DON DIEGO SHOWS INTEREST
The threatened rain did not come that day, nor that night, and the
following morning found the sun shining brightly, and the sky blue, and
the scent of blossoms in the air.
Soon after the morning meal, the Pulido _carreta_ was driven to the
front of the house by Don Diego's servants, and Don Carlos and his wife
and daughter prepared to depart for their own _hacienda_.
"It desolates me," Don Diego said at the door, "that there can be no
match between the _señorita_ and myself. What shall I say to my father?"
"Do not give up hope, _caballero_," Don Carlos advised him. "Perhaps
when we are home again, and Lolita contrasts our humble abode with your
magnificence here, she will change her mind. A woman changes her mind,
_caballero_, as often as she does the method of doing her hair."
"I had thought all would be arranged before now," Don Diego said. "You
think there is still hope?"
"I trust so," Don Carlos said, but he doubted it, remembering the look
that had been in the _señorita's_ face. However, he intended having a
serious talk with her once they were home, and possibly might decide
to insist on obedience even in this matter of taking a mate.
So the usual courtesies were paid, and then the lumbering _carreta_ was
driven away, and Don Diego Vega turned back into his house with his
head hanging upon his breast, as it always hung when he did himself the
trouble to think.
Presently he decided that he needed companionship for the moment,
and left the house to cross the plaza and enter the tavern. The fat
landlord rushed to greet him, conducted him to a choice seat near a
window, and fetched wine without being commanded to do so.
Don Diego spent the greater part of an hour looking through the window
at the plaza, watching men and women come and go, observing the toiling
natives, and now and then glancing up the trail that ran toward the San
Gabriel road.
Down this trail, presently, he observed approaching two mounted men,
and between their horses walked a third man, and Don Diego could see
that ropes ran from this man's waist to the saddles of the horsemen.
"What, in the name of the saints, have we here?" he exclaimed, getting
up from the bench and going closer to the window.
"Ha!" said the landlord at his shoulder. "That will be the prisoner
coming now."
"Prisoner?" said Don Diego, looking at him with a question in his
glance.
"A native brought the news a short time ago, _caballero_. Once more a
_fray_ is in the toils."
"Explain, fat one!"
"The man is to go before the _magistrado_ immediately for his trial.
They say that he swindled a dealer in hides, and now must pay the
penalty. He wished his trial at San Gabriel, but that was not allowed,
since all there are in favor of the missions and the _frailes_."
"Who is the man?" Don Diego asked.
"He is called Fray Felipe, _caballero_."
"What is this? Fray Felipe is an old man, and my good friend. I spent
night before the last with him at the _hacienda_ he manages."
"No doubt he has imposed upon you, _caballero_, as upon others," the
landlord said.
Don Diego showed some slight interest now. He walked briskly from the
tavern and went to the office of the _magistrado_ in a little adobe
building on the opposite side of the plaza. The horsemen were just
arriving with their prisoner. They were two soldiers who had been
stationed at San Gabriel, the _frailes_ having been forced to give them
bed and board in the governor's name.
It was Fray Felipe. He had been forced to walk the entire distance
fastened to the saddles of his guards, and there were indications that
the horsemen had galloped now and then to test the _fray's_ powers of
endurance.
Fray Felipe's gown was almost in rags, and was covered with dust and
perspiration. Those who crowded around him now gave him jeers and
coarse jests, but the _fray_ held his head proudly and pretended not to
see or hear them.
The soldiers dismounted and forced him into the _magistrado's_ office,
and the loiterers and natives crowded forward and through the door. Don
Diego hesitated a moment, and then stepped toward the door. "One side,
scum!" he cried; and the natives gave way before him.
He entered and pressed through the throng. The _magistrado_ saw him and
beckoned him to a front seat. But Don Diego did not care to sit at that
time.
"What is this we have here?" he demanded. "This is Fray Felipe, a godly
man and my friend."
"He is a swindler," one of the soldiers retorted.
"If he is, then we can put our trust in no man," Don Diego observed.
"All this is quite irregular, _caballero_," the _magistrado_ insisted,
stepping forward. "The charges have been preferred, and the man is here
to be tried."
Then Don Diego sat down and court was convened.
The man who made the complaint was an evil-looking fellow who explained
that he was a dealer in tallow and hides, and had a warehouse in San
Gabriel.
"I went to the _hacienda_ this _fray_ manages and purchased ten hides
of him," he testified. "After giving him the coins in payment and
taking them to my storehouse, I found that the hides had not been
cured properly. In fact they were ruined. I returned to the _hacienda_
and told the _fray_ as much, demanding that he return the money, which
he refused to do."
"The hides were good," Fray Felipe put in. "I told him I would return
the money when he returned the hides."
"They were spoiled," the dealer declared. "My assistant here will
testify as much. They caused a stench, and I had them burned
immediately."
The assistant testified as much.
"Have you anything to say, _fray_?" the _magistrado_ asked.
"It will avail me nothing," Fray Felipe said. "I already am found
guilty and sentenced! Were I a follower of a licentious governor
instead of a robed Franciscan, the hides would have been good."
"You speak treason?" the _magistrado_ cried.
"I speak truth!"
The _magistrado_ puckered his lips and frowned.
"There has been entirely too much of this swindling," he said finally.
"Because a man wears a robe he cannot rob with impunity. In this case,
I deem it proper to make an example, that _frailes_ will see they
cannot take advantage of their calling.
"The _fray_ must repay the man the price of the hides. And for the
swindle he shall receive across his bare back ten lashes. And for
the words of treason he has spoken, he shall receive five lashes
additional. It is a sentence!"