It was the duty of each person hearing it to immediately
rise, or at least sit up in bed, and join in the singing. In a few
moments the whole family would be singing, and the joyous
sounds pouring out from the house like the music of the birds in
the fields at dawn. The hymns were usually invocations to the
Virgin, or to the saint of the day, and the melodies were sweet and
simple.
On this morning there was another watcher for the dawn besides
Father Salvierderra. It was Alessandro, who had been restlessly
wandering about since midnight, and had finally seated himself
under the willow-trees by the brook, at the spot where he had seen
Ramona the evening before. He recollected this custom of the
sunrise hymn when he and his band were at the Senora's the last
year, and he had chanced then to learn that the Father slept in the
southeast room. From the spot where he sat, he could see the south
window of this room. He could also see the low eastern horizon, at
which a faint luminous line already showed. The sky was like
amber; a few stars still shone faintly in the zenith.
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