m Christianity to their own faith. When we had been so
rudely separated that day, after our interview with the Priest Captain,
he, and El Sabio with him, had been hurried up the stairs to the temple,
and thence to the Treasure-house; and there, though not in the part of
it in which we then were, he had been ever since confined. Strong
measures certainly had been taken to make a heathen of him. He had been
starved for a while, and he had been deprived of water, and he had been
cruelly scourged, and very harrowing presentments had been made to him
of the death that he must die should he much longer refuse to yield.
That the lad had remained firm in his faith, he told us, sobbing a
little at memory of his hardships, was because of the sorrow that he
knew his yielding would bring upon Fray Antonio and upon me; which
certainly was not the reason that Fray Antonio most would have approved,
but it did not in the least detract from the steady courage that he had
shown in holding out firmly under pressure that would have made many a
man succumb. In all the time that so many cruelties had been practised
upon him, only one man had shown him kindness--an old man, who seemed to
be in charge of the archives that the Treasure-house contained, who
twice had risked his own life by secretly giving him water and food. But
he never had been separated from El Sabio, Pablo said joyfully, in
conclusion, nor had his mouth-organ been taken away from him; and these
blessings had done much to lessen the misery that he was compelled to
bear.

When, in our turn, Rayburn and Young and I had told of the far more
stirring adventures that we had passed through, and of our high hopes
seemingly so well founded that had suffered so dismal a downfall, we all
of us wisely refrained from speculating at all upon the future; instead
of which profitless and painful topic we strove to speak cheerfully of
indifferent matters; and this we did not only that we might the better
keep our hearts up, but that we might not excite Rayburn, who already
was in a dangerously feverish condition by reason of his wound. But,
though we spoke not of it, we none of us doubted what our fate would be;
nor did we imagine that the death that surely awaited us would be long
delayed.

It was a source of wonder to us, therefore, that day after day went by
without bringing the end that we so confidently expected. From the man
who brought us our food we could learn nothing; but this was