San Isidro

Transcriber's Note: A Table of Contents has been added. Obvious typographic errors have been corrected.

SAN ISIDRO
Mrs. Schuyler Crowninshield
HERBERT S. STONE & COMPANY CHICAGO & NEW YORK MDCCCC
COPYRIGHT 1899 BY HERBERT S. STONE & CO.
TO C. S. C. A MEMORY OF LA MADRUGADA

People wondered why Don Beltran remained in the casa down by the river. He had been warned by his prudent neighbors, who lived anywhere from two to six miles away, that some time a flood, greater than any that the valley had yet known, would arise and sweep house and inmates away to the sea.
Don Beltran laughed at this. He was happy as he was, and content. There had always been floods, and they had sometimes caused the river to overflow so as to wash across his potreros, but the cacao and bananas were planted on gentle elevations where the water as yet had never reached. Then, too, there was always the Hill Rancho, though neither so large nor so comfortable as the casa. Why borrow trouble? At the first sign of danger the cattle and horses had always betaken themselves to the grove on the hill, there to browse and feed, until the shallow lake which stretched across the plains below them had subsided. Once Don Beltran, Adan, his faithful serving-man, and Adan's niece, Agueda, had been belated. Adan had quickly untied the bridle of the little brown horse from the tethering staple at the corner of the casa, and mounting it, had swum away for safety.
That is right, said Don Beltran; he will swim Mexico —Don Beltran said Mayheco— to the rising ground, and save the young rascal. As for us, Agueda, the horse had stampeded before I noticed the cloud-burst. It seems that you and I must stay.
Agueda made no answer, but she thought it no hardship to remain.