es_, say, fifty pesos a day, that
would amount to--"

He took paper and pencil from the table and made a few figures.

"--to just fourteen hundred and sixty _pesos oro_," he concluded.
"This, then, is the amount now due Rosendo for the care of Diego's
child. You say he has made arrangements with you to care for her until
he can send for her. _Bien_, we will deliver her to you for Diego,
but only upon payment of the sum which I have just mentioned.
Otherwise, how will Rosendo be reimbursed for the expense of her
long maintenance?"

"_Ca--ram--ba!_ Fourteen hundred and sixty _pesos oro_! Why--it is a
fortune!" ejaculated the outwitted Alcalde, his eyes bulging over his
puffy cheeks.

"And," continued Jose calmly, "if we deliver the girl to you to-day, I
will retain the thirty _pesos oro_ which Rosendo owes you, and you
will stand surety for the balance of the debt, fourteen hundred and
thirty, in that case."

"_Diablo!_ but I will do nothing of the kind!" exploded the Alcalde.
"_Caramba!_ let Diego come and look after his own brat!"

"Then we shall consider the interview at an end, no?"

"But my thirty _pesos oro_?"

"To-night. And as much more for additional supplies. We are still
working together, are we not, Don Mario?" he added suggestively.

Jose in Simiti with money discounted a million Diegos fleeing through
the jungle. The Alcalde's heavy face melted in a foolish grin.

"_Cierto, buen Padre!_ and--La Libertad?"

"I have strong hopes," replied Jose with bland assurance, while a
significant look came into his face. Then he rose and bowed the
Alcalde out. "And, Don Mario--"

He put a finger on his lips.

"--we remain very silent, no?"

"_Cierto, Padre, cierto!_ I am the grave itself!"

As the bulky official waddled off to his little shop, Jose turned back
into his house with a great sigh of relief. Another problem had been
met--temporarily.

He summoned Carmen to the day's lessons.

CHAPTER 17

Within the month Juan brought from Bodega Central the glad news of the
revolution's utter collapse. The anticlerical element, scenting
treachery in their own ranks, and realizing almost from the outset
that the end was a matter of only a few weeks, offered to capitulate
on terms which they felt would be less distressing to their pride than
those which their victors might dictate after inflicting a crushing
defeat. The conservatives did not take advantage of the _fiasco_, but
offered conciliatio