A burst of ribald laughter rang through the gloomy cavern, echoing on the rocky roof, and drowning for the moment the roar of the cascade.
I saw an angry frown gather upon Ned Burton’s brow, and a flush mount into his cheeks, and felt sure that he was itching to feel his fingers around the throat of my assailant. It would have gone hard with the latter if my brawny coxswain had been free from his lashings. As it was, he had to chafe under the heavy yoke of enforced inactivity, and I had to do the same.
It must have been shortly after this that, in spite of my strange surroundings, I fell fast asleep, and was lost in the world of happy dreams.
It was the sleep of exhaustion, of tired-out nerves, of a bewildered brain. Nature, kindly dame, comes to our rescue on these occasions; and deeply grateful ought we to be to her for her loving care of us.
I do not know at all how long I had been slumbering in the arms of Morpheus, when I was awakened by a hideous uproar—by a perfect babel of angry, excited shouts and vindictive yells.
With my head in a whirl, and scarcely realizing where I was, I strove to rise to my feet. At that instant, however, I felt the cold muzzle of a pistol pressed against my temples, and heard a torrent of angry invective from one of my sentinels.
CHAPTER XIII.
NED IS FLOGGED.
The cold barrel of the pistol quickly brought me to myself; but I felt strangely bewildered. The glare of many torches was in my eyes, and was reflected on the irregular roof and walls of the giant cave with a strange and weird effect. These flickering rays of light also glinted with an almost dazzling brightness on the muskets and other weapons that lay about, and fell in a more subdued fashion on the fierce-looking visages of about a score of the inmates of the cavern, who had unconsciously assumed highly-dramatic attitudes. All had sprung to their feet, and some had drawn pistols from their belts, whilst others waved the bright blades of swords over their heads.
The chief did not appear to be present, as far as I could tell in the confusion, nor did I see his savage-looking dog; but one individual, whose face seemed strangely familiar to me, was standing somewhat apart from the others. He was talking loudly in a high-pitched voice, and seemed to be in a very excited state of mind, using a great deal of gesticulation, and pouring forth what sounded uncommonly like the language of menace.
Where had I previously seen that swarthy, unprepossessing face, those cruel eyes, that tall ungainly form?