CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
IN THE TORTURE-CHAMBER OF VERA CRUZ.
Both lads felt their hearts stop beating, and a cold chill seized theirbodies as they heard the footsteps pass other cell doors withoutpausing, and continue down the passage towards their own.
Those dreadful cries still rang in their ears, and they felt that if theapproaching person was coming to conduct them also to the torture, theycould not bear it. They were still, it must be remembered, only lads,and the sound of those cries of agony had racked their nerves--as theymight those of much older men--more than they themselves knew.
They felt their very hair rising on their scalps, and a sensation ofdeadly sickness and faintness swept over them.
Harry was the first to recover his presence of mind, and he spoke toRoger.
"Come, come, Roger, lad," said he; "pull yourself together, my friend.If they are indeed coming for us, we must make up our minds to endure itas best we can, even as we have done before. And perchance we aremistaken, and they do not intend to torture us at all."
Roger came out of his dismal reverie of foreboding, and his face becameonce more immobile. A few heartbeats and he was as well prepared asHarry for what might happen.
Once, for a moment, the footsteps paused, and their hearts gave a greatbound of thankfulness. The messenger, then, was not coming for themafter all!
Their sensation of relief, however, was of but brief duration.
After a pause, lasting but a few moments, those inexorable footstepsresumed their approach once more, and nearer and nearer they came towardthe door of the last cell.
Roger and Harry glanced at one another, rose from their respectivestools, and stood upright facing the door. They had just time to giveeach other a firm and reassuring hand-clasp, when the key grated in therusty lock outside, the bolts were slipped back with a grinding noise,and the door creaked open on its hinges, disclosing, against thesemi-darkness of the long corridor, the form of a man, robed from headto foot in black. Even his head and face were invisible, covered by akind of black cloth helmet terminating in a peak, and with two slits cutin it for the eyes. Through these slits they could discern a pair offiery orbs, shining like those of a cat in the darkness, looking full atthem, as though to read their inmost thoughts.
If the mysterious visitor anticipated seeing any signs of alarm on thelads' faces, he was disappointed, for the two stood up facing him, andgave him back glance for glance.
Just for a single instant the same thought leapt through both theirbrains: "Why not make a rush, knock the dark visitant down and stun him,and attempt to find our way out of the building before aught isdiscovered?" Indeed they both exchanged glances at that instant.
It seemed, however, as though the masked man read their thoughts; for,stepping to one side of the door, he pointed silently down the corridor,and there they saw what at first they had not observed, namely, a fileof similarly masked figures on each side of the passage, standingagainst the walls, with naked swords in their hands.
It was of no use. Escape that way was, on the face of it, hopeless.The masked messenger read the expression on the boys' faces as theylooked, and they could have sworn that a cruel smile lurked behind thatblack mask. Then came a voice from the figure, in pure English, withouta trace of any foreign accent:
"You are both required to attend a scene of punishment. It is the orderof the Grand Inquisitor, and you are required to witness it as earnestof what you yourselves will undergo here should you be foolish enough todisobey, or in any way attempt to thwart, the wishes or designs of theHoly Inquisition." Here he crossed himself. "A warning is but seldomgiven to heretics; so accept this one as it is meant; for your own goodI tell you this. Now follow me, and be careful that you make no attemptat escape, for it is absolutely impossible for you to succeed, and youwould but bring a heavy punishment on yourselves. And, above all,whatever you see or hear, keep a still tongue in your heads; do notpresume to speak to anyone where you are going. If you obey implicitlyit may be that you will be leniently dealt with."
The masked man turned, beckoning over his shoulder for them to follow,and then preceded them up the passage.
They were a great deal relieved to find that they were not to be thistime tortured; but they knew only too well what punishment it was thatthey were to witness, and they felt their hearts sicken within them.They both knew that the advice they had just received was good, andresolved, if possible, to abide by it. They therefore followed theirleader along the corridor in silence, while the masked men with swordsfell in behind them as soon as they had passed, effectually preventingany attempt on their part at escape.
Up the passage they went, reached the end of it, and then turned to theright, afterwards climbing up a long flight of steps. This brought themto another long passage, but much wider than the one leading to theirown cell. It was also covered with some kind of matting, and severaldoors opened into the corridor.
Along this corridor they went, and came presently to another large door,through which they passed, finding themselves in a large and lofty room.
This was somewhat dark, and, after the light through which they had justpassed, they could not for a few moments discern the objects containedtherein. Then, as their eyes became more accustomed to the half-light,they perceived, hanging on the wall, strange instruments of iron andwood, and in different places in the apartment were standingcurious-looking machines, the use of which they could only imagine witha shudder.
The door through which they had just entered was closed and locked, and,turning round, the two friends saw that the masked guards had vanished,as also had the guide who had conducted them thither. But the chamberwas tenanted by several funereal figures in black, all with their faceshidden, and whose movements even seemed to suggest something horribleand repulsive.
In silence one of the masked figures took down an instrument from thewall, and walked to the opposite end of the room, where stood anothergroup of men in black, with cowled heads.
The lads watched, as if fascinated, and with an inward feeling thatsomething dreadful was about to occur. They could perceive a certaindim outline of something that looked like a framework of timber, but itscomplete shape was hidden from them by the figures of those who werestanding in between.
All the masked men appeared to the boys to be waiting for something orsomeone before they proceeded with whatever they were preparing to do.
As they stood there, frozen into rigidity and silence by a dreadful andindefinable sensation of horror, they heard a fluttering sigh comingfrom the opposite end of the room, apparently from somewhere near themysterious framework.
This sigh, faint at first, suddenly changed into a most fearful sound--something between a moan and the noise a man makes when the breath issuddenly driven from his body. The sound was so full of horror thatthey felt their blood literally curdle within them. It was all the moreterrifying because they could not tell who or what it was that producedit. In spite of themselves they moved a few steps nearer, and then asight met their eyes which turned them sick.
What they had taken for a wooden framework was indeed a framework, butone for a terrible use.
It consisted of four pieces of timber merely, two long and two short.These were fastened together in the form of a rectangle, thus producingan article somewhat resembling a bed-frame, only rather narrower; andthe wood-work was much more massive. Two iron rings were fixed in thecentre of each of the short pieces, and to each of these were attachedstout straps of raw hide.
And there, stretched upon this framework, and supported in positionsolely by his hands and ankles, around which were fastened the raw hidestrips attached to the rings, lay the figure of a man!
The body was perfectly naked; and as the boys looked, unable to turntheir eyes away through sheer horror at the sight, which held them asthough fascinated, the groups of cowled men separated and, seizing thelads, pushed them forward until they stood close to the framework andhad a full view of the
whole dreadful scene. A voice behind themuttered the words:
"Look! Take warning!" But it is very doubtful whether either Harry orRoger heard the words; their brains seemed paralysed by the sight thatmet their eyes.
The figure was that of a man, evidently in the prime of life; the legswere stretched so far apart by the framework that it was extraordinarythat flesh and blood could endure the strain and still hang together.The arms were also stretched out above the man's head to such an extentthat they seemed to be literally parting from the poor body at theshoulders. The muscles had started up, and seemed to be burstingthrough the skin, and the flesh was stretched so tightly over the bonesthat it seemed a skeleton rather than a human living body upon whichthey gazed.
But it was not this sight of a living, breathing, sentient human bodystrained and stretched to the point of being torn asunder that excitedthe lads' commiseration and horror, and caused them inwardly to registera solemn and awful vow of vengeance upon the human fiends around themshould the opportunity ever arise. No, terrible as was that sight,there were others--horrors that only the most debased and cruelimagination could possibly invent, and to which no pen could possibly dojustice, even were any good purpose to be achieved by the attemptedrecital of them--that caused the lads' souls to revolt at once and forever against a people that could perpetrate such diabolical cruelties.
Another deep groan issued from the lips of the hapless sufferer, and heopened his eyes, which had until now been closed, and then they saw thata certain suspicion that for some moments had been growing in theirminds was but too well founded. Yes, yes! Oh, horror! it was de Soto,that noble, brave, and chivalrous Spaniard whom they had last seenretiring with the rest of their prisoners into the depths of the jungleof Cuba!
Harry uttered a little cry, and, swaying for a moment, fell heavily intothe arms of Roger, who laid him gently on the stone floor.
At this, one of the cowled inquisitors stepped forward; but at thatmoment a door opened and a man entered, clad in rich and costlyvestments, his identity unconcealed in any way by cowl or cloak.
Roger looked up, and could scarcely credit his senses.
Where--where had he seen that sinister and evil countenance before? Ashe looked, so did the man who had just entered look at Roger, a newlight dawning in his evil eyes.
Then Roger recognised the man; he had seen him before. It was Alvarez!
The new-comer spoke in Spanish: "Has the man yet confessed?"
And one of the masked men replied: "No, your excellency; he has not asyet. But we hope that during the next torture he will speak; he is butnow only just recovering from the last."
"Continue, then," commanded Alvarez. "But first remove those two boysto their cell, and I charge you, on your lives, to see that they escapenot; for of all those whom I have ever wished to have in my power Iwanted that one most"--pointing to Roger. "Therefore, keep him safe;keep both of them safe; for I shall require them soon."