on the expressionless features of the old woman, there was anxiety
and gloom upon the faces of the little cavalcade. He did not know how
heavily his strange abstraction and hallucinations weighed upon their
honest hearts. As they wound up the ascent of the mountain he noticed
that Antonio and Jose conversed with bated breath and many pious
crossings of themselves, but with eyes always wistfully fixed upon him.
He wondered if, as part of his penance, he ought not to proclaim his sin
and abase himself before them; but he knew that his devoted followers
would insist upon sharing his punishment; and he remembered his promise
to Cranch, that for HER sake he would say nothing. Before they reached
the summit he turned once or twice to look back upon the Mission. How
small it looked, lying there in the peaceful valley, contrasted with the
broad sweep of the landscape beyond, stopped at the further east only
by the dim, ghost-like outlines of the Sierras. But the strong breath of
the sea was beginning to be felt; in a few moments more they were facing
it with lowered sombreros and flying serapes, and the vast, glittering,
illimitable Pacific opened out beneath them.

Dazed and blinded, as it seemed to him, by the shining, restless
expanse, Father Pedro rode forward as if still in a dream. Suddenly he
halted, and called Antonio to his side.

"Tell me, child, didst thou not say that this coast was wild and
desolate of man, beast, and habitation?"

"Truly I did, reverend father."

"Then what is that?" pointing to the shore.

Almost at their feet nestled a cluster of houses, at the head of an