Page:Under MacArthur in Luzon.djvu/78

58 when the detachment came in sight of a small stone building, half tumbled down and covered with vines, standing close to the roadside. This building had been built by the Spanish friars of Luzon many years before, being used as both a monastery and a school, but a thunderbolt had once wrecked the steeple, and from that time on there had been a superstition connected with the place and it had been practically deserted.

There was a light shining out from an upper window of the monastery, and as the detachment drew closer the Americans heard two voices high-pitched in anger, speaking in Spanish.

"Something is wrong," said Ben. "One of those voices sounds like that of a woman."

"Sure an' it is a faymale!" cried Dan Casey. "An' she's afther wantin' help, if I know anything about it," he added.

The voices grew more distinct as they drew closer, and Ben caught the words, in Spanish: "Leave me, you villain! I want nothing more to do with you."

"You must give me the box, Inez!" replied a brutal voice. "I will not leave you without it."

"The box is mine, Barnabas Moval," came in the