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

sand that yielded to the superincumbent weight, half burying them
without further injury. For some moments the poor man lay
motionless, vainly endeavoring to collect his scattered senses. A
hand irreverently laid upon his collar, and a rough shake, assisted
to recall his consciousness. As the Padre staggered to his feet he
found himself confronted by a stranger.

Seen dimly through the fog, and under circumstances that to say the
least were not prepossessing, the new-comer had an inexpressibly
mysterious and brigand-like aspect. A long boat-cloak concealed
his figure, and a slouched hat hid his features, permitting only
his eyes to glisten in the depths. With a deep groan the Padre
slipped from the stranger's grasp and subsided into the soft sand
again.

"Gad's life!" said the stranger, pettishly, "hast no more bones in
thy fat carcass than a jellyfish? Lend a hand, here! Yo, heave
ho!" and he dragged the Padre into an upright position. "Now,
then, who and what art thou?"

The Padre could not help thinking that the question might have more
properly been asked by himself; but with an odd mixture of dignity
and trepidation he began enumerating his different titles, which
were by no means brief, and would have been alone sufficient to
strike awe in the bosom of an ordinary adversary. The stranger
irreverently broke in upon his formal phrases, and assuring him
that a priest was the very person he was looking for, coolly
replaced the old man's hat, which had tumbled off, and bade him
accompany him at once on an errand of spiritual counsel to one who
was even then lying in extremity. "To think," said the stranger,
"that I should stumble upon the very man I was seeking! Body of
Bacchus! but this is lucky! Follow me quickly, for there is no
time to lose."

Like most easy natures the positive assertion of the stranger, and
withal a certain authoritative air of command, overcame what slight
objections the Padre might have feebly nurtured during this
remarkable interview. The spiritual invitation was one, also, that
he dared not refuse; not only that; but it tended somewhat to
remove the superstitious dread with which he had begun to regard
the mysterious stranger. But, following at a respectful distance,
the Padre could not help observing with a thrill of horror that the
stranger's footsteps made no impression on the sand, and his figure
seemed at times to blend and incorporate itself with the fog, until
the holy man was obliged to wait for its reappearance. In one of
these intervals of embarrassment he heard the ringing of the far-
off Mission bell, proclaiming the hour of midnight. Scarcely had
the last stroke died away before the announcement was taken up and
repeated by a multitude of bells of all sizes, and the air was
filled with the sound of striking clocks and the pealing of steeple