and such of the townspeople as had come to witness the
departure.

The pace of the train was positively snail-like, and, as the engine had
no tender attached, and burned wood instead of coal, the stoppages in
order to replenish with fuel were very numerous. At the same time, it
being now high noon, the vertical sun streamed down upon the uncovered
trucks until they resembled so many ovens. The intense heat, coupled
with the inordinate length of time occupied by the journey, reduced some
of the prisoners, especially those who had been without water for many
hours, to the verge of frenzy. Their supplications for water would have
moved the hearts of any but the brutal Peruvian guards, whose canteens
were full of spirit and water, and who constantly refreshed themselves
therefrom, tortured the thirsty prisoners by holding the water-bottles
up to their gaze, and then pouring the contents down their own throats.
Gradually a low moan of pain and misery made itself heard in one of the
trucks, which soon spread to the others as the miserable men became
unable to bear their tortures any longer in silence.

"By Jove!" exclaimed Jim, "this is awful; what fiends these Peruvians
are! We have never treated our prisoners of war as these fellows are
doing; I wish I had some water to give them, but unfortunately I have
none; moreover, I am nearly perishing with thirst myself. Dozens of
these men are wounded, you know, Carlos," he continued, to a brother
officer who was sitting next to him, "and their sufferings must be
awful; some of them will go mad before we get to Lima. Hallo! quick
there, stop that man!" he yelled, as a haggard-looking Chilian soldier
staggered to his feet, his eyes blazing with insanity.

But Douglas's warning came too late. The Englishman had understood
instinctively what the maddened wretch was about to do, and shouted his
warning, but the men were packed so closely that there was no
opportunity to save him. Before a single individual could rise to his
feet the Chilian, manacled by one wrist as he was, had flung himself
over the end of the truck and, falling between the metals, was now being
dragged along by the train, his shrieks of agony filling all who heard
them with horror. The soldier happened to be the end man of his group,
and his length of chain was rather longer than that connecting the other
members of that particular party; but he had nearly dragged the man next
to him to a similar fearful