houted the alferez, furious and trembling with rage.

It seemed as though Tarsilo had wanted the gag, for when he had it
in his mouth, his eyes gleamed with a ray of satisfaction.

At a signal from the alferez a guard, armed with a whip, began his
cruel task. The whole body of Tarsilo shrank. A groan, suppressed and
prolonged, could be heard in spite of the rag which stopped up his
mouth. He lowered his head. His clothes were being stained with blood.

Father Salvi, pale and with a wild look, rose to his feet laboriously,
made a sign with his hand and left the sala with vacillating steps. In
the street, he saw a girl, leaning her back against the wall, rigid,
immovable, listening attentively, looking into space, her marble-like
hands extended along the old wall. The sun was shining full upon
her. She was counting, it seemed without breathing, the sharp blows
and listening to that heart-rending groan. She was Tarsilo's sister.

In the meantime, the scene was continuing in the sala. The unfortunate
fellow, overcome with pain, had become silent and waited for his
punishers to tire. At last, the soldier breathless, let fall his
arm. The alferez, pale with wrath and astonishment, made a signal
for them to unloose him.

Dona Consolacion then arose and whispered something into her husband's
ear. He nodded his head, signifying that he understood.

"To the well with him!" said he.

The Filipinos know what that means. In Tagalog they call it
timbain. We do not know who could have been the inventor of this
method of punishment, but we are of the opinion that he must have lived
long ago. In the middle of the tribunal yard there was a picturesque
stone-wall, roughly made out of cobble stones, around a well. A rustic
apparatus of bamboo in the form of a lever serves to draw out the vile,
dirty and bad smelling water. Broken dishes, refuse and all sorts of
filth collected there, since the well was a common receptacle for
everything that the people threw away or found useless. An object
which fell into the place, no matter how good it may have been, was
thereafter surely lost. However, the well was never closed up. At
times, prisoners were condemned to go down and make it deeper, not
because it was thought that the work would be useful in any way,
but because the work was so difficult. If a prisoner went down in
the well once, he invariably contracted a fever, from which he died.

Tarsilo contemplated all the preparations of th