Juanita saw Zeneta stand for a moment, with sword upheld, while his men gathered round him. Then with a wild shout of exultation he led them down the hill again. Before he had run ten paces he fell--his feet seemed to slip from under him, and he lay at full length for a moment--then he was up again and at the head of his men. A bullet came singing up over the low brushwood and a distant tinkle of falling glass told that it had found its billet in a window. The bushes in the garden seemed suddenly alive with rustling life and Sarrion dragged Juanita back from the balustrade. "No--no!" she said angrily. "Yes--I promised Marcos," answered Sarrion with his arm round her waist. In a moment they were in the library where they found Cousin Peligros in an easy chair with folded hands and the face of a very early Christian martyr. "I have never been treated like this before," she said severely. Sarrion stood at the window, keeping Juanita in. "It will be all over in a few minutes," he said. "Holy Virgin! What a lesson for them." The din was terrible. The lady of delicate hearing placed her hands over her ears not forgetting to curl her little finger in the manner deemed irresistible by her generation. Quite suddenly the firing ceased as if by the turning of a tap. "There," said Sarrion, "it is over. Marcos said they were to be taught a lesson. They have learnt it." He quitted the room taking his hat which he had thrown aside. Juanita went to the terrace. She could see nothing. The whole valley was hidden in smoke which rolled upward in yellow clouds. The air choked her. She came back to the library, coughing, and went towards the door. "Juanita," said Cousin Peligros, "I forbid you to leave the room. I absolutely refuse to be left alone." "Then call your maid," said Juanita, patiently. "Where are you going?" "I am going to follow Uncle Ramon down to the valley. There must be hundreds of wounded. I can do something----" "Then I forbid you to go. It is permissible for Marcos to identify himself with such proceedings--in protection of those whom Providence has placed under his care. Indeed I should expect it of him. It is his duty to defend Torre Garda." Juanita looked at the supine form in the easy chair. "Yes," she answered. "And I am mistress of Torre Garda." Which, perhaps, had a double meaning, for when she closed the door--not without emphasis--Cousin Peligros sat upright with a start. Juanita hurried out of the house and ran down the road winding on the slope to the village. The smoke choked her; the air was impregnated with sulphur. It seemed impossible that anybody could have lived through these hellish minutes that were passed. In front of her she saw Sarrion hurrying in the same direction. A moment later she gave a little cry of joy. Marcos was riding up the slope at a gallop. He pulled up when he saw his father and by the time he had quitted the saddle, Juanita was with him.