nswered, in the same low tone. "Keep a stout
heart in your body, and if you can manage to rig a line of some sort,
let it down out of your window soon after dark. If it's just strong
enough to haul up another it will do. I'll bring a stout one with me."

"We'll do as you say, friend, and many thanks," I answered.

"That's all right then," said the seaman. "When you hear a cat mew
under your window, let down the line. I shan't be far off. I must now
go along with the crowd to see what's going on. I wish that I could
lend a helping hand to some of those poor fellows; but it won't do, I
must look after you, you know. A countryman in distress has the first
right to my services."

I longed to learn who he was; but before I could ask him, he had
sauntered away among the crowd. Meantime the soldiers had formed three
sides of a hollow square, the river forming the fourth. Close to the
bank there stood a large group of human beings--the victims destined for
execution. Their arms and legs were secured with cords, so that they
could not escape. They uttered no cries or lamentations, but appeared
ready to meet their fate with stoical indifference. The priests, with
their crucifixes and candles, collected round them, exhorting them to
repentance, and uttering prayers which none of them could understand. I
looked anxiously for Manco, but he was not among them, and at last I
discovered him standing apart, under charge of a file of soldiers. With
a refinement of cruelty, it was intended that he should witness the
execution of his friends and countrymen, before he himself was led forth
to be shot. A priest stood by his side, endeavouring to make him listen
to the words of exhortation he was pouring into his ears; but, I judged,
with no effect. His arms were folded, and his eyes were turned towards
the group in the centre. Several officers were riding about the square.
At a signal from one of them (the colonel who had sent us to prison),
the priests retired; and the firing party, consisting of a hundred men,
fell back to the distance of about twenty paces. There was a death-like
silence; even the savage crowd were awed. I could scarcely breathe, and
a mist came before my eyes.

There was a pause of a minute. Perhaps, I thought, the commanding
officer himself hesitates to give the word which must send so many of
his fellow-creatures to eternity. I was mistaken. "Fire," he shouted,
in a sharp loud voice. A rapid