Sweet Juanita's eyes beam on her husband. She says softly, "How
beautiful!"
It is truly a royal domain. From the lake the ten leagues square
of the Commandante's land are a panorama of varying beauties.
Stretching back into the pathless forests, game, timber, wood,
and building stones are at hand; a never-failing water supply for
thousands of cattle is here. To the front, right, and left, hill
pastures and broad fields give every variety of acreage.
Blithely the young wife spurs her favorite steed over the turf.
She nears the quarters. The old sergeant is the seneschal of this
domain. He greets the new arrivals.
With stately courtesy the Commandante lifts his bride from her
charger. The hegira is over. The occupation of arranging abodes
for all is the first task. Already the cattle, sheep, and horses
are fattening on the prairie grasses. Peons are sawing lumber. A
detachment is making bricks for the houses. These are one-storied
mansions with wide porches, beloved by the Californians; to-day
the most comfortable homes in the West. Quaintly superstitious,
the natives build so for fear of earthquakes. Corrals, pens, and
sheds have been first labors of the advance guard. The stores and
supplies are all housed.
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