San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-01-12

"He IS insulting you again. IL WILL
save trouble afterward.
Then as Don Jose again advanced up.
on me with the knife, of sudden the
senior sprang up from his chair and
stood between us.
Come, friend" he said, "a joke is a
joke, but you are carrying this too far,
according to your custom" and Selling
the man by the shoulders, he put out
all his great strength and swung him
back with such force that, striking
against the long table with his thighs,
he rolled on to and over it, falling heav.
lily to the ground on the further side,
whence he rose cursing with rage.
By now Don Pedro, who had wakened,
or affected to waken from his sleep,
thought that the time had come to in
terfere.
peace, little ones, peace" he cried
sleepily from his hammock. "Remem-
Der that the men are guests, and cease
DrayylilT. Let them go to bed; it is
time for them to 50 to bed, and they
need rest, and by tomorrow your differ
ences will be healed up forever"
II take the hint" said the senior, with
forced gayety, "Come, Ignatio, let us
sleep off our hosts good wine. Gentle
men, sweet dreams to YOU" and he
walked across the room, followed by
myself.
At the door | turned my head and
looked back. Every man in the room
was watching intently, ard it seemed
to me that the drunkenness had passed
from their faces, scared away by a
sense of some great wickedness waiting
to be worked. Don Smith was whisper
ing into the ear of Jose, who still held
the knife in his hand, but the rest were
staring at us as people stare at men
passing to the scaffold.
Even Don Pedro, wide awake now,
sat up in the hammock ard peered with
his horny eyes while the Indian girl,
Luisa, her hand upon the cord, watched
our departure with some such face as
mourners watch the ovtbearing of
corpse All this noted in moment
as crossed the thresholl and went for
ward down the passage, and as went
shivered, for the scene was uncanny
and fateful.
Presently we were in the abbot's
chamber, our sleeping place, and had
locked the door behind us. Near the
washstand, on which burned single
candle, set IN the neck OF bottle, sat
Molas, his face buried in his hands.
slave they brought YOU no supper
that you look so sad?" asked the senior.
1.-The woman Luisa gave me to eat"
he answered. Listen, lord, and you,
Senior Strickland, our fears are well
founded; there is plot 20 murder us
tonight; of this the woman is sure, for
she heard some words pass between
Don Pedro and white man called
Smith; also she saw one of the half
breeds fetch some spades from the gar
den and place them in readiness, which
spades are to be used in the following
of our graves beneath this floor
81 am afraid that we have been too
venturesome in coming here" / said,
land unless we can escape at once we
must be prepared to pay the price of
our folly with our lives"
''Do not be downcast, lord" said
Molas, ''for you have not heard all the
tale. The woman has shown me a
means whereby you can save yourselves
from death, at any rate for tonight.
Come here" and leading us across the
room he knelt upon the floor at spot
almost opposite the picture of the a b.
bot and pressed upon panel in the low
wainscoting of cedar wood with which
the wall was clothed to height of
about three feet.
The panel slid aside, leaving a space
barely large enough for a man to pass.
Through this opening we crept one by
one, and passed down four narrow steps
to find ourselves in chamber followed
out of the foundations of the wall, so
small that there was only just room for
the three of us to stand In 1t, our heads
being some inches above the level of
the floor.
"How can we save ourselves by
crouching here like rats in a WALTZ" /
asked of Molas. Doubtless the secret
of the hiding place is known to those
who live in the house, and they will
drag us out and butcher u.s."
1.-THE woman Luisa says that it is
known to none except herself, lord, for
she declares that not two months ago she
discovered it for the first time by the
accident of the broom with which she
was sweeping the floor striking against
the springs of the panel. And now let
us come out for a while, for it is not yet
eleven o'clock, and she says that there
will be no danger till after midnight"
HAS she any plan for our escape?" 1
asked.
"She has plan, though she is doubt
full of its success. When the murderers
have been and found us gone they will
think either that we are wizards or
that we have made our way out of the
house, and will search no more till
dawn. Meanwhile, If she can, Luisa
will return and, entering the chamber
by the secret entrance, will lead us to
the chapel, whence she thinks that we
NAV fly TO the forest"
Where is this secret entrance,
MolasP"
81 do not know, lord; she had no time
to tell me, but the murderers will come
by it. She did tell me, however, that
she believes that man and a woman
are imprisoned near the chapel, though
she knows nothing of them and never
visits the place, because the Indians be-
lieve 1t to be haunted. Doubtless these
two are Zibalbay and his daughter, so
that if you live to come so far you may
find them there and speak with them"
Some minutes before midnight we
extinguished the light, and, creeping
one by one through the hole in the pam
cling, closed 1t behind us and took our
stand in the little dungeon. Here the
darkness was awful, and as the warmth
of the wine we had drunk passed from