III.
It must not be supposed that in the meantime the flight of Don Jose
and his follower was unattended by any commotion at the rancho of
the Blessed Innocents. At the end of three hours' deliberation, in
which the retainers were severally examined, the corral searched,
and the well in the courtyard sounded, scouts were dispatched in
different directions, who returned with the surprising information
that the fugitives were not in the vicinity. A trustworthy
messenger was sent to Monterey for "custom-house paper," on which
to draw up a formal declaration of the affair. The archbishop was
summoned from San Luis, and Don Victor and Don Vincente Sepulvida,
with the Donas Carmen and Inez Alvarado, and a former alcalde,
gathered at a family council the next day. In this serious
conclave the good Father Felipe once more expounded the alienated
condition and the dangerous reading of the absent man. In the
midst of which the ordinary post brought a letter from Don Jose,
calmly inviting the family to dine with him and Roberto at San
Mateo on the following Wednesday. The document was passed gravely
from hand to hand. Was it a fresh evidence of mental aberration--
an audacity of frenzy--or a trick of the vaquero? The archbishop
and alcalde shook their heads--it was without doubt a lawless, even
a sacrilegious and blasphemous fete. But a certain curiosity of
the ladies and of Father Felipe carried the day.
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