Orders were given to Captain Burton to announce her arrival by firing a national salute, and each morning we listened for the guns from the fort.
The month of January passed, and the greater part of February, too.
As was usual, the army officers celebrated the 22d of February with a grand ball, given in the new stone school-house, which Alcalde Walter Colton had built.

It was the largest and best hall then in California.

The ball was really a handsome affair, and we kept it up nearly all night.

The next morning we were at breakfast: present, Dona Augustias, and Manuelita, Halleck, Murray, and myself.

We were dull and stupid enough until a gun from the fort aroused us, then another and another.