present
schoolmaster there is a political outcast from Salvador!"

"No, I did not know it," replied Jose.

"_Por Dios!_ Then you are being jobbed, _amigo_! Did Don Wenceslas
give you letters to the Alcalde?"

"Yes."

"And--by the way, has Wenceslas been misbehaving of late?--for when he
does, somebody other than himself has to settle the score."

Jose remained silent.

"Ah," mused Diego, "but Don Wenceslas is artful. And yet, I think I
see the direction of his trained hand in this." Then he burst into a
rude laugh. "Come, _amigo_," he said, noting Jose's dejected mien;
"let us have your story. We may be able to advise. And we've had
experience--eh, Don Jorge?"

But Jose slowly shook his head. What mattered it now? Simiti would
serve as well to bury him as any other tomb. He knew he was sent as a
lamb to the slaughter. But it was his affair--and his God's. Honor and
conscience had presented the score; and he was paying in full. His was
not a story to be bandied about by lewd priests like Padre Diego.

"No," he replied to the Padre's insistent solicitations; "with your
permission, we will talk of it no more."

"But--_Hombre_!" cried the Padre at last, in his coarse way stirred by
Jose's evident truthfulness. "Well--as you wish--I will not pry into
your secrets. But, take a bit of counsel from one who knows: when you
reach Simiti, inquire for a man who hates me, one Rosendo Ariza--"

At this juncture the Honda's diabolical whistle pierced the murky
night air.

"_Caramba!_" cried Don Jorge, starting up. "Are they going to try the
river to-night?" And the men hurried back to the landing.

The moon was up, and the boat was getting under way. Padre Diego went
aboard to take leave of his friends.

"_Bien, amigo_," he said to Don Jorge; "I am sorry your stay is so
short. I had much to tell you. Interesting developments are forward,
and I hope you are well out of Guamoco when the trouble starts. For
the rivals of Antioquia and Simiti will pay off a few scores in the
next revolution--a few left over from the last; and it would be well
not to get caught between them when they come together."

"And so it is coming?" said Don Jorge thoughtfully.

"Coming! _Hombre!_ It is all but here! The Hercules went up-river
yesterday. You will pass her. She has gone to keep a look-out in the
vicinity of Puerto Berrio. I am sorry for our friend," nodding toward
Jose, who was leaning over the boat's rail at some distance; "but
t