was I who got beaten. It is indeed
a misfortune that you do not know Latin! In Latin it might all be
arranged. You have done wrong, very wrong, cousins, to make friends
with this young man. The just pay the dues of sinners. I feel almost
like advising you to make your will!" and he moved his head gloomily
from side to side.

"Saturnino, what ails you?" cried Capitana Tinchang,
terrified. "Ah! Heaven! he is dead! A doctor! Tinong, Tinongy!"

"He has only fainted, cousin; bring some water." Don Primitivo
sprinkled his face, and the unfortunate man revived.

"Come, come! don't weep! I've found a remedy. Put him in bed. Come,
come! courage! I am with you, and all the wisdom of the ancients! Call
a doctor, and this very day, cousin, go present yourself to the
captain-general, and take him a present, a gold chain, a ring; say
it's a Christmas present. Shut the windows and doors, and if any one
asks for your husband, say he is seriously ill. Meanwhile I'll burn
all the letters, papers, and books, as Don Crisostomo did. Scripti
testes sunt! Go on to the captain's. Leave me to myself. In extremis
extrema. Give me the power of a Roman dictator, and see whether I
save the coun--What am I saying--the cousin!"

He commenced to upset the shelves of the library, and tear papers
and letters. Then he lighted a fire on the kitchen hearth, and
the auto-da-fe began. "'Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres,' by
Copernicus. Whew! ite, maledicte, in ignem kalanis!" he cried, throwing
it to the flames. "Revolution and Copernicus! Crime upon crime! If
I don't get through soon enough! 'Liberty in the Philippines!' What
books! Into the fire with them!" The most innocent works did not escape
the common fate. Cousin Primitivo was right. The just pay for sinners.

Four or five hours later, at a fashionable gathering, the events of
the day were being discussed. There were present a number of elderly
married ladies and spinsters, together with the wives and daughters
of clerks of the administration, all in European costume, fanning and
yawning. Among the men, who, by their manners, showed their position,
as did the women, was a man advanced in age, small and one-armed,
who was treated with distinction, and who kept a reserved distance.

"I could never before suffer the monks and civil guards, because of
their want of manners," a portly lady was saying, "but now that I
see of what service they are, I could almost marry one of them. I
am patriotic