, he tried to roll his head, he held his breath
until his face grew purple and his eyes bulged. He strained like a man
upon the rack. The bed creaked to his muscular contortions; the rope
tightened. It was terribly cruel, this crushing of a strong will bent
on resistance to the uttermost; but never was an executioner more
pitiless, never did a prisoner's agony receive less consideration. The
warm water spilled over Jose's face, it drenched his neck and chest;
his joints cracked as he strove for freedom and tried to twist his head
out of Law's iron grasp. The seconds dragged, until finally Nature
asserted herself. The imprisoned breath burst forth; there sounded a
loud gurgling cry and a choking inhalation. Jose's body writhed with
the convulsions of drowning as the water and air were sucked into his
lungs. Law was kneeling over his victim now, his weight and strength so
applied that Jose had no liberty of action and could only drink,
coughing and fighting for air. Somehow he managed to revive himself
briefly and again shut his teeth; but a moment more and he was again
retched with the furious battle for air, more desperate now than
before. After a while Law freed his victim's nostrils and allowed him a
partial breath, then once more crushed the mouthpiece against his lips.
By and by, to relieve his torture, Jose began to drink in great noisy
gulps, striving to empty the vessel.

But the stomach's capacity is limited. In time Jose felt himself
bursting; the liquid began to regurgitate. This was not mere pain that
he suffered, but the ultimate nightmare horror of a death more awful
than anything he had ever imagined. Jose would have met a bullet, a
knife, a lash, without flinching; flames would not have served to
weaken his resolve; but this slow drowning was infinitely worse than
the worst he had thought possible; he was suffocating by long, black,
agonizing minutes. Every nerve and muscle of his body, every cell in
his bursting lungs, fought against the outrage in a purely physical
frenzy over which his will power had no control. Nor would
insensibility come to his relief--Law watched him too carefully for
that. He could not even voice his sufferings by shrieks; he could only
writhe and retch and gurgle while the ropes bit into his flesh and his
captor knelt upon him like a monstrous stone weight.

But Jose had made a better fight than he knew. The canteen ran dry at
last, and Law was forced to release his hold.

"Wi