because there are grave
reasons."

"Well, what else?" asked the other, tapping the floor with his foot.

"Be calm!"

"Then why did you come in such a hurry?"

The curate drew nearer to him and asked mysteriously,
"Haven't--you--heard--anything?"

The alferez shrugged his shoulders.

"You admit that you know absolutely nothing?"

"Do you want to talk about Elias, who put away your senior sacristan
last night?" was the retort.

"No, I'm not talking about those matters," answered the curate
ill-naturedly. "I'm talking about a great danger."

"Well, damn it, out with it!"

"Come," said the friar slowly and disdainfully, "you see once more
how important we ecclesiastics are. The meanest lay brother is worth
as much as a regiment, while a curate--"

Then he added in a low and mysterious tone, "I've discovered a big
conspiracy!"

The alferez started up and gazed in astonishment at the friar.

"A terrible and well-organized plot, which will be carried out this
very night."

"This very night!" exclaimed the alferez, pushing the curate aside
and running to his revolver and sword hanging on the wall.

"Who'll I arrest? Who'll I arrest?" he cried.

"Calm yourself! There is still time, thanks to the promptness with
which I have acted. We have till eight o'clock."

"I'll shoot all of them!"

"Listen_!_ This afternoon a woman whose name I can't reveal (it's a
secret of the confessional) came to me and told everything. At eight
o'clock they will seize the barracks by surprise, plunder the convento,
capture the police boat, and murder all of us Spaniards."

The alferez was stupefied.

"The woman did not tell me any more than this," added the curate.

"She didn't tell any more? Then I'll arrest her!"

"I can't consent to that. The bar of penitence is the throne of the
God of mercies."

"There's neither God nor mercies that amount to anything! I'll
arrest her!"

"You're losing your head! What you must do is to get yourself
ready. Muster your soldiers quietly and put them in ambush, send
me four guards for the convento, and notify the men in charge of
the boat."

"The boat isn't here. I'll ask for help from the other sections."

"No, for then the plotters would be warned and would not carry out
their plans. What we must do is to catch them alive and make them
talk--I mean, you'll make them talk, since I, as a priest, must not
meddle in such matters. Listen, here's where you win crosses and
stars. I ask