“Back!”––he shouted in horror––and held the crucifix between them––“Thing of the Evil One! May your tongue be palsied––may your magic fail––may––.”
Tahn-té hurled him aside, and caught his mother as she fell; and the padre leaned half fainting against the wall, with great beads of sweat standing on his face, and the crucifix still lifted as a barrier or as a threat.
But the threat was useless to the slender creature of the caves.
“Teo––Teo!” she whispered, and then “Tahn-té,” and then the breath went, and her son laid her gently on the floor, while the padre regarded him with a new horror! Don Ruy watching them both, choked back an oath at the revelation in the white face.
“Back! Thing of the Evil One!” Page 324
The Te-hua men also drew away;––even Po-tzah averted his face when Tahn-té looked from one to the other!
Again had their eyes seen the strength of the white medicine god. The holy Woman of the Twilight had been destroyed before their eyes. It was the greatest magic they had yet seen!