, 1890-08-14
A SHIP OF THE DESERT.


magazine he had picked up I'm
Father Francisco's scanty library,
which had been left there by some
travelling waif who had passed
through Santa Rosa some time
before. An article in 1t related how
some adventurous traveller had found
i'm the desert of Colorado dis
mantled ship which had been
stranded there hundreds of years
ago when the desert had been a
sea.
"How can people write such
twaddle?" Austin thought.
The article went on TO say that
in conseq uence of the softness of
the surrounding, earth the traveller
failed to reach the ship, the horse
miring I'm the mud, and the dis
coverer went of for assistance, feel
ing sure the stranded ship was full of
treasure, but failed to find his way
back, having endured untold hard
ships in reaching civilization.
"For the very good reason that he
never found his way there at first"
Austin muttered. "Listen, padre"
said he aloud to his companion, "let
me read you this" And he pro-
ceeded to regale Father Francisco
with the sketch. This beats In
dian tales, doesn't it?'
eyes, my son, L have reason to
believe II is true, for have heard of
that ship before, and the account is
very similar to what you have read
me-"
Austin smiled incredulously and
shrugged his shoulders.
al have seen the manuscripts al
luded to- in the SKETCH" continued
priest. "They were in the posses
sion of Father Ignatius, of the Con-
vent of San Jacinto, in Lower Cali
fornia. They are old indeed, and
were compiled by the superior OF
the first convent established there.
In them is mentioned the mysteri-
GUS fate of "a vessel which, coming
up from Chill with much treasure,
some three hundred years ago, was
driven by irightful gale along the
coast and up the Californian gulf,
where 1t vanished and was heard
from no more"
"Well?" said Austin as the old
priest paused.
"Without doubt, lift was searched
for IL could he fouud.v
eyes, in Davy Jones' locker,
probably. A wild goose chase,
father.o
"No, my son; II were as young
as you, would start upon 1t.
Listen: Last year there came to
this village a mexican miner, sick
and broken down. In seeking a
short cut from Pinta to San Juan he
had crossed part of the Colorado
desert. There, in a great valley,
covered with white sand, he saw a
stranded ship"
"Father Francisco! How can you
believe anything 30 impossible?"
"My son, l have lived longer than
you; there is nothing impossi BILE.
This ship lay in barren valley.
From his description i judge 1t to be
the bed of II river or arm Of the gull
which in former days extended
much further up into the land than
it does now. All Indian legends tell
that And the river and the gulf
were overtaken by the desert and
swallowed up. There lies the
stranded ship, and I'll wager full of
Spanish doubloons."
"How camo the man not to find
themT'
"Because he failed to reach the
ship. The valley had an upper
crust of white sand; below 1t a sort
of alkali mud, very soft, In which
his horse, tough Indian pony,
mired up above the girths, aud on
his retracing his steps he found that
the alkali had eaten into the poor
beasts flesh SO deep that he died.
Unable to reach the ship he tried to
retrace his steps, and In doing so
got lost. His supply of water ran
low, and he suffered such privations
that when he reached here he die 4
after telling me OF all he had passed
through. lie described the vessel
as of strange appearance, such as he
had never seen before.
Austin was more struck with