Read Online Zia by Scott O’Dell - Free Book Online
Authors: Scott O’Dell
Tags: Ages 8 and up
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Vicente's cowl bobbing up and the red tassel waving in the wind.
When the boat had disappeared Gito Cruz, who was the mayordomo of the Santa Barbara Mission, motioned us to follow him and we went back to the bluff above the beach at Santa Barbara.
He turned around and faced the ocean and pointed. " Mira, " he said. "Look, and you will see the boat."
We all looked where he was pointing and to our surprise there was the boat again, the square sail and the three men.
"Why can we see the boat now but when we were on the beach it had disappeared?" my friend Rosa asked.
"Very insignificante, " said Gito Cruz, who liked to talk in Spanish and English both, often at the same time. "You see," he said, "the world is round like the orange. When we were there on the beach we could see a certain distance because the earth, being round like an orange, curves away from us as we look at it. But when we stand up here on the cliff we can see beyond the curve. Understand?"
He looked around to see that everyone knew what he was talking about and everyone nodded to let him know they understood. I nodded my head also, although I did not understand about the world being round.
"If we go higher," he said, "if we climb up in the belfry, we will be able to see them when they are even farther away than they are now. Understand?"
Yes, everyone understood. They understood him much better than I did.
I went into the Mission and to Father Vicente's favorite chapel and knelt down and prayed for him. I prayed that he would reach the island without being too seasick and that he would find Karana and, although he would have to sail uphill when he came back—if Gito was right about the world being shaped like an orange—he would bring Karana back safely.
After that they sent us back to work to make up for all the time we had lost on the boat and on Father Vicente. The girls went to the looms and the men into the fields. We all worked hard and two hours longer than usual to make up for the time we had lost.
Before dusk I climbed to the belfry, which was against the rules, and looked out to the west. I had a clear view of the sea because the Mission sat on a hill, but I saw nothing except water stretching away and away and lots of waves with white crests moving shoreward on the west wind.
That night the thought came to me, as it had before: What if the men found Karana on the island and brought her back with them to the Mission and she did not like the Mission, nor her new life, nor us? She would be used to her own ways on the island, doing what she wanted and living as she wanted to live. When she came to the Mission, she would no longer be able to do those things. She would have to live as I lived and all the Indians lived, in the way the Father Superior wanted us to.
It was a strange thought. It made me unhappy and kept me from going to sleep.
Chapter 14
E VERYONE SAID we would have a good spring so Gito Cruz decided to plant early melons. The Mission had a small valley about half a league to the east that was surrounded by hills of rich soil and protected from the wind.
It was here he took us when the boat had gone and we had eaten our breakfast. Usually only the men went to plant melons, but we had sickness at the Mission that year. (Since the Yankees began to come there was much sickness that the Mission did not have before.) But this time, because of a sickness, which they called measles, the girls had to help in the fields.
The soil in the valley was rich, as I have said, and because it was sheltered it was hot, which is good for the growing of melons, but not for working.
The mayordomo laid out straight lines with a string and a team of oxen pulled a plow along beside the string. This made every row straight. Gito was a clever young man about many things and he raised the best melons of any of the Missions.
Rosa and I were working together, planting the seeds stored from the year before, making small holes and dropping seeds
When the boat had disappeared Gito Cruz, who was the mayordomo of the Santa Barbara Mission, motioned us to follow him and we went back to the bluff above the beach at Santa Barbara.
He turned around and faced the ocean and pointed. " Mira, " he said. "Look, and you will see the boat."
We all looked where he was pointing and to our surprise there was the boat again, the square sail and the three men.
"Why can we see the boat now but when we were on the beach it had disappeared?" my friend Rosa asked.
"Very insignificante, " said Gito Cruz, who liked to talk in Spanish and English both, often at the same time. "You see," he said, "the world is round like the orange. When we were there on the beach we could see a certain distance because the earth, being round like an orange, curves away from us as we look at it. But when we stand up here on the cliff we can see beyond the curve. Understand?"
He looked around to see that everyone knew what he was talking about and everyone nodded to let him know they understood. I nodded my head also, although I did not understand about the world being round.
"If we go higher," he said, "if we climb up in the belfry, we will be able to see them when they are even farther away than they are now. Understand?"
Yes, everyone understood. They understood him much better than I did.
I went into the Mission and to Father Vicente's favorite chapel and knelt down and prayed for him. I prayed that he would reach the island without being too seasick and that he would find Karana and, although he would have to sail uphill when he came back—if Gito was right about the world being shaped like an orange—he would bring Karana back safely.
After that they sent us back to work to make up for all the time we had lost on the boat and on Father Vicente. The girls went to the looms and the men into the fields. We all worked hard and two hours longer than usual to make up for the time we had lost.
Before dusk I climbed to the belfry, which was against the rules, and looked out to the west. I had a clear view of the sea because the Mission sat on a hill, but I saw nothing except water stretching away and away and lots of waves with white crests moving shoreward on the west wind.
That night the thought came to me, as it had before: What if the men found Karana on the island and brought her back with them to the Mission and she did not like the Mission, nor her new life, nor us? She would be used to her own ways on the island, doing what she wanted and living as she wanted to live. When she came to the Mission, she would no longer be able to do those things. She would have to live as I lived and all the Indians lived, in the way the Father Superior wanted us to.
It was a strange thought. It made me unhappy and kept me from going to sleep.
Chapter 14
E VERYONE SAID we would have a good spring so Gito Cruz decided to plant early melons. The Mission had a small valley about half a league to the east that was surrounded by hills of rich soil and protected from the wind.
It was here he took us when the boat had gone and we had eaten our breakfast. Usually only the men went to plant melons, but we had sickness at the Mission that year. (Since the Yankees began to come there was much sickness that the Mission did not have before.) But this time, because of a sickness, which they called measles, the girls had to help in the fields.
The soil in the valley was rich, as I have said, and because it was sheltered it was hot, which is good for the growing of melons, but not for working.
The mayordomo laid out straight lines with a string and a team of oxen pulled a plow along beside the string. This made every row straight. Gito was a clever young man about many things and he raised the best melons of any of the Missions.
Rosa and I were working together, planting the seeds stored from the year before, making small holes and dropping seeds
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