Each one looked at the other in the light which the match made, but, judging from the expression on their faces, they did not recognize each other. However, we can recognize in the taller one, the one with the manly voice, Elias; and in the smaller one, Lucas, with the scar on his cheek. "Cut the cards!" said the latter, without ceasing to look at the other. He pushed aside some bones which were found on the niche and turned up an ace and a jack for the albur. Elias lighted one match after another. "On the jack!" said he and, in order to show which of the cards he was betting on, he placed upon it a piece of vertebræ. "I deal!" said Lucas and, after turning up four or five cards, an ace came up. "You have lost," he added. "Now leave me alone so that I may win some money." Elias, without saying a word, disappeared in the darkness. Some minutes afterward, the clock in the church struck eight and the bell announced the hour of prayer. But Lucas did not invite anybody to play with him. He did not call out the shades, as superstition demanded. Instead, he uncovered his head, murmured some prayers and crossed himself with the same fervor as the chief of the Brotherhood of the Most Sacred Rosary would have done at that moment. The drizzling rain continued all night. At nine o'clock the streets were dark and lonely. The little cocoanut oil lanterns, which each citizen had to hang out in front of his house gave light scarcely a meter around. It seemed as though they had been lighted so one might see the darkness. Two Civil Guards were walking from one side of the street to the other near the church. "It is cold," said one in Tagalog with a Visayan accent. "We aren't catching any sacristans. There is nobody to clean out the alferez's hen yard and we ought to catch some sacristan and make him do it. Since that one was killed, they have taken warning. I am getting tired of this." "So am I," replied the other. "Nobody commits any robbery; no one disturbs the peace; but, thank God, they say that Elias is in town. The alferez says that the one who catches him will be free from whippings for three months." "Ah! Do you know his identification marks?" asked the Visayan. "I certainly do! Stature, tall, according to the alferez's description; ordinary, according to the description of Father Dámaso; color, brunette; eyes, black; nose, regular; mouth, regular; beard, none; hair, black." "Ah! And particular marks?" "Camisa, black; pantaloons, black; a wood-cutter----" "Ah! He will not escape. I think I see him already." "I don't confuse him with anybody else, although you might think so." Both soldiers continued their beats. By the light of the lantern two forms could again be seen, one following the other cautiously. A forcible "Quien vive?" stops them both. The first one replied "España," in a trembling voice.