And then-perhaps that her voice was low From fear or from shame-the monks said soBut the Fray leaned forward, when, presto! all Were thrilled by a scream, and saw her fall Fainting beside the confessional. And so was the ghost of Diego laid As the Fray had said. Never more his shade The girl interests you? I dare say! Ah! "Nothing," said she, when they brought her to"Only a faintness!" They spoke more true Who said 'twas a stubborn soul. But thenWomen are women and men are men! Having got the wolf, by the same high law. At the Hacienda. KNOW I not whom thou mayst be "Manuela of La Torre," For around on broken walls Summer sun and Spring rain falls, Of that song no words remain "Manuela of La Torre." A guitar, and words that thrill Tell to me the old, old storyOld when first thy charms were sung, Old when these old walls were young, "Manuela of La Torre." Friar Pedro's Ride. It was the morning season of the year; Portala's cross stood where Portala's hand When monks and missions held the sole command Of all that shore beside the peaceful sea, Where spring-tides beat their long-drawn réveille. Out of the Mission of San Luis Rey, All in that brisk, tumultuous spring weather, With six dragoons in cuirasses of leather, In sooth, that year the harvest had been slack, The crop of converts scarce worth computation ; Some souls were lost, whose owners had turned back To save their bodies frequent flagellation; And some preferred the songs of birds, alack! And thought their own wild whoopings were less dreary To bring them back to matins and to prime, To pious works and secular submission, To prove to them that liberty was crime,— This was, in fact, the Padre's present mission; To get new souls perchance at the same time, And bring them to a sense their condition". That easy phrase, which, in the past and present, Means making that condition most unpleasant. He saw the glebe land guiltless of a furrow; He saw the squirrel scampering at his will;— He saw the flapping crow, whose frequent note He rang his bell, and at the martial sound VOL. I. They charged the camp, and in one moment more They lassoed six and reconverted four. The Friar saw the conflict from a knoll, And sang Laus Deo and cheered on his men : "Well thrown, Bautista-that's another soul; After him, Gomez-try it once again; This way, Felipe-there the heathen stole ; Bones of St. Francis !-surely that makes ten; Te deum laudamus-but they're very wild; Non nobis dominus-all right, my child!" When at that moment-as the story goes- He stared a moment, and in silence brooded, Then in his breast a pious frenzy rose And every other prudent thought excluded; He caught a lasso, and dashed in a canter After that Occidental Atalanta. High o'er his head he swirled the dreadful noose, His first cast tore Felipe's captive loose And might have interfered with that brave youth's But all things come by practice, and at last Then rose above the plain a mingled yell Of rage and triumph-a demoniac whoop; The Padre heard it like a passing knell, And would have loosened his unchristian loop; |