y proceeded to knock me down backwards was even greater
than it had been on the previous occasion. But before I had time to feel
it in full, the Lamas, now as ferocious as I had seen them at first,
dragged my manacled arms backwards from under my body and tied a rope to
the chain of the handcuffs. This done, they passed the rope through a
hole in the top of a high post behind me, and by tugging at it, strained
my arms upwards in a way that, had I been less supple, would certainly
have broken them. When all their strength combined could not stretch me
another inch without tearing my body to pieces, they made the rope fast,
and I remained half suspended, and feeling as if all the bones of my
limbs were getting, or had got, pulled out of their sockets. The weight
of the body naturally tending to settle down would, I felt, every moment
increase the suffering of this terrible torture, which was really a
primitive form of the rack.

Mansing was likewise suspended on the other side, his feet remaining tied
to the log to which my own were fastened, only not quite so wide apart.

The pain was at first intense, the tendons of the legs and arms being
dreadfully strained, and the spinal column bent so as nearly to be broken
in two. The shoulder-blades forced into close contact, pressed the
vertebrae inwards, and caused excruciating pains along the lumbar
vertebrae, where the strain was greatest.

[Illustration: THUS ELAPSED TWENTY-FOUR TERRIBLE HOURS]

As if this were not sufficient, a cord was tied from Mansing's neck to
mine, the object of which was to keep our necks stretched in a most
uncomfortable position.

It began to rain heavily, and we were left out in the open. The rags to
which our clothes had been reduced in our struggle when we were first
seized were drenched. Half naked and wounded, we were alternately numbed
with cold and burning with fever. A guard encircled us, having with them
two watch-dogs tied to pegs. The soldiers were apparently so confident of
our inability to escape that they drew their heavy blankets over their
heads and slept. One of them in his slumber moved and pushed his sword
outside the blanket in which he had now rolled himself tight. This
inspired me with the idea of attempting to escape.

Two or three hours later it had become very dark. Thanks to the extremely
supple nature of my hands, I succeeded in drawing the right hand out of
my handcuffs, and, after an hour or so of stealthy and anxio