"Here he is, Excellency."
"Ah! this is the mule. Now, mule, answer my question: where is your master's boat?"
Will waited tensely: not a word came from the boy's lips. There was the sound of a blow.
"Answer me," shouted the General, "or I will have you flogged. Where is the boat?"
"I cannot tell, señor," said the boy.
"Dog, do you call his Excellency 'señor'!" cried Espejo; and again there came the sound of a blow. "Where is the boat?"
"I have a thought? Excellency," said Machado suddenly, as the boy was silent. "I will try the electric battery: that will make him speak."
"Caramba! you had better make him speak somehow, or I'll flay him alive. Are my plans to be ruined by a dog of a negro? Take him away, and shock it out of him."
Will quivered as he heard the boy cry out: one of the three had struck him again. But Machado was dragging José from the room: where was he taking him? Will did not know of the temporary cabin erected for the telegraphist at the railway line a few hundred yards away: surely, he thought, Machado did not intend to convey the boy at this time of night to the old camp five miles distant. Yet he had seen no wire connecting the line with the house. It flashed upon him that if Machado left the house, and was not accompanied by any of the officers, an opportunity of rescue might offer. Quick as thought he slipped across the bedroom into the dressing-room and out on to the veranda. Running round to the back of the house, he stood in a dark corner to watch. Presently he saw Machado issue forth with José from the door in the servants' quarter. The boy's hands were tied.
Machado dragged him across the garden towards the railway line. Waiting a few moments to make sure that no one was accompanying them, Will followed quietly, losing them from sight as they passed through a shrubbery. He could not risk discovery by Machado yet, for a cry would bring a crowd in pursuit. Quickening his steps, he saw the two proceeding towards a cabin just below the railway embankment. A light shone through a small square opening in the wall. Machado lifted the rough latch, pushed his victim into the cabin, entered after him, and shut the door. Will hurried to the unglazed window, and just as he reached it heard Machado say--