go either,
father. He has only to ask--"

A sudden movement of Carmen's arm, a gleam of steel in the darkness, the
soldier's musket falls from his grasp, and with a deep groan he sinks
heavily on the ground.

"Quick, senor, or we shall be taken! Round the corner! We must not run;
that would attract attention. A sharp walk. Good! Keep close to the wall.
Two minutes more and we shall be safe. A narrow escape! If the sentry had
made you go back or called the guard, all would have been lost."

"How was it? Did you stab him?"

"To the heart. He has mounted guard for the last time. So much the better.
It is an enemy and a Spaniard the less."

"All the same, Senor Carmen, I would rather kill my enemies in fair fight
than in cold blood."

"I also; but there are occasions. As likely as not this soldier would have
been in the firing party told off to shoot you to-morrow morning. There
would not have been much fair fight in that. And had I not killed him, we
should both have been tried by drum-head court-martial, and shot or
strangled to-night. This way. Now, I defy them to catch us."

As he spoke, Carmen plunged into a heap of ruins by the wayside, with the
intricacies of which, despite the darkness, he appeared to be quite
familiar.

"Nobody will disturb us here," he said at length, pausing under the shadow
of a broken wall. "These are the ruins of the Church of Alta Gracia,
which, in its fall during the great earthquake, killed several hundred
worshippers. People say they are haunted; after dark nobody will come near
them. But we must not stay many minutes. Take off the zambo's shirt and
trousers, and put on your shoes and stockings--there they are--and I shall
doff my cloak of religion."

"What next?"

"We must make off with all speed and by devious ways--though I think we
have quite thrown our pursuers off the scent--to a house in the outskirts
belonging to a friend of the cause, where we shall find horses, and start
for the llanos before the moon rises, and the hue and cry can be raised."

"What is the journey?"

"That depends on circumstances. Four or five days, perhaps. _Vamanos!_
Time presses."

We left the ruins at the side opposite to that at which we had entered
them, and after traversing several by-streets and narrow lanes reached the
open country, and walked on rapidly till we came to a lonesome house in a
large garden.

Carmen went up to the door, whistled softly, and knocked thrice.

"Who is th