The Little Lady of Lagunitas: A Franco-Californian RomanceSavage, Richard
General
The Little Lady of Lagunitas: A Franco-Californian Romance
Savage, Richard
California -- Fiction
Both Governor and Captain sought the repose of their Spartan pillows.
The Captain forgot, in his zeal for Spanish dominion, that daring Sir
Francis Drake, in days even then out of the memory of man, piloted the
"Golden Hind" into Drake's Bay. He landed near San Francisco in 1578,
and remained till the early months of 1579. Under the warrant of "good
Queen Bess" he landed, and set up a pillar bearing a "fair metal plate"
with a picture of that antiquated but regal coquette. He nailed on
the pillar a "fair struck silver five-pence," saluting the same with
discharge of culverins, much hearty English cheer and nautical jollity.
The land was English--by proscription.
Sir Francis, gallant and courtly, was, like many travellers, as skilful
at drawing the long bow as in wielding the rapier. He was not believed
at home.
Notwithstanding, he tarried months and visited the inland Indians,
bringing home many objects of interest, announcing "much gold and
silver," his voyage was vain. His real discovery was deemed of no
practical value. The robust Indians swarmed in thousands, living by
the watersides in huts, wearing deerskin cloaks and garments of rushes.
Hunters and fishers were they. They entertained the freebooter, and like
him have long since mouldered to ashes. Along the Pacific Coast
great mounds of shells, marking their tribal seaside feasts, are now
frequently unearthed. Their humble history is shadowed by the passing
centuries. They are only a memory, a shadow on Time's stream. Good Queen
Bess sleeps in the stately fane of Westminster. Sir Francis's sword
is rusted. The "brazen plate" recording that date and year is of a
legendary existence only. "Drake's Bay" alone keeps green the memory of
the daring cruiser. Even in one century the Spanish, Russian, Mexican,
and American flags successively floated over the unfrequented cliffs of
California. Two hundred years before, the English ensign kissed the air
in pride, unchallenged by the haughty Spaniard.
Miguel Peralta was happy. He had invited all the officials to attend the
nuptials by the Golden Gate. Venus was in the ascendant. The red planet
of Mars had set, he hoped, forever. The officers and gentry contemplated
a frolicsome ride around the Salinas bend, over the beautiful passes to
Santa Clara valley and the town of Yerba Buena.
Peralta's marriage was an excuse for general love making. A display of
all the bravery of attire and personal graces of man and maid was in
order.
The soldier drifted into the land of dreams haunted by Juanita Castro's
love-lit eyes and rare, shy smile. No vision disturbed him of the
foothold gained in Oregon by the Yankees. They sailed past the entrance
of San Francisco Bay, on the Columbia, in 1797, but they found the great
river of the northwest. They named it after their gallant bark, said to
be the legal property of one General Washington of America.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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