e was lame, where the
shoe pinched that one, who was courting that girl, what affairs she
had had and with whom, who was the real father of the child, and so
on--for I was the confessor of every last one, and they took care not
to fail in their duty. Our host, Santiago, will tell you whether I am
speaking the truth, for he has a lot of land there and that was where
we first became friends. Well then, you may see what the Indian is:
when I left I was escorted by only a few old women and some of the
tertiary brethren--and that after I had been there twenty years!"

"But I don't see what that has to do with the abolition of the tobacco
monopoly," [21] ventured the rubicund youth, taking advantage of the
Franciscan's pausing to drink a glass of sherry.

Fray Damaso was so greatly surprised that he nearly let his glass
fall. He remained for a moment staring fixedly at the young man.

"What? How's that?" he was finally able to exclaim in great
wonderment. "Is it possible that you don't see it as clear as
day? Don't you see, my son, that all this proves plainly that the
reforms of the ministers are irrational?"

It was now the youth's turn to look perplexed. The lieutenant wrinkled
his eyebrows a little more and the small man nodded toward Fray Damaso
equivocally. The Dominican contented himself with almost turning his
back on the whole group.

"Do you really believe so?" the young man at length asked with great
seriousness, as he looked at the friar with curiosity.

"Do I believe so? As I believe the Gospel! The Indian is so indolent!"

"Ah, pardon me for interrupting you," said the young man, lowering
his voice and drawing his chair a little closer, "but you have said
something that awakens all my interest. Does this indolence actually,
naturally, exist among the natives or is there some truth in what a
foreign traveler says: that with this indolence we excuse our own,
as well as our backwardness and our colonial system. He referred to
other colonies whose inhabitants belong to the same race--"

"Bah, jealousy! Ask Senor Laruja, who also knows this country. Ask him
if there is any equal to the ignorance and indolence of the Indian."

"It's true," affirmed the little man, who was referred to as Senor
Laruja. "In no part of the world can you find any one more indolent
than the Indian, in no part of the world."

"Nor more vicious, nor more ungrateful!"

"Nor more unmannerly!"

The rubicund youth began to glance ab