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Updated: June 9, 2025
At the mention of it Ramona shuddered, recollecting the scene in the Temecula graveyard. "Oh, no, no! Not that!" she cried. "It is ill-fated;" and Alessandro blamed himself for having forgotten her only association with the name. At last Alessandro said: "The people have named her, I think, Majella.
It was but a poverty-stricken little handful, to be sure; still, they were unmolested; the valley was large; their stock ran free; the few white settlers, one at the upper end and two or three on the south side, had manifested no disposition to crowd the Indians; the Ravallo brothers were living on the estate still, and there was protection in that, Alessandro thought. And Majella was content.
He was courteous and kind; brought out the tattered old book, and, looking over his shoulder, his breath coming fast with excitement and fear, there Felipe read, in Father Gaspara's hasty and blotted characters, the fatal entry of the names, "Alessandro Assis and Majella Fa " Heart-sick, Felipe went away. Most certainly Ramona would never have been married under any but her own name.
The white ranchmen in the valley were all fencing in their lands; no more free running of stock. The Saboba people were too poor to build miles of fencing; they must soon give up keeping stock; and the next thing would be that they would be driven out, like the people of Temecula. It was none too soon that he had persuaded Majella to flee to the mountain.
We could live there; but it would be no more than to live,, it is very small, the valley. Majella would be afraid?" "Yes, Alessandro, I would be afraid, all alone on a high mountain. Oh, do not let us go there! Try something else first, Alessandro. Is there no other Indian village you know?" "There is Saboba," he said, "at foot of the San Jacinto Mountain; I had thought of that.
"Thank God!" said Alessandro, at the plunging horses' heads. "The child is alive! Majella!" he called. "Yes, Alessandro," she answered faintly, the gusts sweeping her voice like a distant echo past him. It was a marvellous rescue.
"Here were some Americans killed, in a fight with the Mexicans, Majella," said Alessandro. "I myself have a dozen bullets which I picked up in the ground about here. Many a time I have looked at them and thought if there should come another war against the Americans, I would fire them again, if I could.
"Why, what are you afraid of?" asked Ramona. "It may grow so cold that I must make a fire for Majella," he answered. "It sometimes gets very cold before morning in these canons; so I shall feel safer to watch to-night." This he said, not to alarm Ramona. His real reason for watching was, that he had seen on the edge of the stream tracks which gave him uneasiness.
Alessandro continued: "If Majella would not be afraid, I know a place, high up on the mountain, where no white man has ever been, or ever will be. I found it when I was following a bear. The beast led me up. It was his home; and I said then, it was a fit hiding-place for a man. There is water, and a little green valley.
"There is only a little, rough like this, dear," called Alessandro, as he leaped a fallen tree, and halted to see how Baba took it. "Good!" he cried, as Baba jumped it like a deer. "Good! Majella! We have got the two best horses in the country. You'll see they are alike, when daylight comes. I have often wondered they were so much alike. They would go together splendidly."
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