Quick as lightning the rifles went to the shoulders of the soldiers.
But the stranger was quite prepared for this maneuver.
Like lightning he grasped the Spanish officer and drew him towards himself.
"Now, senor capitan, you are between me and your soldiers. Your late prisoner is behind me. If your men fire, whom will they hit?"
The officer trembled. He saw that it was impossible for his assailant to receive one bullet. The soldiers were also aware of this fact, and so they stood motionless, not daring to fire.
The Spaniard then assumed an air of bravado.
"This is all childish," he said.
"You think so?"
"I know it. You have, by a trick, got me in your power, but for how long?"
"For a sufficient time."