"BretHarte-LegendsAndTales" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harte Bret)

his ears; the lake and cavern danced before his eyes and vanished;
and with a loud cry he sank senseless to the ground.

When he recovered his consciousness he was aware of a gentle
swaying motion of his body. He opened his eyes, and saw it was
high noon, and that he was being carried in a litter through the
valley. He felt stiff, and, looking down, perceived that his arm
was tightly bandaged to his side.

He closed his eyes and after a few words of thankful prayer,
thought how miraculously he had been preserved, and made a vow of
candlesticks to the blessed Saint Jose. He then called in a faint
voice, and presently the penitent Ignacio stood beside him.

The joy the poor fellow felt at his patron's returning consciousness
for some time choked his utterance. He could only ejaculate, "A
miracle! Blessed Saint Jose, he lives!" and kiss the Padre's
bandaged hand. Father Jose, more intent on his last night's
experience, waited for his emotion to subside, and asked where he
had been found.

"On the mountain, your Reverence, but a few varas from where he
attacked you."

"How?--you saw him then?" asked the Padre, in unfeigned astonishment.

"Saw him, your Reverence! Mother of God, I should think I did!
And your Reverence shall see him too, if he ever comes again within
range of Ignacio's arquebuse."

"What mean you, Ignacio?" said the Padre, sitting bolt-upright in
his litter.

"Why, the bear, your Reverence,--the bear, Holy Father, who
attacked your worshipful person while you were meditating on the
top of yonder mountain."

"Ah!" said the Holy Father, lying down again. "Chut, child! I
would be at peace."

When he reached the Mission, he was tenderly cared for, and in a
few weeks was enabled to resume those duties from which, as will be
seen, not even the machinations of the Evil One could divert him.
The news of his physical disaster spread over the country; and a
letter to the Bishop of Guadalaxara contained a confidential and
detailed account of the good Father's spiritual temptation. But in
some way the story leaked out; and long after Jose was gathered to
his fathers, his mysterious encounter formed the theme of thrilling
and whispered narrative. The mountain was generally shunned. It
is true that Senor Joaquin Pedrillo afterward located a grant near