My Friends in their Gardens 
Begonias and the red and yellow coarser blossom of the 
Ipecacuanha. 
Bauhinias, Crotons, and several tall green Dracaenas were 
also here, and on one side a repellent-looking hedge of 
blue-leaved Aloes and “ Spanish bayonet ” kept intruders at 
a respectful distance. Close to this hedge were some 
Gardenias and Arums, whose white flowers the priest said he 
used for decking the altars. In the midst of the garden 
an Orange-tree and a giant Magnolia shaded a wooden seat 
where, so Dr. Gordon said, the Padre sat and interviewed 
such of his flock who came to seek his advice and good 
counsel, and even while he spoke the old negress came and 
said some one wanted the Padre. So he went along the 
path bordered with tall red and yellow flowered Hibiscus to 
the narrow wooden stair and disappeared up it into the 
house, while we sat down beneath the “tonnelle,” and 
Dr. Gordon told me the story of the Padre. “Ye would 
not, maybe, think it of him, but he has not always been 
a parish priest. He was a guerrilla chief, a Cabegilla in 
Spain, a Carlist, who at last found his native sierras too 
hot to hold him. He was obliged to fly the country, and 
he came here, and now he passes his days visiting the sick 
and poor and afflicted. He was up all last night with a 
sick negress, and will be again likely to-night. His provi- 
sion-ground helps to feed many a ne’er-do-well, and he is 
as wise in knowledge of herbs as any old Obi-man or 
quimboiseur around. ’Deed, as to medium, I tell him he’s 
just a poache ! ” 
“ Will he ever go back to Spain ? ” I asked, watching the 
Butterflies as they skimmed to and fro in the sunshine. 
“ I could not say. I doot he’ll be well missed if he 
does.” At this moment the Padre reappeared. “ I grieve, 
my friends,” he said, “ to have to leave you ; but Mahme 
Seraphine at Anse Joseph is very ill, and cries for me. I 
must go.” “ You must go 1 ” repeated Dr. Gordon, sar- 
castically adding to me: “ She’s just an old quimboiseuse , 
said to have poisoned a good few folk in her day. Among 
others, Father Jean, who was here before the Padre. 
333 
