xcellent portraits of former Bishops adorn its white
walls, and narrow rectangular windows at frequent intervals admit
a dim, mellow light through their dark panes. Before one of these
windows--apparently with no thought of incongruity in the exhibition
of such a gruesome object attached to a Christian church--there
has been affixed an iron grating, said to have served the Holy
Inquisition as a gridiron on which to roast its heretical victims.
Within, an ambulatory, supported on the first tier of arches,
affords a walk along either side of the nave, and leads to the
winding stairway of the bell tower. At one end of this ambulatory,
its entrance commanding a full view of the nave and the _capilla
mayor_, with its exquisitely carved marble altar, is located the
Bishop's _sanctum_. It was here that the young Spanish priest, Jose de
Rincon, stood before the Bishop of Cartagena on the certain midday
to which reference was made in the opening chapter of this recital,
and received with dull ears the ecclesiastical order which removed
him still farther from the world and doomed him to a living burial
in the crumbling town of Simiti, in the wilderness of forgotten
Guamoco.

CHAPTER 13

"At last, you come!"

The querulous tones of the aged Bishop eddied the brooding silence
within the Cathedral. Without waiting for a reply he turned again to
his table and took up a paper containing a list of names.

"You wait until midday," he continued testily; "but you give me time
to reflect and decide. The parish of Simiti has long been vacant. I
have assigned you to it. The Honda touches at Calamar to-morrow, going
up-river. You will take it."

"Simiti! Father--!"

"_Bien_; and would you dispute this too!" quavered the ill-humored
Bishop.

"But--Simiti--you surely cannot mean--!"

The Bishop turned sharply around. "I mean that after what I learn from
Rome I will not keep you here to teach your heresies in our
University! I mean that after what I hear this morning of your evil
practices I will not allow you to spend another day in Cartagena!" The
angry ecclesiastic brought his bony fist hard against the table to
emphasize the remark.

"_Madre de Dios!_" he resumed, after some moments of nursing his
choleric feelings. "Would you debate further! The Holy Father for some
unexplained reason inflicts a madman upon me! And I, innocent of what
you are, obey his instructions and place you in the University--with
what result? You