Excerpt from The Penance of Magdalena: And Other Tales of the California Missions

Oh, Padre! Cried the boy, and he took the Father's hand and put it, Indian fashion, to his forehead in token of grati tude.

Agustin the mayordomo was, next to the Father, the most important man about the Mission. He it was who, under the priest's supervision, had charge not only of the labors and general governance of the Indians, but also of the business affairs of the establishment, even to the care and sale of the cattle, hides, and tallow, which, produced in enormous quan tity, were almost the only, but a quite considerable, source of revenue to all the California Missions. Agustin was a half breed, or mestizo, the son of one of the Spanish soldiers who had come to Alta California with Serra and Portola. His mother was an Indian woman, to whom his father had been married by Father Serra himself. That was in 1776, the year of the establishment of the Mission, and Agustin, the oldest son of the marriage, had risen before the age of thirty-five to his important post, partly by natural ability, and partly by the fact of his mixed Spanish blood, which of itself gave him prestige and authority with the Indians. He had quarters adjoining those of the Father, on the main corridor of the cuadro.

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