should not only by baptism be made a Christian, but should also (and
here the good father descended to a bribe) be tricked out like the
Spaniards themselves, in handsome clothes. A few days later, a
"gentile," followed by a large crowd, appeared with a child in his arms,
and the padre, filled with unutterable joy, at once threw a piece of
cloth over it, and called upon one of the soldiers to stand godfather to
this first infant of Christ. But, alas! just as he was preparing to
sprinkle the holy water, the natives snatched the child from him, and
made off with it (and the cloth) to their own ranchería. The soldiers
who stood round as witnesses were furious at this insult, and, left to
themselves, would have inflicted summary punishment upon the offenders.
But the good father pacified them, attributing his failure - of which he
was wont to speak tearfully to the end of his life - to his own sins and
unworthiness. However, this first experience in convert-making was
fortunately not prophetic, for though it is true that many months
elapsed before a single neophyte was gained for the mission, and though
more serious troubles were still to come, in the course of the next few
years a number of the aborigines, both children and adults, were
baptized.



[2] The mission was transferred in 1874 from the location selected by
Junipero to a site some two miles distant, up the river.



IV.