"All right, 'seenyore,' I'm coming. 'Pears to me this might be a likely place for a deaf-and-dumb man." He was ushered into a small room well lighted by the afternoon sun. The padre arose to meet him. "You wish to see me, brother?" he asked. Brown dropped his sombrero on the floor and made the lowest bow of his life. "I have a letter for you, Reverend." "A chair, my brother. Ah! I recognize the handwriting," taking the letter. "Kindly excuse me while I read it." "I shall return an oral reply to Captain Farquharson. Say to him, 'Yes, I will see him.'" "I'll do it." The friar seated himself. "I see you are not an Englishman, my friend." "No, indeed, I'm American, lock, stock, and barrel." "I thought as much from your accent." "My accent!" "Yes. Your manner of speaking English is quite different from that to which I have been accustomed." "I speak good old United States," Brown said, warmly. Padre Osuna laughed. "I have met occasionally sea-faring men here and trappers of your nationality." "I reckon they do slop over into this country. I wish more of them would come. But we are a long way off when we are at home." "Did you come here as a trapper or as a sailor?" "Nary trapper; nary sailor. I'm here on the proposition of big game huntin'." The padre made no reply, but looked intently at his visitor. Brown now felt that some remarks on matters religious were due from him. "I haven't been to church none in California because I'm entirely ignorant of the prevailin' tongue," he started in abruptly. "It's no use to set under preachin' if you don't understand the preacher." The padre laughed. "Certainly both preacher and congregation would be at a disadvantage in such case." "I've seen men around Monterey and elsewhere dressed in the same way you are, but I haven't spoke to them, bein' uncertain of their knowledge of my talk." "I fear that not one of my brethren could understand you." "So I reckoned. Now, I'm not a religious professor at this time, though I'd delight to set under good preachin'. I and all my folks are hard-shelled Baptists." "Indeed." "Yes. But bein' mate on a Mississippi freight boat and handlin' nigger deck hands begets an unregenerate spirit." "You found it so?" "I did. That was one of the reasons why I left steam-boatin'. Diversion and love of adventure were the others." "You say you came here on the proposition of big game hunting. You have, then, given up your project for the time being to take service with Captain Farquharson?" "O, no, Reverend. The Cap'n is here on the same proposition. When I first met him he was plum daffy on big game. The big game he wanted resided only in California. Now, being a man of the world, I'd mixed a good deal with the huntin' of bear, et cetery. I reckoned I could do huntin' in a plain way on the Pacific Coast, so I became first mate in the Cap'n's outfit, and here I be."