The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1940-09-20
CHAPTER v-Continued

"And brief word to the mission
eros on the way, so that if you are
sick you shall be cared for. If you
are hungry you shall be fed, and for
your repose you shall have place
to Sleep" continued the padre.
Bowie felt overcome. 1T is too
much" was all he could urge.
Ear from enough for what you
have done. Since you have done it
for these, His little ones, my son,
you have done it for Him. What
religion have your"
"Padre, started right. But how
could I have any left after living all
my life on the frontier, far from all
religion? AS boy slept on the
plains and fought Indians and rode
with cattle :"
He did not finish-he felt he might
say too much.
"You leave me most grateful,
Padre" he added, "yet with but
one sore need"
"What is that?"
'Powder and ball, Padre. We
need some protection from savages
and wild animals"
"You shall have both. But you
will take no human life except in
defense of your own-do you prom
Use me that?"
''I promise"
''Padre," added Bowie gravely,
''I'd like to ask one question"
"What is that, my SOM"
''May ask your manner"
"Padre Vicente Pasqual."
'Are there many men in Califor-
MIA like your"
s'Not so many as there used to
be. There are now but few Fran
ciscan padres in Alta California"
Bowie looked sheepish. ~ didn't
mean exactly that, Padre. / meant,
are there many men who would do
for a stranger what you are doing
for me? If there are, I'd like to
meet more of them. Or better, be
fixed myself to do something for
them"
The streets Of Monterey were
alive with Strengthening men
men from every quarter of the globe
when Bowie, followed by his star
ing scouts, sought the Office of
Thomas o. Larkin, respected citizen
of Monterey.
Frontiersmen, removed from their
habitat of desert, valley and noun
tain and thrown into city streets, are
as confused as children. The Tex
ans themselves were objects of Curl
osity to other men of the capital.
Their garb, in part Californian,
thanks to the kindness of the mis-
sioners, and in part rejecting the
hardships of the desert trail; their
long-barreled and carefully carried
rifles and powder horns; and the
long deep-sheathed knives suspend
ed from their belts were a novelty
to the naval officers, the seafaring
Yankees, the Mexican supernumer-
aries and the rancheros who, ever
averse to walking, rode richly ca
parisoned horses up and down the
narrow streets.
Bowie himself, though more so
phisticated than his scouts, found
much to gaze at. His eye swept
the beautiful harbor. Within it lay
a coasting vessel from San Bias, a
Lower California port. A shrewd-
looking Yankee trader with sails in
nocently furled, trim and fast sail
ing, doubtless hailed from Boston. A
clipper-built ship from Hong Kong
and the Sandwich Islands lay under
the bluff, and, most interesting of
all to the young Texan, a United
States sloop of war, rocked by a
gentle swell, surveyed the harbor
scene from dignified distance.
The coaster brought soldiers,
freight and dispatches from Mexico,
and passengers from San Diego, San
Pedro and Santa Barbara. The YAM
kee trader brought merchandise for
sale to merchants of Monterey and
Yerba Buena, for barter with Cali
fornia rancheros and the missions
of Santa Clara, San Francisco de
Asis and San Jose. The Yankee
clipper brought from the Orient the
silken stuffs of Cathay for the fur
Their adornment of women already
so notable in beauty, dignity and
charm that they dazzled the i'm
agination of every traveller who Wis
tied California and ATTEMPTED to de-
scribe its women. The sloop Of war
was there for purpose; but pur-
pose unknown to any not in the coun-
ellis of the very elect.
Bowie found Larkin at his home
and was received in the darkened
parlor. Perhaps the Spanish-speak-
ing women of California had an in
herited fear of sunshine, for even
after century of repatriation from
Spain and Mexico they still fear it
h y