the country was aflame with war.

* * * * *

Reed's wife had not received Carmen in an amiable frame of mind. "For
heaven's sake, Charles," she had cried, turning from his embrace to
look at the wondering girl who stood behind him, "what have you
here?"

"Oh, that," he laughingly replied, "is only a little Indian I lassoed
back in the jungle." And, leaving the girl to the not very tender
graces of his wife, he hurried out to arrange for the return voyage.

At noon, when Harris appeared at Reed's room, Carmen rushed to him and
begged to be taken for a stroll through the town. Yielding to her
husband's insistence, Mrs. Reed had outfitted the girl, so that she
presented a more civilized appearance. At first Carmen had been
delighted with her new clothes. They were such, cheap as they were, as
she had never seen in Simiti. But the shoes--"Ah, senora," she
pleaded, "do not make me wear them, they are so tight! I have never
worn shoes before." She was beginning her education in the conventions
and trammels of civilization.

As Carmen and Harris stood that afternoon in the public square, while
the girl gazed enraptured at an equestrian statue of Simon Bolivar, a
ragged little urchin approached and begged them to buy an afternoon
paper. Harris humored him and bade Carmen ask him his name.

"Rincon," the lad answered, drawing himself up proudly.

The girl started. "Rincon!" she repeated. "Why--where do you live?"

"In the Calle Lozano," he replied, wondering why these people seemed
interested in him.

Carmen translated the conversation to Harris. "Ask him who his father
is," suggested the latter.

"I do not know," replied the little fellow, shaking his head. "I never
saw him. He lives far away, up the great river, so Tia Catalina says.
And she says he is a priest."

The color suddenly left Carmen's cheeks. "Come with me to your home,"
she said, taking his hand.

The boy led them willingly through the winding streets to the little
upper room where, years before, he had first seen the light.

"Tia Catalina," he cried to the shabby woman who rose in amazement as
the visitors entered, "see, some strangers!"

Carmen lost no time, but went at once to the heart of her question.

"The little fellow's father--he is a Rincon? And--he lives up the
great river?"

The woman eyed her suspiciously for some moments without replying. But
the boy answered for her. "Yes, senorita," he