ocked impatiently. The alferez opened.

"Ah, father, I was just going to see you; your young buck----"

"I've something very important----" began the breathless curate.

"I can't allow the fences to be broken; if he comes back, I shall
fire on him."

"Who knows whether to-morrow you will be alive," said the curate,
going on toward the reception-room.

"What? You think that youngster is going to kill me?"

"Senor alferez, the lives of all of us are in danger!"

"What?"

The curate pointed to the door, which the alferez closed in his
customary fashion.

"Now, go ahead," he said calmly.

"Did you see how I ran? When I thus forget myself, there is some
grave reason."

"And this time it is----"

The curate approached him and spoke low.

"Do you--know--of nothing--new?"

The alferez shrugged his shoulders.

"Are you speaking of Elias?"

"No, no! I'm speaking of a great peril!"

"Well, finish then!" cried the exasperated alferez.

The curate lowered his voice mysteriously:

"I have discovered a conspiracy!"

The alferez gave a spring and looked at the curate in stupefaction.

"A terrible conspiracy, well organized, that is to break out to-night!"

The alferez rushed across the room, took down his sabre from the wall,
and grasped his revolver.

"Whom shall I arrest?" he cried.

"Be calm! There is plenty of time, thanks to the haste with which I
came. At eight o'clock----"

"They shall be shot, all of them!"

"Listen! It is a secret of the confessional, discovered to me by a
woman. At eight o'clock they are to surprise the barracks, sack the
convent, and assassinate all the Spaniards."

The alferez stood dumbfounded.

"Be ready for them; ambush your soldiers; send me four guards for
the convent! You will earn your promotion to-night! I only ask you
to make it known that it was I who warned you."

"It shall be known, father; it shall be known, and, perhaps, it will
bring down a mitre!" replied the alferez, his eyes on the sleeves of
his uniform.

While this conversation was in progress, Elias was running toward the
house of Ibarra. He entered and was shown to the laboratory, where
Crisostomo was passing the time until the hour of his appointment
with Maria Clara.

"Ah! It is you, Elias?" he said, without noticing the tremor of the
helmsman. "See here! I've just made a discovery: this piece of bamboo
is non-combustible."

"Senor, there is no time to talk of that; take your papers and fle