a safe distance and held out a stick,
teasingly. The snake flung itself to its full length, and the distance
it could reach was carefully measured. Then, some inches beyond this
furthest point, other stakes were drawn in rude outline of the form of a
man. Near the buckskin thongs, men were stationed, with gourds full of
water.

And now the stage was fully set for the tragedy. The audience was
waiting. It was time for the actors to appear and the play begin.

El Tigre looked curiously at Dick. The latter's heart was beating
tumultuously, but he met the scoundrel's gaze with calm defiance. He
even smiled scornfully, as he stared at the battered lace, bleeding yet
from his blow of a few minutes before. The significance of that smile
lashed the bandit's soul into fury.

"I'll break him yet," he swore to himself. "He shall beg for mercy
before he dies."

Then he said, aloud: "I was going to let the senor go first, but I have
changed my mind. He is smiling now, and he shall have a longer time to
enjoy himself."

He turned and spoke to some of his followers, and they went to a nearby
tent, from which they emerged a moment later, bringing with them a
Chinaman, whose yellow face was ghastly with fear. As the poor wretch
looked around at the awful preparations, and realized that he was doomed,
he threw himself down before the chief and tried to embrace his knees.
El Tigre spurned him with his foot.

"Tie him down," he commanded, briefly.

They bore the unhappy man to the stakes, threw him down and bound him so
tightly to them that he could not move. He was fastened in such a way
that his face lay on one side, looking toward the snake a few feet away.
The reptile coiled and sprang for the face, missing it by a few inches.
Several times this was repeated. The horror of that wicked head and
those dripping fangs darting towards one's face was insupportable, and
shriek followed shriek from the tortured victim. Still, the snake could
not actually reach him, and if the thong held--But now the man with the
gourd poured a little water on the thong.

_And the thong began to stretch._

The whole hideous deviltry of it struck Dick like a blow. Already he
could see that the snake's head went a trifle nearer with every spring.
And still the water kept dripping. In a few minutes more, the fangs
would meet in the victim's face.

And it was his turn next. He, too, must face that grisly horror. Death
in its most loat