Chancing to look up
while she was threading her needle, Juana saw an Indian striding rapidly
toward the stream, which, reaching its bank, he crossed, springing from
stone to stone; climbing the opposite bank, he made his way up the
mountainside, and was soon lost to sight behind the brow of a near-by
foothill. Screened as she was by the deep shade of the trees, the Indian
had not seen Juana, and well for her he did not, for her first glance
told her he was one of the untamed savages that, at that late day in the
efforts made by the missions for their reclamation, were still numerous
in various parts of the country. Juana was well enough acquainted with
Indian customs to recognize at once that the savage was on some hostile
errand. He carried a bow in his hand, together with an arrow ready to
use without an instant's loss of time. This might have meant he was on a
hunting expedition, had not Juana known there was no game of any kind,
excepting jack-rabbits and rattlesnakes, within a radius of several
miles from the mission; for the neophytes had, long before, killed
everything near.
Pages:
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153