of which are un- doubtedly of Malayan or Onan race, Whatever the mixture in his blood, the man is him- self a native Californian, born by San Francisco Bay and brought up on its shore. He is twenty-five years of age, and his name is Faustino Calderon—* Don” by right of ancestry, and the ownership of a ganaderia, or ing farm, He in the scarlet manga is gether} different; persanally, handsomer, and to all appearance, intel- ectually superior. His features are more purely Spanish, and better formed. The outline is oval and regular; the jaws broad and balanced; the chin well formed; the-nose prominent without being beaked; the brow classically cast; surmounted by a thick chevelure of hair—coal-black in color. Eyes of this hue, eyebrows corresponding, Heavy mustache on the upper, and an imperial on the under Tals last extending below the point of the chin; all the rest of his face—throat and cheeks—clean shaven—these are the facial characteristics of Don Francisco de His re is of better build than -that of his com- panion, larger in size, and of greater strength. True, Don Faustino isa gentleman by birth and a anadero by occupation. He inherits the pasture ds left him by his father, with the cattle that browse upon them. An only son, he is owner of all. But his ownership is not likely to continue; he is fast losing it, b ites evil courses—among them three of a spectal kind: wine, women and monte. These promise ere long to make him bankrupt in purse, as they have already done in character, Around San Francisco, as in it, he is known as a roue and reveler, a debauchee in every sense of the word, and a fool as well. For, natur of weak in- tellect, his long-continued dissipation has rendered it weaker. Of equal moral darkuess, perhaps in greater de- ee, a different in kind, i Darast of Don rancisco de Lara, ‘‘ Frank Lara,” as he is familiar- iy known in the streets and saloons of San Fran- cisco, Though Spanish in features, and Bpent the age, he can also talk English fluently att wale Aud French, too, when called u tuguese and Italian. He is, in truth, not Spanish at all, though of Spanish descent, hailing from New Or- leans—hence his philological acquirements, Frank Lara is one of those children of chance, ** ninos perdidos,”’ who have come into the world, no- body knows how, when, or whither; only that they are init. And while in it, performing a mefier in ac- cordance with their mysterious origin, living luxuri- ously, and finding the means of such life by ways that can only be guessed at. He is full thirty years of age, six of which he has nt on the shores of San Francisco Bay. Landing there from an American ship, and in sailor's dress a mate, it is said—he cast off his tarry togs and took to the Californian costume. Its splendor was to his liking, and so, too, the life of the be agt Lawless, it suited his natural inclination; and, above all, his passion. He be- came noted in the Sock pe and at the monte table, making money by both—enough to keep him in form, without the necessity of nai favor from any one, Similar inclinings and pursuits, with somewhat op- posite characters, at an early period brought him and Don Faustino together, forming ties between now firmly knotted. Of late more than ever, for, since the gold fever, and consequent Anglo-Saxon invasion, they have become united in a partnership of something besides dissipation. TDeR are partners in business—in a “‘bank.’’ Not one of the ordinary kind, for discount and deposit, with desks and coun- ters for the transaction of its affairs, but such as may be seen in any Californian town—in a saloon, with a single table in its center, covered with green cloth, and a row of benches around it; in short, a monte-bank. Since the discovery of the gold placers, the streets of San Francisco have become crowded with men mad after the precious metal; among them who do not desire the toil of sifting it out of san n, with a little Por- “one ‘eo the seams—dolas of cers em hoy trek es - Oe 5 washing it from black mud, nor yet crushing it clear of quartz rock. ghey prefer the easier and cleaner method of gathering it in across the green baize of a gambling-table. To accommodate such dainty gentry, Don Francis- co de Lara has set up a monte-bank, with Don Faus- tino Calderon as his ker, Though Calderon in reality is the man of egies he does not show in the transaction. He has still some lingering thought about respectability, and does not appear init. He is but the a part- ner; while Lara, having less to lose in the way of character, is the active and ostensible one. Such are the two men who have issued from the town of San Francisco, ani are riding along the shore of its bay. . CHAPTER XI. As the t atria, fy 80. 5 lendidly equipped s the two equestrians, so splendidly 4 canter out through the suburbs, they are seen by many—some who know and recognize them; others who only admire their gre style and picturesque habiliments, Among the last are the late comers to California, who have never before seen citizens in such shining array. rther on they encounter but few people, and fewer who do not know them, For they are now nearly beyond the range of the red shirts, and meet oul he natives. ost. of these can tell where they are going—or Fueas it—at least as many as may recognize them. hey would say that Faustino Calderon was on his way to the house of Don Gregorio Montijo, and could give a guess at his errand. About that of Francisco de Lara they might not be so sure, thougb they may say he was going there too. Strange all this to one unacquainted with Califor- nia and its ways—especially one also acquainted with the character of the two “ cavalleros.”’ He would naturally ask how men so tainted could be on visiting terms with the family of Don Gregorio Mon- tijo; one of the first in San Francisco or its neigh- borhood, ranking with the “ricos’—the fam principales, By one not pete haar country the answer guessed or given would be—a negative. But not California of the olden time, where every second man met is a gambler, professionally, or in practice. Nota few women as well! The man who does not occasionally cast. dice or stake doubloons upon the turning of a card, is a vara avis; The ee A of a monte-Lank may not be deem- ed so respectable as a banker of the ordinary kind. Still is he not socially tabooed, nor does society reject him even if poor. rich, it. caresses him. As yet, Don Faustino Calderon does not come under the category of the professed gambler; and respectability does not pepe him, His dissipation is far from exceptional, and his father's good name still shields him; under its @gis he is eligible to Cali- fornian society—the § section of it—and has the entree of its circles. And so has Don Francisco De Lara—in a different way. Wealth secures him this. He has the repute of being rich, and carries about him the evidence of it, He is alyaye in good form and fashionably attired. His shirt is of the finest linen, with diamond studs sparkling in its front. Upon his fingers glitter the gems of Golconda, He is free in dispen gra- tuities. He gives to the POO, and the priests; the last kind of charity being the best as a speculation, He intends it as such, and it has well repaid the outlay. For in California, as in other Catholic coun- tries, the dispenser of “ Peter’s pence" is sure of. being held respectable... - Frank Lara has dispensed them with a liberal hand, and is therefore KP Don Francisco de Lara—saluted as such by the sandaled monks, and Sue cele’ priests, who meet him on road or stree By men of other professions, and women, too, For he is good-looking and of graceful deportment; debonnaire without nein either fop or dandy... On the contrary, he carries himself with an earnest air, calm and loot; while in his eye may be read the ex- pression, “ Noli me tangere.”’ He come from a city in which dueling is a specialty. Since his ar- rival in California he has twice called out his man, one of the times killing him. “* Escroc,” asthe French might. call him, “ black- leg '’ in the English vocabulary, ‘sport’ in Ameri- can phrase; Frank Lara is aman with whom no one who knows him will like to take liberties, In the companionship of Calderon, under his wing as it were, he is admitted into the best houses. Along with the latter he is even now on the way to that of Don Gregorio Montijo—to make a call upon its inmates. It is one of ceremony, and this of a serious kind, as may be gieaned from the conversa- tion of the two as they ride along the road. Once outside the suburbs, commences Calderon, saying: m There can be no doubt that Don Gregorio in- tends going back to Old Spain. The ship-agent, Sil- vester, has told me so; and says he's been author-. ized to charter a ship that will take our friend and his family as far as Havana. Thence they will make a land journey over the Isthmus, And on the gulf lantig c ilvester has told “ Every word of it, “A bit of strange in a all that?” his very morning.” ence, especially about the chartering of the ship! I can understand what's him ama for that’s well known.” “Oh, yes. He's disgusted with things as they now go here; and I sup the senoritas are also. No wonder. Since the ro have taken possession of the place it’s not very agreeable to show them- selves in the streets—nor very safe I should say. | Good reason for Don Gregorio’s selling out and re- turning to quieter gq * ** He has sold out, you think?” “Iam quite sure of it. Silvester told me that, too. And for an enormous sum of money. How much do ve Perhay oe $100,000 His rty, with its erhaps . pro , increased value, ought to be oaate that.” er ship to carry them across the At- _ % * Whether it Sy to be worth or is, it hasrealized twice the amoun ** Has Silvester said so?” “ He has.” y Did he tell you who is the purchaser?” Some speculating Yankees who fancy they see > present ‘al * EComicbooks.€o Ze LIL 4, q