as far out
of sight, only low hues of yellow and blue melting into green to show
the illumined path it had taken. By refraction rays of copper light
reached the zenith and gave momentarily an unearthly glow to the mesa
and far desert, but it was only as a belated flash, for the dusk of
night touched the edge of it.

And the priest locked in with Conrad had been forgotten by him! At any
moment that girl with the key might give some signal for the ceremony,
whatever it was, of the death of the German beast!

"Sure, senora, I promise you," he said soothingly, patting her hand
clinging to him. "There is my horse in the plaza, and there is
Marto's. We will get the padre, and both of you can ride to the little
adobe down the valley where Elena's old father lives. He is Mexican,
not Indian. It is better even to kneel in prayer there all the night
than to try to rest in Soledad while this lasts. At the dawn I will
surely go for you. Come,--we will ask for the key."

Together they approached Tula, whose eyes stared straight out seeing
none of the dark faces lifted to hers, she seemed not to see Kit who
stopped beside her.

"Little sister," he said, touching her shoulder, "the padre waits to
be let out of the room of El Aleman, and the key is needed."

She nodded her head, and held up the key.

"Let me be the one," begged Dona Jocasta,--"I should do penance! I was
not gentle in my words to the padre, yet he is a man of God, and
devoted. Let me be the one!"

The Indian girl looked up at that, and drew back the key. Then some
memory, perhaps that kneeling of Dona Jocasta with the women of
Palomitas, influenced her to trust, and after a glance at Kit she
nodded her head and put the key in her hand.

"You, senor, have the horses," implored Dona Jocasta, "and I will at
once come with Padre Andreas."

"_Pronto!_" agreed Kit, "but I must get you a _serape_. Rain may fall
from that cloud."

She seemed scarcely to hear him as she sped along the patio towards
the locked door. Kit entered his own room for a blanket just as she
fitted the key in the lock, and spoke the padre's name.

The next instant he heard her screams, and a door slam shut, and as he
came out with the blanket, he saw the priest dash toward the portal
leading from the patio to the plaza.

He ran to her, lifting her from the tiles where she had been thrown.

"Conrad!" she cried pointing after the flying figure. "There! Quickly,
senor, quickly!"

He jerked