two parties should be thus battling for possession of us gave
us a gleam of hope for the saving of our lives. While we remained
prisoners, in the ward of the Priest Captain, we knew that our death was
inevitable; inasmuch as the witness which we bore against him, if
suffered to be published, must of necessity bring his authority to an
end. But should we pass into the ward of the Council, there was every
reason why we should be cherished and protected; because, in their
behalf, we would be witnesses to the justice of their rebellion against
Itzacoatl's rule. Nor would this feeling of amity towards us be confined
to the leaders of the revolt; for we had perceived the substantial
nature of the reasons which Tizoc had given us in support of his
assurance that the hope of deliverance from oppression which our coming
brought would raise up around us a host of friends. Therefore we knew
that upon the issue of the battling that we heard the sounds of so
loudly, and yet that might as well have been a thousand miles away for
all that we could see of it, our fate must depend.

And knowing this, it was a hard trial of our nerves and tempers to be
forced to remain there idle in the dark, without the chance to strike in
our own behalf a single blow. Young strode backward and forward in such
a fashion, and the mutterings beneath his breath were so like growls,
that the likening of him to a wild beast in a cage, while trite, is
strictly accurate. Rayburn, not less resolute, but more self-contained,
pressed close against the bars and never stirred, save that now and then
he cracked his thumbs and fingers together with such vigor that the
sound was like a pistol-shot. And even I, who am not naturally of a
blood-thirsty disposition, found the need of walking briskly about our
prison in order to quiet a little my strong longing to be outside with a
weapon in my hands wherewith I could crack some skulls open. Indeed,
among us all, only Fray Antonio maintained an outward show of calm.

Thus far, all the sounds which we had heard had come to us from the
direction of the front of the house, whence we inferred that the fight
was being waged, greatly to the disadvantage of the assailants, through
the grating by which the entrance was closed. But suddenly there was an
outcry of alarm close by us in the court-yard, and then the sound of
hurrying feet there, and then a roar of shouting mingled with the fierce
clash of arms--so that we knew that th