n, and given up to the officer in command of
a Chilian fort on the upland at the foot of the main Cordillera range.
This atrocious transaction might have cost me dear, for as a matter of
fact I was a prisoner in Gaspar Ruiz' camp when he received the news. I
had been captured during a reconnaissance, my escort of a few troopers
being speared by the Indians of his bodyguard. I was saved from the same
fate because he recognised my features just in time. No doubt my friends
thought I was dead, and I would not have given much for my life at any
time. But the strong man treated me very well, because, he said, I had
always believed in his innocence and had tried to serve him when he was
a victim of injustice.

"'And now,' was his speech to me, 'you shall see that I always speak the
truth. You are safe.'

"I did not think I was very safe when I was called up to go to him one
night. He paced up and down like a wild beast, exclaiming, 'Betrayed!
Betrayed!'

"He walked up to me clenching his fists. 'I could cut your throat.'

"'Will that give your wife back to you?' I said as quietly as I could.

"'And the child!' he yelled out, as if mad. He fell into a chair and
laughed in a frightful, boisterous manner. 'Oh, no, you are safe.'

"I assured him that his wife's life was safe too; but I did not say what
I was convinced of--that he would never see her again. He wanted war to
the death, and the war could only end with his death.

"He gave me a strange, inexplicable look, and sat muttering blankly. 'In
their hands. In their hands.'

"I kept as still as a mouse before a cat. Suddenly he jumped up. 'What
am I doing here?' he cried; and opening the door, he yelled out orders
to saddle and mount. 'What is it?' he stammered, coming up to me. 'The
Pequena fort; a fort of palisades! Nothing. I would get her back if she
were hidden in the very heart of the mountain.' He amazed me by adding,
with an effort: 'I carried her off in my two arms while the earth
trembled. And the child at least is mine. She at least is mine!'

"Those were bizarre words; but I had no time for wonder.

"'You shall go with me;' he said violently. 'I may want to parley, and
any other messenger from Ruiz, the outlaw, would have his throat cut.'

"This was true enough. Between him and the rest of incensed mankind
there could be no communication, according to the customs of honour-able
warfare.

"In less than half an hour we were in the saddle, flying wildly