Once more following the Master,
Back again now, on high.
Farewell, let all be forgotten
In Mexico.
To the pool of peace and forgetting in heaven
We go.
While this was singing, another boat had arrived, and soldiers made way through the crowd for Ramón, in his white sarape with the blue edges and scarlet fringe, and a young priest of the church in a black cassock, and six men in dark sarapes with the blue borders of Quetzalcoatl. This strange procession marched through the crowd and through the gateways of the yard.
As they approached, the ring of men round the drum opened, and spread into a crescent. Ramón stood tall behind the drum, the six men in dark sarapes divided and went to the wings of the crescent, the young, slim priest in a black cassock stood alone, in front of the crescent, facing the crowd.
He lifted his hand; Ramón took off his hat; all the men in the crowd took off their hats.
The priest turned, met Ramón at the centre of the crescent, and, across the drum, handed him the key of the church. Then the priest waited.