Well would it have been for the Father, had he put his box of gold coins
into the great, strong, securely padlocked chest standing in the vestry
of the church, in which were kept the money and all the valuable
articles - the gold embroidered vestments and the sacred vessels of
silver belonging to the mission. Father Zalvidea had, indeed, thought of
it, but he had felt a strong repugnance to placing his own private
property among that of the church; so, although much the better way, he
had chosen the other. And how could he know there had been a pair of
eyes watching him all the time he was busy in the deserted room? Such
was the case, however, for a young mestizo had been witness of the whole
proceeding. Juan, the seventeen year old son of a Mexican laborer, who
had married one of the mission Indian women, united in himself the bad
qualities of both races, as has so often been the result of such
crosses. He had grown up idle, indifferent to his parents, vicious and
cruel, leading astray the other youths of the mission, among whom he was
easily the master, and causing his parents and Father Zalvidea no end
of anxiety.
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