"'How can I save thee, daughter? What can I do against three men that are armed?'
"'Untie me, in the first place,' said the unhappy woman.
"Father Mateo begun to feel about, and, as God vouchsafed him deftness, to undo the knots of the cords that bound the poor creature's hands and feet; but they were hard, he could not see, and time flew as if a bull had been after it.
"The men were knocking at the door. 'Haven't you got through, father?' asked one of them.
"'Ea! don't be in a hurry!' said the father, who, though his will was good enough, could hit upon no means of saving the woman, who was trembling like a drop of quicksilver, and weeping like a fountain.
"'What are we to do?' said the poor, perplexed man.
"A woman will think of an artifice if she has one foot in the grave, and it entered into this one's head to hide herself under Father Mateo's cloak. I have told you that the father was a man who couldn't stand in that door. 'I would prefer another means,' said his reverence; 'but, as there is no other, we must take this, and let the sun rise in Antequera.'[305]
"He stationed himself at the door with the woman under his cloak.
"'Have you ended, father?' asked the villains.