he place, the clinking of their chains, and the
cracked jangling of some of the many cathedral bells.

There was a never-failing joy to us also in poking around the odd places
of the town. The dim interiors of cathedrals, the splashed stones of
courtyards, the shadows of doorways, the privacies of gardens all lured
us; and we saw many phases of native life. Generally we were looked on
at first with distrust. There were a number of roughs among the gold
seekers; men whose brutal instincts or whose merely ignorant love of
horseplay had now for the first time no check. They found that the
native could be pushed off the sidewalk, so they pushed him off. I once
saw a number of these men light their cigars at altar candles. But
Talbot's Spanish and our own demeanour soon gained us admission.

Thus we ran across a most delightful institution. We were rambling in a
very obscure portion of town when we came to quite a long wall unbroken
save by a little wicket gate. A bell pull seemed to invite
investigation; so we gave it a heave. Almost immediately the gate swung
open and we entered.

We found ourselves in a wide space paved with smooth great slabs of
rocks, wet as though from a recent rain. The space was thickly built up
by small round huts of reeds, but without roofs. In the centre was a
well, probably ten or twelve feet wide, over which slanted a cross arm
and wheel for the drawing of water. No human being was in sight; the
gate had been unlatched by an overhead cord.

We shouted. In a minute or so a very irascible old woman hobbled to us
from some mysterious lurking place among the reed huts. She spoke
impatiently. Talbot questioned her; she replied briefly, then turned and
hobbled off as fast as she could go.

"What did she say?" some one asked Talbot curiously.

"She said," replied Ward, "literally this: 'Why don't you take any of
them without bothering me? They are all ready.' I imagine she must mean
these bird cages; though what they are for I couldn't tell you."

We investigated the nearest. It was divided into two tiny rooms each
just big enough to hold a man. In one was a three legged stool; in the
other stood two tall graceful jars of red clay, their sides bedewed with
evaporation. A dipper made from a coconut lay across the top of one of
them.

"Bath house!" shouted Johnny, enchanted.

The water in the porous earthen jars was cold. We took each a hut and
poured the icy stuff over us to our heart's conten