The silver messenger., 1908-10-13

you should believe this story. Judging
Oy all rational standards, the tale Is
quite impossible in this day and age
You can hear the story told almost
any sunny day, If you will linger in
the little 'dobe squares or along the
roads that are in the vicinage of .Ide-
Ionse' where the air is so dry and
hght that there is nothing to breathe
TOT and there is sun, and sun. and
the only material things are the dark,
clear-cut shadows on the light sand.
san Miguel-a hundred dirty. red
'dobe houses. an old mission, and a
great square-lies to the south and
west of Ildefonse. on the very edge
OF the neyer-changing desert of yellow
sands. At Ildefonse there are boards
and sidewalks, and some of the houses
nave even floors in them; but at Mi
guel this is all left behind and there
is only the atmosphere of the old
dobes with the clay floors, the crum-
bling mission, and absolutely naught
TO suggest the year or the century.
Bradley, the northern doctor, came
to Miguel because of many things, ac-
cording to the people of the village
He was bank robber, this blue-eyed
man OF the north; he had killed a
man; he had weak lungs; he was
there to write of the old mission: to
let the modern world of the eastern
and northern states know how near
they were to the seventeenth cen
tury and the miracles of the church.
The reason for Bradley's presence
In Miguel was quite inconsequential
and trivial Miguel was 200 miles
from the railroad So Bradley came.
There was peace and rest, long sun
ny days and cool nights, during which
there was nothing to do but sit in a
long chair and soak in the joy of liv-
Ing, and this is what Bradley needed.
But the fact which is of importance
is that it was at Miguel that Bradley
met Meta
Bradley had dreamed of Meta for
the better half of his life. He had
dreamed of her while boy at school:
she had followed him through his
medical studies, to Germany, where
his education was completed, and all
through the rest of his 81 years. He
went to balls where the women were
by all accorded the palm for beauty
and found himself wondering why
none of them were like Meta. He
was entirely practical, was Bradley.
but Meta was in his. dreams for a
good share of the time. else he would
nave been married long ago.
This discovery in itself was moth
ing so remarkable, for many a man of
the north has found in the eyes. of the
girls OF Meta's people that for which
he searched long and vainly among
the maids of his own north. Many
men have done so-and forgotten.
Bradley was different.
In the daytime Bradley was one of
the few Americanos of the new quarter
of the town as a matter of form. He
dressed for dinner and kept his face
clean and his clothes white But when
the shadows of the 'dobe houses
grew long in the plaza and the cool
hush of night called the people from |
within the doors, Meta and her lover /
sat on the roof bench of the 'dobe |
house and communed in the tongue |
which is peculiar neither to Saxon or |
Castilian. Sometimes Meta sang the /
love songs of her own tongue. and |
then the people on the roofs two [
houses away heard a strong. subdued /
voice go haltingly through the chorus. |
Then, one day. Bradley was called
away to professional duty, and Meta
was left alone to wait for the return
of her lover. 1t was to Sangre De
Cristo that Bradley went Sangre De
Cristo is on the other side of the un-
trailed desert from Miguel. The road
around is five days long. and no man
was there alive who could say he
had journeyed through the sands
since the wells were dried up.
There was distemper of some kind
at Sangre De Cristo. Was it possible
that it was the little plague? Pray
the good saint whose picture hung
on the mission wall that it was not.
But would the great doctor from the
north come with his great wisdom and
bag of medicines to look upon the
faces of the sick at Sangre De Cristo
padre who sent the word. The pro-
instinct was developed strong
in Bradley.
Il must go, dear heart" he said :
% Meta. 1T will not be long. If you T..
need me. call for me. and 1 will hear: :
know / will"
The conditions at Sangre De Cristo
we're much worse than the messen- I
ger had told. There was much fever
here, the people were stark with
right and the sanitation was awful
But the poems were slow to think a
md slower to act, They were safe h
low. OF course. the senior OF The
dedicines was here. They had no fur n
her concern in the matter. the senior "
'e blessed thousand times. So they d
esigned themselves, like children. to
he care of Bradley. Bradley was al a
most alone. for the padre was old
nd feeble. 1t was a week before he h
ad affairs adjusted so that he might +,