He thought of Këix, the mad bull.
"Thou shalt be hidden where no one but God the Lord can find thee. See here!"
With these words he stooped down and raised a slab of the marble flooring near the altar; a short ladder was visible, which led into a dark, tolerably spacious vault.
"Go down there. No one but myself knows of this old cave. Wait till I fetch thee out; I will come as soon as the danger is over."
"But if--and if"----
"Thou meanest if I lose my life? See, thus can the roof-stone be lifted from below. Hasten!"
"It horrifies me--to be buried alive! Are the bones of the dead--skeletons----Pardon; are there relics in the vault?"
"Fear thou henceforth the living God, not dead men. Here, take the oil-lamp; and now away! Hearest thou? The tumult presses nearer."
Then Zeno sprang down, lamp in hand. Johannes seized the money-bag, and threw it in after him; the miser noticed with agony that the priest had first taken out a handful of solidi. He replaced the stone, and then strewed the gold pieces from the principal door, of the church (which he bolted on the inside) up to the altar, and from there as far as, and over, the threshold of the door which led from the church into his own house. He then hastened through this door, and out of his house into the open air.
After a few minutes, Zeno heard, with a despairing heart, furious axe-blows thundering on the great door of the church.