Of the Callejon Del Muerto by Thomas A. Janvier

It is an unwise thing, Senor, and there also is wickedness in it, to / make a vow to the Blessed Virgin -- or, for that matter, to the smallest / saint in the whole calendar -- and not to fulfil that vow when the / Blessed Virgin, or the saint, as the case may be, has performed / punctually all that the vow was made for: and so this gentleman of / whom I now am speaking found out for himself, and most uncomfortably, / when he died with an unfulfilled vow on his shoulders -- and had to take / some of the time that he otherwise would have spent pleasantly in / heaven among the angels in order to do after he was dead what he had / promised to do, and what he most certainly ought to have done, while / he still was alive.

The name of this gentleman who so badly neglected his duty, Senor, was / Don Tristan de Alculer; and he was a humble but honorable Spanish / merchant who came from the Filipinas to live here in the City of / Mexico; and he came in the time when the Viceroy was the Marques de / Villa Manrique, and most likely as the result of that Viceroy's doings / and orderings: because the Marques de Villa Manrique gave great / attention to enlarging the trade with the East through the / Filipinas -- as was found out by the English corsairs, so that Don / Francisco Draco, who was the greatest pirate of all of them, was able / to capture a galleon laden almost to sinking with nothing but silver / and gold.