ion that he could have brought it down at once. At first I
refused to elevate my hands as a fat Brazilian was doing near me, and
this evoked another word of command--

"Hands up! Sharp!"

"_Do_ put your hands up, dear," came the soft trembling voice of
Dolores; "_do_, to please _me_."

My two hands shot up most willingly, immediately.

"Ladies," the man proceeded, in far from a disagreeable voice, "you
have no need to fear. Our chief has fined each first-class passenger a
hundred dollars; second-class passengers fifty dollars. If those
amounts are placed on the seats, our collector will be round in a
minute or two to take them up, then you will be at liberty to proceed."

At that moment another man, similarly attired, armed, and masked,
joined the other at the door.

"He's in here," he announced. "That's him, no doubt."

He added a sentence in Spanish which I could not understand, then
turned to me.

"Mr. William Anstruther?" he asked.

Involuntarily I answered him--

"Yes; my name is Anstruther."

"Follow me," he said sharply; "you're wanted."

I gave one look at Dolores, and she answered my look.

"You had better go with them, William," she said, calling me by my name
for the first time. "I will come too."

She looked deadly white, and I feared every moment would faint.

The man who had entered first spoke again, addressing Dolores.

"You need not be afraid," he said. "We shall not harm Mr. Anstruther;
and you had better remain where you are, because we shall probably have
to _strip_ him."

The two men laughed heartily at their coarse joke, and I felt as if I
could have killed them both.

Then the thought came unpleasantly home to me.

"_Why_ would they want to strip me?"

I followed the first man down the corridor, and looking round saw the
other standing at the door of the compartment in which I had left the
ladies. He had a revolver in his hand, and was watching me intently.
Had I made the slightest effort to escape, I have little doubt he would
have shot me at once. My conductor took me back into the smoking-car,
and then politely asked Lady Ethel, who was still there, to retire.

When she had gone, with wide-open eyes full of fear, fixed on me to the
last glance, the masked man, who had me in charge, turned to me and
made the following request:--

"Mr. Anstruther," he said, speaking in very good English, although one
could tell it was not his native tongue, "we have reason to