lic square where
his comrades had been put to death, Indians armed with bows and arrows
standing ready to shoot him if he should halt for a moment. That over,
he would lie exhausted, and almost insensible, on the hard earthen
floor of a hut, the best lodging the chief would allow him.

"At such times Ulelah and her maids would come to him with food,
restoratives, medicines, and words of consolation and encouragement,
all of which helped him to live and endure.

"When Ortiz had been there about nine months the Princess Ulelah came
to him one evening and told him that their religious festival would be
celebrated on the first day of the new moon. Ortiz had heard that the
chief intended to sacrifice him on that occasion and of course he was
sorely distressed at the dreadful prospect before him, and as the time
drew near he tried to prepare his mind for his doom, for he could see
no way of escape. Ulelah told him she had done all she could to induce
her father to spare his life, but could gain nothing more than a
promise to delay the execution of the sentence for a year--on one
condition, that he should keep guard over the cemetery of the tribe,
where, according to the custom of their people, the bodies of the dead
were exposed above ground until the flesh wasted away, leaving only
the naked skeletons.

"The cemetery was about three miles from the village, in an open space
of ground surrounded by forests. The bodies lay on biers on stages
raised several feet above the ground, and it was necessary to keep a
watch over them every night to protect them from the wild beasts of
prey in the surrounding woods. Generally those who were compelled to
keep this watch were criminals under sentence of death, who were
permitted to live, if they could, so long as they performed that duty
faithfully. But they ran great risks from the wild beasts of prey in
the surrounding forests and from effluvia arising from the decaying
bodies.

"It seemed a terrible alternative, but Ortiz took it rather than
suffer immediate death. Ulelah wept over him, and her sympathy abated
something of the horror of his hard fate and helped him to meet it
manfully.

"Next day he was taken to the place by the chief's officers, who gave
him a bow and arrows and other weapons, told him to be vigilant, and
warned him against any attempt to escape.

"His little hut of reeds was in the midst of the cemetery. The stench
was horrible and for several hours overpowere