know more
about them than I could about one which had appeared unannounced in
my sleeping room over night.

"Filipe!" I shouted, "Filipe!"

The woven bamboo walls of a Philippine house allow sound and air to
pass freely, and my native servant promptly entered the room.

"Take that monkey away," I said.

"Oh Senor," cried Filipe. "Never! You cannot mean it. The Conjure
man of Siargao brought him to you this morning, as a gift. Much good
always comes to the house which the Conjure man smiles on."

"Who in the name of Magellan is the Conjure man, and why is he smiling
on me?" I asked.

"He is an old, old man who has lived back in the mountains for many
years. He knows more conjure charms than any other man or woman in
Siargao. The mountain apes come to his house to be fed, and people
say that he can talk with them. He left no message, but brought the
monkey, and said that the beast was for you."

"Well, take the creature out of the room while I dress, can't you?"

"Si, Senor," Filipe replied; but the way in which he went about the
task showed that for him, at least, a gift monkey from the Conjure man
of Siargao was no ordinary animal. The monkey, after gravely inspecting
the hand which Filipe respectfully extended to him, condescended to
step from the footboard of the bed upon it, and be borne from the room.

After that the "wise man," for I gave the little animal this name,
was a regular member of my family, and in time I came to be attached to
him. He was never mischievous or noisy, and would sit for an hour at a
time on the back of a chair watching me while I wrote or read. He was
expert in catching scorpions and the other nuisances of that kind which
make Philippine housekeeping a burden to the flesh, and never after
he was brought to me did we have any annoyance from them. He seemed
to feel that the hunting of such vermin was his especial duty, and,
in fact, I learned later that he had been regularly trained to do this.

Chiefly, though, he helped me in the increase of prestige which he gave
me with the natives. Filipe treated me with almost as much respect as
he did the monkey, when he realised that for some inscrutable reason
the Conjure man had chosen to favour me with his friendship. The
villagers, after that early morning visit, looked upon my thatched
bamboo hut as a sort of temple, and I suspect more than once crept
stealthily up conveniently close trees at night to try to peer between
the slats of