purpose. His plan was to go to his father's tribe, the Elcuanams, in the
mountains far away. There he should be safe from the Padre, and should
also have the prestige of his father's reputation. If there were another
medicine-man in the tribe Pio could easily outrank him and capture the
business. So he made a long detour, and came back by evening to the
valley, but a mile or two above the Mission. It would be easier to
travel with Big Flower by keeping to the river-bed instead of going
through the brush, which constantly threatened to tear it. He had a
faint idea that it might close of its own accord at evening, and glanced
up anxiously several times to see if it was doing so; but evidently it
was not that kind of flower.

He heard the bells of the Mission ringing the Angelus, and shuddered as
he thought of the wrathful Padre, no doubt now denouncing him publicly
as a thief and renegade, and he hurried on till dark, when he found a
sheltered spot and lay down. The night was chilly, and after a time the
thought came to him that Big Flower would make a fine shelter: so he got
up and arranged it so as to keep off the wind. Another idea: the
clothes, why not put them on and be warm? It seemed a terrible thing to
do, but he was running away from the Padre anyhow, so he might as well
be comfortable as not. He got up again and spread out the clothes in the
dim light: two woolen undershirts, two pairs of unmentionables to match,
four large handkerchiefs of red silk, three pairs of blue woolen
stockings, and a queer, three-cornered article, white, with strings,
which he took to be some kind of pouch, but, by a happy thought, found
to make an agreeable protection for the head. Also there was a pair of
thick slippers of dark felt. He rolled the handkerchiefs up in a ball,
and then drew on all the other garments except the slippers, not
troubling to first remove his own scanty clothes consisting of a cotton
jacket and pantaloons. He now felt pretty comfortable, and lying down