Yet one felt in him aquick and discriminating
intelligence.
Behindtheir camp, not far away, lay a group of
great mesas. Jacinto was never, by any chance, naïf; he was never takenby
surprise.
But I guess it will be all right from now
on.
But it is growing too dark for that, unless he
shouldfollow us on horseback, said the Bishop.
An Indian girl cooked his beans and cornmeal mush
forhim, he required little else.
Thenotary told him the facts of the case in the
plaza, where everyonecould hear. What needhad there ever been for this great church
at Ácoma?
No, no, Christóbal, I would not be afraid with you.
Scaleshimself they captured on the road from Taos, where he had gone tolook for his
wife.
She began distractedly snatching rags and wet socks
and dirtyclothes from the chairs.
Inall the plain through which he had come he had
seen no trees but afew stunted piñons.
This was the beginning of a long
friendship.
She was not old, she might have been very young,but
she was probably half-witted. The Bishop seldomquestioned Jacinto about his thoughts
or beliefs.
They actually lived upon their Rock; were born upon
itand died upon it. Thedesert, the mountains and mesas, were continually reformed
and re-coloured by the cloud shadows. A man dressed in buckskin hunting-clothes
stepped out of the crowdand asked to see Magdalena. Asked when he had last
celebrated Mass at Ácoma, he made nodirect reply. Navajos on the north, Apaches on
thesouth; the Ácoma run up a rock to be safe.
Father Latour was so stiff that hearose long before
daybreak.
That varmint wont come about my place, even if he
breaksjail. Their horses Buck had ridden off by night andsold to Indians somewhere
in the north.
No, I not know any name, he shook his
head.
On thewinding stone stairway up the cliff, a
handful of men could keepoff a multitude.
They went into the priests house by way of a
garden, walled inbehind the church.
But there was a quality of golden goodness
abouthim. An Indian girl cooked his beans and cornmeal mush forhim, he required
little else. But the San Mateo mountains must be forty or fifty miles away. They had
done this from time immemorial, and the village had alwaysbeen noted for its
whiteness. He sent at once for Magdalena andtook her into the service of the
Sisters. Theold man was poor, and too soft-hearted to press the pueblo peoplefor
pesos.