t for his purpose. When the lad had picked up a
smattering of Spanish, the padre sent him to his people with the promise
that if he were allowed to bring back one of the children, the youngster
should not only by baptism be made a Christian, but should also (and
here the good father descended to a bribe) be tricked out like
the Spaniards themselves, in handsome clothes. A few days later, a
"gentile," followed by a large crowd, appeared with a child in his arms,
and the padre, filled with unutterable joy, at once threw a piece of
cloth over it, and called upon one of the soldiers to stand godfather
to this first infant of Christ. But, alas! just as he was preparing to
sprinkle the holy water, the natives snatched the child from him, and
made off with it (and the cloth) to their own rancheria. The soldiers
who stood round as witnesses were furious at this insult, and, left to
themselves, would have inflicted summary punishment upon the offenders.
But the good father pacified them, attributing his failure--of which he
was wont to speak tearfully to the end of his life--to his own sins
and unworthiness. However, this first experience in convert-making
was fortunately not prophetic, for though it is true that many months
elapsed before a single neophyte was gained for the mission, and though
more serious troubles were still to come, in the course of the next
few years a number of the aborigines, both children and adults, were
baptized.

IV.

While Junipero and his companions were thus engaged in planting the
faith among the Indians of San Diego, Portola's expedition was meeting
with unexpected trials and disappointments. The harbour of Monterey
had been discovered and described by Viscaino at the beginning of the
seventeenth century, and it seemed no very difficult matter to reach
it by way of the coast. But either the charts misled them, or their own
calculations erred, or the appearance of the landscape was strangely
deceptive--at any rate, for whatever reason or combination of reasons,
the exploring party passed the harbour without recognizing it, though
actually lingering awhile on the sand hills overlooking the bay. Half
persuaded in their bewilderment that some great catastrophe must, since
Viscaino's observations, have obliterated the port altogether, they
pressed northward another forty leagues, and little dreaming of the
importance attaching to their wanderings, crossed the Coast range, and
looked down the