e of Holy Church, his zeal amounted to fanaticism.
In the present case--

"Your Eminence," suggested the suave Wenceslas to his exasperated
superior, "may I propose that you defer action until I can discover
the exact status of this American?"

And the Bishop forthwith placed the whole matter in his trusted
assistant's helpful hands.

Meantime, Jose and the American explorer sat in the shade of a
magnificent palm on a high hill in beautiful Turbaco, looking out over
the shimmering sea beyond. For Hitt had wandered into the _Plaza de
Coches_ just as Jose was taking a carriage, and the latter could not
well refuse his proffered companionship for the day. Yet Jose feared
to be seen in broad daylight with this stranger, and he involuntarily
murmured a _Loado sea Dios_! when they reached Turbaco, as he
believed, unobserved. He did not know that a sharp-eyed young
novitiate, whom Wenceslas had detailed to keep the priest under
surveillance, had hurried back to his superior with the report of
Jose's departure with the _Americano_ on this innocent pleasure
jaunt.

"Say no more, my friend, in apology for your abrupt departure last
evening," the explorer urged. "But tell me, rather, about your
illustrious grandfather who had his country seat in this delightful
spot. Why, man! this is paradise. I've a notion to come here to live
some day."

Jose cast his apprehensions upon the soft ocean breeze, and gave
himself up to the inspiriting influence of his charming environment.
He dwelt at length upon the Rincon greatness of mediaeval days, and
expressed the resolve sometime to delve into the family records which
he knew must be hidden away in the moldering old city of Cartagena.
"But now," he concluded, after another reference to the Church, "is
Colombia to witness again the horror of those days of carnage? And
over the human mind's interpretation of the Christ? God forbid!"

The American shook his head dubiously. "There is but one
remedy--education. Not sectarian, partisan, worldly education--not
instruction in relative truths and the chaff of materialistic
speculation--but that sort of education whereby the selfish human mind
is lifted in a measure out of itself, out of its petty jealousies and
envyings, out of sneaking graft and touting for worldly emolument, and
into a sense of the eternal truth that real prosperity and soundness
of states and institutions are to be realized only when the
Christ-principle, 'Love thy neighb