t. It was high enough to hang the tallest
man. With his hands free, and a cord in them, it would do. There was
cord enough on them for the purpose, for they were bound by several
varas of a raw-hide thong.

To the fastenings his attention was now directed; when, to his surprise
and delight, he perceived that the thong had become slack and loose!
The hot sweat, pouring from his hands and wrists, had saturated the
raw-hide, causing it to melt and yield; and his desperate exertions,
made mechanically under the influence of agony and half-madness, had
stretched it for inches! A slight examination of the fastenings
convinced him of the possibility of his undoing them; and to this he
applied himself with all the strength find energy of a desperate man.
Had his hands been tied in front, he might have used his teeth in the
endeavour to set them free; but they were bound fast together across his
back. He pulled and wrenched them with all his strength.

If there is a people in the world who understand better than any other
the use of ropes or thongs, that people is the Spanish-American. The
Indian must yield to them in this knowledge, and even the habile sailor
makes but a clumsy knot in comparison. No people so well understand how
to bind a captive _without iron_, and the captive outlaw had been tied
to perfection.

But neither ropes of hemp nor hide will secure a man of superior
strength and resolution. Give such an one but time to operate, and he
will be certain to free himself. Carlos knew that he needed but time.

The effect produced by the moistening of the raw-hide was such, that
short time sufficed. In less than ten minutes it slipped from his
wrists, and his hands were free!

He drew the thong through his fingers to clear it of loops and snarls.
He fashioned one end into a noose; and, mounting upon the banqueta,
knotted the other over the beam. He then placed the noose around his
naked threat--calculating the height at which it should hang when drawn
taut by the weight of his body! and, placing himself on the elevated
edge of the banqueta, he was prepared to spring out--

"Let me look on them once more before I die--poor victims!--once more!"

The position he occupied was nearly in front of the embrasure, and he
had only to lean a little to one side to get a view of the Plaza. He
did so.

He could not see them; but he saw that the attention of the crowd was
directed towards that angle of the square a