cot provided. Many of those whose affairs necessitated river
travel--and there was no other mode of reaching the interior--were
content at night to wrap a light blanket about them and lie down
under their mosquito nets on the straw mats--_petates_--with which
every _peon_ goes provided. Of service, there was none that might be
so designated. A few dirty, half-dressed negro boys from the streets
of Barranquilla performed the functions of steward, waiting on table
with unwashed hands, helping to sling hammocks, or assisting with the
carving of the freshly killed beef on the slippery deck below.
Accustomed as he had been to the comforts of Rome, and to the less
elaborate though still adequate accommodations which Cartagena
afforded, Jose viewed his prison boat with sinking heart. Iron hull,
and above it the glowing boiler; over this the metal passenger deck;
and above that the iron roof, upon which the fierce tropical sun
poured its flaming heat all day; clouds of steam and vapor from
the hot river enveloping the boat--had the Holy Inquisition itself
sought to devise the most refined torture for a man of delicate
sensibilities like Jose de Rincon, it could not have done better than
send him up the great river at this season and on that miserable
craft, in company with his own morbid and soul-corroding thoughts.

The day wore on; and late in the evening the Honda docked at the
pretentious town of Maganguey, the point of transfer for the river
Cauca. Like the other passengers, from whom he had held himself
reservedly aloof, Jose gladly seized the opportunity to divert his
thoughts for a few moments by going ashore. But the moments stretched
into hours; and when he finally learned that the boat would not leave
until daybreak, he lapsed into a state of sullen desperation which,
but for the Rincon stubbornness, would have precipitated him into the
dark stream. Aimlessly he wandered about the town, avoiding any
possible _rencontre_ with priests, or with his fellow-passengers, many
of whom, together with the bacchanalian captain, he saw in the various
_cantinas_, making merry over rum and the native _anisado_.

The moon rose late, bathing the whitewashed town in a soft sheen and
covering with its yellow veil the filth and squalor which met the
priest at every turn as he wandered through its ill-lighted streets.
Maganguey in plan did not depart from the time-honored custom of the
Spaniards, who erected their cities by first locat