quite motionless for a time with that something
vengeful in his immobility which seemed to characterize all his attitudes. A
lurid glow of strong convictions gave its peculiar aspect to the black figure.
But its fierceness became softened as the padre, fixing his eyes upon Decoud,
raised his long, black arm slowly, impressively -
    »And you - you are a perfect heathen,« he said, in a subdued, deep voice.
    He made a step nearer, pointing a forefinger at the young man's breast.
Decoud, very calm, felt the wall behind the curtain with the back of his head.
Then, with his chin tilted well up, he smiled.
    »Very well,« he agreed with the slightly weary nonchalance of a man well
used to these passages. »But is it perhaps that you have not discovered yet what
is the God of my worship? It was an easier task with our Barrios.«
    The priest suppressed a gesture of discouragement. »You believe neither in
stick nor stone,« he said.
    »Nor bottle,« added Decoud without stirring. »Neither does the other of your
reverence's confidants. I mean the Capataz of the Cargadores. He does not drink.
Your reading of my character does honour to you perspicacity. But why call me a
heathen?«
    »True,« retorted the priest. »You are ten times worse. A miracle could not
convert you.«
    »I certainly do not believe in miracles,« said Decoud, quietly. Father
Corbelàn shrugged his high, broad shoulders doubtfully.
    »A sort of Frenchman - godless - a materialist,« he pronounced slowly, as if
weighing the terms of a careful analysis. »Neither the son of his own country
nor of any other,« he continued, thoughtfully.
    »Scarcely human, in fact,« Decoud commented under his breath, his head at
rest against the wall, his eyes gazing up at the ceiling.
    »The victim of this faithless age,« Father Corbelàn resumed in a deep but
subdued voice.
    »But of some use as a journalist.« Decoud changed his pose and spoke in a
more animated tone. »Has your worship neglected to read the last number of the
Porvenir? I assure you it is just like the others. On the general policy it
continues to call Montero a gran' bestia, and stigmatize his brother, the
guerrillero, for a combination of lacquey and spy. What could be more effective?
In local affairs it urges the Provincial Government to enlist bodily into the
national army the band of Hernandez the Robber - who