_Collingwood_ is anchored in the bay?"

"I saw it in the morning." She turned to him with sudden hope. "Have
they--the English--come to help California?"

"I am afraid, dear madam, that they came to capture California at the
first whisper of war between Mexico and the United States; you know that
England has always cast a covetous eye upon your fair land. It is said
that the English admiral stormed about the deck in a mighty rage to-day
when he saw the American flag flying on the fort."

"All are alike!" she exclaimed bitterly, then controlled herself.
"You--do you admeer our country, señor? Have you in America something
more beautiful than Monterey?"

The officer looked about him enthusiastically, glad of a change of
topic, for he suspected to whom he was talking. "Madam, I have never
seen anything more perfect than this beautiful town of Monterey. What
a situation! What exquisite proportions! That wide curve of snow-white
sand about the dark blue bay is as exact a crescent as if cut with a
knife. And that semicircle of hills behind the town, with its pine and
brush forest tapering down to the crescent's points! Nor could anything
be more picturesque than this scattered little town with its bright red
tiles above the white walls of the houses and the gray walls of the
yards; its quaint church surrounded by the ruins of the old presidio;
its beautiful, strangely dressed women and men who make this corner of
the earth resemble the pages of some romantic old picture-book--"

"Ay!" she interrupted him. "Much better you feel proud that you conquer
us; for surely, señor, California shall shine like a diamond in the very