n's horse
which stood tethered just outside the door and fled under cover of the
night. For days she fled across the deserts and mountains, concealing
herself during the daytime and traveling at night; subsisting as best
she could upon the wild roots and berries which she was able to find.
But the privations which she was forced to endure--the lack of food and
water, night vigils and exposure to the weather, began to tell on her.
She became delirious, and no longer able to guide her horse, was obliged
to let him choose his own course, and--Padre Antonio knew the rest.

Surely God had led this fair heathen child to his very door in order
that he, Padre Antonio, might snatch her soul from the flames of hell by
directing her in the way of the true faith. There could be no doubt of
it; God's handiwork was too apparent.

Padre Antonio was a liberal, broad-minded man. Having experienced most
things that fall to the lot of men, he did not believe in restraining
her against her will in order that her conversion might be accomplished
as many a zealous priest might have considered justifiable in her case.
But should she manifest a desire to remain with him, she would be reared
in the very lap of Mother Church. With this project in mind, it was with
the greatest solicitude that he watched her recovery, and when she was
informed that she would be permitted to return to her own people if she
so desired, he won her confidence completely.

The last vestige of that barrier of restraint and suspicion which the
strangeness of her position had reared between them was swept away.

From that moment the wild little nomad of the desert evinced the keenest
interest in her new surroundings. Her childish delight was unbounded on
beholding for the first time in her life the strange flowers and fruits
in the garden. They were all so new and wonderful to her, and she
wandered for hours among them; touching and plucking them and tasting
and inhaling their fragrance.

Whether it was the novelty of her position, or her sudden and passionate
attachment to Padre Antonio whom she regarded in the light of a
new-found father that caused her to forget for the time her former wild
life and consent to remain with him, is difficult to determine.

Padre Antonio who had lived many years among the wild tribes of the
country and knew them as few men did, their insatiable love of liberty
and intense dislike of the White man's civilization, looked upon her
con