Show 4 ML M grow nesb 0 of F I 1 ae r awe y bartlett service 0 virginia silvers bartlett virginia stivers CHAPTER XV continued 12 then what happened well in the meantime I 1 had quietly moved to the table picked up this letter and slipped it into the sleeve of my habit but the father did not notice he seemed quite distressed and dismissed me saying he would call for me again and here is the letter read it there is the usual preamble then it goes on thus upon reaching here these padres withdrew themselves they passed the day in sleep and idleness and the night in outrages disturbing the repose of those who having spent the day in work must needs sleep at night they behaved indeed like sons of darkness breaking the jars where the chocolate of the community tom is kept stealing the chocolate pots to beat them for drums and appropriating the balls which were kept by the community for the recreation of the religious bowled them through the dormitories at unseasonable hours of the night with result to the religious of terror and confusion and they scaled the walls of the mission establishment by night scarcely on deeds of virtue bent lo 10 Scarce scarcely lyl crowed fray mariano sitting up on the edge of his hie cot and rocking back and forth Scarce scarcely ali ai por dios that is fine I 1 brother you did a noble deed to get that letter the other oilier rose and walked over to the table and poured wine for both of them now I 1 want to speak of something else seriously to you the other day when the governor and his party were here at the mission for the confirmation of his spoiled little excellency cel lency young pedro I 1 overheard many things one of them was that because you and I 1 had not turned out to be the shining lights gunipero Juni pero serra had hoped us to be the founding of the mission santa barbara could not take place he gazed sternly at the other oh tut tut tut arent you ashamed brother stop it hypocritical wretch so I 1 have been thinking that if we mended our ways things might turn out so that we could be if not actually the founders of that mission at least those in charge of it Is that not worth thinking about fray rubi gazed openmouthed open mouthed in admiration splendid oh what a brother have il II what a mind what a soul yes let us do that I 1 shall be father superior and you shall be rny ift subordinate oh nol no I 1 shall be father superior and you the subordinate I 1 am i no I 1 shall be superior you misbegotten dog I 1 fray rubi dashed his wine cup at gilts gills face the other screamed and reached blindly before him but rubi rub had retreated to a corner for in the doorway stood te father president looking in at them shielding with a protective gesture the indian youth pio flo for a moment the padre stared at at the two then covering his eyes with his hands stumbled away limping painfully to his own cell As though his legs could not support him he sank on his knees beside his bed and resting his head on the rough uncovered planks wept pio pin stood awkwardly beside him watching compassionately the thin heaving shoulders padre mio he said at last very ven softly padre mio come pio flo is here beside you do not grieve father he laid a timid brown hand on the priest gunipero Juni pero perc serra raised his ravaged face to the indian yes pio you are beside me thank god for that thank god for you my own my true little son he allowed plo pio to lift him to the cot pio he groaned 1 I have been a sinner I 1 have failed somewhere somehow or else I 1 would not be now forsaken I 1 had gone to those two with love and forgiveness in in my heart to beg them to help me to be my eyes since my spectacles eire are gone and you saw them pio your innocent eyes saw them ah why have they been sent to me for I 1 do not remember any sin I 1 cave have committed black enough to deserve them as a punishment no father say it not you are no sinner dear son the father smiled faintly little loyal one you are all I 1 have pio it seems everything else is falling away from me my right of confirmation my beloved mission to santa barbara my friendship with don pedro and now these messages that have come today denying me even hope for the future pio he said suddenly you can read A little father good you shall read to me the dispatches that arrived on the san antonio you who have been my legs kegs must now be my eyes I 1 lave have looked at these letters once but I 1 can scarcely see so read my son and carefully I 1 may have been mistaken when I 1 read them the boy read slowly painfully stumbling over the stilted official phraseology of the letters from the viceroy and the father guardian in mexico there was no hope for the mission santa barbara the governor don pedro fages had not recommended the idea it was regrettable the two franciscans fray mariano rubi rub and fray bartolome gill gili were unsuitable but it was hard to get decent men to leave mexico and go to the distant province of california there was a friendly personal letter from the father guardian but that gave gunipero Juni pero serra no comfort serra was warned against using his temporal influence as there were rumors abroad that the missions in california were to be turned over to the order of dominicans and the franciscans returned to mexico no no faltered the franciscan Fanci scan no pio you do not read that truly I 1 Ki california fornia to be delivered to the dominicans but california is san Francis cos own country chosen by his own wish never should it be in other hands than IV I 1 lk yo slipped it into the sleeve ot of my aly habit those of the brothers of san francisco ah it is just a rumor I 1 it t could be nothing else god forbid that it should dl serra clasped his hands and was still are there no more letters he asked calmly here is one but it is not from mexico padre it is from his excellency cel lency don pedrol pedro read it the note was curt brief the governor had received dispatches from rom mexico regarding the founding of the mission santa barbara i and he presumed the holy father had received the same intelligence it was unfortunate the holy father had not seen fit to communicate with him or shown any disposition to enter again upon friendlier relations he himself and la gobernadora with an escort were leaving on the san antonio when she sailed for the presidio and mission of san francisco where la gobernadora would be confined by the eminent doctor who was stationed there and that was all the father rose painfully from his cot col and stood in the center of the little cell his hands to heaven deserted betrayed Betray edl the face of all mankind is turned against me but thou 0 father art with met thy rod and thy staff they comfort me thou art with me always it and 1 I padre whispered pio kneeling at the fathers feet 1 I am with you always the missionary put one hand on the indians bowed head and with the other still upraised stood with rapt face his lips murmuring prayers pio could feel the heat of the trembling hand even through the thick thic k thatch of his hair and cl close ose to the father as he was could feel his limbs trembling at last serra spoke to him it is finished pio and it if all the years that I 1 have toiled have brought me nothing else it is enough that you are here simple loving righteous pio mio he smil smiled ed at the boy and turned again to his cot he knelt beside it but padre will you not lie down questioned the anxious boy this attitude is more comfortable for table son for it is one to which my body is more familiar than any other pio flo will you try to find Est evanico and bring back my spectacles to me for now I 1 have many many letters to write and the time is getting short ay short pio flo tightened the red sash around his waist and straightened proudly father it shall be done at once he dashed out of the cell through the mission grounds and in the direction of the vi village ilage of the gentile indians gunipero Juni pero serra did not feel the hard floor beneath his knees nor the hard boards on which his head rested he was pondering deeply sadly praying to keep the bitterness from his thoughts he began dreaming of the past of his earlier days in california episodes which he had forgotten long since came into his mind his first baptism of an indian child the sweetness of a hedge of wild roses along a newly broken brok trail a sunset glow on the white peaks of the lofty sierras with each of these impressions came the figure of pedro fages whose eyes saw the same beauty and whose heart loved it as he be did ali ai ml companero he sighed you have deserted me friend brother the room grew dark A swallow darted in the low doorway circled the cell and flew out with a silky rustle of swift wings gunipero Juni pero perci serra smiled father francis he whispered father francis I 1 recognize thy messenger op then he lay very still into the room after a long while darted pio as swiftly and noiselessly as the swallow padre mio he crowed padre mio look your spectacles there was no answer from the priest pio leaned over him breathlessly look he said 1 I have them your spectacles father at last serra stirred ah bless you my child he said in a faint voice now light the candles for there is work to be done pio lighted the candles if the father had not been so engrossed in his own thoughts he would have seen the youths face was bleeding that one eye was closed and that his hair was standing wildly on his usually sleek head the father fitted his spectacles over his ears took the them in off and adjusted the steel bows a bit wiped the square lenses with the corner of his brown robe and picked up his quill he must summon his brethren to him first there were those staunch countrymen of his fermin lasuen francisco palou islanders like himself ah but crespi but lately he had been laid to rest beneath the altar of the church here at carmel and jose antonio murguia the builder but he too now slept in the beautiful church at santa clara which he had and whose dedication he had not lived to see so many of the pioneer franciscans were dead garces el triano killed by the very indians whose souls he was bent on saving end and that other martyr of the early days of the mission san diego fray luis jaime whose body stripped bruised bloody and pierced with arrows had been found after an indian raid with only the consecrated hands left unscathed gunipero Juni pero serra sighed deeply and breathed a prayer for those sainted souls california had exacted her toll from the franciscans but there were many left praise god and to them he must write to mission son san buenaventura san gabriel arcangel san juan capistrano san diego de cle alcala santa clara san luis obispo de tolosa san antonio de padua and san francisco de asis As he leaned over the table his head was light with fever and the quill in his hand shook for a moment he needs must lay his head down on the clean page before him and close his eyes yet he must write though well he knew those brothers of the farther missions would never reach him hi in time but palou his closest brother his Mal lorcan countryman he must come ile he roused himself and started writing ending the letter good brother palou come and assist me to diel die for hours into the night the little cell was quiet except for the scratching of the pen and the gentle clicking of his rosary when he rested from his writing once pio slipped in and put fresh candles in the candle sockets he curled up at the fathers feet and was soon asleep As he wrote a white fog moved silently in from the sea traveling inland to the great valleys of the salinas the san joaquin the sacramento drowning all things in thick white vapor along the far flung coast golden beaches strands jutting promontories A and forbidding rocks the tides of morning raced the letters were finished ali all but one gunipero Juni pero serra walked to a wooden shutter opened it to the cold dawn A breath of fog drifted into the cell like a wraith and warmed itself at the candles he seated himself again with a prayer he pulled a clean page toward him and wrote slowly to be delivered after my death to his esteemed excellency don pedro fages gobernador gobernadora gen eral of the Cali fornias baja and alta lifting his spectacles he wiped away some tears that had gathered beneath the thick lenses then wrote my beloved son just as he finished pio awoke and the swallows were aware that it was dawn gunipero Juni pero serra read the letter sighed and signed it with his rubric fr gunipero Juni pero perci serra CHAPTER XVI don pedro fages agreed with angustias that it was indelicate for la gobernadora to be confined by a physician a man but the lady herself when she learned that a verj ver learned man of medicine was stationed at the presidio of san francisco made up her mind that she would not remain in monterey to be delivered by the midwife from the mission carmelo who also delivered the indian women the governor himself gre greatly atly worried by the news he had received from mexico concerning the possibility of the missions of california being put under the guardianship of the dominican order felt the need of discussing the situation with gunipero Juni pero perci serras countryman francisco palou the Mal lorcan ai at san francisco fray palou w was wise liberal friendly and with him don pedro felt he could discuss his impasse with serra and other matters TO BE CONTINUED |