But now we are the only vessel, and that an unromantic, sail-less,
spar-less, engine-driven hulk!
I landed in the surf, in the old style, but it was not high enough
to excite us, the only change being that I was somehow unaccountably a
passenger, and did not have to jump overboard and steady the boat, and
run her up by the gunwales.
Santa Barbara has gained but little. I should not know, from
anything I saw, that she was now a seaport of the United States, a
part of the enterprising Yankee nation, and not still a lifeless
Mexican town. At the same old house, where Senor Noriego lived, on the
piazza in front of the court-yard, where was the gay scene of the
marriage of our agent, Mr. Robinson, to Dona Anita, where Don Juan
Bandini and Dona Augustia danced, Don Pablo de la Guerra received me
in a courtly fashion. I passed the day with the family, and in walking
about the place; and ate the old dinner with its accompaniments of
frijoles, native olives and grapes, and native wines. In due time I
paid my respects to Dona Augustia, and notwithstanding what Wilson
told me, I could hardly believe that after twenty-four years there
would still be so much of the enchanting woman about her.
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