of letters of
inquiry from him regarding the whereabouts of the priest Diego. In the
course of time came other letters from Cartagena, and at length an
order for a most scrutinizing search to be made for the Bishop's
confidential agent.

It was of no avail. Rosendo's oft-repeated testimony revealed nothing.
The citizens of Simiti had not seen the man. The Alcalde had nothing
but his suspicions to offer. And these might have fallen harmlessly
upon the acting-Bishop's well occupied thought, had it not been for
the complicating influence of certain other events. The first of these
was the exhaustion of the gold which Jose and Carmen had discovered in
the old church. The other was the outbreak of the religio-political
revolution which Diego had predicted some six years before, and which,
in these latter days, Don Jorge, on his infrequent journeys through
Simiti had repeatedly announced as inevitable and imminent. Their
combined effect was such as to wrest Carmen away from Jose, and to set
in a new direction the currents of their lives.

For some time past Jose had patched with growing anxiety the
shrinking of his gold supply, and had striven to lessen the monthly
contributions to Cartagena, meanwhile trying to know that the need
now looming daily larger before him would be met. He had not voiced
his apprehension to Carmen. But he and Rosendo had discussed the
situation long and earnestly, and had at length resolved that the
latter should again return to Guamoco to wash the Tigui sands.

The old man sighed, but he uttered no protest. Yet each day Jose
thought he grew quieter. And each day, too, he seemed to become more
tender of his sad-faced daughter, Ana, and of the little grandson who
had come into his humble home only a few weeks before. He delayed his
preparations for specious reasons which Jose knew cost him much effort
to invent. He clung to Carmen. He told his rosary often before the
church altar, and with tears in his eyes. And at night he would come
to Jose and beg him to read from the Bible and explain what he thought
the Saviour had really meant to convey to the humble fishermen of
Galilee.

Jose's heart was wrung. But at last the day arrived when he had
nothing to send to Cartagena beyond the mere pittance which the poor
members of his little parish contributed. But this he sent as usual.
The next month he did the same. Then came a letter from Wenceslas,
requesting an explanation. And then it was that Jose