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84. Whether in his exaltation and hurry to get back to his place he forgot the projecting tips of the sword-blades, or whether in coming round the corner he collided with one of the priests, was not clear, for the first thing we knew, the boy was on the ground bleeding pretty freely from a gash in the top of his foot, while the priests did their best to stanch the blood. The point of one of the swords had ripped him as he passed. Nevertheless, he shortly after hobbled to the oratory veranda and then, while a proper bandage was being fetched, promptly fainted. When duly swathed he was dispatched to the head priest's house, where he underwent considerable exorcism, which, as he informed me later, did him a world of good. Evidently he possessed more latent piety than I had given him credit for.

How many more enthusiasts might have gone up the divine ladder had it not been for this regrettable diversion will never be known. For by tacit consent the episode closed the performance.

It by no means, however, ended the festivity. Several pleasing adjuncts to this had miraculously appeared, unperceived, during