Novel 1974 - The Californios (v5.0) Read Online Free Page B

more so since the death of her husband, and her present difficulty was due more to bad luck than to mismanagement. Some of that bad luck might have been arranged by those who wanted the ranch.
    There had always been fires along the California coast. The chaparral that cloaked the hills of the southern coast was a thick growth of evergreen shrubs that grew from three to twelve feet tall, with small, stiff leaves and crooked branches closely intertwined to form an almost impenetrable thicket. There was also a variety of scrub oak, manzanita, chamisal, yucca, and mountain mahogany, all highly inflammable. In the hot, dry months of late summer and fall it was a dangerous combination.
    Yet scattered among these chaparral-covered hills there were occasional canyons with running streams, their shores lined with valley sycamore, cottonwood, willow and other trees. There were also lovely green meadows, excellent for farming or grazing. The Señora had planted some of these meadows with wheat and corn. Her crops were growing spendidly when the fires came, wiping them out. The fires might have been accidental, or they might not.
    Sean wondered if there could be a way out. For him, of course, there was the schooner. For his brother there was the Church. But what about the Señora? Since his father’s death the ranch had become her life, perhaps all that was left of her life. At all costs, the Malibu must not be lost.
    Tennison came forward. “Cap’n? How do we go in?”
    Sean thought for a moment, although his mind had been made up hours ago. He just wanted to review his plan before acting upon it.
    “We’ll go inside San Nicolas Island,” he said, “and outside of Santa Barbara Island. When we come around Santa Barbara we’ll head right for the coast. I want to drop anchor off the kelp and get the canvas off her at once.”
    “At night?”
    “If it works out that way, and I believe it will. If the weather holds we can make it easily, and we’ll just lie up behind Santa Barbara until dark. No lights after that.”
    When Mariana came on deck the sky was gray and overcast, the sea choppy with a few whitecaps. “What will your mother think of me?” she asked suddenly.
    “She will love you.”
    “How can she? When I bring you only trouble?”
    He shrugged. “There is always trouble. One learns to live with it. A man grows through enduring.”
    “Is that why you go to sea?”
    He chuckled. “Of course not. I go to sea because it is a means to a living. Nobody in his right mind invites difficulties, you simply cope with those that do arise. But you don’t try to avoid your duties. As far as the sea is concerned, you learn to live
with
the sea or you don’t last. You simply try to conform.”
    “What about people? Do you conform there, too?”
    “Whenever I can, of course. Why not? Most rules whether of law or good breeding are simply made to enable men to live together with less friction. If one lives with people he must always conform, to a degree. I see no harm in that, and lose nothing by it.”
    He paused, staring off to sea. San Nicolas Island was ahead and somewhat to the west. He looked at it a moment, studying it thoughtfully. These outer islands had a pattern, and if one learned about them, navigation in the channels was much simpler. The Chumash had told him that the slightest change in color could mean a change of wind, often of current.
    Yet he was scarcely thinking of them as he looked, for he was thinking of Mariana.
    For two weeks they had eaten every meal together, had stood watches together, walked the decks together. Was he falling in love? That was ridiculous, and yet—
    The
Lady Luck
was an honest ship, answering easily to the helm and carrying her canvas well.
    It had never ceased to amaze him how men with good tools were able to shape timber and create something as splendid as a ship. And how a ship, once built, could take on a life and character of its own. How it leaves the land behind, gives