at the priest's feet, carefully concealing the
little purse of jewels in his bosom.

Johannes raised him.

"I _will_ save thee!--for Christ's sake, not for the sake of the gold."

"Thou wilt stay with me," cried Zeno with rising hope.

"That I cannot do. My place at this hour is on the battle-field, to
attend on the wounded. My brethren I have already sent out. I was only
deriving strength from a last prayer."

"No, no, I will not let thee go!" cried Zeno, clinging to him.

But, with unlooked-for strength, Johannes freed himself.

"I must, I tell thee. The Lord calls me. Perhaps I may even check the
slaughter. But thou--thy cruelty has so enraged the unhappy creatures,
that some of them would not be restrained by the altar--by my
intercession"----

"Yes, yes!" agreed Zeno.

He thought of Keix, the mad bull.

"Thou shalt be hidden where no one but God the Lord can find thee. See
here!"

With these words he stooped down and raised a slab of the marble
flooring near the altar; a short ladder was visible, which led into a
dark, tolerably spacious vault.

"Go down there. No one but myself knows of this old cave. Wait till I
fetch thee out; I will come as soon as the danger is over."

"But if--and if"----

"Thou meanest if I lose my life? See, thus can the roof-stone be lifted
from below. Hasten!"

"It horrifies me--to be buried alive! Are the bones of the
dead--skeletons----Pardon; are there relics in the vault?"

"Fear thou henceforth the living God, not dead men. Here, take the
oil-lamp; and now away! Hearest thou? The tumult presses nearer."

Then Zeno sprang down, lamp in hand. Johannes seized the money-bag, and
threw it in after him; the miser noticed with agony that the priest had
first taken out a handful of solidi. He replaced the stone, and then
strewed the gold pieces from the principal door, of the church (which
he bolted on the inside) up to the altar, and from there as far as, and
over, the threshold of the door which led from the church into his own
house. He then hastened through this door, and out of his house into
the open air.

After a few minutes, Zeno heard, with a despairing heart, furious
axe-blows thundering on the great door of the church.

It burst open and a great crowd of men--to judge from the voices and
footsteps--crushed in. Zeno held his breath in an agony of fear; he
pressed his ear to the slab, in order to hear better. He perceived
first the voice of a woman.

"Do