“This, then, Sir Devil, is your work!  This is your deceitful lure for the weak souls of sinful nations!  So would you replace the Christian grace of holy Spain!”

“This is what must be,” returned the stranger, gloomily.  “But listen, Sir Priest.  It lies with you to avert the issue for a time.  Leave me here in peace.  Go back to Castile, and take with you your bells, your images, and your missions.  Continue here, and you only precipitate results.  Stay! promise me you will do this, and you shall not lack that which will render your old age an ornament and a blessing;” and the stranger motioned significantly to the lake.

It was here, the legend discreetly relates, that the Devil showed—­as he always shows sooner or later—­his cloven hoof.  The worthy Padre, sorely perplexed by his threefold vision, and, if the truth must be told, a little nettled at this wresting away of the glory of holy Spanish discovery, had shown some hesitation.  But the unlucky bribe of the Enemy of Souls touched his Castilian spirit.  Starting back in deep disgust, he brandished his crucifix in the face of the unmasked Fiend, and in a voice that made the dusky vault resound, cried,—­

“Avaunt thee, Sathanas!  Diabolus, I defy thee!  What! wouldst thou bribe me,—­me, a brother of the Sacred Society of the Holy Jesus, Licentiate of Cordova and Inquisitor of Guadalaxara?  Thinkest thou to buy me with thy sordid treasure?  Avaunt!”

What might have been the issue of this rupture, and how complete might have been the triumph of the Holy Father over the Arch-Fiend, who was recoiling aghast at these sacred titles and the flourishing symbol, we can never know, for at that moment the crucifix slipped through his fingers.

Scarcely had it touched the ground before Devil and Holy Father simultaneously cast themselves toward it.  In the struggle they clinched, and the pious Jose, who was as much the superior of his antagonist in bodily as in spiritual strength, was about to treat the Great Adversary to a back somersault, when he suddenly felt the long nails of the stranger piercing his flesh.  A new fear seized his heart, a numbing chillness crept through his body, and he struggled to free himself, but in vain.  A strange roaring was in his ears; the lake and cavern danced before his eyes and vanished; and with a loud cry he sank senseless to the ground.

When he recovered his consciousness he was aware of a gentle swaying motion of his body.  He opened his eyes, and saw it was high noon, and that he was being carried in a litter through the valley.  He felt stiff, and, looking down, perceived that his arm was tightly bandaged to his side.

He closed his eyes and after a few words of thankful prayer, thought how miraculously he had been preserved, and made a vow of candlesticks to the blessed Saint Jose.  He then called in a faint voice, and presently the penitent Ignacio stood beside him.

The joy the poor fellow felt at his patron’s returning consciousness for some time choked his utterance.  He could only ejaculate, “A miracle!  Blessed Saint Jose, he lives!” and kiss the Padre’s bandaged hand.  Father Jose, more intent on his last night’s experience, waited for his emotion to subside, and asked where he had been found.