"The desert men came running, whereupon Padre Padillo told all to hide and he would meet them alone. He knelt down to pray, and the desert men fell upon and killed him, while kneeling. Fra de La Cruz, some days later, saw a small band, and being in sore need of food, he tried to reconcile them, but they also killed him. Then it was that the Soldier spoke : 'They are God-less, -- they are devils, -- let us go away.'

"They went not back over the desert, but followed the river toward the mountains. They traveled slowly and crossed the river many times. They followed other rivers that ran into it, and became lost in great mountains of sand. Winter came and they made a cave. There were winds that almost buried them in the sand, and there were snows. They had good water and plenty of fish ; and Sebastian, who hunted, occasionally smothered a deer in

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

the snow-drifts. They had no weapons but knives.

•'Summer came, but they found not their way out of the sand mountains, for the mountains shifted in the mighty winds, and the mirage lured them many a league, and arroyas bewildered and confused them. Another winter was spenl like the first. They had plenty of meal and wood, and clothing made of skins.

"Another summer, and the great river again. They blessed the Holy Virgin that they were out of the sand mountains. One day, as in a vision, great cities shone in the sunset; and they travelled towards them many days. At last they saw they were mountains, almost like great pueblos. Mountains, many miles of them, that stood up, like ruins of castles. The Soldier said to Lucas and Sebastian, 'This is like dear old Spain.' There were giant castles, churches, long walls, steeples, all wonderful ; but there were no desert men.