There had been a story that one of them had eloped with an American ship captain's wife at Monterey.

The legendary history of early Spanish California was filled with more remarkable incidents, corroborated with little difficulty from Spanish authorities, who, it was alleged, lent themselves readily to any fabrication or forgery.

There was no racial pride: on the contrary, they had shown an eager alacrity to ally themselves with their conquerors.

The friends of the Arguellos would be proud to recognize and remember in the American heiress the descendant of their countrymen.

All this passed rapidly through his mind after the first moment of surprise; all this must have been the deliberate reasoning of this girl of seventeen, whose dark eyes were bent upon him.