STORY. 



SPANISH-AMERICAN 

 SKETCHES. 



I. Doctor Sangrado. 



BY "VIATOR." 



To have seen the living image of 

 which Le Sage's redoubtable hero 

 is the prototype, chatted with him, 

 and marvelled at the arcana 

 revealed by this oracular person- 

 age, is indeed a privileged recol- 

 lection. Yet him I knew in the 

 flesh such corporeal semblance of 

 it as frugal nature and the pitiless 

 lien of science decreed to him and, 

 amid the paraphernalia of his 

 august calling. I now behold him, 

 lost in exploration of those vener- 

 able recesses whence life and light 

 have issued to mankind. 



The sphere in which his ponder- 

 ous attainments were unearthed to 

 men and alas! too often entombed 

 by them was a small town situated 

 upon a bluff overlooking the upper 

 waters of the Uruguay, within the 

 territory included by the republic 

 of that name, commonly known as 

 the Banda Oriental. 



Yet, though his earthly realm was 

 limited compared with the super- 

 nal regions compassed by his glow- 

 ing imagination, within its borders 

 he reigned supreme. To him all 

 eyes were turned in seasons of dis- 

 tress, and, as I have hinted, the 

 cemetery in the neighborhood bore 

 ample testimony to the fidelity with 

 which his task was performed. 



It was during an overland jour- 

 ney that I became acquainted with 

 him. He was returning, as I after- 

 wards learned, from a visit to an 

 early friend whom chance had cast 

 upon these distant shores, a com- 

 patriot, as he told me, from the 

 province of Arragon in Spain, with 

 whom many boyhood memories 

 were associated. This I heard as 



we sat before a native ranche, 

 where, the day being far advanced, 

 we sought shelter for the night. 



It needed not the natural impulse 

 of a fellow- traveler to urge ac- 

 quaintance with this singular man, 

 whose strong character and bon- 

 homie invited scrutiny. I had ob- 

 served, as we rode along, the ex- 

 treme tenuity of his person; the 

 cassock-like garment which envel- 

 oped his figure giving emphasis to 

 the general emaciation he pre- 

 sented. I had remarked, too, a 

 compensating breadth of intellect 

 illumining his features, the search- 

 ing penetration of his small gray 

 eyes, and the glossy luxuriance of 

 hair much too youthful, I thought, 

 to be indigenous. A pot hat, very 

 tall in the crown, and a brim scarce 

 wide enough to exceed the projec- 

 tion of his enormous ears, together 

 with an antique eye-glass dangling 

 about his neck were also matters of 

 reflex observation. 



The profile, as I saw it was cer 

 tainly uncouth, if kindly, being sig- 

 nalized by one of those unhappy re- 

 sults of nasal construction which 

 suggest a temporary abandonment 

 of original design, a sudden glim- 

 mer of proportion, and final renew- 

 al of the task ending in irreparable 

 failure. In short, his was a nose 

 only to be redeemed by long famil- 

 iarity with its idiosyncrasies and 

 the discovery of amiable traits in 

 the proprietor. 



I am explicit concerning the 

 above feature of the good doctor's 

 physiognomy, since, being the sal- 

 ient object of regard whenever I 

 looked at him. it came to be insep- 

 arably blended with his personality, 

 and also because experience has 

 taught me to view auspiciously the 

 possessor of a distinction I have 

 ever found to be united with saving 

 graces of mind and heart. Nor was 



