nt door, for the hour of six had
overtaken him as he stood, with cocked head, peering curiously within.
The dwelling, though pitifully bare, was nevertheless as clean as
these humble folk with the primitive means at their command could
render it. Instead of the customary hard _macana_ palm strips for the
bed, Rosendo had thoughtfully substituted a large piece of tough white
canvas, fastened to a rectangular frame, which rested on posts well
above the damp floor. On this lay a white sheet and a light blanket of
red flannel. Rosendo had insisted that, for the present, Jose should
take his meals with him. The priest's domestic arrangements,
therefore, would be simple in the extreme; and Dona Maria quietly
announced that these were in her charge. The church edifice would not
be in order for some days yet, perhaps a week. But of this Jose was
secretly glad, for he regarded with dread the necessity of discharging
the priestly functions. And yet, upon that hinged his stay in Simiti.

"Simiti has two churches, you know, Padre," remarked Rosendo during
the evening meal. "There is another old one near the eastern edge of
town. If you wish, we can visit it while there is yet light."

Jose expressed his pleasure; and a few minutes later the two men, with
Carmen dancing along happily beside them, were climbing the shaly
eminence upon the summit of which stood the second church. On the way
they passed the town cemetery.

"The Spanish cemetery never grows," commented Jose, stopping at the
crumbling gateway and peering in. The place of sepulture was the
epitome of utter desolation. A tumbled brick wall surrounded it, and
there were a few broken brick vaults, in some of which whitening bones
were visible. In a far corner was a heap of human bones and bits of
decayed coffins.

"Their rent fell due, Padre," said Rosendo with a little laugh,
indicating the bones. "The Church rents this ground to the people--it
is consecrated, you know. And if the payments are not made, why, the
bones come up and are thrown over there."

"Humph!" grunted Jose. "Worse than heathenish!"

"But you see, Padre, the Church is only concerned with souls. And it
is better to pay the money to get souls out of purgatory than to rent
a bit of ground for the body, is it not?"

Jose wisely vouchsafed no answer.

"Come, Padre," continued Rosendo. "I would not want to have to spend
the night here. For, you know, if a man spends a night in a cemetery
an evil spiri