wn as if
cried from the Mission top. The girls were surprised and delighted to
find Concha sweet rather than proud and envied her with amiable
enthusiasm. The caballeros, fewer in number, for most of the men in
California at that period before a freer distribution of land were on
duty in the army, artfully ignored the unavowed bond, but liked Rezanov
when he took the trouble to charm them.

Khostov and Davidov watched the loading of the Juno with a lively
regret. Never had they enjoyed themselves more, nor seen so many
pretty girls in one place. Both had begun by falling in love with
Concha, and although they rebounded swiftly from the blow to their
hopes, it happily saved them from a more serious dilemma; unwealthed
and graceless as they were, they would have been regarded with little
favor by the practical California father. As it was, their pleasures
were unpoisoned by regrets or rebuffs. When they were not flirting in
the dance or in front of a lattice, receiving a lesson in Spanish
behind the portly back of a duena, or clasping brown little fingers
under cover of a fan when all eyes were riveted on the death struggle
of a bull and a bear, they were playing cards and drinking in the
officers' quarters; which they liked almost as well. It is true they
sometimes paid the price in a cutting rebuke from their chief, but the
rebukes were not as frequent as in less toward circumstances, and were
generally followed by some fresh indulgence. This, they uneasily
guessed, was not only the result of the equable state of his
excellency's temper, but because he had a signal unpleasantness in
store, and would not hazard their resignation. They had taken
advantage of an imperial ukase to enter the service of the
Russian-American Company temporarily, and they knew that if they evaded
any behest of Rezanov's their adventurous life in the Pacific would be
over. Therefore, although they resented his implacable will, they
pulled with him in outward amity; and indeed there were few of the
Juno's human freight that did not look back upon that California
springtime as the episode of their lives, commonly stormy or
monotonous, in which the golden tide flowed with least alloy. Even
Langsdorff, although impervious to female charms and with scientific
thirst unslaked, enjoyed the Spanish fare and the society of the
priests. The sailors received many privileges, attended bull-fights
and fandangos, loved and pledged; and were only r