nts of Casa Encarnacion went
to bed at ten o'clock, but it was the custom of Don Tiburcio to go the
rounds a half or three quarters of an hour later and see that his
strict laws were as strictly obeyed. To-night, when he opened the doors
of the three young dons in succession, heels were still, and breathing
was as monotonous as his own would be an hour later. At eleven the boys
dressed and swung from their windows, not daring to leave by the
courtyard. Nor did they dare go to the corral and abstract three
horses. Much to their distaste, for there was nothing the Californian
hated so much as to travel on two legs, they were obliged to walk the
miles between the Casa and the hills. But their legs were young and
their brains eager; in little over an hour they were in sight of the
Mission.

It looked very white and ghostly in the pale blaze of the moon, a huge
mass, full of prayer and discontent. Close beside it, but without the
walls, the Indians slept in the rancheria, quiescent enough, for they
had no Anastacio. At midnight the great bells in the tower had rung
out, filling the valley with their sweet silver clamour; but as the
boys approached and skirted the wall, some distance to the right, the
Mission might have been as lifeless as it is this year, in its
desertion and decay.

The hills were a mile behind. The Mission, like all of its kind, stood
on a broad open, that no hostile tribe might approach unseen. Cows and
horses lay in their first heavy sleep, their breathing hardly ruffling
the profound stillness. So great an air of repose did the silent walls
and sleeping beasts give to the landscape that the boys felt the quiet
of the night as they had not done in the other valley, and drew closer
together, almost holding their breath lest the priests might hear it. A
quarter of an hour later they were among the hills and standing before
the aperture whose secrets were known only to Padre Osuna. They glanced
at each other out of the corners of their eyes. Brave as they were,
they did not altogether like the idea of a possible encounter with a
rattlesnake or a bear in the dark and narrow confines of a cave. And if
there should be another earthquake! However, they had not come to turn
back, and Roldan pushed boldly in, the others following close.

For a time their way lay along a narrow passage. They had made two
abrupt turns before they dared to light the lantern they had brought.
When Rafael did, it revealed nothing b