hore, the doctor explained to the old maid,
was the Manila cable over which the messages were sent.

The clamor of bells one morning reminded us that the _fiesta_ week was
on, and old Vivan came running in excitedly with the intelligence that
seven _bancas_ were already anchored at the river's mouth, and there
were twenty more in sight. Then he went breathlessly around the town to
circulate the news. We rode about in Flora's pony cart, and sometimes
went to visit "Foxy Grandpa," wife, and "Arizona Babe." "Old Tom,"
the convict on parole for murder, waited on the table, serving the
pies that Mrs. G. had taught the cook to make, and the canned peaches
with evaporated cream. Then, on adjourning to the parlor, with its
pillars and white walls, the "Babe" would play "Old Kentucky Home"
on the piano till the china shepherdesses danced with the vibrations,
and the genial captain, growing reminiscent, would recall the story
of the man he had arrested in old Mexico, or even condescend to do a
new trick with a handkerchief. There was a curious picture from Japan
in a gilt frame that had the place of honor over the piano. It was
painted on a plaque of china, robin's-egg blue, inlaid with bits of
pearl,--which represented boats or something on the Inland Sea, while
figures of men and small boys, enthusiastically waving Japanese flags,
all cut out of paper, had been pasted on. There was an arched bridge
over the blue water, and a sampan sculled by a boatman in a brown
_kimono_. There was a house with paper windows and a thatched roof.

... _Chino_ Jose died, and was given a military funeral. The bier was
covered with the Stars and Stripes. A company of native scouts was
detailed as an escort, and the local band led the procession to the
church. Old "Ichabod," with a long face, and in a dress suit, with a
purple four-in-hand tie, followed among the candle-bearers with long
strides. The tapers burning in the nave resembled a small bonfire,
and exhaustive masses finally resulted, so I judge, in getting the
old heathen's spirit out of purgatory. Good old _Chino_ Jose! He had
left his widow fifty thousand "Mex," of which the priest received
his share; also the doctor, for the hypodermic injections of the past
three months.

Then came the wedding of Bazon, whose bride, for her rebellious love,
had recently been driven from her mother's home. Bazon, touched by
this act of loyalty, cut his engagement with another girl and made
the pr