urrounding him
was real, and not a specious tinsel masquerading as something of value.

Legend has it that originally, when the Santo Nino was a Visayan idol,
it, too, was made of gold, and not of wood as it is to-day. It seems
that after its conversion to Catholicism, on Magellan's arrival in
Cebu, it was sent to Spain at the request of that pious king, Charles
the Fifth, where many extraordinary performances were accredited
to it, perhaps the most miraculous and unaccountable thing of all
being that on its return to Cebu, the people found it had changed
itself _en route_ from gold to wood, a reversal of alchemy strangely
defective in wisdom on the part of the Santo Nino. Though, indeed,
the transmutation may have been entirely without his volition,
in which case it is small wonder that the Holy Child objected so
strongly to a subsequent visit on the Continent.

At one side of this very elaborate shrine of gold and silver stood
a small tin box in which one was expected to place his contribution
to the Santo Nino. We paid handsomely for our glimpse of it, saw
the little figure turned slowly around on its pedestal so that it
again faced the church below, saw the silver door locked and the two
white removable outside doors placed in position, and then somewhat
reluctantly left.

Once down the broad stairway of the _convento_, whose massive hand-rail
of carved ebony would make the heart of a collector leap for joy, we
stepped into the church where many natives knelt in prayer, glancing up
reverently now and then at the tiny shrine so far above their heads. In
front of it the blue silk curtains were fast drawn, for except on holy
days, it takes at least a _peso_ to see the Santo Nino face to face.

On the following morning two of the padres from the _convento_
returned our call, and evinced the most satisfying interest in all
that was shown them aboard ship. Everything delighted them, and they
even gathered up the long skirts of their cassocks, and grasped their
birettas firmly in one hand, preparatory to descending into the noisome
cable-tanks, should it be demanded of them. When the ship had been
inspected, we all returned to the quarter-deck, where refreshments were
served, the while we showed our guests some photographs of America.

As Manila had heretofore represented to these native priests the
apotheosis of urban magnitude, it may well be imagined how delighted
they were with their first glimpse of our larger ci