midnight
Indeed she refused to abandon this mad scheme until I pointed out that in the event of any of our patients dying , most probably we should both be murdered for wizards with the evil eye . As a matter of fact , without medicine or assistance we could have done little or nothing . Oh , what a pestilence was that of which for three weeks or so we were the daily witnesses , for from the flat roof of the _ hacienda _ we could see straight on to the _ plaza _ of the little town . And when at night we could not see , still we could hear the wails of the dying and bereaved , the eternal clang of the church bells , rung to scare away the demon of disease , and the midnight masses chanted by the priests , that grew faint and fainter as their brotherhood dwindled , until at last they ceased . And so it went on in the tainted , stricken place until the living were not enough to bury the dead , or to do more than carry food and water to the sick . It would seem that about twelve years before a philanthropic American enthusiast , armed with a letter of recommendation from whoever at that date was President of Mexico , and escorted by a small guard , descended upon San Jose to vaccinate it . For a few days all went well , for the enthusiast was a good doctor , who understood how to treat ophthalmia and to operate for squint , both of which complaints were prevalent in San Jose .