be wall between the two rooms. Springing out of bed, he threw on his
clothes, and without a thought of danger to himself, hurried out to the
cloisters and the next room. The night was dark, and he could not make
out anything until he reached the window of the room from which came the
noise. The heavy, wooden shutters were slightly ajar, and through the
narrow upright opening between them, filtered the faint light from
a small lantern in the room. With noiseless steps, Father Altimira
approached the window, and looked through the crack between the two
shutters. There, in front of the ironbound box, knelt Pomponio, busily
at work on the stout padlock that guarded the treasures within. With
all the strength of his powerful arms he filed away at the bar of the
padlock. For a moment the Father, forgot his part in the nocturnal
business, and stood, breathless, at the window, fascinated by the quick
motion of the arm back and forth, and the strident sound of the file as
it slowly ate its way through the steel. Suddenly Pomponio paused and
looked up, with an expression of fear and hate on his face, dreadful, to
see. Snatching up the lantern from the floor, he dropped it behind the
great box, and ran to the window. The Father stooped, and crouched close
against the wall under the window--for there had not been time to get
away--and waited, hardly daring to breathe. Pomponio carefully opened
the shutters and peered out, but he could distinguish nothing in the
intense blackness. After listening a moment and hearing no sound, he
closed the shutters and went back to his work. The priest waited until
he again heard the screech of the file before he dared to move. This
action of Pomponio recalled him to himself, and the responsibility
resting on him regarding the safety of the mission funds.

With hasty strides, the Father started off to seek assistance. He
hurried to the other end of the row of buildings, some three hundred
feet distant, where lived the Mexican servants of the mission. At the
house of the carpenter, which was the first he came to, the priest
rapped loudly on the door, and called to the occupant to awaken. Juan,
the carpenter, answered almost at once, and came to the door. Before he
could ejaculate a word of surprise on seeing the Father, the latter had
told him the trouble.

"Arouse, with all haste, the men in the next house, while I go for
Rafael. Be ready when I come back," and the Father hurried off.

Juan lost