much too small
to admit of the passage of even a little boy. In trying to enlarge it,
he found, to his dismay, that on one side of it was an enormous beam, on
the other a mass of solid masonry, which could not be moved without aid.
Looking out, he saw nothing but confused heaps of smoking ruins, save
in one direction, where, in the far distance, (for the hotel had stood
on a mound), he could see a group of men engaged as if searching for
something.

To these he shouted again, but did not attract their attention. Either
they did not hear him, or did not care. Turning then to the beam, he
tried with all his might to raise it, but failed, though it moved
slightly. Encouraged by hope, and afterwards influenced by despair, he
tried again and again, until his strength broke down.

At this juncture he heard footsteps, and saw a man passing near.

"Senhor! senhor!" he cried, in the best Spanish he could muster, "aid me
to get out, for the love of God!"

A coarse insult was the only reply as the man passed on. A group of
other men who passed soon after behaved as badly, for they only laughed
at his entreaties.

It is difficult to say whether rage or indignation was more powerful in
Lawrence's heart, but both passions were equally unavailing in the
circumstances. He felt this, and soon calmed down; so that when, half
an hour later, another man passed that way, he addressed him in tones of
respect and earnest entreaty.

The bandit, for such he was, seemed to be utterly unaffected; for
although he must certainly have heard the appeal, he, like the others,
passed on without taking the slightest notice.

"Senhor! senhor!" cried Lawrence, "I have a gold watch and chain, to
which you--"

The man stopped, for the bait took at once. Turning, and walking
towards the place from which the sound came, he soon found the hole
through which our hero looked.

"Hand out the watch, senhor," he said.

"No, no," answered Lawrence; "aid me first to lift the beam."

Whether the man understood the bad Spanish or not we cannot say, but
instead of helping to lift the beam, he drew a pistol from his belt, and
said--

"Hand out the watch, or I shoot!"

"Shoot away, then," cried Lawrence, savagely, as he drew quickly back
into his hole.

The report of the pistol followed the words, and the ball caused a cloud
of dust and rubbish to mingle with the smoke.

A wild laugh of defiance from within told that our Englishman was not
hurt