s have
passed. We thought you were going to die----"

"May God reward you; we are very poor," said Basilio; "but as to-day
is Christmas, I want to go to the pueblo to see my mother and my
little brother. They must have been looking everywhere for me."

"But, son, you aren't well yet, and it is far to your pueblo. You
would not get there till midnight. My sons will want to see you when
they come from the forest."

"You have many children, but my mother has only us two; perhaps she
thinks me dead already. I want to give her a present to-night--a son!"

The grandfather felt his eyes grow dim.

"You are as sensible as an old man! Go, find your mother, give her
her present! Go, my son. God and the Lord Jesus go with you!"

"What, you're not going to stay and see my fire-crackers?" said the
little boy.

"I want you to play hide and seek!" pouted the little girl; "nothing
else is so much fun."

Basilio smiled and his eyes filled with tears.

"I shall come back soon," he said, "and bring my little brother;
then you can play with him. But I must go away now with Lucia."

"Don't forget us!" said the old man, "and come back when you are
well." The children all accompanied him to the bridge of bamboo over
the rushing torrent. Lucia, who was going to the first pueblo with
her basket, made him lean on her arm; the other children watched them
both out of sight.

The north wind was blowing, and the dwellers in San Diego were
trembling with cold. It was the Nochebuena, and yet the pueblo was
sad. Not a paper lantern hung in the windows, no noise in the houses
announcing the joyful time, as in other years.

At the home of Captain Basilio, the master of the house is talking
with Don Filipo; the troubles of these times have made them friends.

"You are in rare luck, to be released at just this moment," Captain
Basilio was saying to his guest. "They've burned your books, that's
true; but others have fared worse."

A woman came up to the window and looked in. Her eyes were brilliant,
her face haggard, her hair loose; the moon made her uncanny.

"Sisa?" asked Don Filipo, in surprise. "I thought she was with
a physician."

Captain Basilio smiled bitterly.

"The doctor feared he might be taken for a friend of Don Crisostomo's,
so he drove her out!"

"What else has happened since I went away? I know we have a new curate
and a new alferez----"

"Well, the head sacristan was found dead, hung in the garret of his
house