We were placed in two ranks, "endways," in such a manner that the heads of the front-rank men rested between the feet of their respective "rears." As there were six of us in all, we formed three files, with short intervals between. Our attitudes and fastenings left us without the power of moving a limb. The only member over which we had any control was the head; and this, thanks to the flexibility of our necks, we could turn about, so as to see what was going on in front or on either side of us. As soon as we were fairly staked down, I had the curiosity to raise my head and look around me. I found that I was "rear rank, right file," and that my file leader was the _ci-devant_ soldier O'Cork. The Indian guards, after having stripped us of most of our clothing, left us; and the girls and squaws now began to crowd around. I noticed that they were gathering in front of my position, and forming a dense circle around the Irishman. I was struck with their ludicrous gestures, their strange exclamations, and the puzzled expression of their countenances. "Ta--yah! Ta--yah!" cried they, and the whole crowd burst into shrill screams of laughter. What could it mean? Barney was evidently the subject of their mirth; but what was there about him to cause it, more than about any of the rest of us? I raised my head to ascertain: the riddle was solved at once. One of the Indians, in going off, had taken the Irishman's cap with him, and the little, round, red head was exposed to view. It lay midway between my feet, like a luminous ball, and I saw that it was the object of diversion. By degrees, the squaws drew nearer, until they were huddled up in a thick crowd around the body of our comrade. At length one of them stooped and touched the head, drawing back her fingers with a start and a gesture, as though she had burned them. This elicited fresh peals of laughter, and very soon all the women of the village were around the Irishman, "scroodging" one another to get a closer view. None of the rest of us were heeded, except to be liberally trampled upon; and half a dozen big, heavy squaws were standing upon my limbs, the better to see over one another's shoulders. As there was no great stock of clothing to curtain the view, I could see the Irishman's head gleaming like a meteor through the forest of ankles. After a while the squaws grew less delicate in their touch; and catching hold of the short, stiff bristles, endeavoured to pluck them out, all the while screaming with laughter. I was neither in the state of mind nor the attitude to enjoy a joke; but there was a language in the back of Barney's head, an expression of patient endurance, that would have drawn smiles from a gravedigger; and Sanchez and the others were laughing aloud. For a long time our comrade endured the infliction, and remained silent; but at length it became too painful for his patience, and he began to speak out.