l in importance a demonstrable
knowledge of Thee? Not the unproven theories and opinions, the
so-called 'authority' of the ancient Fathers, good men though they
may have been; not modern pseudo-science, half-truths and relative
facts, saturated with materialism and founded on speculation and
hypothesis; but real knowledge, a knowledge of Thee that is as
demonstrable as the simplest rule in mathematics! Alas! that men
should be so mesmerized by their own beliefs as to say Thou canst
not be known. Alas! for the burden which such thinkers as Spencer
have laid upon the shoulders of stumbling mankind. For God _can_ be
known, and proven--else is Jesus responsible for the most cruel lie
ever perpetrated upon the ignorant, suffering world!"

And so, putting aside a portion of his gold--his by right of
inheritance as well as discovery--for the future purchase of such
books and aids as he might require, Jose set his house in order and
then plunged into such a search of the Scriptures as rendered him
oblivious to all but the immediate interests of Carmen and her
foster-parents. The great world again narrowed into the rock-bound
confines of little Simiti. Each rushing morn that shot its fiery glow
through the lofty treetops sank quickly into the hush of noon, while
the dust lay thick, white, and hot on the slumbering streets of the
ancient town; each setting sun burned with dreamy radiance through the
afternoon haze that drew its filmy veil across the seething valley;
each night died into a stillness, lonely and awful. Nature changed her
garb with monotonous regularity; the drowsing children of this tropic
region passed their days in dull torpidity; Jose saw nothing of it
all. At times a villager would bring a tale of grievance to pour into
his ears--perhaps a jaguar had pounced upon his dog on his little
_finca_ across the lake, or a huge snake had lured a suckling pig into
its cavernous maw. At times a credulous woman would stop before his
open door to dilate upon the thick worms that hung upon the leaves of
the _algarrobas_ and dropped their wool-like fibers upon the natives
as they passed below, causing intermittent fevers. Perhaps an anxious
mother would seek him for advice regarding her little son, who had
eaten too much dirt, and was suffering from the common "_jipitera_,"
that made his poor little abdomen protrude so uncomfortably. Again,
Rosendo might steal in for a few moments' mysterious, whispered talk
about buried tre