The capture was so sudden that it took me a moment to collect my wits. Although bruised and bumped to some extent I had not been much hurt, and even before I was jerked to my feet I cried aloud to my men:  
“Get into the car and watch out! Don’t mind me. Take care of yourselves.”
 
They obeyed promptly, but none too soon; for scarcely had they closed the door when a shower of arrows rattled against the dome. All subterfuge and arbitration was now at an end; they had at last “shot the arrow” and we might expect in the future nothing but implacable hatred.
 
183
My captors—two stalwart chiefs—having raised me to my feet now held me firmly secured by means of the thong lasso which still encircled my body. The coils pinioned my elbows so closely to my sides that I could not even withdraw my hands from the pockets of my jacket.
 
They had begun to hurry me toward the king’s house when a roar of dismay broke from the group we had just left. I turned half around and saw that the automobile had made a short circle and was plunging straight at the king and his warriors. Some were wise enough to scatter from its path, but the more dignified hesitated and were bowled over like a company of wooden soldiers and tossed in every direction.
 
The lightness of the machine prevented many serious casualties, however, and while Duncan chased them here and there, managing the huge automobile with consummate skill, the warriors gathered up the stunned and maimed and, dodging the onslaught as nimbly as they could, fled into the palace and houses where the terrible monster could not follow them.
 
184
Forgetting for the moment my own unenviable plight, I laughed heartily at the exhibition until the two chiefs pushed me roughly toward a doorway and so along the narrow hall and into the big courtyard.
 
Here the chiefs began to gather, muttering angrily at their recent discomfiture and casting upon me glances of such malignity that they had the effect of sobering me effectually.
 
The king came limping in and dropped upon his bench with a brow like a thundercloud. He had not been much injured, but his royal dignity had suffered a severe blow.
 
While one man held the loose end of my lasso and guarded me, the others all ranged themselves back of the king, who said, with what appeared to me to be unseemly haste:
 
“What shall be the fate of the white stranger?”
 
“Death!” they cried, in a fierce chorus.
 
“And at once,” added Nalig-Nad. He glanced around him. “To you, Tetch-Tsa, I allow the privilege.”
 
185
A stout young fellow with considerable of the royal green in his robe stepped forward with a grim smile and drew his long knife. As I looked at him I clutched with my fingers the handles of the two self-cocking revolvers that were fortunately in my jacket pockets, and which I had been secretly holding when the coil of the lasso settled over me. I was not able to move my arms because of the thong that pressed them against my body, but I pointed the barrel of the right hand weapon as accurately as I could toward my proposed executioner. When he was but a few paces off I blazed away at him.
 
At the first shot he paused, as if astonished; at the second he threw up his arms and tumbled over.
 
Instantly I whirled and fired at the man behind, and my position was so awkward and my aim so uncertain that I emptied the chambers of the revolver in quick succession to make sure one bullet would take effect.
 
He staggered back and released the thong, and even while I loosed the slip-noose I ran toward the hall and made my best speed for the door.
 
186
The thong tripped me as it dropped to my feet and I fell just in time to escape a spear that was hurled after me. Another, as I jumped up, slipped past my right ear, and a third slashed my hip. But I fled for dear life and in a jiffy was free of the house and heading across the enclosure toward the automobile.
 
They saw me coming and opened the door for me to tumble in. A spear crashed into the netted glass just as the door swung into place again, hurled with such force that its point stuck half way into the car and taught us we were not so secure within the dome as we had imagined. But now I lay panting upon the floor while Bryonia emptied a couple of revolvers into the crowd of my pursuers and brought them to an abrupt halt.
 
“Getting a little warm,” remarked Duncan Moit, calmly. “I’m not sure, Sam, whether we can stick out the day or not.”
 
“Glad you escape, Mars’ Sam!” said Nux, bending over me. “Bad hurt?”
 
“I guess not,” I answered, still breathing hard.
 
187
The black unfastened my clothing, which was saturated with blood just over the left hip. The spear had cut an angry looking gash in the flesh as a passing reminder of what it might do if better aimed, but fortunately the wound was not deep and on account of its location would cause me little trouble beyond a slight stiffness. Nux began to dress it as well as he could by tearing up a shirt for bandages and applying plenty of sticking plaster from the supply we had brought with us. I thought he made a very good job of it, being somewhat skilled in the treatment of flesh wounds myself.
 
I could imagine how furious the San Blas would be at my escape. They did not venture out into the open space after these two repulses, but hung around the doorways in an alert and vigilant way, being very sure that we could not get out of the enclosure and would be unable to defy them for any length of time.
 
Duncan rather expected the princess to appear, as she had promised in case of open warfare; but either she did not consider the emergency had yet arisen or she had been prevented from acting as she wished.
 
“I won’t go without her, though,” he muttered, decidedly.
 
188
“Tell me,” said I, “what is your object in wanting to wait until to-morrow before escaping from here? I can’t see that another day will bring any better condition to our captivity, and it’s a settled fact that we can’t get the machine out of this enclosure, in any event.”
 
“Perhaps I ought to explain,” he began, and then paused for a long time, as if absorbed in deep thought.
 
“Take your time, Duncan,” I remarked, impatiently.
 
He did not notice the sarcasm, but my voice aroused him and he said:
 
“Perhaps you remember that I once told you I used a glycerine explosive of my own invention to prime the engines o............