A few there were, young and
venturesome like himself, who declared themselves ready to follow him as
a leader; and among these were some of the fierce savages of the
forests, with whom he was always in touch; but how could a mere handful
of a score of Indians cope successfully with the men of the mission,
aided, as they would be, by the trained soldiers of the presidio?
Pomponio had sense enough to see that such procedure would be foolhardy,
and he abandoned the plan for the time, hoping his little body of
followers would increase, when the disparity in strength and numbers
between the two sides might be less.
Pomponio was some twenty-three years old. A short time before he had
married an Indian girl, and, with her, lived in a little adobe house, a
few paces from the mission church. Pomponio and Rosa had lived the
regular life of the neophytes, working at various occupations of the
community - Pomponio tilling the ground and caring for the crops, and
helping in the making of bricks for the houses; Rosa spinning and
weaving and cooking.
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