" prayed Jose, "only Thy hand can save us!"

"He will save us, Padre--He will!" cried Carmen, creeping closer to
him through the darkness. "God is everywhere, and right here!"

"Padre," said Don Jorge hurriedly, "the Host--is it on the altar?"

"Yes--why?" replied the priest.

"Then, when the doors fall, do you stand in front of the altar,
holding it aloft and calling on the people to stand back, lest the
hand of God strike them!"

Jose hesitated not. "It is a chance--yes, a bare chance. They will
stop before it--or they will kill me! But I will do it!"

"Padre! You shall not--Padre! Then I shall stand with you!" Carmen's
voice broke clear and piercing through the din. Jose struggled to free
himself from her.

"_Na_, Padre," interposed Rosendo, "it may be better so! Let her stand
with you! But--_Caramba_! Make haste!"

The clamor without increased. Heavy poles and billets of wood had been
fetched, and blow after blow now fell upon every shutter and door. The
sharp spitting of the rifles tore the air, and bullets crashed through
the walls and windows. In the heavy shadows back of the altar Rosendo
and Don Jorge crouched over the sobbing women. Lazaro lay very still.
Jose knew as he stretched out a hand through the darkness and touched
the cold face that the faithful spirit had fled. How soon his own
would follow he knew not, nor cared. Keeping close to the floor, he
crept out and around to the front of the altar. Reaching up, he
grasped the Sacred Host, and then stood upright, holding it out before
him. Carmen rose by his side and took his hand. Together in the gloom
they waited.

CHAPTER 33

"Padre! Padre! are you alive?"

Rosendo's hoarse whisper drifted across the silence like a wraith. He
crept out and along the floor, scarce daring to look up. Through the
darkness his straining eyes caught the outlines of the two figures
standing like statues before the altar.

"_Loado sea Dios!_" he cried, and his voice broke with a sob. "But,
Padre, they have stopped--what has happened?"

"I know not, _amigo_. Be patient. We are in the hands of God--"

"Padre--listen!" Carmen darted from the altar and ran to the door.
"Padre!" she called back. "Come! Some one is speaking English!"

Jose and Rosendo hurried to the door. All was quiet without, but for
an animated conversation between Don Mario and some strangers who had
evidently just arrived upon the scene. One of the latter was speaking
with the Alcalde