d, true and tried
ones,--the product of the experience of people who had lived years ago
and thus knew much more. One of the neighbors went off to hunt up a
certain witch, a miraculous doctor for dog-bites, serpent bites and
scorpion-stings. Another brought a blind old goatherd, who could cure by
the virtue of his mouth, simply by making some crosses of saliva over
the ailing flesh. The drinks made of mountain herbs and the moist signs
of the goatherd were looked upon as tokens of immediate cure, especially
when they beheld the sick youth lie silent and motionless for several
hours, looking at the ground with a certain amazement, as if he could
feel within him the progress of something strange that grew and grew,
gradually overpowering him. Then, when the crisis reoccurred, the doubt
of the women began to rise, and new remedies were discussed. The youth's
sweetheart came, with her large black eyes moistened by tears, and she
advanced timidly until she came near to the sick boy. For the first time
she dared to take his hand, blushing beneath her cinammon-colored
complexion at this audacious act. "How do you feel?"... And he, so
loving in other days, recoiled from her tender touch, turning his eyes
away so that he should not see her, as if ashamed of his plight. His
mother wept. Queen of heaven! He was very low; he was going to die. If
only they could find out what dog it was that had bitten him, and cut
out its tongue, using it for a miraculous plaster, as experienced
persons advised!...

Throughout the _huerta_ it seemed that God's own wrath had burst forth.
Some dogs had bitten others; now nobody knew which were the dangerous
ones and which the safe. All mad! The children were secluded in the
cabins, spying with terrified glances upon the vast fields, through the
half-open doors; mothers journeyed over the winding paths in close
groups, uneasy, trembling, hastening their step whenever a bark sounded
from behind the sluices of the canals; men eyed the domestic dogs with
fear, intently watching their slavering mouths as they gasped or their
sad eyes; the agile greyhound, their hunting companion,--the barking
cur, guardian of the home,--the ugly mastiff who walked along tied to
the cart, which he watched over during the master's, absence,--all were
placed under their owners' observation or coldly sacrificed behind the
walls of the corral, without any display of emotion whatever.

"Here they come! Here they come!" was the