Page:The Road to Monterey (1925).pdf/298

 loathsome of creation that devoured their weaker kindred in the dark.

"It is one o'clock," said Felipe, coming softly behind his watching friend, a note of chiding in his voice. "You have let me sleep too long."

"I haven't noticed the passing of time, Felipe. You are welcome to the hour."

"Look at the Great Bear, sinking behind the hills like a boat that goes down in the sea," said Felipe. "It will soon be dawn."

"Yes, in two hours it—the bell!"

"Perhaps a bird"

"Twice! Pablo is"

"It must be that he turned in a dream," said Felipe, after they had stood listening for the bell to ring again, breath suspended, hearts beating low.

"I don't hear any movement around the house," Henderson whispered. "If it was the signal—unless the string parted."

"No." Felipe laid his hand on Gabriel's arm, straining to read some sound of danger in the dark. "If it comes three times"

The tinkle of the bell in the roof of the vault broke Felipe's breathless speech.

"Three! They have come!" said Henderson.

"The signal to go!" said Felipe, almost stunned by amazement. He was reluctant to believe that danger could threaten them in his ancestor's burrow. "Hear it! that is a horse sounding its nose."