death, for the poor fellow, half crazed with
terror, was hanging over the end of the truck with his arm nearly torn
from its socket by the corpse trailing on the line. His companions,
however, seized him by the body, while several strove to disconnect the
chain which fettered him to the awful object trailing beneath the train.

Jim and several others had staggered to their feet and were shouting to
the driver to stop the train, but the man was too far away to comprehend
what was said. The Peruvians in the last truck, feigning to believe
there was a mutiny of the prisoners, and glad of any excuse for cruelty,
began to fire into the huddled mass of Chilians, the bullets doing
fearful execution at such short range. The officer next in line to Jim
fell dead with a bullet through his heart, and pulled Douglas down with
him, thereby saving the Englishman's life, for a perfect hail of bullets
whizzed into the truck the moment after he fell.

At this moment there was a fearful shriek from the front end of the
truck. The body of the man who had committed suicide had by this time
been cut to pieces by the wheels, and the loose end of chain had
consequently been relieved of the drag upon it and was now lashing about
among the wheels. Before the soldier who had been nearly dragged over
could realise this and haul up the chain, the swaying end had got
entangled among the spokes of a wheel. It was quickly coiled up and
broken, of course, but before this happened it had actually torn the
unhappy Chilian's hand completely off, and his shrieks would have
convinced the Peruvian guards that something was wrong had they been
willing to be convinced, and not been too busily occupied in firing into
their helpless prisoners.

The maimed soldier had, however, fainted, and he now fell senseless upon
the floor of the car, while his companions, unable to assist him,
followed his example by lying down, to be out of the line of fire. The
Peruvians, however, fired a few more shots into the truck; but since
they could no longer see anybody at whom to shoot, they presently tired
of their pastime, and laid down their rifles, laughing heartily among
themselves at the sport they had enjoyed. Douglas and his fellow-
officers heard the raucous sounds of merriment, and each in his heart
vowed that, if they lived, they would exact a fearful retribution for
the inhuman treatment which they had that day received from their
captors.

At four o'clock