Monomaniac Cura 



him, mumbled something that seemed like a prayer in 

 Latin, stooped down and made a hole with the end of it, 

 into which he dropped a pinch of some powder out of a 

 paper parcel, planted the cross in the hole, and then holding 

 his hand over it, seemed to be giving it his blessing. 



All this was done quickly, but with much seriousness 

 and solemnity on the part of the priest, and seemed to be 

 an affair of daily business, for the whole of one end of his 

 garden was planted as close as could be with these little 

 crosses (interspersed with onions), and indeed must have 

 contained some thousands. But there was something 

 comic in the appearance of the old figure, who had a very 

 long, crooked, hooked nose, and a back bent double. He 

 was, moreover, blind of an eye, and the other had a sort 

 of oblique tendency to peep round the corner of his nose, 

 which prevented one from doubting that he would have 

 squinted if he had possessed two. 



As he rose from planting a cross, and was taking another 

 from the boy, he caught sight of me looking over his gate. 



" Adios, Seiior Andaluz," said he, beckoning me with the 

 cross in his hand, — " Welcome to the garden of the souls ! " 

 (En hora buena sea entrado Vmd. en el jardin de las 

 almas !) "Shall I plant a cross for the benefit of your soul, 

 amigo ? Vamos — this very one shall be for you." 



" Muchisimo le agradezco a su reverencia, Senor Cura " 

 (I am extremely obliged to your reverence, Sir Priest), said 

 I, taking off my sombrero^ and entering the garden. As I 

 approached, he was stooping down over the cross ; and the 

 boy, to whom his Sack was turned, made a sign (putting 

 his finger to his temple, and turning it backwards and 

 forwards as one bores a hole with a pricker), to signify to 

 me that there was a screw loose in his master's under- 

 standing. 



353 



