yet not too close, for the priests were ever on their
guard against Indians more lustful of loot than sal-
vation, was a long irregular chain of hills, break-
ing into twin peaks on its highest ridge, with a
lone mountain outstanding. It was an imposing
but forbidding mass, as steep and bare as the walls
of a fortress; but in the distance, north and south,
as the range curved in a tapering arc that gave
the valley the appearance of a colossal stadium,
the outlines were soft in a haze of pale color. The
sheltered valley between the western heights and
the sand hills far down the bay where it turned to
the south, was green with wheat fields, and a small
herd of cattle grazed on the lower slopes. The
beauty of this superbly proportioned valley was
further enhanced by groves of oaks and bay trees,
and by a lagoon, communicating with an arm of the
bay, which the priests had named for their Lady
of Sorrows--Nuestra Senora de los Dolores. The
little sheet of water was almost round, very green
and set in a thicket of willows that were green, too,
in the springtime, and golden in summer. Near
its banks, or closer to the protecting Mission--on
whose land grant they were built--were the com-
fortable adobe homes of the few Spanish pioneers
that preferred the bracing north to the monotonous
warmth of the south. Some of these houses were
long and rambling, others built about a court; all
were surrounded by a high wall, enclosing a gar-
den where the Castilian roses grew even more lux-