hanks, mother," says Juan quietly, "I will never forget that."

A few days later, when Juan and his mother are eating their breakfast,
Juan smells a stinking odor. He looks around the little room. As
he does not see any one else there, he thinks that his mother is
dead. Then, when his mother is taking her siesta, Juan says to himself,
"Surely mother is dead." He goes out quietly and digs a grave for
her. Then he buries her in it, and mourns for her nine days. Now Juan
is alone in the world.

One morning, when Juan is eating his breakfast by himself, he smells
again a stinking odor. He looks around, and, as he does not see
any one, he thinks that he himself is dead. There is nobody to bury
him. So he goes to the river, takes five or six banana-trunks, and
makes a raft of them. He lies down on the raft, and lets the current
of the river carry him away. In three hours the current has carried
him into the woods. While he is floating through the forest, all of
a sudden he is called in a fierce voice by some one on shore. This
man was the captain of a band of robbers. Juan does not stir in his
place. The second shout is accompanied by a terrible oath. Juan opens
his eyes. He sadly looks at the robbers, and tells them that he is
a dead man. The robbers laugh; but when Juan insists on remaining on
the river, the captain frightens Juan, and says that he will shoot if
he does not get up. As Juan does not care for the taste of bullets,
he goes to the bank of the river, still thinking that he is a walking
dead body.

Juan goes with the robbers into the woods. Their house is in a deserted
spot. The captain appoints Juan their housekeeper. He tells him to
cook rice, but orders him to keep very still and quiet, for they may
be caught by the Spanish soldiers (cazadores). Then the robbers go
out on an expedition, and Juan is left alone in the house. He shuts
the windows, and everything is quiet and undisturbed. He even tries to
control his breathing for fear of the noise it may make. He cautiously
takes an earthen pot and puts rice and water into it. Then he places
the pot on the fire, and sits down near it. Everything is silent. But
suddenly a murmuring sound seems to come from the pot. (The water
is beginning to boil.) Soon the sound seems to be very loud. Juan
thinks that the pot is saying, "Buluk ka." This expression means,
"You are decayed." So Juan gets very angry. He whispers to the pot
to stop; but the pot does not seem to he