William Hepworth Dixon, White Conquest: Volume 1

Chapter 9: Capitan Vasquez.

Born in Monterey county, thirty-nine years ago, Vasquez is by birth a Mexican, and owes no fealty to the United States. His father, a mixed blood, like his neighbours, lived on a small farm called Los Felix, not far from Monterey. A poor school, kept by a drowsy priest, in Sleepy Hollow, offered him the only teaching he ever got. He learned to read a little, to recite his creed, and curse the heretics who came into his port for trade. Though ignorant of arts and men, he grew apace in animal strength and animal appetite. Like his Indian mothers, he was fleet of foot; like his Mexican fathers, he could catch a wild horse. Early in life, he learned to use the knife, and not one damsel in