leros, fewer in number, for most of the men in
California at that period before a freer distribution
of land were on duty in the army, artfully ignored
the unavowed bond, but liked Rezanov when he took
the trouble to charm them.

Khostov and Davidov watched the loading of the
Juno with a lively regret. Never had they enjoyed
themselves more, nor seen so many pretty girls in
one place. Both had begun by falling in love with
Concha, and although they rebounded swiftly from
the blow to their hopes, it happily saved them from
a more serious dilemma; unwealthed and graceless
as they were, they would have been regarded with
little favor by the practical California father. As
it was, their pleasures were unpoisoned by regrets
or rebuffs. When they were not flirting in the dance
or in front of a lattice, receiving a lesson in Spanish
behind the portly back of a duena, or clasping brown
little fingers under cover of a fan when all eyes
were riveted on the death struggle of a bull and a
bear, they were playing cards and drinking in the
officers' quarters; which they liked almost as well.
It is true they sometimes paid the price in a cutting
rebuke from their chief, but the rebukes were not
as frequent as in less toward circumstances, and were
generally followed by some fresh indulgence. This,
they uneasily guessed, was not only the result of
the equable state of his excellency's temper, but be-
cause he had a signal unpleasantness in store, and