"Brown, we shall leave our hill-camp immediately and live in Monterey. You will have nothing to do but carry messages for me. Stay on, now, like a good fellow, and in a half dozen years you can visit your old Missouri home as a rich man." "No use, Cap'. I've never been so sorry to quit a man, but I have to go." "Well, Brown, if being a landed proprietor doesn't appeal to you, why not stay on the basis of the friendship that has grown between us?"' "I'm your friend all right, Cap', but I can't do a thing that would make my old pop back in Missouri ashamed of me. Don't ask that." O'Donnell appeared from somewhere. Powder-stains streaked his hair, face, and beard. His clothing was cut and torn, but his step was steady and firm. His eyes looked straight into Farquharson's. The Englishman returned him look for look. "Brown, you know where to find me." The Captain held out his hand. Brown shook it warmly. "Good-by, Cap'." Farquharson mounted his horse and moved slowly away. O'Donnell and Brown were left alone. "You and your 'Cap'n' have been having words?" O'Donnell asked. "Sounded like it, did it?" "I presume you do not know he is in the province for political reasons?" "If I was of an inquiring turn of mind, I'd ask what business it is of yours whether I do or not." O'Donnell laughed. "No business at all, friend Brown--no business at all. I happen to be a lover of the Stars and Stripes; consequently, no friend of Captain Farquharson's political intrigues here. Do you understand?" "More or less. It's the Stars and Stripes for me too, every time!" "You are a likely-looking man. Since you have left Farquharson I'll offer you place with me. You will find it active, full of excitement, and with pay not small." "Thank you, Mr. Irishman, but I don't intend to work any more for strangers. It's like buying a pig in a sack. 'Seenyore' Mendoza offered me two things this afternoon, one was his house and farm, t'other was a job. I'll think I'll take the job. Otherwise, it's me for old Missouri." O'Donnell again laughed. "Very well, then, take service with Señor Mendoza. I'll ride to Mission San José later in the evening, and I intend to call on Mendoza myself. Would be glad of your company, if you'll come along with me." The wounded began to come in on improvised litters. O'Donnell and Brown gave their assistance toward bringing them into comfortable quarters. Many of the men did not return from the field of La Cuesta de los Gatos. There was lamentation in hacienda house and in peon cot that night in the valley of Santa Clara. "There's nothing more for us to do here, Brown. Are you ready to start for Mendoza's?" It was midnight and the wounded had been cared for. "All right. I'll go with you." They set out, the fighting peons following, their ranks sadly decimated by the afternoon fight.