through the man's scheming, treacherous heart. Then, as a
great roar of dismay and execration arose from the assemblage, he
quickly withdrew his reeking weapon from the quivering body and, hastily
wrapping his cloak about his left arm, leaped to the wall, placed his
back to it, and prepared to sell his life as dearly as might be.

He gave himself about half a minute more to live; for what could he
single-handed do against the swordsmen, to say nothing of the rest of
that howling, bloodthirsty crowd who now came surging toward him. They
could overwhelm him in a moment, by sheer force of numbers! But as the
swordsmen sprang upon the dais, with gleaming eyes and threatening
points, the voice of Huanacocha rang through the chamber as he shouted:

"Take the young fool alive, and harm him not, as you value your lives!
He has slain the Villac Vmu; and for that reason, if for no other, he
must pass through the fire. Hem him in, take his weapon from him, and
then bind him hand and foot!"

It was, however, very much easier to give that order than to obey it;
for Escombe had always been passionately fond of sword-play--to such an
extent, indeed, that he had placed himself in the hands of a certain
well-known _maitre d'armes_ in Westminster, and had been pronounced by
that gentleman to be his most promising pupil--so now, with a tolerably
good weapon in his hand, and his back to a solid, substantial wall, he
felt quite in the mood and form to put up an excellent fight.

The swordsmen closed in round him and, as by tacit consent, flung
themselves upon him in a huddled mob, with the evident intention of
bearing him to the ground by sheer preponderance of numbers. But the
next instant three of them recoiled, shrieking, with their faces slashed
open, as Harry met their charge with a sweeping circular cut from left
to right. Then a fourth man staggered and fell with a ghastly wound in
his throat, while the rest drew back in dismay and wonder at a feat of
swordsmanship that to their comparatively untrained minds seemed to
savour strongly of either magic or the supernatural. As to Escombe, he
took a long breath, and told himself that perhaps, with luck, he might
be able to hold out for as much as five minutes; for that first
encounter, brief though it was, showed him that these men had not the
remotest idea of how to handle a sword, while as for himself, he had no
sooner gripped the hilt of his weapon than he felt all the keen d