Under the Southern Cross : $b A tale of the New WorldAlcock, Deborah
History
Under the Southern Cross : $b A tale of the New World
Alcock, Deborah
Peru -- History -- 1548-1820 -- Fiction
XXXIX. JOSÉ’S WORDS, 310
XL. JOSÉ’S WORDS AGAIN, 318
XLI. JOSÉ IS AVENGED OF HIS ENEMIES, 325
XLII. JOYFUL MEETINGS, 335
XLIII. FOAM OF THE SEA, 344
XLIV. OLD ENGLAND AGAIN, 352
UNDER THE SOUTHERN CROSS
I.
Fray Fernando’s Mission.
“Cœlum, non animum mutant, qui trans mare currunt.”
On a burning autumn afternoon,—in the Sixteenth Century, which had
then passed its meridian by rather more than ten years,—Don Fray Tomas
de San Martin, the stately prior of the great Franciscan monastery of
Ciudad de los Reyes, now called Lima, was sitting alone in his private
apartment. Meaner and idler men were dozing the sultry hours away; but it
was not in the nature of Fray Tomas to seek repose while the duties of
his calling, the interests of his Order, or the concerns of any of his
numerous friends required his attention. In spite of physical languor
and exhaustion, an expression of satisfaction lit up his countenance as
he finished his second careful perusal of a letter he held in his hand.
Then he laid the document on the table before him, pausing, however, to
glance, with a slight smile, at the pompous armorial bearings inscribed
on the seals with which the floss silk that bound it had been secured.
The prior was not a man given to soliloquy; but if we might translate
his unspoken thoughts, they would run somewhat after this fashion:
“Sixteen quarterings for honest Marcio Serra de Leguisano, the tailor’s
son! Where, in heaven’s name, have they all come from? Truly saith the
Preacher in the Book of Ecclesiastes, ‘I have seen servants riding upon
horses.’ He might have added,—and there be none such headlong riders.
_Pues_, every man to his taste. These little weaknesses of Marcio Serra’s
may well be borne with, after all. For amongst the conquistadors there
is many a worse man, and not one better. Would that all, like him, broke
off their sins by righteousness, and their iniquities by showing mercy
to the poor. Certainly, it behoves us to aid him to the utmost of our
power.”—And, stretching out his hand, he rang a little silver bell that
lay near him on the table.
But the attendant, whose duty it was to answer it, was lying on a mat in
the ante-chamber, fast asleep,—and not until the prior had more than once
raised his voice and called loudly, “Antonio!” did he make his appearance.
“Send me hither Fray Fernando immediately, and then go finish thy
siesta,” said the prior, cutting short his apologies with contemptuous
good-nature.
Fray Fernando, who was not asleep, came in a few moments; and having made
the accustomed reverence, stood silently before the chair of his superior.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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