t of soft felt, with tarnished gold lace, and a
dark feather tucked in its recurved flap; a short cloak of fine black
cloth thrown over one shoulder left a buff leathern jacket and breeches,
ornamented with large round silver buttons, exposed until they were met
by high boots of untanned yellow buckskin that reached halfway up the
thigh. A broad baldric of green silk hung from his shoulder across his
breast, and supported at his side a long sword with an enormous
basket hilt, through which somewhat coquettishly peeped a white
lace handkerchief. Tall and erect, in spite of the grizzled hair and
iron-gray moustaches and wrinkled face of a man of sixty, he suddenly
halted on the deck with a military precision that made the jingling
chains and bits of silver on his enormous spurs ring again. He was
followed by an ecclesiastic of apparently his own age, but smoothly
shaven, clad in a black silk sotana and sash, and wearing the
old-fashioned oblong, curl-brimmed hat sacred to "Don Basilo," of the
modern opera. Behind him appeared the genial face of Senor Perkins,
shining with the benignant courtesy of a master of ceremonies.

"If this is a fair sample of the circus ashore, I'll take two tickets,"
whispered Crosby, who had recovered his audacity.

"I have the inexpressible honor," said Senor Perkins to Captain Bunker,
with a gracious wave of his hand towards the extraordinary figures, "to
present you to the illustrious Don Miguel Briones, Comandante of the
Presidio of Todos Santos, at present hidden in the fog, and the very
reverend and pious Padre Esteban, of the Mission of Todos Santos,
likewise invisible. When I state to you," he continued, with a slight
lifting of his voice, so as to include the curious passengers in
his explanation, "that, with very few exceptions, this is the usual
condition of the atmosphere at the entrance to the Mission and Presidio
of Todos Santos, and that the last exception took place thirty-five
years ago, when a ship entered the harbor, you will understand why these
distinguished gentlemen have been willing to waive the formality of your
waiting upon them first, and have taken the initiative. The illustrious
Comandante has been generous to exempt you from the usual port
regulations, and to permit you to wood and to water"--

"What port regulation is he talking of?" asked Captain Bunker testily.

"The Mexican regulations forbidding any foreign vessel to communicate
with the shore," returned Sen