“I will not give one receipt,” he cried.  “I will give two—­one for Mrs. and Miss Simons, one for Hermann Schultz.”

Alas! from my point of view the result was deplorable.  The ransom of the two ladies was paid, and they were set free.  But as Messrs. Barley & Co. could not recover any money on a receipt given to me, their agent refused to pay my ransom.

“It doesn’t matter,” said Mrs. Simons, as she and Mary Ann departed.  “You can escape by the way down the cascade.  Your first plan was impossible with two women, but now you are alone, it is admirable.  Come and see us as soon as you get away.”

That night I made friends with the ruffian set to watch over me, and I plied him with wine until he fell on the grass and was unable to rise.  I then dammed the stream, and climbed down its empty bed.  It was difficult work, as the rocks were wet and the night was very dark.  I was covered with bruises when I reached a platform of rock about ten feet from the bottom of the precipice.  Just as I was about to jump down, a white form appeared below, and a savage growl came from it.  I had forgotten the pack of fierce dogs, which, as the King of the Mountains had told me, were the best of all his sentries.  Happily, I carried my collecting case, and in it was a packet of arsenic which I used for stuffing birds.  I put some of the powder on a piece of bread, and threw the poisoned food to the dog; but arsenic takes a long time to act.  In about half an hour’s time the creature began to howl in a frightful manner, and it did not expire until daybreak.  It also succeeded in arousing the camp, and I was recaptured and brought before the king.

“I don’t mind your trying to escape,” he said, with a terrible look; “but in your wild prank you have, drowned the man I set to watch over you.  Were I to give way to my feelings I would have you killed.  But I will be merciful.  You will merely be bastinadoed to prevent you from wandering out of bounds until your ransom is paid.”

I received twenty strokes on my feet.  At the third I began to bleed.  At the fourth I began to howl.  At the tenth I was insensible to pain.  When I came to I was in such an agony that I would have given my soul to kill Hadgi Stavros.  I tried to, but failed.  But I would hurt him, though I knew I should die for it.  So, with a torrent of invectives, I explained how I tricked him over the ransom of Mrs. Simons and her daughter.

“She’s a partner in Barley’s Bank, you fool, you ass!” I shrieked.  “She will get back all the L4,000 on your receipt.”

Hadgi Stavros turned pale and trembled.

“No,” he said, very slowly; “I will not kill you.  You have not suffered enough.  Four thousand pounds!  It is a fortune.  You have stolen my daughter’s fortune.  What can I do to you?  Find me, you brutes,” he cried, turning to his men, “a torture of L4,000.”

Then he left me in their hands.

“Treat him gently,” he said.  “I don’t want him to get so exhausted that he dies before I begin to play with him.”