nd for the
government soldiers! Then they will take Rosendo to the prison in
Cartagena! And that finishes him!"

Jose knew that, if Diego had the support of the Bishop, this was no
idle threat. Rosendo turned to him in helpless appeal. "What shall I
do, Padre?" he asked.

"It is best that you go to the jail to-night, Rosendo," said Jose with
sinking heart. "But, Don Mario," turning menacingly to the Alcalde,
"mark you, his trial takes place in the morning, and he shall be
judged, not by you alone, but by his fellow-townsmen!"

"Have I not said so, senor?" returned Don Mario curtly, with a note of
deep contempt in his voice.

As in most small Spanish towns, the jail was a rude adobe hut, with no
furnishings, save the wooden stocks into which the feet of the hapless
prisoners were secured. Thus confined, the luckless wight who chanced
to feel the law's heavy hand might sit in a torturing position for
days, cruelly tormented at night by ravenous mosquitoes, and wholly
dependent upon the charity of the townsfolk for his daily rations,
unless he have friends or family to supply his needs. In the present
instance Don Mario took the extra precaution of setting a guard over
his important prisoner.

Jose, benumbed by the shock and bewildered by the sudden precipitation
of events, accompanied Rosendo to the jail and mutely watched the
procedure as Fernando secured the old man's bare feet in the rude
stocks. And yet, despite the situation, he could not repress a sense
of the ridiculous, as his thought dwelt momentarily on the little
_opera bouffe_ which these child-like people were so continually
enacting in their attempts at self-government. But it was a play that
at times approached dangerously near to the tragic. The passions of
this Latin offshoot were strong, if their minds were dull and
lethargic, and when aroused were capable of the most despicable, as
well as the most grandly heroic deeds. And in the present instance,
when the fleeting sense of the absurd passed, Jose knew that he was
facing a crisis. Something told him that resistance now would be
useless. True, Rosendo might have opposed arrest with violence, and
perhaps have escaped. But that would have accomplished nothing for
Carmen, the pivot upon which events were turning. Jose had reasoned
that it were better to let the Alcalde play his hand first, in the
small hope that as the cards fell he might more than match his
opponent's strength with his own.

"_Na