ond a
certain point. You will get nothing out of him, that is plain; he
is past speech now."

"The Chief will make him find his tongue," said Dowsett with a
cruel sneer; "this is only a foretaste of what he will get when the
Fire Eater returns.

"Take him down then, men. 'Twere a pity to kill him too soon. Keep
him safe, and we will see what the Chief says to him tomorrow."

Paul heard this as in a dream, although a merciful
semi-consciousness had deadened him to the worst of the pain. He
felt himself unbound and carried roughly along down some dark
passage, as he fancied. There was a grating noise, as if a door had
turned on its hinges, and then he was flung down on what seemed
like a heap of straw, and left alone in pitchy darkness.

For a time he lay just as he had been thrown, in the same trance of
semi-consciousness; but after what had appeared to him a very long
time, he beheld as if a long way off a glimmering light, which
approached nearer and nearer, though he was too dizzy and faint to
heed its movements much. But it certainly approached quite close to
him--he saw as much through his half-closed eyelids--and then a
voice addressed him, a soft, sweet voice, strangely unlike those he
had just been hearing.

"Are you indeed Paul Stukely?" asked the voice.

The sound of his name aroused him, and he made a great effort to
see through the mists that seemed to hang over his eyes. A sweet
and very lovely face was hanging over him. He thought he must be
dreaming, and he asked faintly, hardly knowing what he said:

"Is it an angel?"

"Oh no, I am no angel, but only the daughter of the Chief; and I
want to help you, because I have heard of you before, and I cannot
bear that they should kill you by inches, as I know they will do if
you stay here. See, they are all fast asleep now, and there is no
chance of my father's return tonight. I have brought you your
clothes, and Madge has given me some rag steeped in a concoction of
herbs of her own making, which will wonderfully ease your wounds if
you will let me lay it on them. Old Madge is a wonderful leech, and
she cannot bear their cruel doings any more than I can, and she
said you were a brave lad, and she made you some soup, which I will
fetch for you to hearten you up for your journey. For you must get
away from here before morning, or nothing can save you from a
terrible fate.

"See now, do not your poor shoulders feel better for this dressing?
If you can p