hands, too; he'll need them to keep off the zopilotes;
won't he, Lopez?"

"Yes, Captain."

The thong that bound my wrists was cut, leaving my hands free. I was on
my back, my feet towards the precipice. A little to my right stood
Lopez, holding the rope that was about to launch me into eternity.

"Now the music--take the music for your cue, Lopez; then jerk him up!"
cried the sharp voice of the fiend.

I shut my eyes, waiting for the pull. It was but a moment, but it
seemed a lifetime. There was a dead silence--a stillness like that
which precedes the bursting of a rock or the firing of a jubilee-gun.
Then I heard the first note of the bugle, and along with it a crack--the
crack of a rifle; a man staggered over me, besprinkling my face with
blood, and, falling forward, disappeared!

Then came the pluck upon my ankles, and I was jerked head downwards into
the empty air. I felt my feet touching the branches above, and,
throwing up my arms, I grasped one, and swung my body upwards. After
two or three efforts I lay along the main trunk, which I embraced with
the hug of despair. I looked downward. A man was hanging below--far
below--at the end of the lazo! It was Lopez. I knew his scarlet manga
at a glance. He was hanging by the thigh in a snarl of the rope.

His hat had fallen off. I could see the red blood running over his face
and dripping from his long, snaky locks. He hung head down. I could
see that he was dead!

The hard thong was cutting my ankles, and--oh, heaven!--under our united
weight the roots were cracking! Appalling thought! "_The tree will
give way_!" I held fast with one arm. I drew forth my knife--
fortunately I still had one--with the other. I opened the blade with my
teeth, and, stretching backward and downward, I drew it across the
thong. It parted with a "snig", and the red object left me like a flash
of light. There was a plunge upon the black water below--a plunge and a
few white bubbles; but the body of the Jarocho, with its scarlet
trappings, was seen no more after that plunge.

CHAPTER FIFTY.

A VERY SHORT TRIAL.

During all this time shots were ringing over me. I could hear the
shouts and cheering of men, the trampling of heavy hoofs, and the
clashing of sabres. I knew that some strange deliverance had reached
us. I knew that a skirmish was going on above me, but I could see
nothing. I was below the level of the cliff.

I lay in a terrible suspense, lis