'
For a moment he stood still, heedless of the urgings of his tormentors.
Then his courage came to him again, and he cried with a great voice:
'Get thee behind me, Satan, what have I to fear from thee? I remember
that dead sinner well--may her soul have peace--and her curse has fallen
upon me. I rejoice that it should be so, for on the further side of
yonder stone the gates of heaven open to my sight. Get thee behind me,
Satan, what have I to fear from thee?'
Crying thus he staggered forward saying, 'O God, into Thy hand I commend
my spirit!' May his soul have peace also, for if he was cruel, at least
he was brave, and did not shrink beneath those torments which he had
inflicted on many others.
Now this was a little matter, but its results were large. Had I saved
Father Pedro from the hands of the pabas of the Otomie, it is likely
enough that I should not to-day be writing this history here in the
valley of the Waveney. I do not know if I could have saved him, I only
know that I did not try, and that because of his death great sorrows
came upon me. Whether I was right or wrong, who can say? Those who judge
my story may think that in this as in other matters I was wrong; had
they seen Isabella de Siguenza die within her living tomb, certainly
they would hold that I was right. But for good or ill, matters came
about as I have written.
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