ing the church, and
then building the town around it. So long as the church had a good
location, the rest of the town might shift for itself. Some of the
better buildings dated from the old colonial period, and had tile
roofs and red brick floors. Many bore scars received in the
internecine warfare which has raged in the unhappy country with but
brief intervals of peace since the days of Spanish occupation. But
most of the houses were of the typical mud-plastered, palm-thatched
variety, with dirt floors and scant furniture. Yet even in many of
these Jose noted pianos and sewing machines, generally of German make,
at which the housewife was occupied, while naked babes and squealing
pigs--the latter of scarcely less value than the former--fought for
places of preferment on the damp and grimy floors.

Wandering, blindly absorbed in thought, into a deserted road which
branched off from one of the narrow streets on the outskirts of the
town, Jose stumbled upon a figure crouching in the moonlight. Almost
before he realized that it was a human being a hand had reached up and
caught his.

"_Buen Padre!_" came a thick voice from the mass, "for the love of the
good Virgin, a few _pesos_!"

A beggar--perhaps a bandit! Ah, well; Jose's purse was light--and his
life of no value. So, recovering from his start, he sought in his
pockets for some _billetes_. But--yes, he remembered that after
purchasing his river transportation in Calamar he had carefully put
his few remaining bills in his trunk.

"_Amigo_, I am sorry, but I have no money with me," he said
regretfully. "But if you will come to the boat I will gladly give you
something there."

At this the figure emitted a scream of rage, and broke into a torrent
of sulphurous oaths. "_Na_, the Saints curse you beggarly priests! You
have no money, but you rob us poor devils with your lies, and then
leave us to rot to death!"

"But, _amigo_, did I not say--" began Jose soothingly.

"_Maldito!_" shrilled the figure; "may Joseph and Mary and Jesus curse
you! A million curses on you, _maldito_!" Pulling itself upward, the
shapeless thing sank its teeth deep into the priest's hand.

With a cry of pain the startled Jose tore himself loose, his hand
dripping with blood. At the same time the figure fell over into the
road and its enveloping rags slipped off, disclosing in the bright
moonlight a loathsome, distorted face and elephantine limbs, covered
with festering sores.

"Good God