h as he threatened that piece
with a rook which was defended by a pawn.

Being unable to protect the queen or to withdraw the piece on account
of the king behind it, Capitan Basilio asked for time to reflect.

"Willingly," agreed Ibarra, "especially as I have something to say this
very minute to those young people in that group over there." He arose
with the agreement that his opponent should have a quarter of an hour.

Iday had the round card on which were written the forty-eight
questions, while Albino held the book of answers.

"A lie! It's not so!" cried Sinang, half in tears.

"What's the matter?" asked Maria Clara.

"Just imagine, I asked, 'When shall I have some sense?' I threw the
dice and that worn-out priest read from the book, 'When the frogs
raise hair.' What do you think of that?" As she said this, Sinang
made a grimace at the laughing ex-theological student.

"Who told you to ask that question?" her cousin Victoria asked her. "To
ask it is enough to deserve such an answer."

"You ask a question," they said to Ibarra, offering him the
wheel. "We're decided that whoever gets the best answer shall receive
a present from the rest. Each of us has already had a question."

"Who got the best answer?"

"Maria Clara, Maria Clara!" replied Sinang. "We made her ask,
willy-nilly, 'Is your sweetheart faithful and constant?' And the
book answered--"

But here the blushing Maria Clara put her hands over Sinang's mouth
so that she could not finish.

"Well, give me the wheel," said Crisostomo, smiling. "My question is,
'Shall I succeed in my present enterprise?'"

"What an ugly question!" exclaimed Sinang.

Ibarra threw the dice and in accordance with the resulting number
the page and line were sought.

"Dreams are dreams," read Albino.

Ibarra drew out the telegram and opened it with trembling hands. "This
time your book is wrong!" he exclaimed joyfully. "Read this: 'School
project approved. Suit decided in your favor.'"

"What does it mean?" all asked.

"Didn't you say that a present is to be given to the one receiving
the best answer?" he asked in a voice shaking with emotion as he tore
the telegram carefully into two pieces.

"Yes, yes!"

"Well then, this is my present," he said as he gave one piece to
Maria Clara. "A school for boys and girls is to be built in the town
and this school is my present."

"And the other part, what does it mean?"

"It's to be given to the one who has received t