noon
A few whites only -- the unhappy father of Catalina among the rest -- were permitted to escape , and carry their broken fortunes to another settlement . That of San Ildefonso -- town , Presidio , mission , haciendas , and ranchos -- in the short space of twelve hours had ceased to exist . The dwellers of that lovely valley were no more ! It is yet but noon . The ruins of San Ildefonso are still smoking . Its former denizens are dead , but it is not yet unpeopled . In the Plaza stand hundreds of dusky warriors drawn up in hollow square , with their faces turned inward .