Old Mission Stories of California | Page 7

that the meal was ready. He went over to
the fire and began to eat, while the woman took some of the broth,
which she had made out of the meat, put it into a small earthen pot, and
carried it to her grandmother, in the hope that she might be able to force
a little of it down her throat. It was of no use: the dying woman was
insensible to all help from food, and lay as in a stupor, from which it
was impossible to rouse her. Mota returned sadly to the fire where her
husband was eating as only a hungry man can eat.
They finished their meal in silence, and after the wife had put away the
remains of the food, she came over to where her husband was sitting in
the opening of the hut, and crouched by his side. There, in the gathering
gloom of the night, he told of the experiences of his search for food.
"It was a long, long distance I went, Mota," he began. "I journeyed on
and on to the far south, until I reached a river that flows across the

plains toward the sea. It was nearing evening of the second day after I
came to the river, when suddenly I heard a queer sound as of the steps
of a small army of some kind of hard-footed animals. It was far in the
distance when first I heard it; for the air was still as though listening to
the voice of the Great Spirit, its master; and I listened, rooted to the
spot where I stood. What could it be? Never had I heard the tread of so
many animals at one time. Nearer they came, and soon I heard the
voices of men, speaking to each other, but not in any Indian language I
am familiar with, and I know several. But if they were men I must hide,
for they would take me prisoner, if they did not kill me, should I be
seen. So I ran to the rushes growing on the bank of the river, and sank
down among their thickly-growing shoots. The army came nearer
steadily, and, in a few moments, I could see them climbing down the
steep bank of the river a little way above me. I took one peep, and my
breath almost left my body, for what I thought were men before I saw
them, now that they came in sight, I knew to be celestial beings."
"But that could not have been, Itatli," exclaimed his wife, "for such a
sight would have blinded, if not killed, you."
"I know not about that," answered the man, "but if they were not from
above, whence came they? They were like me in shape, stature, and all
else but in color and dress. They were white, nearly as white as, the
snow on the distant mountains, and their bodies were completely
covered with their clothes, excepting only their faces and hands. Their
clothes were not made of skins, but were something different from
anything I had ever seen; it was more like fine basketwork than
anything I know of. They had no bows and arrows, such as ours, but
straight, long, bright weapons which glittered in the sun. It may have
been a strange kind of bow, but I could see no arrows, and they did not
shoot with them while near me. On their heads, they wore a large round
covering, which shaded them from the hot sun, and on their feet they
had queer clothes, shaped like their feet, and these it was which had
made me think the sound I heard was that made by animals. But among
them were a few who were like us, and they may have been Indians,
although they had on clothes like the others; so, perhaps, after all, the
white beings were not gods, for the Indians were in their company and
lived."
The man had talked in low, earnest tones; but as he advanced in his tale,

his voice, though still low, had taken on a penetrating, vibrating quality
that thrilled his wife, and reached the ears of the old woman on the
couch, seeming to rouse her from her lethargy like a voice from the
grave. She had stirred restlessly two or three times, striving ever harder
to break the thrall of her weakness: it would have moved the heart of
any one beholding her efforts to make herself heard, but she lay
unnoticed, for the man was deep in his wonderful narrative, and his
wife listening intently, drinking in every word. At last she attracted the
attention of the two, for her strenuous efforts to speak resulted in a
hoarse, guttural sound deep in her throat. They sprang to