Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 1.djvu/172

144 The beating upon the floor, however, had broken the spring of the trap-door, the holy fathers' only avenue of escape; and when, on the disappearance of the invading crowd, they attempted to emerge, they found themselves, in spite of every effort, hopelessly immured in a dungeon that must soon prove their living sepulchre!

The remains of the three monks were only discovered—fast beside the treasures which in life they had loved so well—when the marble floor was taken up by some workmen, who were engaged in the restoration of the dilapidated and desecrated cathedral.