The last files sweep down the trail. Lagunitas Lake smiles peacefully
from its bowers. The war clouds have rolled north.

As days glide by, the priest and his youthful charge grow into each
other's hearts. Padre Francisco is young enough still to have some
flowers of memory blossoming over the stone walls of his indomitable
heart. Maxime learns the story of his early life. He listens to the
padre's romantic recitals of the different lands he has strayed
over. Couriers arrive daily with news of Fremont's whirling march
northward. The explorer travels like a Cossack in simplicity. He
rides with the sweep of the old Tartars. Cool, wary and resolute,
the "Pathfinder" manoeuvres to baffle clumsy Castro. He may yet
elude his pursuers, or cut his way out.

Don Miguel steadily refuses to see Maxime. Through the padre,
Maxime receives any necessary messages or questions.

The Louisianian learns that all the foreigners are in commotion.
Peralta's spies bring rumors of war vessels expected, both English
and American.

In New Helvetia, in Sonoma, at Monterey, and in Yerba Buena,
guided by the most resolute, the aliens are quietly arming; they
are secretly organizing.

March wears away into April. The breath of May is wafted down in
spicy odors from the forests.

Fremont is away hiding where the great Sacramento River mountains
break into the gorgeous canyons of its headwaters. Will he never