nd shouting his commands. Ana recognized him. It was Captain Julio.

"_Loado sea Dios_!" murmured the weeping woman, hurrying up the gang
plank with the child. She hastened past the astonished passengers to
the captain and drew him to one side.

"The child--" she gasped, "Rosendo Ariza's--of Simiti--leave her at
Badillo--they will take her over--"

"Wait, senora," interrupted the captain tenderly. "Is it not time for
you to go home, too?" He laid a hand on her shoulder and looked down
into her streaming eyes. "Come," he said quietly. And, leading them
down the deck, he opened the door of a vacant cabin and bade them
enter. "You can tell me your story when we are under way," he said,
smiling as he closed the door. "_Bien_," he muttered, his brow
clouding as he strode off. "I have been looking for this for some
time. But--the child--Ariza's--ah, the priest Diego! I think I
see--_Caramba_! But we will not tarry long here!"

A few minutes later the big boat, her two long funnels vomiting
torrents of smoke and sparks, thrust her huge wheel into the thick
waters and, swinging slowly out into mid-stream, turned her flat nose
toward the distant falls of Tequendama. In one of her aft cabins a
woman lay on a cot, weeping hysterically. Over her bent a girl, with a
face such as the masters have sought in vain. The tenderly whispered
words might have been the lingering echo of those voiced in the little
moonlit death-chamber of Cartagena long agone.

"Anita dear, He is with us, right here. And His arms are wide open.
And He says, 'Anita, come!'"

CHAPTER 26

"But, Padre dear, why are you so surprised that Padre Diego did not
hurt me? I would have been much more surprised if he had. You are
always so astonished when evil doesn't happen--don't you ever look for
good? Why, I don't ever look for anything else! How could I when I
know that God is everywhere?"

Jose strained her closer to himself. "The sense of evil--it overwhelms
me at times, _carita_--"

"But, Padre dear, why don't you know right then that it is nothing? If
you did, it would fade away, and only good would overwhelm you." She
nestled closer to the man and clasped her arms more tightly about his
neck. "Why, Padre," she resumed, "I was not a bit surprised when
Captain Julio came and told us we were near Bodega Central, and that
he could see you and Juan and Lazaro sitting on the steps of the
inn."

"Yes, _chiquita_, we were resting for a moment. If a d