Name: A Set of Six
Author: Conrad, Joseph

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and that this offer was accepted. “While on her way to Mendoza over the Pequena Pass she was betrayed by her escort of Carreras’ men, and given up to the officer in command of a Chilian fort on the upland at the foot of the main Cordillera range. This atrocious transaction might have cost me dear, for as a matter of fact I was a prisoner in Gaspar Ruiz’ camp when he received the news. I had been captured during a reconnaissance, my escort of a few troopers being speared by the Indians of his bodyguard. I was saved from the same fate because he recognized my features just in time. No doubt my friends thought I was dead, and I would not have given much for my life at any time. But the strong man treated me very well, because, he said, I had always believed in his innocence and had tried to serve him when he was a victim of injustice. “‘And now,’ was his speech to me, ‘you shall see that I always speak the truth. You are safe.’ “I did not think I was very safe when I was called up to go to him one night. He paced up and down like a wild beast, exclaiming, ‘Betrayed! Betrayed!’ “He walked up to me clenching his fists. ‘I could cut your throat.’ “‘Will that give your wife back to you?’ I said as quietly as I could. “‘And the child!’ he yelled out, as if mad. He fell into a chair and laughed in a frightful, boisterous manner. ‘Oh, no, you are safe.’ “I assured him that his wife’s life was safe, too; but I did not say what I was convinced of—that he would never see her again. He wanted war to the death, and the war could only end with his death. “He gave me a strange, inexplicable look, and sat muttering blankly, ‘In their hands. In their hands.’ “I kept as still as a mouse before a cat. “Suddenly he jumped up. ‘What am I doing here?’ he cried; and opening the door, he yelled out orders to saddle and mount. ‘What is it?’ he stammered, coming up to me. ‘The Pequena fort; a fort of palisades! Nothing. I would get her back if she were hidden in the very heart of the mountain.’ He amazed me by adding, with an effort: ‘I carried her off in my two arms while the earth trembled. And the child at least is mine. She at least is mine!’ “Those were bizarre words; but I had no time for wonder. “‘You shall go with me,’ he said, violently. ‘I may want to parley, and

A Set of Six

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