As the afternoon sun grows hot the citizens begin to creep within doors for the _siesta_, as all Spanish life seems to grow tired and still in the burning day. Suddenly the silence is broken by a scream from over the way. Jose starts up and looks across. "Hey, there! what the devil!" Zuniga shouts from the guard-house, and runs out. "Hello, hello! Jose, look alive there! What's gone wrong?--what the----" And the men start to run across the square. "Help, help!" comes from the factory. "Will no one come? We're being killed--the she-devil--look out for her--Carmen! Look out for her--she has a knife!" Every one is screaming at once and trying each in his own way to tell what has happened. "Get in there, Jose, and bring out the girl. Arrest the gipsy; and you men here get into this crowd and quiet it down. Make those girls shut up. Why, what the devil, I say! one would think a lunatic asylum loose. You've got the girl, Jose?" he calls across as the corporal brings Carmen out. "Bring her over," and Zuniga starts across to meet them, clattering on the cobblestones with his high heels. "She knifed one of the girls, did she? All right--clap her into jail. You're just a bit too ready with your hands, my girl," the captain cries as Jose takes her into the guard-house. Jose is set to guard her; which is about as wise as setting the cream where the cat can dip her whiskers. If it pleased the girl a moment before to stab a companion, it pleases her best now to get out of jail. She begins ably. "I love you," she remarks to Jose. "It does not concern me," replies the heroic Jose. "It should," Carmen persists. "Ah!" replies Jose, noncommittally. This is unsatisfactory to Carmen. However, she is equal to the occasion. When is she so fascinating as when quite preoccupied?--she will try it now. She will sing: [Music: Near to the walls of Sevilla With my good friend Lillas Pastia I'll soon dance the gay Seguidilla And I'll drink manzanilla-- I'll go see my good friend Lillas Pastia!] Jose is disturbed. Carmen is conscious of it. She continues to sing, meanwhile coquetting with him. Before he is aware of his own mood, he has cut the cord that he bound her hands with, and has disgraced himself forever. In the fascination Carmen has for him, he has forgotten that he is a soldier. Presently Zuniga enters. Carmen is to be transferred in charge of Jose, with a guard detailed to go with him. It is arranged. Carmen also makes some arrangements.