Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1892-08-24

ldsJ DeIOre bne Nlue ZaSuan OF mousse
in the Gale de Olmedo. at was here"
the priest said, shivering.
The officer raised the brazen battle
ak Of the knocker and clashed it against
its buckler, but no challenging voice
nor sound of shuffling, sandaled tread
came back in answer. Again he knocked,
more loudly, and no sound arose within
but hollow echoes. Then the alcalde
raped with his sword and summoned,
"Open in the name of the king, his jus.
tice!" and still no key ratified in the
lock, no clink Of bar or chain gave
promise Of ingress.
By this time a crowd had gathered
about the place, for the most part Indian
hucksters, driving their heavy laden
donkeys into the city TO market, OF
household servants, thus early out OF
doors for the daily sweeping of the
streets. One Of these drew near from a
house across the way, a woman Of more
than middle age, bearing the bundle Of
long, jOintless straws tied up with a
string that make the short, handleless
brooms of Mexico.
"Senors, your worships summon in
vain," she said, with somewhat of won.
der breaking through the composure Of
her bearing; "this house has long been
vacant"
Friar Lorenzo turned in a sort Of rage
upon her, his meekness overborne by his
distress of body and his souls solicitude.
"Wouldst say lie, impious one? Shall
priest not know where he has heard
confession? But it was here, | tell vel
Open! openl nor tarry for her prating,
lest the crime be done within our very
hearing"
The woman's dark face flushed. She
seemed decent body, and her counte-
nance was full of intelligence beyond
the common, as she replied, with protest
as positive as respectful:
NAY, his reverence, she were in
deed bold and irreverent woman who
would dispute the word of Friar Loren
zo-ayel know his fame for holiness,
as who does not among the humble ones
of Mexico? But his reverence is less
young than he once was, and these day
break lights are uncertain, so that TO
mistake one house for another is easy.
Humbly do | assure ye that never once
has this door been opened in the fifty
years that l have lived across there, and
my mother, who was FORTRESS before me,
has often said that never in her time
had the house a tenant"
"But openl openF Friar Lorenzo
shouted. Then.the officer, impressed in
spite of himself 10y this strange excite
ment and insistence, babe his men take
mp a massive viga, or roof beam Of cedar,
that lay whe>e some workmen had been
repairing an azotea, and, posing it
among them, the patrolInen again and
again dashed the heavy timber, in the
guise of battering ram, against the
door leaves, whose heavy planks crashed
loudly at the impact; then the bolts
sprung open, and into the zaguan poured
the gathered gazers. No sight OF sound
of life greeted the incursion.
Once inside the zaguan it was no hard
matter to shatter the heavy, a1tiquated
paddock that held the door leading 10
the side room; that clumsy defense was
indeed half eaten away with rust and
verdigris, and down from the corners Of
the door head swung veritable curtains
Of venerable cobwebs, thick and velvety,
the ancient tapestry. The door fell in
ward with a crash Of rotten, honey.
combed wood, and every soul there but
one retreated a step or two from the un-
knownness before them. Only Friar
Lorenzo pushed forward, with an eager
ness that vanquished his decrepitude,
and then, from the farther corner, came
his voice:
"Said not SO? And will ye doubt me
longer, unbelievers? This was the place
indeedi They have taken away the hap
less lady; ye must seek her, but the
proof of the place show vel Here IL is,
among pile of rubbish, mine own dear
rosary, made of olive stones from Geth.
semane," and he came forth, as the chief
of the patrol caught cresset from the
hand Of a huckster and blew into pun
gent blaze its sluInbering bit Of ocotl
(Mexican pitchpine or lightwood), and
went forward TO rake curioely with his
short sword among the shapeless heap
that the friar had abandoned.
"This rubbish-why, ladsl Here is a
wristlet, rim IS, great breadth Of brocade
incrusted with gold and gems-a collet
Of major diamonds-ayel we have found
a bonanzal and-what is thisy He
clapped his hand upon long mass,
black as jet in the red light, and with
one swift sweep held it aloft, as high as
his head whence it fell to the knees of
him. Then he dropped it with gasping
cry of terror. "'Tis hair! a womans
hair And-gracious Godl See that
the hair of dead womanr' For, as he
stirred that dense black veil from the
coils and couchings where it had lain for
unknown years, smallish skull, long
kept in position by its once crown Of
glory, rolled forward and touched his
russell boot. And from the dread crumb-
ling relics now arose a dire odor Of NOR
tally, whose warning of dissolution and
decay sent the stout soldiers and their