However, on this occasion the Montereyans did not break their fealty to the Mexican government; they wanted justice, and they took it into their own hands.  One of the most affluent citizens was unanimously selected governor pro tempore, till another should arrive, and they returned to their usual pleasures and apathy, just as if nothing extraordinary had happened.  The name of the governor thus driven away was Fonseca.  Knowing well that success alone could have justified his conduct, he did not attempt to return to Mexico, but meeting with some pirates, at that time ravaging the coasts in the neighbourhood of Guatimala, he joined them, and, excited by revenge and cupidity, he conceived the idea of conquering California for himself.  He succeeded in enlisting into his service some 150 vagabonds from all parts of the earth—­runaway sailors, escaped criminals, and, among the number, some forty Sandwich Islanders, brave and desperate fellows, who were allured with the hopes of plunder.

I may as well here mention, that there is a great number of these Sandwich Islanders swarming all along the coast of California, between which and the Sandwich Islands a very smart trade is carried on by the natives and the Americans.  The vessels employed to perform the voyage are always double manned, and once on the shores of California, usually half of the crew deserts.  Accustomed to a warm climate and to a life of indolence, they find themselves perfectly comfortable and happy in the new country.  They engage themselves now and then as journeymen, to fold the hides, and, with their earnings, they pass a life of inebriety singularly contrasting with the well-known abstemiousness of the Spaniards.  Such men had Fonseca taken into his service, and having seized upon a small store of arms and ammunition, he prepared for his expedition.

In the meanwhile, the governor of Sonora having been apprized of the movements at Monterey, took upon himself to punish the outbreak, imagining that his zeal would be highly applauded by the Mexican government.  Just at this period, troops having come from Chihuahua, to quell an insurrection of the conquered Indians, he took the field in person, and advanced towards California.  Leaving the ex-governor Fonseca and the governor of Sonora for awhile, I shall return to my operations among the Indians.

I have stated that upon the resolution of the Shoshones to unite the tribes, I had despatched my old servant to Monterey, and Gabriel to the nearest Apache village.  This last had found a numerous party of that tribe on the waters of the Colorado of the West, and was coming in the direction which I had myself taken, accompanied by the whole party.  We soon met; the Apaches heard with undeniable pleasure the propositions I made unto them, and they determined that one hundred of their chiefs and warriors should accompany me on my return to the Shoshones, in order to arrange with the elders of the tribe the compact of the treaty.