wrinkled face, begged to be allowed to confess to him
the awful atrocities which he had committed upon the innocent and
harmless aborigines when, as was his wont, his breath hot with the
lust of blood, he had fallen upon them without provocation and hewed
them limb from limb.

In his old age the now gentle Juan, his former self almost obliterated,
expressed a desire to renounce the world, bestow his great wealth upon
the Church, and enter a monastery to pass his remaining years. Despite
the protestations of his numerous family, for whom his religious zeal
would permit him to leave but scanty provision, he was already
formulating plans toward this end when death overtook him, and his vast
estates descended intact to the family which he had founded.

So complete had been the transformation of Juan de Rincon during the
many years that he lived after his return to Cartagena that the
characteristics which he transmitted to his posterity were, in
general, quite the reverse of those which he himself had manifested so
abundantly in early life. Whereas, he had formerly been atrociously
cruel, boastingly impious, and a scoffer at matters religious, his
later descendants were generally tender of heart, soft of manner, and
of great piety. Whereas, in early manhood he had been fiery and
impulsive, quick of decision and immovable of opinion, his progeny
were increasingly inclined to be deliberate in judgment and
vacillating of purpose. So many of his descendants entered the
priesthood that the family was threatened with extinction, for in the
course of time it had become a sacred custom in the Rincon family to
consecrate the first-born son to the Church. This custom at length
became fixed, and was rigidly observed, even to the point of bigotry,
despite the obliteration of those branches where there was but a
single son.

The family, so auspiciously launched, waxed increasingly rich and
influential; and when the smoldering fires of revolution burst into
flame among the oppressed South American colonies, late in the year
1812, the house of Rincon, under royal and papal patronage, was found
occupying the first position of eminence and prestige in the proud old
city of Cartagena. Its wealth had become proverbial. Its sons,
educated by preceptors brought from Paris and Madrid, were prominent
at home and abroad. Its honor was unimpeachable. Its fair name was one
of the most resplendent jewels in the Spanish crown. And Don Ignacio
epit