om the Gila to the Rio Grande. You know in such another year, nineteen
priests were slain in one day. On such another date, a missionary was
thrown over a precipice; or slain on the high altar of San Xavier. And
always, the priests opposed the outrages of the soldiery, the injustice
of the ruling rings. Father Kino petitions the royal house of Spain in
1686 that converts be not forcibly seized and "dragged off to slavery in
the mines, where they were buried alive and seldom survived the abuse."
He gets a respite from the King for all converts for twenty years. He
does not permit converts to be taken as slaves in the mines or slaves in
the pearl fisheries; so the ruling rings of Old Mexico obstruct his
enterprises, lie about his Missions, slander him to the patrons who
supply him with money, and often reduce his missions to desperate
straits; but wherever there is a Mission, Father Kino sees to it that
there are a few goats. The goats supply milk and meat.

The fathers weave their own clothing, grow their own food, and hold the
fort against the enemy as against the subtle designs of the Devil. These
fathers mix their own mortar, make their own bricks, cut their own
beams, lay the plaster with their own hands. Now, remember that the
priests who did all this were men who had been artists, who had been
scholars, who had been court favorites of Europe. Father Kino was,
himself, of the royal house of Bavaria. But jealousy left the Missions
unprotected by the soldiers. Soldier vices roused the Indians to fury;
and the priests were the first to fall victims. Go across the Moki
Desert. You will find peach orchards planted by the friars; but you
cannot find the graves of the dead priests. We considered the Apaches a
dangerous lot as late as 1880. In 1686, in 1687, in 1690, Father Kino
crossed Apache land alone. I cannot find any record of the Spanish
Missions at this period ever receiving more than $15,000 a year for
their support. Ordinarily, a missionary's salary was about $150 a year.
Out of that, if he employed soldiers, he must pay their wages and keep.

Well, by and by, the jealousy of the governing ring, kept from abusing
the Indians by the priests, brought about the expulsion of the Jesuits.
The Franciscans took up the work where the Jesuits left off. Came
another political upheaval. The Franciscans were driven out. San
Xavier's broken windows blew to the rains and winds of the seven
heavens. Cowboys, outlaws, sheep herde