y
watched the ship make its way between the high bluffs that guarded the
entrance to the bay, and nose along the shore until it came to anchor in
the little cove in front of the Presidio. Had the king's permission
come? he eagerly asked his father, who was running through the papers
handed him by the captain. But the elder man shook his head, and Luis
turned with lagging steps to tell Rafaela that they must wait another
six months. It seemed a long time to the impatient lovers and yet there
was much to make the days pass quickly at the Presidio. The door of the
commodious sala at the home of the comandante always stood wide open,
and almost nightly the feet of the young people which had danced since
their babyhood tripped over the floor of the old adobe building. Picnics
were planned to the woods near the Mission and frequently longer
excursions were undertaken; for El Camino Real was not only, the king's
highway to church and military outposts, but also the royal road to
pleasure, and when a wedding or a fiesta was at the end of a journey, no
distance was counted too great. Luis watched his betrothed blossom to
fuller beauty, fearful lest someone else might steal her away before
word from the king should arrive.

"A year passed, then another. Packet boats came and went every six
months, bringing orders to the comandante in regard to the
administration of the military forces, concerning the treatment of
foreign vessels, and of numerous other matters, but still the king
remained silent on the one subject which, to the minds of the two young
people, overshadowed all else. Luis rashly threatened to run away with
his betrothed, while Rafaela, frightened, reminded him that there was
not a priest in California or Mexico who would marry them without the
king's order. And so each time the packet boat entered the harbor their
hearts beat with renewed hope and then, disappointed, they watched it
disappear through the Gulf of the Farallones, knowing that months would
pass before another would arrive.

"Thus six years had gone by since permission had been asked of the king;
six interminable years, they seemed to the lovers. Again the packet boat
was sighted on the distant horizon. Luis saw the full white sails sweep
past the fort guarding the entrance; he heard the salute of the guns and
watched the anchor lowered into the water before he made his way slowly
down to the shore. It would be the same answer he had received so many
t