ture saith,
`except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.' Let
us pray, then, to the God of battles to watch with us!"

All bent down at the summons, the speaker kneeling in their midst.

"This evening," said he, "we celebrate mass for a special purpose. Let
us pray for our messenger; let us pray to God to protect him on his
journey, and grant him a safe return. Let us sing praises to that God,
who has hitherto preserved from evil the children who have trusted in
Him!"

The speaker then intoned the verse of the well-known psalm--

"His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid of
the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the
pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that
wasteth at noon day."

After each verse of the psalm, the people repeated--

"Lord have compassion upon us! Lord have mercy upon us!"

The devout Colonel, as if he expected that God would show him some
signal mark of his favour, in more emphatic tone chanted the verse--

"I will deliver him because he hath known My name; I will protect him
because he hath loved Me."

And as if in reality the Divine interpretation had been granted, the
messenger at that moment appeared entering the Piazza!

The man had seen Morelos, and brought back the glad news that the
insurgent general would instantly place his army _en route_ for the
relief of Huajapam.

Trujano, raising his eyes to heaven, cried out--

"Bless the Lord! oh, bless the Lord, all ye who are His servants!"

He then proceeded to distribute the supper rations--giving them out with
his own hands--after which the torches were extinguished, and the
besieged betook themselves to sleep, trusting in Him who never slumbers,
and whose protection was to them as a shield and buckler.

CHAPTER FORTY SIX.

A WALKING CORPSE.

While the mass was being performed in the Piazza, the Spanish sentries,
who guarded the trenches outside, could distinctly hear the voices of
those who took part in it; and could even distinguish the words of the
sacred song, which alone broke the silence of the night.

The sentinel whose post was nearest to the entrenchments of the town,
had for his companions a number of dead bodies of the enemy, who had
fallen during a sortie of the insurgents, and whose corpses their
comrades had no opportunity of interring. These, as already mentioned,
were all more or less mutilated by their c