The captain had to return to the port of Grao where his steamer was awaiting him, ready to weigh anchor for South America.

The old man used to speak to them of the Cristo del Grao, whose pictures occupied the most prominent site in the kitchen, and they would all listen as to a new tale, to the story of the arrival by sea of the sacred image, mounted upon a ladder in a boat that had dissolved in smoke after discharging its miraculous cargo.

This had been when the Grao was no more than a group of huts far from the walls of Valencia and threatened by the raids of the Moorish pirates.

The Cristo del Grao had special charge of them and nothing bad could happen to the ship...

Cristo del Grao!...

As a child, Ferragut had seen them in the Grao of Valencia and continually ran across them in Barcelona, in the suburbs of Marseilles, in old Nice, in the ports of the western islands, and in the sections of the African coast occupied by Maltese and Sicilians.

Blessed be the Christ of the Grao!...

"Cristo del Grao!...

"Don't cry any more, my daughter.... Cristo del Grao!

"Viva el Santo Cristo del Grao!...

The old man used to pray before it as though it were a miracle-working print, and the Cristo del Grao was relegated to second place.

"Cristo del Grao!...

"Cristo del Grao!...

Un señor de Grao.

Un señor de Grao.