Their names and their speech are like smoke in my eyes and
my nose. I think I shall go mad, Ysidro. Go tell your story to the
men who are waiting to hear it, and who yet believe that an
American may speak truth!"
Alessandro was as good as his word. The very next week he drove
all his cattle and sheep to San Diego, and sold them at great loss.
"It is better than nothing," he said. "They will not now be sold by
the sheriff, like my father's in Temecula." The money he got, he
took to Father Gaspara. "Father," he said huskily. "I have sold all
my stock. I would not wait for the Americans to sell it for me, and
take the money. I have not got much, but it is better than nothing.
It will make that we do not starve for one year. Will you keep it for
me, Father? I dare not have it in San Pasquale. San Pasquale will
be like Temecula,-- it may be to-morrow."
To the Father's suggestion that he should put the money in a bank
in San Diego, Alessandro cried: "Sooner would I throw it in the sea
yonder! I trust no man, henceforth; only the Church I will trust.
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