"No, I have not yet honored the Alcalde with a call. Anxious care drove me straight from the boat to you; for with you, a brother priest, I knew I would find hospitality and protection." Josè sat speechless. After a few moments, during which he fanned himself vigorously with his black felt hat, Diego continued volubly: "You are consumed to know what brings me here, eh? _Bien_, I will anticipate your questions. The country is on fire around Banco. And--you know they do not love priests down that way--well, I saw that it had come around to my move. I therefore got out--quickly. H'm! "But," he continued, "luckily I had screwed plenty of Masses out of the Banco sheep this past year, and my treasure box was comfortably full. _Bueno_, I hired a canoe and a couple of strapping _peones_, who brought me by night, and by damnably slow degrees, up the river to Bodega Central. As luck would have it, I chanced to be there the day Juan arrived from Simití. So I straightway caused inquiry to be made of him respecting the present whereabouts of our esteemed friend, Don Rosendo. Learning that my worthy brother was prospecting for La Libertad, it occurred to me that this decaying town might afford me the asylum I needed until I could make the necessary preparations to get up into the mountains. _Caramba!_ but I shall not stay where a stray bullet or a badly directed _machete_ may terminate my noble life-aspirations!" Josè groaned inwardly. "But, how dared you come to Simití?" he exclaimed. "You were once forced to leave this town--!" "Assuredly, _amigo_," Diego replied with great coolness. "And I would not risk my tender skin again had I not believed that you were here to shield me. My only safety lies in making the mountains. Their most accessible point is by way of Simití. From here I can go to the San Lucas country; eventually get back to the Guamocó trail; and ultimately land in Remedios, or some other town farther south, where the anticlerical sentiment is not so cursedly strong. I have money and two negro boys. The boat I shall have to leave here in your care. _Bien_, learning that Rosendo, my principal annoyance and obstruction, was absent, and that you, my friend, were here, I decided to brave the wrath of the simple denizens of this hole, and spend a day or two as guest of yourself and my good friend, the Alcalde, before journeying farther. Thus you have it all, in _parvo_. But, _Dios y diablo_! that trip up the river has nearly done for me! We traveled by night and hid in the brush by day, where millions of gnats and mosquitoes literally devoured me! _Caramba!_ and you so inhospitable as to have no rum!" The garrulous priest paused for breath. Then he resumed: