"No," the Indian answered in a gentle voice, as he turned to her, "but he has been most horribly tortured."
"He! Tortured?" his hearers exclaimed, unanimously.
"Look at his hands," the Carib continued.
The Spaniards uttered a cry of horror and pity at the sight of the poor monk's bleeding and swollen thumbs.
"Oh, it is frightful!" they murmured, sadly.
"Wretch," Don Sancho said in his indignation, "you have brought him to this state!"
The Carib shrugged his shoulders disdainfully.
"The paleface is mad!" he replied; "My brothers do not torture the chiefs of prayer—they respect them. White men, like himself, have inflicted this atrocious punishment upon him."
"Explain yourself, in Heaven's name," Doña Clara continued; "how is it that we find this worthy monk here in such a pitiable state?"
"It will be better to let him explain himself when he has regained his senses. Omopoua knows but little."