THE APPROACH 



from man and nature, and who lived and died 

 without the slightest hope of reward here on 

 earth ? Has not the sign of the cross cast more 

 men in heroic mould than ever the glitter of 

 the crown or the flash of the sword ? 



And thinking such thoughts I turn to take a 

 final view of the mountain ; and there on the 

 fortified top something rears itself against the 

 sky like the cross-hilt of a sword. It is the 

 giant sahuaro with its rising arms, and beside 

 it the cream-white bloom of the yucca shining 

 in the sunlight seems like a lamp illuminating 

 it. The good Padres have gone and their mis- 

 sion churches are crumbling back to the earth 

 from which they were made ; but the light of 

 the cross still shines along the borders of this 

 desert land. The flame, that through them the 

 Spirit kindled, still burns ; and in every Indian 

 village, in every Mexican adobe, you will see on 

 the wall the wooden or grass-woven cross. On 

 the high hills and at the cross-roads it stands, 

 roughly hewn from mesquite and planted in a 

 cone of stones. It is now always weather-stained 

 and sun-cracked, but still the sign before which 

 the peon and the Indian bow the head and whis- 

 per words of prayer. The dwellers beside the 

 desert have cherished what the inhabitants of 



