"If she lives, she is a young lady by this time, and might not want the details of her life known to any one."
"And how will you recognize your baby in this young lady?" asked Father Pedro, with a rapid gesture, indicating the comparative heights of a baby and an adult.
"I reckon I'll know her, and her clothes too; and whoever found her wouldn't be fool enough to destroy them."
"After fourteen years! Good! You have faith, Señor"—
"Cranch," supplied the stranger, consulting his watch. "But time's up. Business is business. Good-by; don't let me keep you."
He extended his hand.
The Padre met it with a dry, unsympathetic palm, as sere and yellow as the hills. When their hands separated, the father still hesitated, looking at Cranch. If he expected further speech or entreaty from him he was mistaken, for the American, without turning his head, walked in the same serious, practical fashion down the avenue of fig trees, and disappeared beyond the hedge of vines. The outlines of the mountain beyond were already lost in the fog. Father Pedro turned into the refectory.
"Antonio."
A strong flavor of leather, onions, and stable preceded the entrance of a short, stout vaquero from the little patio.
"Saddle Pinto and thine own mule to accompany Francisco, who will take letters from me to the Father Superior at San José to-morrow at daybreak."