dding to my torments. If you will raise me to my knees perhaps I
can manage to crawl to--Ah, good! I have him! Quick, Jose, help me!
He is strong as a horse, and--So, that is right; now kneel upon him
while I lash his wrists together. And Miguel,"--as the man I had left
in the road a minute before came running up--"take the gun and those
pistols, they will be safer in your hands than in his."

The surprise was perfectly managed. Completely taken off my guard by
the admirably assumed helplessness of the three scoundrels, I was easily
captured. For as I incautiously laid down my gun for a moment to place
my hands under the arms of the moaning hypocrite who had begged me to
assist him, the rascal flung his arms and legs round me, pinning me in a
grip that for the moment held me helpless, and dragged me to the ground,
rolling over on top of me, while the other, springing with equal
suddenness into vigorous life and activity, also flung himself upon me
and held me face downward in the sandy soil while his comrade swiftly
bound my hands behind my back with the long silken sash which he had
rapidly unwound from his waist. While he was doing this up came the
third man, who had been so dreadfully afraid of being devoured alive by
the ants, and took possession of my weapons. Now, when it was too late,
the truth dawned upon me; the villains, far from being seriously hurt,
were as sound as I was, and had simply been left behind in feigned
helplessness upon the off-chance that some one of the whites might
incautiously venture out, as I had done, with the object of ascertaining
where the retreating brigands were actually going, and thus be captured.

Oh! how I execrated my folly, now that it was too late, and I was being
hurried along the rough path by the jubilant trio who had captured me
and who were in a great hurry to rejoin the main body of outlaws. And
how fervently I hoped and prayed that none of the rest of the whites at
Bella Vista might be as foolish as I had been. My thoughts went back to
the wounded men lying scattered here and there round the house and
within musket-shot of it, and for a moment my soul sickened with dread
as I thought of what might happen if they too were merely shamming. But
the fear was only momentary; I remembered that the hurts of every one of
them were visibly, indisputably real, serious enough to disable and
render them harmless; and I hoped that my failure to return would put
the whole