f water first, but that if they didn't they might
shoot me if they liked, but not a step would I walk.

"They tried kicking and punching me with their guns, but finding that I
was obstinate, one of them called to a woman down by the village to
bring some water. I drank pretty near a bucketful, and then said I was
ready to go on. We went up the hill and then on some ten miles to a
village standing in the heart of a wild country. Here I was tied to a
post. Two of them went away and returned in a few minutes with a man
they called El Chico. I felt before that I had not much chance, but I
knew now that I had none at all, for the name was well enough known to
us as that of one of the most savage of the guerilla leaders. He abused
me for ten minutes, and told me that I should be burnt alive next
morning, in revenge for some misconduct or other of a scouting party of
ours. I pointed out that as I was not one of that scouting party it was
unfair that I should be punished for their misdeeds; but, of course, it
was of no use arguing with a ruffian like that, so he went away, leaving
me to my reflections.

"I stood all night with my back to that post. Two fellows with muskets
kept guard over me, but even if they hadn't done so I could not have got
away, for I was so tightly bound that my limbs were numbed, and the
cords felt as if they were red hot. In the morning a number of women
brought up faggots. El Chico himself superintended their arrangement,
taking care that they were placed in a large enough circle round me that
the flames would not touch me; so that, in fact, I should be slowly
roasted instead of burned. I looked about in the vague hope one always
has that something might occur to save me, and my heart gave a jump when
I saw a large body of men coming rapidly down a slope on the other side
of the village. They were not our men, I was sure, but I could not see
who they were; anyhow there might be someone among them who would
interpose to save me from this villain.

"Everyone round me was too interested in what was going on to notice
anything else; and you may be sure that I did not look that way again,
for I knew well enough that if the guerilla had noticed them he would
shoot me at once rather than run any risk of being baulked of his
vengeance. So it was not until they began to enter the village that
anyone noticed the new arrivals. A mounted officer, followed by four
troopers, dashed down ahead and rode up to us, sc