the one at the head of the party that
wanted to have my head cut off, so that, naturally enough, I could not
help betraying my satisfaction at the accident. I was glad they had let
me live another day were it only to see his self-inflicted punishment.

[Illustration: MARTINI-HENRY EXPLODED]

CHAPTER XC

A consultation--Untied from the rack--The most terrible
twenty-four hours of my life--I lose the use of my
feet--Circulation returning--Intense pain--Sports.

THE Pombo, who had been, during the greater part of the afternoon,
looking at me with an air of mingled pity and respect, as though he had
been forced against his will to treat me so brutally, could not help
joining in my laughter at the Lama's sorrowful plight. In a way, I
believe he was rather glad that the accident had happened; for, if he had
until then been uncertain whether to kill me or not, he felt, after what
had occurred, that it was not prudent to attempt it. The gold ring which
had been taken from me on the day of our arrest, and for which I had
asked many times, as it had been given by my mother, was regarded as
possessing miraculous powers as long as it was upon me; and was therefore
kept well away from me, for fear that, with its help, I might break my
bonds and escape. The Pombo, the Lamas and officers held another
consultation, at the end of which, towards sunset, several soldiers came
and loosed my legs from the stretching log; and my hands, though still
manacled, were lowered from the pillar behind.

As the ropes round my ankles were unwound from the deep channels they had
cut into my flesh, large patches of skin came away with them. Thus ended
the most terrible twenty-four hours I have ever passed in my lifetime.

I felt very little relief at first as I lay flat on the ground, for my
body and legs were stiff and as if dead; and, as time went by, and I saw
no signs of their coming back to life, I feared that mortification had
set in, and that I had lost the use of my feet for good. It was two or
three hours before the blood began to circulate in my right foot, and the
pain when it did so was intense. Had a handful of knives been passed
slowly down the inside of my leg the agony could not have been more
excruciating. My arms were not quite so bad: they also were numbed, but
the circulation was more quickly re-established.

In the meanwhile, the Pombo, whether to amuse me or to show off his
riches, ordered about one hu