now who they are," Alessandro replied, his voice full of
anger and scorn. "They're Americans--eight or ten of them. They all got
together and brought a suit, they call it, up in San Francisco; and it
was decided in the court that they owned all our land. That was all Mr.
Rothsaker could tell about it. It was the law, he said, and nobody could
go against the law."

"Oh," said Ramona, "that's the way the Americans took so much of the
Senora's land away from her. It was in the court up in San Francisco;
and they decided that miles and miles of her land, which the General
had always had, was not hers at all. They said it belonged to the United
States Government."

"They are a pack of thieves and liars, every one of them!" cried
Alessandro. "They are going to steal all the land in this country; we
might all just as well throw ourselves into the sea, and let them have
it. My father had been telling me this for years. He saw it coming; but
I did not believe him. I did not think men could be so wicked; but he
was right. I am glad he is dead. That is the only thing I have to be
thankful for now. One day I thought he was going to get well, and I
prayed to the Virgin not to let him. I did not want him to live. He
never knew anything clear after they took him out of his house. That was
before I got there. I found him sitting on the ground outside. They said
it was the sun that had turned him crazy; but it was not. It was his
heart breaking in his bosom. He would not come out of his house, and
the men lifted him up and carried him out by force, and threw him on the
ground; and then they threw out all the furniture we had; and when he
saw them doing that, he put his hands up to his head, and called out,
'Alessandro! Alessandro!' and I was not there! Senorita, they said it
was a voice to make the dead hear, that he called with; and nobody
could stop him. All that day and all the night he kept on calling. God!
Senorita, I wonder I did not die when they told me! When I got there,
some one had built up a little booth of tule over his head, to keep the
sun off. He did not call any more, only for water, water. That was what
made them think the sun had done it. They did all they could; but it was
such a dreadful time, nobody could do much; the sheriff's men were in
great hurry; they gave no time. They said the people must all be off in
two days. Everybody was running hither and thither. Everything out of
the houses in piles on the ground.