e of by our men."

"Can they walk?" demanded George.

"A few yards, perhaps," surmised Basset, "but not so far as the wharf."

"Then they must be carried," decided George. "And these men,"
indicating the scarlet-garbed individuals, whose business it evidently
was to actually carry out the fiendish commands of the
Inquisitors--"shall help to do it. I dare say we can find all the
additional help we need somewhere in this building. I will go out and
see to it; and, meanwhile, you will remain here and see that none of
these persons escape."

"Ay, ay," responded Basset, "I'll take care of that, trust me. I don't
think there'll be any trouble, after the example I made of that fellow,"
pointing to the prostrate figure on the paved floor. "The rascal
presumed to dispute my authority when I came in here and told everybody
that they were prisoners, and--there a be! No, I don't think there'll
be any more trouble."

Whereupon George passed from the terrible chamber with its fearful
evidences of the dreadful lengths to which misguided fanaticism will
occasionally carry men, even in the cause of religion, and proceeded to
busy himself in making all the arrangements necessary for the
comfortable conveyance of the three unfortunate victims of Inquisitional
cruelty down to the ship.

The thing was done! Righteously, or unrighteously, it was done at last,
and the little party of stern, inflexible-visaged Englishmen emerged
from the Inquisition building of San Juan de Ulua grouped protectively
round the three litters in which lay the quivering, emaciated, anguished
bodies of their fellow-countrymen, delivered, against all hope, from a
fate a thousand times worse than any ordinary kind of death, while
within the gloomy, forbidding walls of the building they left behind
them nine corpses as a warning and example that, even in that far-off
land, Englishmen might not be tortured to death with impunity. It was a
terrible demonstration of crude, primitive justice; and whether or not
it was as effective in inculcating a lesson as it was intended to be, it
is now impossible to say; but one thing at least is certain, that from
that time forward there is no record of any Englishman having ever been
received into the Inquisition at San Juan.

The party reached the ship unmolested, although they naturally attracted
a great deal of attention during their passage through the streets. How
it would have been with them during that short m