The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1876-01-13
THE EYE CT THE COMMANDER.
BY BRET HARTE.

belt sheltered bv the neadland of the
Blessed Trinity, was rough and tr1rbu-
lent. It's foam hung quivering to the
seaward wall of Mission garden The
air was filed with flying sand and spume;
andas the senor commandante, Hermene-
glido Salvatierra, looked from the deep
| enbrazured window of the Preside
guard-room, he felt the salt breath of the
distant sea buffet color into his smoke
dried cheeks.
The commander, have said, was gaz-
ing thoughtfully from the window of the
guard-room. He may have been revived
from the events of the year now about to
pass away. But, like the garrison of the
| Preside, there was little to revive The
year, like its predecessors, had been un-
eventful. The days had slipped away
in delicious monotony of simple duties,
| unbroken by Incident of interruption
| The regular recurring feasts and saints
days, the half yearly courier from San
Diego, the rare transport ship, and the
rarer foreign vessel, were the mere
details of his patriarchial life. If there
was no achievement there certainly was
no failure. Abundant harvests and
patient industry amply supplied the
wants of Preside and Mission. Isolated
from the family of nations, the wars,
which shook the world concerned them
/ 10 lao Ja ~, IL
that emancipated their sister colonies
| OH the other side of the continent, to
them had no suggestiveness. In fact it
was that glorious Indian summer of
California history, around which so
much political haze still lingers-that
bland, indolent autumn of Spanish rule,
SO soon to be followed by the wintry
storms of Mexican independence and
and the reviving spring of American
| conquest.
| The commander turned from the win
dow and walked toward the fire that
burned so brightly in the deep, oven
like hearth. pile of copy-books, the
work of the Preside school, lay on the
table. AS he turned over the leaves
with paternal interest and surveyed
the fair round scripture -text-the first
pious potbooks OF the pupils of San Car
los-an audible commentary fell from
his lips: ''Abimeleck took her from
| Abraham. All little one, excellent (!
"Jacob sent to see his brother. Body
| of Christ ! that upstroke of thine, Pa
quita, is marvellous! The Governor
shall see it." A film of honest pride
dimmed the commanders left eye-the
right, alas twenty years before had
been sealed by the Indian arrow. He
rubbed softly with the sleeve of his
leather jacket, and continued: ''The
Ishemaelite having arrived"
He stopped, for there was step in
the court yard, foot upon the thres-
| hold, and stranger entered. With the
| instinct of an old soldier the commander,
after one glance at tn intruder, turned
Toledo hung, or should have been hang
ing. But it was not there, and as he
| recalled that the last time that he had
| seen that weapon it was being ridden up
and down the gallery by Pepito, the in
FAINT son of Baptista, the tortille maker,
he blushed, and then contented himself
with frowning on the intruder.
But the strangers air, though irrev-
erent, was decidedly peaceful. He was
unarmed and wore the ordinary cape of
tarpaulin and seaboots of mariner
Except villianous smell of cod fish,
these was but little about him that was
peculiar.
His name-as he informed the COM
mander, in Spanish that was more fluent
than elegant or precise-was Peleg Scud
der. He was master of the schooner
General Court, of the port of Salem,
in Massachusetts, on trading voyage
to the South Sea, but now driven by
| stress of weather into the bay of San
Carlos. He begged permission to ride
out the gale under the head-lands of
the Blessed Trinity, and no more. Wa
ter he did not need, having taken in a
supply at Bonega He knew the strict
surveillance of the Spanish port regula-
tions in regard to foreign vessels, and
would do nothing against the severe
discipline and good order of the settle
ment. There was q slight tinge of
sarcasm in his tone as he glanced towards
the desolate parade grounds of the
Preside, and the open, uI guarded gate.
The fact was that the sentry, Gelipe
Gomez, had discreetly retired to shelter
at the beginning of the storm, and was
then soundly sleeping in the corridor.
The commander hesitated The port
regulations were severe But he Was
accustomed to exercise individual
| authority; and beyond an old order
issued ten years before regarding the
American ship Columbia, there was no
precedent to guide him. The storm was
severe, and sentiment of humanity
| urged him to grant the strangers re-
quest. 1t is but just for the commander
to say that his inability to enforce a
refusals.di not weigh with his decision.
He would have denied, with equal
disregard of consequence, that right
| to seventy-four gun ship which he now
yielded SO gracefully to this Yankee
| trapping schooner. He stipulated only
that there should be no communication
between the ship and shore.
| ssEOr yOursalf sanOr eaptain " he said