reached in
and hastily scraped away more of the hard mud. Then, trembling with
suppressed excitement, he pulled out another brick. Clearly, it was a
box that had been buried in there--who knows when? He gave the candle
to Carmen and bade her stand up close. Then with both hands he
carefully removed the adjacent bricks until the entire box was in
view.

_"Hombre!"_ he muttered. "What do you suppose this is? A box--"

"Oh!" exclaimed the girl in delight. "A box to put our question in,
Padre!"

"More likely the answer itself, child!" muttered the excited priest,
straining and tugging away at it. "Carmen! Stand aside!" he suddenly
commanded. "Now--" He gave a final pull. A crash of falling bricks
followed; the candle was extinguished; and both he and the child were
precipitated to the floor.

"Carmen!" called the priest, choking with dust, "are you hurt?"

"No, Padre dear," came the laughing answer through the darkness. "But
I'm pretty full of dust. And the candle is buried."

Jose groped about for the box. It lay near, a small, wooden coffer,
bound about with two narrow bands of steel. He dragged it out and bore
it down the aisle to the door, followed by Carmen.

"Padre!" she exclaimed eagerly. "What is it?"

He dusted it off and examined it carefully in the fast fading light.
It was some twelve inches square by three deep, well made of mahogany,
and secured by a small, iron padlock. On the top there was a crest of
arms and the letters, "I de R," burned into the wood.

Night had closed in, and the priest and girl made their way hurriedly
back home by way of the lake, to avoid being seen. Under his cassock
Jose carried the box, so heavy that it chafed the skin from his hip as
they stumbled along.

"Carmen, say nothing--but tell your padre Rosendo to come to me at
once!"

With the doors secured, and Carmen and Dona Maria standing guard
outside to apprise them of danger, Jose and Rosendo covertly examined
the discovery.

"I de R!" pondered Rosendo, studying the box. Then--"_Caramba!_
Padre--_Caramba!_ It is _Ignacio de Rincon!_ _Hombre!_ And the
crest--it is his! I have seen it before--years and years ago!
_Caramba!_ _Caramba!_" The old man danced about like a child.

"Ignacio de Rincon! Your grandfather!" he kept exclaiming, his eyes
big as saucers. Then, hastening out to get his iron bar, he returned
and with a blow broke the rusty padlock. Tearing open the hinged
cover, he fell back with a loud cry.

Be