"Life became a mere dream to the young fellow, who went to his soldier's duties, morose, bitter against the world, and shunning his companions who he thought detested him. He continued in this way for several months till one night a crisis was reached. He had been stationed on duty at the old sentry box with the accusation of 'murder' ringing in his ears. A few minutes before, in a quarrel, his antagonist had accused him of it; the murder of the young, fickle wife, who, the preceding morning, had been found dead in her bed. He was innocent, but he had no friends to take his side in case the law was against him, and he had no proofs of innocence. While he stood looking out over the sea, contemplating his troubles, he felt a hand placed on his shoulder and turning quickly could just discern in the darkness the face of the kindly padre. "It was a wild night and the noise of the sea and wind made hearing difficult, so that he could scarcely understand the priest as he leaned forward and shouted in his ear: 'I feel sure you're innocent' said the priest, 'but the others don't seem to think so. So slip over the wall here and get away; it's your only chance because they're coming for you soon. Go to some other place, live a clean, decent life, but remember, if you ever come up against that fellow Torcas don't do anything, for God will take vengeance on him.'" Again there was a stir behind the story-teller as the stranger leaned forward with the interest in his eyes gleaming brighter than before, while the twitching of anger around his mouth seemed to have changed to a slight smile. Again the old man, unconscious of the interest he was arousing, continued: "The good fellow had just finished speaking when a pistol shot rang out and a bullet burned a furrow across Delvarez's breast to bury itself in his friend's. Delvarez sank to the ground, but the rain quickly revived him and he got up, the wound on his breast, which was to trouble him through life, burning and throbbing. At first he thought he was again alone, but his foot encountered something, and stooping over he found the body of the dead priest. Suddenly he recalled his friend's advice and determined to flee. "Feverishly he undressed himself and exchanged clothing with the dead man. Next he laid his firearms on the little bench which ran around the sentry box, threw the body over the wall, and lowered himself down carefully after it. There was a spade at the foot of the wall, the presence of which at that time he did not stop to analyze; but later, when thinking over the events of that night, he determined it had been brought there to be used on him as he used it on the dead priest. With it he dug a deep hole where he laid the body of his only friend. Then he fled away into the night.