"Rain," interrupted the quiet Higuera.
"Señors," continued Zelaya, taking no notice of the interruption, "we need thank the reverend padre for his work this day. Besides, he is ill, and even an enemy who is ill is entitled to our consideration and sympathy. I do not mean he is our enemy," he quickly added.
"I shall do myself the honor of calling upon him," came from Mendoza. "As Administrator of this Mission and its lands I am interested in everyone in the Mission, including its spiritual head. Some Jesuit bark I chance to have will not come amiss in this fever of the river bottoms. I fancy but little remains in the province."
The company departed, the soldiery to the San José pueblo, the land barons to their hacienda houses.
The hundreds of white adobe cots which swarmed around each grandee's mansion, as well as around the Mission buildings, sheltered that evening the retainer occupants who for days had forgotten service to their feudal lords and the ways civilization had taught them. Once more hill and valley were dotted with the blaze of camp fires before the Indian doorposts.
CHAPTER III
A DIP INTO THE PAST
The family Mendoza had deserved well of the Spanish crown. Stanch supporters of the kingdom had they ever been. Their talents, their wealth, their lives they held only as in trust to be devoted, whenever came the call, to the higher, the nobler good.
Adventurous too were the citizens of that name. With Pizarro they overthrew the Incas of Peru. With Hernando Cortez they stormed the place of strength of the Montezumas. Their swords flashed north and south in the conquering of vast empires. Few of them returned from these scenes of glory, and of those few the greater part were maimed and broken men. The native arrow or the fever swamp claimed life or health of the valiant conquistador, not excepting the famous Mendozas.
Thus sifted in the sieve of centuries, the family Mendoza fell gradually in numbers from men sufficient to fill half a regiment, as in the old crusader times, to but two representatives, of whom the younger was Jesus Maria y José.