Noting that his patient was rounding up nicely, and fearing that he might cry for assistance, Johnny proceeded to make the situation clear to the Filipino. Not daring to use fire arms for fear of bringing a swarm of brown bellies about his ears, he had not yet drawn a revolver. He did so now, however, although with as little intention of using it as ever. Leveling the navy at the wounded man’s head he said: “I don’t know whether you savvy my language or not, Mr. Agramonte, but I reckon you can savvy sign language all right. You saved me a lot o’ trouble when you an’ your partner did the wild cat act on my back. I was sure lookin’ for you, but I didn’t expect to come up with you quite so immediate. Seein’ as how you saved me so much trouble, I’ll give you a tip that’ll save you some. If you open your yap, even to whisper, I’ll scatter your brains all over the province. I’ve got a pressin’ engagement to take you to headquarters, and this is a mighty good place to start from. It’s just about time to mosey, too, for some of your friends is likely to rubber down here to see what’s doin’.” Agramonte evidently “savvied,” but he contented himself with glaring at his conqueror as some captive savage beast might have done. It required little discernment to guess what he would have done to the Americano, had their respective positions been reversed. Still menacing the Filipino with the revolver, Johnny compelled him to struggle to his feet as best he could. Unwinding his lariat he put the noose about his captive’s neck. Thinking evidently that he was about to be hanged and thus receive poetic justice, Agramonte would have cried out, had not his captor suddenly tugged at the lasso, thus choking the sound of alarm in his brown throat. The strangling process was quite effective, and when the noose was loosened the prisoner was as docile as could have been desired. Leaving some six feet of rope between himself and his captive, the sergeant, after adjusting the noose, wound the other end of the lariat about his own body. This done, he said, “Now, Mr. Filipino, you can’t lose me, and if you don’t object we’ll take a little stroll together. Just to be perlite I’ll let you go first, so just mosey right along an’ don’t look back or make any noise. If you bat your eye in a way I don’t like, away’ll go your brains to fertilize the Island of Luzon. It’s us for the river, so skip along, an’ make it lively.”