Born in 1908, Louis L'Amour was to become on of the most prolific
             storyteller of the 20th century. His narrative style, easy to understand,
             as if actually telling the story, as well as his captivating stories of the
             west and the frontier days and ability to relate fiction with personal
             experience, made him a beloved writer.
             The Californios is no exception. The story in itself is quote
             simple: in order to pay a debt and save their ranch, the Mulkerin Brothers
             need to find a treasure. With the help of an Indian mystic, they search
             California high and low to find it, but come in conflict with a band of
             dangerous gunfighters from Baja. Now, we should remember that in 1844,
             nobody really thought about searching gold in California, so, in many ways,
             the Mulkerin Brothers are truly temerarious. Their sense of adventure
             takes an upper hand on the actual mission of finding gold.
             The action of the novel is really only a pretext for L'Amour to
             reveal some of his ideas on life, through the voice of some of his
             characters. "There is always trouble. One learns to live with it. A man
             grows through enduring."- this could possibly be the center of the author's
             philosophy. Nothing comes easy, everything must be fought for and is hard
             to obtain. In search of the treasure, the Mulkin brothers face this danger
             every moment and their journey is somewhat symbolical: a quest for a hard
             to obtain goal (the treasure) can only follow through a scenario filled
             with action and goals. It is a somewhat classical theme, which has been
             copied into the adventure movies of the 20th century as well.
             The book is a mean for L'Amour to present some of his mystical
             conceptions through the voice of the Indian mystic. It fits appropriately
             in the story and is better associated with it, because we would rather
             expect adventurous and mystery actions to be thus explained. Christianity
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