The man's broad, strong shoulders touched from doorpost to doorpost, his head barely coming within the door without his stooping. His buckskin shirt, opening low at the front, showed the long, red beard which was fastened together by a cord, and disappeared into the expanse of his chest.
His hair, darker than his beard, was long and bushy. This also was caught by a string and was partially hidden under his shirt.
Steely-blue eyes looked out over regular features. A sombrero was in his hand. His buckskin trousers were protected from hip to knee by shaggy leggings of bearskin.
"Señor O'Donnell, will you enter and be seated?"
"I thank you." The stranger moved toward a chair with dignified and soldierly step.
"Señor, the Administrator Mendoza, I am here to inquire if you know of the present whereabouts of one Captain Farquharson, an Englishman who left Mexico City some months ago to hunt big game in our high Sierras here."
"Señor O'Donnell, why do you ask of me the present abiding place of this Englishman? I am Administrator of the Mission of San José. My jurisdiction does not reach to the high Sierras, nor to the city of Mexico."
Mendoza's glance was careless as he thus replied to the questioner.
"Ah, worthy señor, you are a well-known man in Alta California. Not less, perhaps, is your name known in the Mexican capital. What wonder, then, if some leisured traveler touching that capital should bear written words thence to you here? So I rode to you on my errand of inquiry. If you know nothing of the man, I shall ride still farther on my quest."
"Señor O'Donnell, famine is abroad, since the rains fall not. Entertainment for yourself and feed for your horse are welcome to you in my hacienda. Why not rest here for a while? Perhaps some of my major-domos may have news of this captain, or some of the peons recently returned from the headwaters of the river San Joaquin where our cattle are now grazing. The Sierras lie but across from these headwaters, and among our peons are hunters not a few. Rest among us, my friend O'Donnell, and from some direction you may find the information you are seeking."