Capitan, too, was gay. He had found the canon dull, spite of its refreshing shade and cool water. He longed for sheep. He did not understand this inactivity. The puzzled look on his face had made Ramona laugh more than once, as he would come and stand before her, wagging his tail and fixing his eyes intently on her face, as if he said in so many words, "What in the world are you about in this canon, and do not you ever intend to return home? Or if you will stay here, why not keep sheep? Do you not see that I have nothing to do?"
"We must ride all night, Majella," said Alessandro, "and lose no time. It is a long way to the place where we shall stay to-morrow."
"Is it a canon?" asked Ramona, hopefully.
"No," he replied, "not a canon; but there are beautiful oak-trees. It is where we get our acorns for the winter. It is on the top of a high hill."
"Will it be safe there?" she asked.
"I think so," he replied; "though not so safe as here. There is no such place as this in all the country."
"And then where shall we go next?" she asked.
"That is very near Temecula," he said. "We must go into Temecula, dear Majella. I must go to Mr. Hartsel's. He is friendly.
He will give me money for my father's violin. If it were not for that, I would never go near the place again."
"I would like to see it, Alessandro," she said gently.
"Oh, no, no, Majella!" he cried; "you would not. It is terrible; the houses all unroofed,-- all but my father's and Jose's. They were shingled roofs; they will be just the same; all the rest are only walls. Antonio's mother threw hers down; I don't know how the old woman ever had the strength; they said she was like a fury. She said nobody should ever live in those walls again; and she took a pole, and made a great hole in one side, and then she ran Antonio's wagon against it with all her might, till it fell in. No, Majella. It will be dreadful."
"Wouldn't you like to go into the graveyard again, Alessandro?" she said timidly.
"The saints forbid!" he said solemnly. "I think it would make me a murderer to stand in that graveyard! If I had not you, my Majel, I should kill some white man when I came out. Oh, do not speak of it!" he added, after a moment's silence; "it takes the strength all out of my blood again, Majella. It feels as if I should die!"
And the word "Temecula" was not mentioned between them again until dusk the next day, when, as they were riding slowly along between low, wooded hills, they suddenly came to an opening, a green, marshy place, with a little thread of trickling water, at which their horses stopped, and drank thirstily; and Ramona, looking ahead, saw lights twinkling in the distance. "Lights, Alessandro, lights!" she exclaimed, pointing to them.
"Yes, Majella," he replied, "it is Temecula," and springing off his pony he came to her side, and putting both his hands on hers, said:
"I have been thinking, for a long way back, Carita, what is to be done here. I do not know. What does Majella think will be wise? If men have been sent out to pursue us, they may be at Hartsel's. His store is the place where everybody stops, everybody goes. I dare not have you go there, Majella; yet I must go. The only way I can get any money is from Mr. Hartsel."
"I must wait somewhere while you go!" said Ramona, her heart beating as she gazed ahead into the blackness of the great plain. It looked vast as the sea. "That is the only safe thing, Alessandro."
"I think so too," he said; "but, oh, I am afraid for you; and will not you be afraid?"
"Yes," she replied, "I am afraid. But it is not so dangerous as the other."
"If anything were to happen to me, and I could not come back to you, Majella, if you give Baba his reins he will take you safe home,-- he and Capitan."
Ramona shrieked aloud. She had not thought of this possibility.
Alessandro had thought of everything. "What could happen?" she cried.
"I mean if the men were there, and if they took me for stealing the horse," he said.
"But you would not have the horse with you," she said. "How could they take you?"
"That mightn't make any difference," replied Alessandro. "They might take me, to make me tell where the horse was."
"Oh, Alessandro," sobbed Ramona, "what shall we do!" Then in another second, gathering her courage, she exclaimed, "Alessandro, I know what I will do. I will stay in the graveyard. No one will come there. Shall I not be safest there?"
"Holy Virgin! would my Majel stay there?" exclaimed Alessandro.
"Why not?" she said. "It is not the dead that will harm us. They would all help us if they could. I have no fear. I will wait there while you go; and if you do not come in an hour, I will come to Mr. Hartsel's after you. If there are men of the Senora's there, they will know me; they will not dare to touch me. They will know that Felipe would punish them. I will not be afraid. And if they are ordered to take Baba, they can have him; we can walk when the pony is tired."
Her confidence was contagious. "My wood-dove has in her breast the heart of the lion," said Alessandro, fondly. "We will do as she says. She is wise;" and he turned their horses' heads in the direction of the graveyard. It was surrounded by a low adobe wall, with one small gate of wooden paling. As they reached it, Alessandro exclaimed, "The thieves have taken the gate!"
"What could they have wanted with that?" said Ramona "To burn," he said doggedly, "It was wood; but it was very little.
They might have left the graves safe from wild beasts and cattle!"
As they entered the enclosure, a dark figure rose from one of the graves. Ramona started.
"Fear nothing," whispered Alessandro. "It must be one of our people. I am glad; now you will not be alone. It is Carmena, I am sure. That was the corner where they buried Jose. I will speak to her;" and leaving Ramona at the gate, he went slowly on, saying in a low voice, in the Luiseno language, "Carmena, is that you? Have no fear. It is I, Alessandro!"
