The Press., 1891-10-15

bnd any question he had found him
 in earnest. Don Francesca did not
 aar to be mad, he said, but seemed
 perfectly cool He had even said
 thought he could induce his father to
 yhsent. At this the captain general fGgot his courtesy and stor1ned and swore until Frey Raphael fairly ran out of the room. Then Don Alphonso, in maze of perplexity and anger, sent for Colonel Honradez, to whom he told the tale
 Colonel Honradez, after cursing him. self for not having had the girl killed, suggested the best thing was to have this negligence on his part remedied at once, and offered tosee the work done properly. To this the captain general demurred- not, I need scarcely say, on the girls ac- : count, for Don Alphonso would gladly have seen herself and her whole tribe burned rather than such a trouble as this ts.fou1d have come-but because he knew something of his sons disposition. Were such a thing done Francesca would never forget nor forgive if he really loved the girl, and at this thought the captain general once more became almost insane with anger. At last he asked Colonel Honradez to call on Don Roberto Patri- cio, the alcalde, tell him the whole story and request his presence at the palace that evening, when the three men would have a consultation: Or co,:rae neither one would say anything in the me;ntinc, and sending for Frey Eaphlcl he eau toned that worthy man to be equally silent. The story was told to the old lawyer as he and the soldier sat in that large cool room on the second story of the municipal building which you look down the street past the Church of San Juan de Dios-and Don Roberto drew his thin lips closer together as he listened.
 It was about 8 o'clock when the al calde and Colonel Honradez called on Don Alphonso and found Frey Raphael with hi1a. The chaplain repeated the story he had told in the morning, to which the captain general was able to listen quietly, for no man ever saw Don Alphonso lose control of himself twice in the same day. Colonel Honradez again suggested his idea of the readiest way to solve the difficulty. Not only did the captain general refuse, but the Frey Raphael argued in the strongest way against it. He said that, knowing Don Francesca as he knew him, he was certain he would never make up with his father if anything of the kind were done. Francesca was gentle and kind, and he certainly loved his father very dearly, but he was man who, when he once had reason, as he supposed, to dislike a person, never forgave. If he loved this girl nothing could be done to her by any consent of his father. The Frey's advice was that Don Alphonso should try to wean his son back, but to this plan the captain general would not consent, saying curtly that he would not talk over the matter with his son in any way.
 The alcalde had been listening to the others aa they talked, smile now and then showing itself on his face. At last, when the captain general turned to him for his opinion, Don Roberto suggested quietly that Don Francesca might be or dered off with some soldiers to inquire into the rumor which had reached them during the day that an outbreak among the slaves in the town of Santa Lucia was feared. During Don Francesco's ab- sence something might happen. The other men looked at each other with that look which follows the suggestion of an obvious way out of a difficulty. and the council broke up.
 The next morning Don Francesca was hurried away at an early hour, but he had time to tell his father he wished to talk with him so soon as he returned He found ten minutes, too, in which to gallop out to the little hut and tell the girl where he was going.
 ''She was filled with foreboding and besought him that he might stay with her." says the relacion-a pitiful picture in few words!
 What happened to Francesca Medina at Santa Lucia, or while journeying there and back, do not know, for the other points of interest. But it was not two days after he left that Nechtla was seized by order of the alcalde and thrown into cuartel. The prison of Car thagena then, as now, was in the eastern section of the city. What it was like in a day when all prisons were abodes of misery and pain can only imagine, but that it was sufficiently horrible l can be- lieve. The girl was taken on charge of conspiracy, and it was probably in- tended she should die by poison. It was the feeling that any open violence would result ill rupture between Don Fran cesco and his father that alone saved her from more speedy death. How word was sent to Don Francesca, or by whom, I cannot tell; but it is not impossible the news may have travelled from slave to slave. Anyway he heard what had hap pened, and was in Carthagena again within the week. His arrival seems to have been the signal for q battle royal between his father and himself, during which he swore to take his own life if anything happened to the Indian girl, "defying, therefore, his excellency, the captain general and the holy saints, says Father Juan. That his excellency believed he would carry out his threat seems probable, for nothing appears to have been done with Nechtla except keeping her in prison.
 T., fha maantima FrancaScO' took DOS-