California, Southern -- Fiction; Motion picture industry -- Fiction; Petroleum industry and trade -- Fiction; Political fiction
The next day was Sunday, or the Sabbath, as the Watkinses called it; and
by the time Dad and Bunny had got their breakfast in the morning, the
family had hitched up their one old horse to their one old wagon, and
departed—the father and mother riding, and the four young people
walking ahead, on their way to the weekly debauch at the Apostolic
Church of Paradise.
That left Dad and Bunny to hunt quail, undisturbed by public opinion;
and in the afternoon they got into their car, and rode about to make an
inspection of the domain they had purchased, and to meet some of the
neighbors, now their tenants. Dad had a map, showing the various tracts,
and as they drove he was laying out roads and other improvements in his
mind; some day this country would all be settled, he said—and the thing
to begin with was a rock-crusher! There came riding along the fellow on
horseback whom they had met the first time; they knew now that it was
young Bandy, the son of their enemy, and they exchanged greetings—the
cat and the gopher being polite!
They rode up into one of the arroyos where there was a vacant ranch, the
Rascum place. They were surprised to find a charming little bungalow,
with a good porch in front, completely buried under a bougainvillea
vine, which would be a mass of purple blossoms in the spring. “Gee,
Dad,” exclaimed Bunny, “this is where we ought to come and stay!” The
other answered, there should be somebody to keep it up; there was a well
here, and with a little fixing it would be quite a place. There was even
a cat, and she looked contented; there were plenty of gophers, Dad said,
and it was a good sign for victory over Mr. Bandy! They laughed
together.
They followed the “slide” down to Roseville, and saw the old mission
there, and had supper, and came round by way of Paradise in the evening;
and on the outskirts of the town, just after turning off the highway,
they came on a building, standing in a grove of trees, with lights
shining in the windows, and a murmur of voices within. One voice rose
above the others, a bellowing voice which needed no identifying. It was
the “holy jumpers’” church, and Eli was preaching. “Oh, Dad,” exclaimed
Bunny, “let’s hear him!” So they parked the car and got out, and stood
in the shadow of the trees; and this is what they heard:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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