The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-05-09
The Scour9e of the Gods
p.r nhnH ernn Mishar
Bv John Herman Wishar.

old Carmelo Mission. The chill of ag'
in his blood was warmed by the sofa
rays, and he stretched his great body
signing contentedly. The strong oil
face was like mask of bronze from
which the black eyes peered sharply
They turned ever and again from tht
hide of the great rattlesnake, which h
seemed to fondle with reverent air
to the cid church.
Many times l have seen him thus
and many times / had tried in vain tt
buy the skin of the monster serpent.
A quiet grunt was his answer to my
f'Buenos dias, senor," and / thought
/ detected a twinkle in the beady eyes
as though in expectation of my renewal
of the offer for the skin. And he was
not mistaken. Like all curio hunters,
/ was persistent.
f'But why won't You sell its'
queried for the hundredth time.
He regarded me thoughtfully, and his
eyes again wandered from the great
hide and the mission to the line of
snowy surf, and an odd expression pass
ed over the usual stolid features.
"Why will ! not sell ita Because it
is the skin of the revenge of Juan ODE
long. 1t is many years ago. Back in
the days when your grandfather was
a boy and before the Americana came
to California. But the summer of
youth has gone and the winter of life
is upon me. Already I feel the chill
of the grave in my heart and the spirit
hands Juggling at the cords that bind
me to life. am lowering On the edge
of the dark land and can now interpret
the messages of the wind in the grass
and the surf on the beach. But / do
not regret it. The young look forward
to life with hope; we who have seen
it welcome the end. The end? or is it
the beginning?
Though we grow old, the memory
remains young. In few more days
sixty years will have passed since they
laid Mia in the mission graveyard
yonder; sixty years since Jose Morelos
played monte and made love; sixty
years since / and my revenge journeyed
off in the desert where the crackers
could not follow. And they have been
at rest all these yearsi
az am but part Indian, my father
being Spaniard. My mother was one
of the great tribe which held sway
in California many years ago. When a
small boy ] was taken by the priests
of the old Carmelo Mission and educat-
ed by them. / was bright and studied
hard and Padre Antonio, who had been
a teacher in the Jesuit College in Ma
drid, was my instructor. Knowledge was
the staff of life to me; it was all
lived for. AS the years went by and
grew to manhood, / outstripped my
Instructor.
sIn the peaceful Carmelo Valley
where naught came to disturb the calm
we would pore over the works of the
ancient authors; the gems of thought
of the bygone ana modern philosophers
You would not think it to see me now
a poor old Indian snake hunter, living
in saualor and Indebtedness, that in
my youth ! was brilliant and hand
some man. Bpt the hand of time works
many changes.
''Those were happy days! The good
padre and / would sit by the sea and
he would tell me of the great WORLD
far across the oceans; of Europe, OF
its courts, it's splendor, and its wicked
ness. and / would rejoice that | lived
in the peaceful Carmelo Valley.
sfOn my twenty first birthday I was
ordained a priest. i believed in the Goo
of the Bibie--then--and sought to serve
him truly. The Indians got to know
me--yes, to love me like Padre Antonio
for /, too, did much good. Life was 8
dream of peace and joy--until 'Nits
came
s'She was the daughter of Domingo
D'Acosta; pure Castiian, with skin
like a wild rose dipped in milk; eyes
like two black diamonds whose light
dazzled my mind; face and form like
one of the old Greek goddesses about
which / used to read.
81 was young. She held me in 6
SPELL / was in the full bloom of virii,
manhood | loved 'Nita from the first
she made me do it. She would come
to me for spiritual consolation. TIT
Mexican dandies in Monterey, will
their card playing and horse-racing
bored her. Like me, she was love
of the ancient authors, and we woult
sit and discuss them by the hour. Sh
would fix her great eyes on me unit
/ would feel my heart melt within me
and the cold sweat would pour from
my brow as | sought to control my emo
ton. But she would see nothing OF m,
struggles.
And then came Morelos. He wa
a captain under Nunez and was on
tour of inspection. But he fingered a
Monterey. l saw him with 'Nita, an
the first spark of jealousy sprang up i
NV breast. But / knew that | was
priest and that the woman could b
naueht to me. Then Morelos went away
We resumed our walks on the beac
and would sit for hours in the moor
light or in the shadow of the old mis-
sion walls and discourse on the differen
phases of life as we saw it.
"It was on such an occasion tina
reason forsook me; my VOWS were a
chaff, and elasping her in my arms
poured out the story of my love:
told her she was my god, my all; an
that we would fly to some land wher
we could live for each other. She la
in my arms and told me how she ha
learned to love me. and that if I ha
not spoken her life would have bee
passed in darkness. II was then tha