when your wishes shall be officially communicated they shall be followed to the letter. For the present I suppose the old agreement stands."
"Certano, Signer, certano? answered Alvarado, somewhat puzzled, somewhat flattered.
Douglas found it hard to bend the knee and sue for favors from this southern potentate, but he did it. In the end his courtliness quite undermined the gallant Captain Sutter.
In the bay of Saint Francisco the fur company wished to establish a post to capture the Spanish trade perhaps the Spanish state.
"Certano, certano, Signor, by payment of suitable duties."
"And we want sheep to stock our farms."
"Certano, certano" said Alvarado.
All Douglas wished and more he got, a post on the bay, trappers' rights renewed, and five thousand sheep from the old missions, three thousand to be driven overland, and two thousand to be brought by sea.
Tom McKay, tall, dark, long-haired, standing hat in hand, had been a silent auditor. As negotiations progressed mutual esteem mounted high and higher. With fluttering flags of Spain and England at the mast Douglas dined and wined the Spanish grandees on his ship. He lent the impoverished Californians powder to fire a salute from the old castle and departed amid a shower of, "A Dios! A Dios! "leaving McKay to recruit his health and superintend the sheep brigade.
