a dozen of you; there is some more foul work
going on ahead of us!"

Six men immediately spurred their horses out of the press and followed
Jim at full speed, the little squad of men experiencing no difficulty in
finding the direction in which to go, for the piercing shrieks were now
becoming incessant. After five minutes or so of hard riding, Jim came
within sight of a ruddy glare of light shining ahead among the trees,
and he at once guessed what was going forward. Almost directly
afterwards the seven horsemen burst into an open glade, at the far end
of which was gathered a group of men, who immediately fled into the
thick brushwood at the approach of the cavalry; not, however, before Jim
had caught sight of their uniforms, which were those worn by the
Bolivian guerillas. At the end of the clearing a large fire had been
built in the form of a circle, in the centre of which stood a stout
wooden stake driven into the earth, and to this stake was lashed an
Indian who, poor creature, was being slowly roasted to death.

Jim and his men threw themselves from their horses, and, drawing their
swords, promptly began to clear away the burning wood with their blades;
and the moment that the circle was broken, Jim dashed through the
opening, cut the ropes which bound the wretched Indian to the stake, and
carried him out into the open, where the poor creature was laid down on
the ground and given a canteen of water, which he drained eagerly,
immediately begging for more. This was given him, and Douglas proceeded
to examine his injuries just as the Chilian main body rode up. To his
satisfaction, Jim found that the man was suffering from nothing more
serious than a severe scorching, and he guessed that it must have been
the anticipation of torture which had made the Indian send up those
heartrending screams. As soon as the poor wretch had recovered from the
shock which he had sustained, Jim questioned him as to how he came to be
in such a situation, and was told that the man, whose name, by the way,
was Jose, had been a guide in the guerilla service. The Bolivians
believed that it was impossible for anybody to find the way to their
stronghold unassisted, and therefore, as soon as the Chilian cavalry
appeared, they had suspected treachery on the part of somebody, their
suspicion focussing itself in this case upon the unfortunate Jose. They
had therefore put him to the torture, partly as punishment, and partly
to make him dis