"Where do you suppose we are, Punch?"
"Don't quite know," was the reply. "Chap can't think with his arms
strapped behind him and his wrists aching sometimes as if they were sawn
off and at other times being all pins and needles. Can you think?"
"Not very clearly; and it has been too dark to see much. But where
should you say we are? Quite in a new part of the country?"
"No; I think we came nearly over the same ground as we were going after
we left that good old chap's cottage; and if we waited till it was quite
daylight, and we could start off, I think I could find my way back to
where we left the old man."
"So do I," said Pen eagerly. "That must be the mountain that the
_contrabandista_ captain took us up in the darkness."
"Why, that's what I was thinking," said Punch; "and if we had gone on a
little farther I think we should have got to the place where the
Frenchies attacked us. Of course I ain't sure, because it was all in
the darkness. But, I say, Mr Contrabando and his fellows have given up
the pursuit. I haven't heard anything of them for hours now."
"No," said Pen; "we may be sure that they have given it up, else we
shouldn't be halted here. I fancy, Punch--but, like you, I can't be
sure--that the Frenchmen have been making for the place where they
surprised us after being driven down the mountain pass."
"That's it," said Punch; "and our friends, after beating off the enemy,
have gone back to their what-you-may-call-it quarters--mine, didn't they
call it?"
"Yes."
"Well, then, that's what we have got to do--get away from here and go
back and join Mr Contrabando again."
"Impossible, Punch, even if we were free."
"Not it! Why, I could do it in the dark if I could only get rid of
these straps, now that the Frenchies are beaten."
"Not beaten, Punch; only driven back, and I feel pretty sure in thinking
it out that they have come to a halt here in what I dare say is a good,
strong place where they can defend themselves and wait for
reinforcements before attacking again."
"Oh, they won't do that," said Punch roughly. "They had such a sickener
last night."
"Well, I can't be sure," said Pen; "but as far as I can make out they
have a lot of wounded men lying about here in this bit of a valley, and
there are hundreds of them camped down about the fires. They wouldn't
have lit those fires if it hadn't been a strong place."
"I suppose not," said Punch. "I never thought of that. Because they
would have been afraid to show the smugglers where they were, and it
sounded when they were talking as if there were hundreds and hundreds of
them--regiments, I think. One couldn't see in the night, but while I
was lying awake I thought there were thousands of them."
"Say hundreds, Punch. Well, I haven't spoken to you much lately, for I
thought you were asleep."
"Asleep! Not me! That's what I thought about you; and I hoped you was,
so that you could forget what a muddle we got into. Well, I don't know
how you feel now, but what I want to do is to get away from here."
"Don't talk so loud," said Pen; "there are those fellows on sentry, and
they keep on coming very near now and then."
"That don't matter," said Punch, "they can't understand what we talk
about. What do you say to having a go at getting our arms loose?"
"They would find it out, and only bind us up again."
"Yes, if we stopped to let 'em see."
"Then you think we could get away, Punch?"
"To be sure I do; only we should have to crawl. And the sooner the
better, for once it gets light the sentries will have a shot at us, and
we have had enough of that. I say, though, didn't they pick us up
because they thought we were wounded?"
"The men did; and then one of the officers saw our uniforms and that we
were the two who had been taken prisoners when they made their rush."
"Oh, that was it, was it?" said Punch. "Well, what do you say? Hadn't
we better make a start?"
"How?" said Pen. "I have been trying again and again to get my arms
loose, and I am growing more helpless than ever."
Punch gave a low grunt, raised his head a little, and tried to look
round and pierce the darkness, seeing very little though but the fact
that they were surrounded by wounded men, for the most part asleep,
though here and there was one who kept trying to move himself into an
easier position, but only to utter a low moan and relapse into a state
of semi-insensibility.
About a dozen paces away, though, he could just make out one of the
sentries leaning upon his musket and with his back to them. Satisfied
with his scrutiny, Punch shifted his position a little, drawing himself
into a position where he could get his lips close to his companion's
ear.
"Look here," he said, "can you bite?"
"Bite! Nonsense! Who could think of eating now?"
"Tchah!" whispered Punch, "who wants to eat? I have been wiggling
myself about quietly ever since they set me down, and I have got my
hands a bit loose. Now, I am just going to squirm myself a bit farther
and turn over when I have got my hands about opposite your mouth, and I
want you to set-to with your teeth and try hard to draw the tongue of
the strap out of the buckle, for it's so loose now that I think you
could do it."
"Ah! I'll try, Punch," whispered Pen.
"Then if you try," said the boy, "you'll do it. I know what you are."
"Don't talk, then," replied Pen excitedly, "but turn over at once. Why
didn't you think of this before? We might have tried at once, and had a
better chance, for it will be light before long."
"Didn't think of it. My arms hurt so that they made me stupid."
Giving himself a wrench, the boy managed to move forward a little,
turned over, and then worked himself so that he placed his bandaged
wrists close to his comrade's mouth, and then lay perfectly still, for
the sentry turned suddenly as if he had heard the movement.
Apparently satisfied, though, that all was well, he changed his position
again, and then, to the great satisfaction of the two prisoners, he
shouldered his musket and began to pace up and down, coming and going,
and halting at last at the far end of his beat.
Then, full of doubt but eager to make an effort, Pen set to work, felt
for the buckle, and after several tries got hold of the strap in his
teeth, tugging at it fiercely and with his heart sinking more and more
at every effort, for he seemed to make no progress.
Twice over, after tremendous efforts that he half-fancied loosened his
teeth, he gave up what seemed to be an impossibility; but he was roused
upon each occasion by an impatient movement on the part of Punch.
"It's of no use," he thought. "I am only punishing myself more and
more;" and, fixing his teeth firmly once more in the leather, he gave
one shake and tug such as a wild beast might have done in worrying an
enemy. With one final drag he jerked his head back and lay still with
his jaws throbbing and the sensation upon him that he had injured
himself so that several of his teeth had given way.
"It's no good. It's of no use, Punch," he said to himself; for the boy
shook his wrists sharply as if to urge him to begin again. "I can't do
it, and I won't try;" when to his astonishment he felt that his comrade
was moving and had forced himself back with a low, dull, rustling sound
so that he could place his lips to his ear again; and to Pen's surprise
the boy whispered, "That last did it, and I got the strap quite loose.
My! How my wrists do ache! Just wait a bit, and then I will pull you
over on to your face and have a turn at yours."
Pen felt too much confused to believe that his companion had succeeded,
but he lay perfectly still, with his teeth still aching violently, till
all at once he felt Punch's hands busy about him, and he was jerked over
upon his face.
Then he felt that the boy had raised himself up a little as if to take
an observation of their surroundings before busying himself with the
straps that bound his numbed wrists.
"Lie still," was whispered, "don't flinch; but I have got my knife out,
and I am going to shove it under the strap. Don't holloa if it hurts."
Pen set his aching teeth hard, and the next minute he felt the point of
the long Spanish clasp-knife which his comrade carried being thrust
beneath one of the straps.
"He will cut me," thought Pen, for he knew that the pressure of the
strap had made his flesh swell so that the leather was half-bedded in
his arm; but setting his teeth harder--the pain he felt there was more
intense--while, when the knife-blade was being forced under the strap he
only suffered a dull sensation, and then grew conscious that as the
knife was being thrust beneath the strap it steadily divided the bond,
so that directly after there was a dull sound and the blade had forced
its way so thoroughly that the severed portions fell apart; sensation
was so much dulled in the numbed limbs that he was hardly conscious of
what had been done, but he knew that one extremely tight ligature had
ceased its duty, though he could hardly grasp the idea that one of his
bonds was cut.
Then a peculiar throbbing sensation came on, so painful that it diverted
the lad's attention from the continuation of Punch's task, and before he
could thoroughly grasp it Pen found that the sharp blade had been thrust
under another strap, dividing it so that the leather fell apart, and he
was free.
But upon his making an effort to put this to the proof it seemed as if
his arms were like two senseless pieces of wood; but only for a few
minutes, till they began to prove themselves limbs which were bearers of
the most intense agony.
_Click_! went Punch's closing knife-blade; and then he whispered,
"That's done it! Now, when you are ready, lead off right between those
sleeping chaps. Creep, you know, in case the sentry looks round."
"A minute first," whispered Pen; "my arms are like lead."
"So's mine. I say, don't they ache?"
Pen made no reply, but lay breathing hard for a time; and then, raising
his head a little so as to make sure of the safest direction to take, he
turned towards his comrade and whispered, "Now then: off!"