I suppose," I added, a little airily, "that I shall
have no great difficulty in reading the old script also."

Fray Antonio smiled a little as he glanced at Don Rafael, who smiled
also, and as he turned out his hands, answered: "Perhaps. But it is not
quite the same as print, as the senor will know when he tries. But it
makes no difference; for what is most interesting in our archives I
shall be glad--and so also will be Don Rafael--to aid him in reading.

"You must know, senor," he went on, dropping his formal mode of address
as his interest in the subject augmented, and as his feeling towards me
grew warmer, "that many precious documents are here preserved. So early
as the year 1536 this western region was erected into a Custodia,
distinct from the Province of the Santo Evangelio of Mexico; and from
that time onward letters and reports relating to the work done by the
missionaries of our order among the heathen have been here received. In
truth, I doubt not that many historic treasures are hidden here. In
modern times, during the last hundred years or more, but little thought
has been given to the care of these old papers--which are so precious to
such as Don Rafael and yourself because of their antiquarian value, and
which are still more precious to me because they tell of the sowing
among the heathen of the seed of God's own Word. It is probable that
they have not been at all examined into since our learned brothers Pablo
de Beaumont and Alonzo de la Rea were busy with the writing of their
chronicles of this Province--and the labors of these brothers ended more
than two hundred and fifty years ago. In the little time that I myself
can give to such matters I already have found many manuscripts which
cast new and curious light upon the strange people who dwelt here in
Mexico before the Spaniards came. Some of these I will send for your
examination, for they will prepare you for the work you have in
contemplation by giving you useful knowledge of primitive modes of life
and tones of faith and phases of thought. And while you are in the
mountains, at Santa Maria and San Andres, I will make further searches
in our archives, and what I find you shall see upon your return.

"With your permission, senores, I must now go about my work. Don Rafael
knows that I am much too ready to forget my work in talk of ancient
matters. It is a weakness with me--this love for the study of
antiquity--that I struggle against, but that seem