ter opened in the door, and
the grille thus disclosed was pierced by a shaft of feeble yellow light.
A quavering, aged voice demanded to know who knocked.

"English soldiers," answered the lieutenant in Portuguese. "Open!"

A faint exclamation suggestive of dismay was the answer, the shutter
closed again with a snap, the shuffling steps retreated and unbroken
silence followed.

"Now wharra devil may this mean?" growled Mr. Butler. Drugged wits, like
stupid ones, are readily suspicious. "Wharra they hatching in here that
they are afraid of lerring Bri'ish soldiers see? Knock again, Flanagan.
Louder, man!"

The sergeant beat the door with the butt of his carbine. The blows gave
out a hollow echo, but evoked no more answer than if they had fallen
upon the door of a mausoleum. Mr. Butler completely lost his temper.
"Seems to me that we've stumbled upon a hotbed o' treason. Hotbed o'
treason!" he repeated, as if pleased with the phrase. "That's wharrit
is." And he added peremptorily: "Break down the door."

"But, sir," began the sergeant in protest, greatly daring.

"Break down the door," repeated Mr. Butler. "Lerrus be after seeing
wha' these monks are afraid of showing us. I've a notion they're hiding
more'n their wine."

Some of the troopers carried axes precisely against such an emergency as
this. Dismounting, they fell upon the door with a will. But the oak was
stout, fortified by bands of iron and great iron studs; and it resisted
long. The thud of the axes and the crash of rending timbers could be
heard from one end of Tavora to the other, yet from the convent it
evoked no slightest response. But presently, as the door began to yield
to the onslaught, there came another sound to arouse the town. From the
belfry of the little church a bell suddenly gave tongue upon a frantic,
hurried note that spoke unmistakably of alarm. Ding-ding-ding-ding
it went, a tocsin summoning the assistance of all true sons of Mother
Church.

Mr. Butler, however, paid little heed to it. The door was down at last,
and followed by his troopers he rode under the massive gateway into
the spacious close. Dismounting there, and leaving the woefully anxious
sergeant and a couple of men to guard the horses, the lieutenant led the
way along the cloisters, faintly revealed by a new-risen moon, towards a
gaping doorway whence a feeble light was gleaming. He stumbled over the
step into a hall dimly lighted by a lantern swinging from the ceiling.