e Rincon, by the
hand.

Wenceslas gasped, and staggered back. He knew not the man; but the boy
was a familiar figure.

Don Jorge advanced straight to him. Their faces almost touched.

"Your Grace, were you married to the woman by whom you had this son?"
Don Jorge's steady words fell upon the churchman's ears like a
sentence of death.

"I ask," continued the dark-faced man, "because I learned last night
that the lad's mother was my daughter, the little Maria."

"_Santa Virgen!_"

"Yes, Your Grace, a sainted virgin, despoiled by a devil! And the man
who gave me this information--would you like to know? _Bien_, it was
Padre Jose de Rincon, in whose arms she died, you lecherous dog!"

Wenceslas paled, and his brow grew moist. He stared at the boy, and
then at the strong man whom he had so foully wronged.

"If you have concluded your talk with Senor Ames," continued Don
Jorge, "we will go ashore--you and the lad and I."

Wenceslas's face brightened. Ashore! Yes, by all means!

The trio turned and quietly left the room. Gaining the deck, Wenceslas
found a skiff awaiting them, and two strong sailors at the oars. Don
Jorge urged him on, and together they descended the ladder and entered
the boat. A few moments later they landed at the pier, and the skiff
turned back to the yacht.

As to just what followed, accounts vary. There were some who
remembered seeing His Grace pass through the narrow streets with a
dark-skinned, powerful man, whose hand grasped that of the young
newsboy. There were others who said that they saw the boy leave them
at the Cathedral, and the two men turn and enter. Still others said
they saw the heavy-set man come out alone. But there was only one who
discovered the body of Wenceslas, crumpled up in a hideous heap upon
the floor of his study, with a poignard driven clean through his
heart. That man was the old sexton, who fled screaming from the awful
sight late that afternoon.

Again Cartagena shook with excitement, and seethed with mystery. Had
the escaped prisoner, Rincon, returned to commit this awful deed?
There were those who said he had. For the dark-skinned man who had
entered the Cathedral with His Grace was seen again on the streets and
in the wine shops that afternoon, and had been marked by some mounting
the broken incline of San Felipe.

Again the Governor and Alcalde and their numerous suite paid a visit
to the master on board the _Cossack_. But they learned only that His
Gr