add his assurance in verification of the boy’s ability to counteract the effects of the poison with a sure antidote. The padre with fear hesitatingly submitted his arm to the boy’s mouth, the old savage regarding the operation with looks that boded ill to the savior and saved if by accident they should come within his reach for injury. The padre, when impressed with the kindly intention of the boy, apostrophized the old wretch in this wise: “You ungrateful venomous old serpent, upon my conscience you ought to be made to crawl on your belly all the days of your life with a rattle tied to your—well if you haven’t a tail, you are a vile reptile all the same, and I don’t believe all the purgatories in creation can change you! Upon my soul, it’s a shame and an imposition for you to pretend to be a man with a soul to be saved!” Here the padre observing the smiles provoked by the earnestness of his address to an object as incapable of appreciating as he was of understanding the language in which the anathematizing sentence was couched, apologetically appealed to his auditors, “You know that what I have said is as true as there is a day of salvation for man to sin away.” “Are you not assuming,” asked Mr. Welson, “the privilege and understanding of a judge without knowledge sufficient for the condemnatory sentence you have pronounced as a penalty against this savage?” “By their works ye shall know them,” replied the padre, looking wofully at his arm. This retort placed the padre’s star in the ascendant, and it was immediately proposed that the mouth of the old savage should be rid of its poison, a task which Jack and Bill volunteered to accomplish. Preparing a running noose they slipped it over his arms, pinioning them to his side, and then proceeded with sheath knife and marline-spike to open his mouth for investigation, but not without strenuous efforts on the part of the subject for revengeful retaliation. Beneath his tongue they found two sacs, or bladders of the river whiting, attached to the cuspid teeth, which by the tongue’s pressure could be made to eject their contents into wounds inflicted with the sharpened teeth, which were pointed like fangs, verifying the padre’s estimate of his reptile instincts. Above, attached to teeth upon either side, were the sacs containing the antidote in position to be pressed by the cheeks. Rid of these venomous appliances the nozzle of the steamer’s hose played the part of a purifier by injecting a bountiful supply of water into his mouth, regardless of the published restrictions of the humane Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. * * * * *