CHAPTER VI
I
WE MUST now consider two years as passing by, and both the characters of our tale and California herself as moving toward their fates, or certain crises in their development.
Very few definite things happened that a historian would have put down with dates opposite. But many subtle forces waxed or waned, readjusting their alignments.
One of the most important, or most talked about, event was the taking over of Las Flores by the bank, and the moving of the Cazadero family bag and baggage to some obscure quarter of the town. The thing had been seen before, many times, but never with the picturesque suddenness of this instance. As far as the man in the street knew, Don Vincente was one of the few old landowners who possessed some business sense. This was proved conclusively by the fact that he was the only one who still had any land. There were, moreover, no premonitory symptoms. Las Flores did not reduce its personnel nor its scale; it did not visibly practise those small economies that are so futile in face of big basic incompetence. Simply overnight the Cazaderos packed their personal belongings and drove into town; and an agent of the bank moved into the old ranch house. It was to be presumed that the new arrangement was for the best all around; and that Cazadero received something substantial over and above his debts. At least the family managed a fairly decent establishment, including a fringe-topped surry; and they never showed outwardly the least regret. Don Vincente, indeed, would wave his small pudgy hand airily at any discreet mention of Las Flores.
"Yes, one regrets," he said, "because it is the long-time home
227
