was an universal favorite, as well with old as
young; for he was at different times taking a short _pasear_ on every
horse, laughing with the madres, and kissing the shy doncellas--_valgame
dios_--but I had work in getting him into Monterey that night, for my
cavallo carried weight--besides a big overgrown dame and myself, Verde
hung on to the tail.

We were many weeks in Monterey, and I passed a large portion of leisure
time either hunting with Juaquinito, or chatting and smoking during the
afternoons with our excellent friends, the army men, at the Fort. But at
last we began to tire of foggy mornings, damp nights, tough beef,
lounging under the Consul's piazza, sweltering dust, catching fleas,
playing monte, and fandangos at Carmelo. The time was drawing near for
our departure. The ships were provisioned and ready for service. Jack
had become quite a soldier, and we consoled ourselves with the
prospective excitement of a descent upon the Mexican coast.

CHAPTER XX.

We sailed from Monterey on the 16th of October--rounded Point Pinos,
and, bidding a final adieu to Upper California, bore away to the
southward. On the 25th, we found ourselves near Cape San Lucas, where,
for three blessed days, we lay becalmed, all hands existing, as it were,
in a warm bath of their own providing. The morning of the fourth, there
came a breeze, and with it, under a cloud of canvas, one of our
frigates, with the intelligence that she had bombarded Guaymas, and
blown up the fortifications. No resistance had been made, and a corvette
was left to guard a deserted town. It was certainly a severe instance of
patriotism, where the Mexicans left their homes and property, choosing a
precarious existence among the sterile mountains, rather than cry
_peccavi!_ to the Yankee banner.

Anchoring at San Jose, we learned that trouble was brewing on the
Peninsula, and that some hundreds of men in arms were assembled at Todos
Santos, a place on the seaside of Lower California, fifty miles distant.
Nothing, certainly, was more preposterous than the forgetful policy of
our Government, in expecting to hold two thousand miles of coast with a
handful of men. The principal points on the Peninsula had already been
occupied transiently by our forces; but notwithstanding proclamations
had been issued, declaring the "Californias unalterably" annexed to the
United States, and that very many of the natives had warmly espoused our
protection; yet the very m