upon?"

"Don Manuel Diaz. He's the only one I can think of."

"Don Manuel will do. He's a cool hand, and knows all the regulations of
the _duello_. But he's not at home to-day. As I chance to know, he's
gone to a _funcion de gallos_ at Punta Pedro; and by this time should be
in the cock-pit."

"Why can't we go there? Or had we better send?"

"Better send, I think. Time's precious--at least mine is. As you know,
I must be at the monte table soon as the lamps are lit. If I'm not, the
bank will go begging, and we may lose our customers. Besides, there's
my own second to look up, which must be done this day before I lay a
hand upon the cards. What hour is it? I've not brought my timepiece
with me."

"Twelve o'clock, and a quarter past," answers Calderon, after consulting
his watch.

"Only that! Then we'll have plenty of time to get to Punta Pedro, and
witness a main. Don Manuel has a big bet on his _pardo_. I'd like
myself to stake a doubloon or two on that bird. Yes, on reflection,
we'd better go to the _pelea de gallos_. That will be the surest way to
secure the services of Diaz. _Vamonos_!"

At this the two intending duellists again set their steeds in motion;
and, riding for a short distance along the shore-road, turn into
another, which will take them to Punta Pedro.

With jealous anger still unappeased, they urge their horses into a
gallop, riding as if for life, on an errand whose upshot may be death--
to one or both of them.

CHAPTER NINETEEN.

A "PASEO DE CABALLO."

The promontory called Punta Pedro is not in San Francisco Bay, but on
the outside coast of the Pacific. To reach it from the former, it is
necessary to traverse the dividing ridge between the two waters--this a
spur of the "Coast Range," which, running higher as it trends southward,
is known to Spanish Californians as the San Bruno Mountains.

Punta Pedro abuts from their base into the ocean; the coast in this
quarter being bold and picturesque, but almost uninhabited. Here and
there only the solitary hut of a seal-hunter, or fisherman, with a small
collection of the same near the point itself, bearing its name, and a
somewhat indifferent reputation. The Anglo-Saxon gold-seekers do not go
there; it is only frequented by the natives.

From San Francisco to Punta Pedro the road runs past Dolores--an ancient
mission of the Franciscan monks, whose port was, as already stated,
Yerba Buena, previous to becoming re-chr