"Show him here. No—wait. I'll attend him from the front myself."
A moment later the señor was at the padre's side. "Welcome, reverend sir. This house is happy that your feet press its threshold." Mendoza bowed in Castilian grace, then extended his hand to the priest, who accepted it in courteous grasp.
"And you are well, Padre?"
"Good health blesses me, Señor Mendoza. How makes it with you?"
"Well. Very well, indeed. Come with me, Señor Padre."
"I thank you."
"Padre Osuna," as they sat together shortly after, "it pleases me that opportunity comes to thank you for sending your major-domo, Juan Antonio, that night the storm broke, to trace my daughter and her dueña. I have sought you each day since, only to find you were still in Santa Cruz. A father's heart thanks you, sir."
"A pastor's solicitude for one of his flock deserves not thanks, Señor Mendoza."
"May I ask, reverend sir, why you brought so strong a fighting force to meet us that night? Juan Antonio told me it was your order, but held his counsel further."
"He knew nothing more. Early that afternoon there came a peon, fugitive from the renegade camp. After much hesitation, so greatly are Yoscolo and Stanislaus feared by the Indians, he told me he had seen the two leaders traveling, no men with them, in the direction of your merienda ground. I cautioned him to silence lest panic sweep over the Mission. Marshaling bowmen and carbineers, I mounted horse to come to your aid, should the miscreants gather force and give any trouble. Thus I rode to you in the thunderstorm, having dispatched couriers posthaste to the pueblo for further aid from the soldiery there."