lessly. "As to the beauty and variety of our country,
senor, of course you will visit our opulent south;
but--" They had dismounted at the Comman-
dante's house in the southeast corner of the square.
Arguello impulsively led Rezanov back to the gates
and pointed to the east. "I have crossed those
mountains and the mountains beyond, Excellency,
and seen fertile and beautiful valleys of a vast ex-
tent, watered by five rivers and bound far, far away
by mountains covered with snow and gigantic trees.
The valley beyond the southern edge of the bay,
where the Missions of Santa Clara and San Jose
are, is also rich, but those between the ranges is an
empire; and one day when the King sends us more
colonists, we shall recompense Spain for all she has
lost."

"I congratulate you!" Rezanov, indifferent to his
host's ancestral tree, had lifted an alert ear. His
quick incisive brain was at work. "I should like to
stretch my legs over a horse for a week at a time,
and even to climb your highest mountains. You
may imagine how much exercise a man may get on
a vessel of two hundred and six tons, and it is
thirty-two days since I left Sitka. To look upon a
vast expanse of green--to say nothing of possible
sport--after a winter of incessant rain and impene-
trable forests--what a prospect! I beg you will take
me off into the wilderness as soon as possible."