"If Don Carlos lied, and you still refuse to renounce the señorita
after you have been flogged and put to the torture, then I will set her
free and you also," Cojuelo said grimly. "That is a promise, and
Cojuelo never breaks a promise. Meanwhile I say again that you are
lying, and that Don Carlos told the Señorita Rostrevor the truth."
"Here, I say, Cojuelo, cut out this bluff about torture and all that
sort of nonsense," exclaimed Standish, with just a suspicion of
unsteadiness in his voice. "I tell you I am prepared to pay any sum
within reason as a ransom, and you won't get any more by threatening me
with physical violence. Look here, I'm willing to apologise for having
tried to shoot you, but you know you exasperated me by taunting me
about not valuing Miss Rostrevor."
"What a charming piece of condescension on your part!" sneered Cojuelo.
"If Don Carlos de Ruiz lied to the Señorita Rostrevor, I shall shoot
him. That is another promise, señorita. As for you, perhaps the lash
and the red hot iron on your flesh will induce you to speak truth as
well as test your courage!"
He turned to the door, outside which the man with the keys was standing.
"Mendoza, order Perez, Riafio and Garcilaso to get ready the whipping
post and make hot the branding irons at once," he commanded in Spanish,
then repeated the order in English for the benefit of Standish, whose
face went livid.
"Oh, surely you won't be so fiendishly cruel!" burst out Myra
passionately. "If you dare to harm Tony----"
"We will withdraw, señorita, and leave Señor Standish to nerve himself
for the ordeal that awaits him," interrupted Cojuelo, and hustled her
out of the cell before she could say more. "I swear I did not lie to
you, Myra," he resumed, as he clanged the door shut on the prisoner.
"I am bluffing now, and have no intention of flogging or branding
Standish, but only of scaring him into confessing that he is willing to
give you to me to save himself."
"And if he stands the test, if he refuses to give me up even when
threatened with flogging and burning, you will keep your promise and
set us both free?" asked Myra, after a breathless pause.
"Yes, assuredly--and I shall also keep my promise to shoot Don Carlos,"
was the grim reply. "Look, is it not a picturesque scene?" he added,
with a change of tone.