dicted to his studies and the purchase of books, that he
entirely neglected his fortune and gradually ruined himself. Persons
of culture called him Don Anastasio, or Tasio the Sage, while the
great crowd of the ignorant knew him as Tasio the Lunatic, on account
of his peculiar ideas and his eccentric manner of dealing with others.

As we said before, the evening threatened to be stormy. The lightning
flashed its pale rays across the leaden sky, the air was heavy and
the slight breeze excessively sultry. Tasio had apparently already
forgotten his beloved skull, and now he was smiling as he looked at
the dark clouds. Near the church he met a man wearing an alpaca coat,
who carried in one hand a large bundle of candles and in the other
a tasseled cane, the emblem of his office as gobernadorcillo.

"You seem to be merry?" he greeted Tasio in Tagalog.

"Truly I am, senor capitan, I'm merry because I hope for something."

"Ah? What do you hope for?"

"The storm!"

"The storm? Are you thinking of taking a bath?" asked the
gobernadorcillo in a jesting way as he stared at the simple attire
of the old man.

"A bath? That's not a bad idea, especially when one has just stumbled
over some trash!" answered Tasio in a similar, though somewhat
more offensive tone, staring at the other's face. "But I hope for
something better."

"What, then?"

"Some thunderbolts that will kill people and burn down houses,"
returned the Sage seriously.

"Why don't you ask for the deluge at once?"

"We all deserve it, even you and I! You, senor gobernadorcillo,
have there a bundle of tapers that came from some Chinese shop, yet
this now makes the tenth year that I have been proposing to each new
occupant of your office the purchase of lightning-rods. Every one
laughs at me, and buys bombs and rockets and pays for the ringing of
bells. Even you yourself, on the day after I made my proposition,
ordered from the Chinese founders a bell in honor of St. Barbara,
[53] when science has shown that it is dangerous to ring the bells
during a storm. Explain to me why in the year '70, when lightning
struck in Binan, it hit the very church tower and destroyed the clock
and altar. What was the bell of St. Barbara doing then?"

At the moment there was a vivid flash. "_Jesus, Maria, y Jose!_
Holy St. Barbara!" exclaimed the gobernadorcillo, turning pale and
crossing himself.

Tasio burst out into a loud laugh. "You are worthy of your patroness,"
he rema