turned him from the straight
path!"

While the servants summoned by him fell upon their knees and prayed
for the dead man, curious and bewildered as they gazed toward the
bed, reciting requiem after requiem, Padre Florentino took from a
cabinet the celebrated steel chest that contained Simoun's fabulous
wealth. He hesitated for a moment, then resolutely descended the
stairs and made his way to the cliff where Isagani was accustomed to
sit and gaze into the depths of the sea.

Padre Florentino looked down at his feet. There below he saw the dark
billows of the Pacific beating into the hollows of the cliff, producing
sonorous thunder, at the same time that, smitten by the moonbeams,
the waves and foam glittered like sparks of fire, like handfuls of
diamonds hurled into the air by some jinnee of the abyss. He gazed
about him. He was alone. The solitary coast was lost in the distance
amid the dim cloud that the moonbeams played through, until it mingled
with the horizon. The forest murmured unintelligible sounds.

Then the old man, with an effort of his herculean arms, hurled the
chest into space, throwing it toward the sea. It whirled over and over
several times and descended rapidly in a slight curve, reflecting the
moonlight on its polished surface. The old man saw the drops of water
fly and heard a loud splash as the abyss closed over and swallowed up
the treasure. He waited for a few moments to see if the depths would
restore anything, but the wave rolled on as mysteriously as before,
without adding a fold to its rippling surface, as though into the
immensity of the sea a pebble only had been dropped.

"May Nature guard you in her deep abysses among the pearls and corals
of her eternal seas," then said the priest, solemnly extending his
hands. "When for some holy and sublime purpose man may need you, God
will in his wisdom draw you from the bosom of the waves. Meanwhile,
there you will not work woe, you will not distort justice, you will
not foment avarice!"

GLOSSARY

_aba:_ A Tagalog exclamation of wonder, surprise, etc., often used
to introduce or emphasize a contradictory statement.

_alcalde:_ Governor of a province or district, with both executive
and judicial authority.

_Ayuntamiento:_ A city corporation or council, and by extension
the building in which it has its offices; specifically, in Manila,
the capitol.

_balete:_ The Philippine banyan, a tree sacred in Malay folk-lore.

_ba