"I made out from what some of 'em said that their General was going to make a dash on Bolivar, and didn't think we'd be safe at the hacienda. He wanted all his men for the raid, you see, and intended to leave only a few peons to look after the camp and the horses. He couldn't trust them, of course, and I reckon we'd have got away pretty soon if he had left us there. I didn't hear where they were taking us, and when I asked the fellow who led my horse, he only grinned at me like an ape."
"You'd have thought so, wouldn't you? But he wasn't, a bit; or didn't show it. He tried to crack jokes with his man, and it was amusing, though not as he intended, for, as you know, his Spanish wouldn't cover a half-sheet of note-paper. But all the time I could see he was looking round for a chance of escape. However, I managed it, and so far as I know, he didn't. In my case it was sheer luck. Most of the escort were llaneros, fine fellows, too, as near gentlemen as any Venezuelan can be. But the fellow who tied me up was a bumpkin, who made a bungle of the job. I held my wrists so that by giving them a twist afterwards I could loosen the knots: you know the trick."
"Rather! I should have thought O'Connor would have known it too."
"He may or may not. Anyway, we came to a part where the path had a sheer cliff on the one side and a precipice on the other; a sort of steep dell, you know, overgrown with trees and shrubs. The path was so narrow that we had to go in single file, and, as luck would have it, I came last, except one man riding free behind me. Just as we came to the precipice I kind of saw there might be half a chance, so as my bumpkin drew ahead of me--he'd lengthened the leading-rein--I managed to give his horse accidentally a kick in the flank that rather upset his temper. The fellow was in a fright; it looked a nasty drop to the left. Being busy with his horse he dropped the leading-rein. I wrenched my hands free, brought my horse round on his hind legs--for an instant his forelegs were fairly dangling over the precipice--and then drove him straight for the man behind, wedging in between him and the cliff.
"The path was narrow, as I said. There wasn't room for two, and as I'd got the inside, the other fellow simply had to go over the precipice. He went. There was plenty of green stuff to break his fall, and I don't wish him any particular harm. You may guess I didn't wait to give him my kind regards, but made off like the wind. The Chief gave me a cheer. Before I turned the corner that would hide me from the rest, half-a-dozen shots were flying after me, and one of them struck my horse. But he kept on. I got safe to the end of the ledge, and then dived into the forest, where they might have hunted for a month of Sundays without finding me.