"Come on, now, boys!"

Twenty bombs exploded simultaneously in the midst
of the soldiers who, awaking terrified out of their sleep,
started up, their eyes wide open. But before they had real-
ized their plight, twenty more bombs burst like thunder
upon them leaving a scattering of men killed or maimed.

"Don't do that yet, for God's sake! Don't do it till I
find my brother," the workman implored in anguish.

In vain an old sergeant harangued the soldiers, insult-
ing them in the hope of rallying them. For they were rats,
caught in a trap, no more, no less. Some of the soldiers,
attempting to reach the small door by the staircase, fell
to the ground pierced by Demetrio's shots. Others fell at
the feet of these twenty-odd specters, with faces and
breasts dark as iron, clad in long torn trousers of white
cloth which fell to their leather sandals, scattering death
and destruction below them. In the belfry, a few men
struggled to emerge from the pile of dead who had fallen
upon them.

"It's awful, Chief!" Luis Cervantes cried in alarm.
"We've no more bombs left and we left our guns in the
corral."

Smiling, Demetrio drew out a large shining knife. In the
twinkling of an eye, steel flashed in every hand. Some