bring home a cuarto. Search the house, and if you find a real,
do what you will with us; the poor are not all thieves."

"Well then," said one of the soldiers, fixing his eyes on Sisa's,
"follow us!"

"I--follow you?" And she drew back in terror, her eyes on the uniforms
of the guards. "Oh, have pity on me! I'm very poor, I've nothing to
give you, neither gold nor jewelry. Take everything you find in my
miserable cabin, but let me--let me--die here in peace!"

"March! do you hear? and if you don't go without making trouble,
we'll tie your hands."

"Let me walk a little way in front of you, at least," she cried,
as they laid hold of her.

The soldiers spoke together apart.

"Very well," said one, "when we get to the pueblo, you may. March on
now, and quick!"

Poor Sisa thought she must die of shame. There was no one on the
road, it is true; but the air? and the light? She covered her face,
in her humiliation, and wept silently. She was indeed very miserable;
every one, even her husband, had abandoned her; but until now she
had always felt herself respected.

As they neared the pueblo, fear seized her. In her agony she looked
on all sides, seeking some succor in nature--death in the river would
be so sweet. But no! She thought of her children; here was a light
in the darkness of her soul.

"Afterward," she said to herself,--"afterward, we will go to live in
the heart of the forest."

She dried her eyes, and turning to the guards:

"We are at the pueblo," she said. Her tone was indescribable; at once
a complaint, an argument, and a prayer.

The soldiers took pity on her; they replied with a gesture. Sisa went
rapidly forward, then forced herself to walk tranquilly.

A tolling of bells announced the end of the high mass. Sisa hastened,
in the hope of avoiding the crowd from the church, but in vain. Two
women she knew passed, looked at her questioningly; she bowed with
an anguished smile, then, to avoid new mortifications, she fixed her
eyes on the ground.

At sight of her people turned, whispered, followed with their eyes,
and though her eyes were turned away, she divined, she felt, she
saw it all. A woman who by her bare head, her dress, and her manners
showed what she was, cried boldly to the soldiers:

"Where did you find her? Did you get the money?"

Sisa seemed to have taken a blow in the face. The ground gave way
under her feet.

"This way!" cried a guard.

Like an automaton whose mechanism is