Myths and Legends of Our Own Land, vol 7 | Page 7

her
charms, and devoted himself to her in the hope that he should
ultimately win her hand. His experience with the world was not large
enough to enable him to distinguish between the womanly woman and
the coquette.
One day messengers came dashing into the fort with news of an
Apache outbreak, and a detachment was ordered out to chase and
punish the marauding Indians. The lieutenant was put in command of
the expedition, but before starting he confided his love to the young
woman, who not only acknowledged that she returned his affection, but
promised that if the fortune of war deprived him of life she would never
marry another. As he bade her good-by he was heard to say, "That is
well. Nobody else shall have you. I will come back and make my
claim."
In a few days the detachment came back, but the lieutenant was missing.
It was noticed that the bride-elect grieved but little for him, and nobody
was surprised when she announced her intention of marrying a young
man from the East. The wedding-day arrived. All was gayety at the
post, and in the evening the mess-room was decorated for a ball. As the
dance was in full swing a door flew open with a bang, letting in a
draught of air that made the candles burn dim, and a strange cry, unlike
that of any human creature, sounded through the house. All eyes turned
to the door. In it stood the swollen body of a dead man dressed in the
stained uniform of an officer. The temple was marked by a
hatchet-gash, the scalp was gone, the eyes were wide open and, burned
with a terrible light.
Walking to the bride the body drew her from the arms of her husband,
who, like the rest of the company, stood as in a trance, without the
power of motion, and clasping her to its bosom began a waltz. The

musicians, who afterward declared that they did not know what they
were doing, struck up a demoniac dance, and the couple spun around
and around, the woman growing paler and paler, until at last the fallen
jaw and staring eyes showed that life was also extinct in her. The dead
man allowed her to sink to the floor, stood over her for a moment,
wrung his hands as he sounded his fearful cry again, then vanished
through the door. A few days after, a troop of soldiers who had been to
the scene of the Apache encounter returned with the body of the
lieutenant.

THE FLOOD AT SANTA FE
Many are the scenes of religious miracles in this country, although
French Canada and old Mexico boast of more. So late as the prosaic
year of 1889 the Virgin was seen to descend into the streets of
Johnstown, Pennsylvania, to save herimage on the Catholic church in
that place, when it was swept by a deluge in which hundreds of persons
perished. It was the wrath of the Madonna that caused just such a flood
in New Mexico long years ago. There is in the old Church of Our Lady
of Guadalupe, in Santa Fe, a picture that commemorates the appearance
of the Virgin to Juan Diego, an Indian in Guadalupe, old Mexico, in the
sixteenth century. She commanded that a chapel should be built for her,
but the bishop of the diocese declared that the man had been dreaming
and told him to go away. The Virgin came to the Indian again, and still
the bishop declared that he had no evidence of the truth of what he said.
A third time the supernatural visitor appeared, and told Juan to climb a
certain difficult mountain, pick the flowers he would find there, and
take them to the bishop.
After a long and dangerous climb they were found, to the Indian's
amazement, growing in the snow. He filled his blanket with them and
returned to the episcopal residence, but when he opened the folds
before the dignitary, he was more amazed to find not flowers, but a
glowing picture painted on his blanket. It hangs now in Guadalupe, but
is duplicated in Santa Fe, where a statue of the Virgin is also kept.
These treasures are greatly prized and are resorted to in time of illness
and threatened disaster, the statue being taken through the streets in
procession when the rainy season is due. Collections of money are then
made and prayers are put up for rain, to which appeals the Virgin

makes prompt response, the priests pointing triumphantly to the results
of their intercession. One year, however, the rain did not begin on time,
though services were almost constantly continued before the sacred
picture and the sacred statue, and the angry people stripped the image
of