So terrible a threat forced Ibarra to obey. He exchanged the small silver trowel for a larger iron one, which made some of the people smile. He advanced quietly and descended the stairs. Elias looked at him with an indescribable expression. If you had seen him, you would have thought that all his life was concentrated in his eyes. The yellow man looked down into the abyss opening at his feet. Ibarra, after glancing at the stone which hung over his head, and then at Elias and the yellow man, said to Ñor Juan in a trembling voice: "Give me the bucket of mortar and find another trowel for me above." The young man stood alone. Elias was no longer looking at him; his eyes instead were riveted on the yellow man's hand, while the latter leaned over the ditch and followed with anxiety the movements of Ibarra. The noise of the trowel removing a mass of sand and lime was heard, accompanied by the low murmur of the employees who were congratulating the Alcalde on his address. Suddenly there was a frightful creaking. The pulley which was tied to the base of the crane jumped and then the windlass struck the apparatus like a battering-ram. The timbers swayed, ropes flew into the air and, in a second, all came down with a terrible crash. A cloud of dust was raised, and a thousand cries filled the air. Nearly all fled; a few hurried to the ditch. Only Maria Clara and Father Salví remained in their places without moving, both pale and silent. When the cloud of dust had partially cleared away, Ibarra could be seen standing among a mass of beams, bamboos, and cables, between the windlass and the massive stone, which in its descent had shaken and crushed everything. The young man was still holding the trowel in his hand, his eyes staring with fright at the dead body of a man which was lying at his feet, half buried under the timbers. "Are you hurt?--Are you still alive? For God's sake speak!" said some of the employees, full of terror. "Miracle! a miracle!" cried some. "Come and remove the body of this unfortunate man," said Ibarra, as if awakening from a dream. On hearing his voice, Maria Clara felt her strength giving way and she fell, half fainting, into the arms of her friends. Great confusion reigned. Everybody was talking, gesticulating, and running from one side to the other, up and down the stairs, all stupefied and full of consternation. "Who is the dead man? Is he still alive?" asked the alferez. The body was identified as the yellow workman who had been standing beside the windlass. "Let proceedings be brought against the superintendent of the work," was the first thing that the Alcalde said.