here is all that is left of it!"

She turned with a mock heroic gesture, and pointed her fan to the
pear-tree. Garnier lifted his hands in equally simulated wonder. A
sudden recollection of the coyote of the morning recurred to Carroll
uneasily. "And the Indians," he said, with an effort to shake off the
feeling; "they, too, have vanished."

"All that remained of them is in yonder mound. It is the grave of the
chief and his people. He never lived to see the fulfillment of his
prophecy. For it was a year after his death that our ancestor, Manuel
Guitierrez, came from old Spain to the Presidio with a grant of twenty
leagues to settle where he chose. Dona Maria Guitierrez took a fancy
to the canada. But it was a site already in possession of the Holy
Church. One night, through treachery, it was said, the guards were
withdrawn and the Indians entered the mission, slaughtered the lay
brethren, and drove away the priests. The Commandant at the Presidio
retook the place from the heathens, but on representation to the
Governor that it was indefensible for the peaceful Fathers without a
large military guard, the official ordered the removal of the mission
to Santa Cruz, and Don Manuel settled his twenty leagues grant in the
canada. Whether he or Dona Maria had anything to do with the Indian
uprising, no one knows; but Father Pedro never forgave them. He is
said to have declared at the foot of the altar that the curse of the
Church was on the land, and that it should always pass into the hands
of the stranger."

"And that was long ago, and the property is still in the family," said
Carroll, hurriedly, answering Maruja's eyes.

"In the last hundred years there have been no male heirs," continued
Maruja, still regarding Carroll. "When my mother, who was the eldest
daughter, married Don Jose Saltonstall against the wishes of the
family, it was said that the curse would fall. Sure enough,
Caballeros, it was that year that the forged grants of Micheltorrena
were discovered; and in our lawsuit your government, Captain, handed
over ten leagues of the llano land to the Doctor West, our neighbor."

"Ah, the gray-headed gentleman who lunched here the other day? You are
friends, then? You bear no malice?" said Garnier.

"What would you?" said Maruja, with a slight shrug of her shoulders.
"He paid his money to the forger. Your corregidores upheld him, and
said it was no forgery," she continued, to Carroll.

In spite of