re happy at being relieved from the
painful attitude in which we had ridden all the way. We congratulated
ourselves that we should now be allowed to sit upright. Our
self-congratulation was brief. We soon found that the change was "from
the frying-pan into the fire." We were only to be "turned." We had
hitherto lain upon our bellies; we were now to be laid upon our backs.

In a few moments the change was accomplished, our captors handling us as
unceremoniously as though we had been inanimate things. Indeed we were
nearly so.

We were spread upon the green turf on our backs. Around each man four
long pins were driven into the ground, in the form of a parallelogram.
Our arms and legs were stretched out to their widest, and raw-hide
thongs were looped about our wrists and ankles. These were passed over
the pins, and drawn so tightly that our joints cracked with the cruel
tension. Thus we lay, faces upturned, like so many hides spread out to
be sun-dried.

We were placed in two ranks, "endways," in such a manner that the heads
of the front-rank men rested between the feet of their respective
"rears." As there were six of us in all, we formed three files, with
short intervals between.

Our attitudes and fastenings left us without the power of moving a limb.
The only member over which we had any control was the head; and this,
thanks to the flexibility of our necks, we could turn about, so as to
see what was going on in front or on either side of us.

As soon as we were fairly staked down, I had the curiosity to raise my
head and look around me. I found that I was "rear rank, right file,"
and that my file leader was the _ci-devant_ soldier O'Cork.

The Indian guards, after having stripped us of most of our clothing,
left us; and the girls and squaws now began to crowd around. I noticed
that they were gathering in front of my position, and forming a dense
circle around the Irishman. I was struck with their ludicrous gestures,
their strange exclamations, and the puzzled expression of their
countenances.

"Ta--yah! Ta--yah!" cried they, and the whole crowd burst into shrill
screams of laughter.

What could it mean? Barney was evidently the subject of their mirth;
but what was there about him to cause it, more than about any of the
rest of us?

I raised my head to ascertain: the riddle was solved at once. One of
the Indians, in going off, had taken the Irishman's cap with him, and
the little, round, re