e, the lounging _leperoa_ outside, and
slatternly wenches within, have a master. He is not often at home, but
when he is they address him as "Don Faustino." Servants rarely add the
surname.

Only at rare intervals do his domestics see him. He spends nearly all
his time elsewhere--most of it in Yerba Buena, now named San Francisco.
And of late more than ever has he absented himself from his ancestral
halls; for the _hacienda_ is the house in which he was born; it, with
the surrounding pasture-land, left him by his father, some time
deceased.

Since coming into possession, he has neglected his patrimony; indeed,
spent the greater portion of it on cards, and evil courses of other
kinds; for the _dueno_ of the ill-conditioned dwelling is Faustino
Calderon.

As already hinted, his estate is heavily mortgaged, the house almost a
ruin. In his absence, it looks even more like one; for then his
domestics, having nothing to do, are scarce ever seen outside, to give
the place an appearance of life. Fond of cards as their master, they
may at most times be observed, squatted upon the pavement of the inner
court, playing _monte_ on a spread blanket, with copper _clacos_ staked
upon the game.

When the _dueno_ is at home, things are a little different; for, Don
Faustino, with all his dissipation, is anything but an indulgent master.
Then his _muchuchos_ have to move about, and wait upon him with
assiduity. If they don't, they will hear _carajos_ from his lips, and
receive cuts from his riding-whip.

It is the morning after that night when the "El Dorado" _monte_ bank
suspended play and pay; the time, six o'clock a.m. Notwithstanding the
early hour, the domestics are stirring about the place, as if they had
something to do, and were doing it. To one acquainted with their usual
habits, the brisk movement will be interpreted as a sure sign that their
master is at home.

And he is; though he has been there but a very short while--only a few
minutes. Absent for more than a week, he has this morning made his
appearance just as the day was breaking. Not alone; but in the company
of a gentleman, whom all the servants know to be his intimate friend and
associate--Don Francisco de Lara.

The two have come riding up to the house in haste, dropped the bridles
on the necks of their horses, and, without saying a word, left these to
the care of a couple of grooms, rudely roused from their slumber.

The house-servants, lazily dra