All joined in hearty commendation of the padre’s strictures on the hypercritical curator, Mr. Welson reminding him that the Maniculan choristers would have failed to impress his sensitive ears with their excellence without the magnifying aid of the tympanum. “In full chorus, to the unassisted ear, their music would have sounded monotonous, hardly reaching in volume the lisping chirrupings of an infantile cricket, heard from its home in a distant cranny. As with your registrations of impressions derived from its voice, the Heracleans would find Manatitlan instruction wanting in volume for successful imitation. But,” he added, as Correliana overtook them, “here is the offending composer; we will now hear what she has to say in extenuation for neglect of opportunity for improvement in the cultivation of fugue flights above the reach of harmony.” Correliana, observing the quizzical expression of mirth that accompanied this appeal, inquired the cause. In answer, Mr. Welson rehearsed the criticism of the curator, to which she blushingly replied: “You will, I hope, consider in our behalf, when I acknowledge the justness of your criticism, that before your arrival we were constantly harrassed with troubles which required the active employment of our people’s thoughts in the devisement of expedients for preservation. These kept us occupied with the full enlistment of our sympathies, so that we could only exercise our musical inclinations in the transmitted current of our original songs of thanksgiving. But in our greatest distress we longed for a harmonized extension of capacity, that you have supplied with adjuvantic aids, from which, in time, we hope that we may be able to render you satisfaction, with the evidences of industrious application.” The curator of sound was too much abashed for an apologetic reply; and the Dosch requested Mr. Welson to say, that for their evening’s entertainment he would relate the circumstances that placed the “dulcetina” in the hands of Captain Greenwood for disposal. CHAPTER XXVII. After the evening song of salutation, on the day following the members of the corps’ visit to the school of the “ninyetas” they accepted the prætor’s invitation to join with his family in listening to the recital of the Dosch, which we transcribe. * * * * *