night of intense anxiety on the part of the
prisoners, and, as has been said, more than one unavailing effort to
elude the vigilance of their guards, the morning dawned of the day which
was to see those prisoners begin to die; and with the rising of the sun
the excitement and hilarity of the village became still more pronounced.
The crowds grew more dense, the laughter and conversation louder; the
people had donned their holiday attire--such as it was--and the children
chased each other with joyous shouts in and out of the throng. Then a
meal was brought to the prisoners; and while they were partaking of it a
sudden clamour of drums and horns arose, and the laughing, chattering
crowd seemed to dissolve as suddenly from the vicinity of the prison
hut, leaving it plunged in an atmosphere of silence, save for the
monotonous banging of the drums, the blare of the horns, and a low,
humming murmur which might be that of a multitude of people conversing
in low, hushed voices.

"That means that our time has come, I suppose," remarked Stukely, as he
set down the food of which he had been partaking. "Well, keep up your
courage, lad; and remember that if we are to die we will do so in a
fashion which the Mayubuna will never forget, so long as they are a
people. There are wives now who will be widows before the sun goes
down; for they shall never torture me to death; nor you, either, lad, if
I can help it. We have our hands free, and a Devon man can do much with
his hands alone, when put to it; but my plan is to watch our chance, and
snatch the first weapon that comes to hand, and make play with it. They
will no doubt shoot us down with their arrows, rather than let us
escape; but that kind of death will be infinitely preferable to one of
lingering torture--if die we must."

"Yes," agreed Dick; "and you may depend upon me to--"

He was interrupted by the arrival of a messenger who summoned them and
their guards to follow him; whereupon they rose to their feet and,
completely hedged in by sixteen fully armed men, were marched toward the
centre of the village, ultimately arriving in the square where they had
previously been interviewed by the cacique. And a curious sight the
square presented on this occasion, for it and the long street which ran
through it from end to end of the village were packed with people who
had come, in response to an invitation, from all the villages within a
radius of twenty miles, to see the two whi