heretics and sacrilegious dogs, ere worse befall ye! That awful shriek
was the despairing cry of a soul torn from its body in awful torment.
Take warning, ye, from that man's dreadful fate; for a man it was,
although ye might have deemed the voice that of a devil!

"I can tell ye his doom. He was caught up by the whirling ropes of the
bells which ye have rung to your own confusion, and his body has been
torn to pieces in the pipe through which the bell-rope runs. Take
warning, I say, and leave this sacred place in peace!"

He spoke no more, for one of the officers, fearing the effect his words
might have on the superstitious seamen, seized him by the shoulders and
hustled him down the long aisle of the building and through the door
into the street.

Harry and Roger could not bring themselves to take part in the shocking
work of desecration, and were standing some distance away, surveying the
scene with disgust, when suddenly above the bestial shouts and uproar
came the cry: "Save yourselves, lads, run! There is no time to lose;
the church is on fire! Run! Run!"

Startled amid their work of destruction, the men paused and looked round
to see whence the voice had come, but could not discover its
whereabouts.

As they looked, however, columns of smoke were seen drifting about the
building and issuing from the crevices of the roof and walls.

Evidently the alarm was genuine, by whomsoever given, and the sailors
made for the doors. Those who had overturned the golden figure still
clung to their booty, and, raising it in their arms, half-carried and
half-dragged it away with them by main force.

It was a scene of the most utter confusion; some staggered away
overladen with gold and silver cups, others with costly silks and
fabrics, whatever most appealed to their erratic taste.

When nearly all were out of the building, Roger and his friend awoke to
the fact that they were being left alone, and ran forward to escape
while there was time; but, even as they turned to go, the ground seemed
to fall from beneath their feet, and they plunged down, down, until they
struck the hard ground below, the shock causing them to lose
consciousness.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

IN THE HANDS OF THE INQUISITION.

We must now move forward for a period of four months, during which time
many changes have occurred.

When the men had escaped from the burning cathedral, Cavendish had
mustered them in the plaza opposite, and found no