tively looking out for some
method of breaking away. It was a narrow pass in which the brigands had
their outpost. It was bounded on the one hand by a steep mountain side.
On the other the ground fell away in a very long slope, which ended in a
bushy valley many hundreds of feet below. These fellows, you understand,
were hardy mountaineers, who could travel either up hill or down very
much quicker than I. They wore abarcas, or shoes of skin, tied on like
sandals, which gave them a foothold everywhere. A less resolute man
would have despaired. But in an instant I saw and used the strange
chance which Fortune had placed in my way. On the very edge of the slope
was one of the wine-barrels. I moved slowly toward it, and then with a
tiger spring I dived into it feet foremost, and with a roll of my body I
tipped it over the side of the hill.

Shall I ever forget that dreadful journey--how I bounded and crashed
and whizzed down that terrible slope? I had dug in my knees and elbows,
bunching my body into a compact bundle so as to steady it; but my head
projected from the end, and it was a marvel that I did not dash out my
brains. There were long, smooth slopes, and then came steeper scarps
where the barrel ceased to roll, and sprang into the air like a goat,
coming down with a rattle and crash which jarred every bone in my body.
How the wind whistled in my ears, and my head turned and turned until I
was sick and giddy and nearly senseless! Then, with a swish and a great
rasping and crackling of branches, I reached the bushes which I had seen
so far below me. Through them I broke my way, down a slope beyond, and
deep into another patch of underwood, where, striking a sapling, my
barrel flew to pieces. From amid a heap of staves and hoops I crawled
out, my body aching in every inch of it, but my heart singing loudly
with joy and my spirit high within me, for I knew how great was the feat
which I had accomplished, and I already seemed to see the beacon blazing
on the hill.

A horrible nausea had seized me from the tossing which I had undergone,
and I felt as I did upon the ocean when first I experienced those
movements of which the English have taken so perfidious an advantage. I
had to sit for a few moments with my head upon my hands beside the ruins
of my barrel. But there was no time for rest.

Already I heard shouts above me which told that my pursuers were
descending the hill. I dashed into the thickest part of the underwoo