"Joaquin! In heaven's name show mercy! If you do this thing, you kill my love for you at a single stroke."
"Ha! ha! ha!"
He pushed her roughly away from him.
"At least do not torture him," she cried. "At least spare him that, I beg, I implore."
"And all because he has stolen your affection from me," he cried, with jealous intensity. "Yes, I will spare him; another word from you, and I will burn out his eyes!"
With a scream, the young woman covered her face with her hands and staggered away from the scene.
"Where is that horseshoe?" the enraged captain demanded. "Put these torches together, and lay it on them till it is heated. I will make an example of Deadwood Dick that will be a warning to all other detectives to steer clear of Captain Joaquin!"
The horseshoe was handed forward, and the torches were placed together as ordered, and the iron laid upon them. Then, while two of the cutthroats fanned the blaze with their hats, two more threw Dick to the ground and tore open his shirt in front, baring his breast.
Wonderful to say, Dick had received no broken bones by his fall down the ragged side of the cliff.
He had spoken no word, seeing the uselessness of it.