ow above and learn from His Grace, whom you
have had the impudence to keep waiting all morning, how tongues that
wag too freely can be silenced." He checked himself suddenly, as if he
feared he had said too much. Then, turning on his heel, he quickly
left the Cathedral.

The priest's head sank upon his breast, and he stood, infirm of
purpose and choking with words which he could not voice. The whirl in
which his confused brain had revolved for months--nay, years--had made
the determination of conduct with him a matter of hours, of days, of
weeks. Spontaneity of action had long since ceased within his fettered
mind, where doubt had laid its detaining hand upon his judgment.
Uncertainty of his steps, fear of their consequence, and dread lest he
precipitate the calamity which he felt hung always just above him, had
sapped the courage and strength of will which his soul needed for a
determined stand, and left him incapable of decisive action, even in
the face of grossest evil. The mordant reply of Wenceslas only
strengthened his conviction of the futility of massing his own feeble
forces against those of one so thoroughly entrenched as this man, who
had the ear of the Bishop--nay, whose resourceful mind was now said to
be actually directing the policies of the feeble old ecclesiastic who
held the bishopric of Cartagena.

As if groping through the blackness of midnight, he moved slowly down
the deserted nave of the Cathedral and mounted the winding stairs to
the ambulatory above. Pausing at the door of the _sanctum_ for a
moment to gather up his remnant of moral strength, he entered and
stood hesitant before the waiting Bishop.

CHAPTER 2

The long War of Independence which destroyed the last vestige of
Spanish control over the Peruvian colonies of South America was
virtually brought to a close by the terrific battle of Ayacucho,
fought on the plains between Pizarro's city of Lima and the ancient
Inca seat of Cuzco in the fall of 1824. The result of this battle had
been eagerly awaited in the city of Cartagena, capital of the newly
formed federation of Colombia. It was known there that the Royalist
army was concentrating for a final stand. It was known, too, that its
veterans greatly outnumbered the nondescript band of patriots, many of
whom were provided only with the _arma blanca_, the indispensable
_machete_ of tropical America. This fact lent a shred of encouragement
to the few proud Tory families still rema