" Jose sneered. "Oh yes, I can! I intend
to know all that you know, and it will be better for you to tell
me voluntarily. I must learn where Senora Austin is, and I must
learn quickly, if I have to kill you by inches to get the truth."
"So! Torture, eh? Good. I can believe it of you. Well, a slow fire
will not make me speak."
"No. A fire would be too easy, Jose."
"Eh?"
Without answer Dave strode out of the room. He was back before his
prisoner could do more than wrench at his bonds, and with him he
brought his lariat and his canteen.
"What are you going to do?" Jose inquired, backing away until he
was once more at bay.
"I'm going to give you a drink."
"Whisky? You think you can make me drunk?" The horse-breaker
laughed loudly but uneasily.
"Not whisky; water. I'm going to give you a drink of water."
"What capers!"
"When you've drunk enough you'll tell me why you killed your
employer and where General Longorio has taken his wife. Yes, and
everything else I want to know." Seizing the amazed Mexican, Dave
flung him upon Morales's hard board bed, and in spite of the
fellow's struggles deftly made him fast. When he had finished--and
it was no easy job--Jose lay "spread-eagled" upon his back, his
wrists and ankles firmly bound to the head and foot posts, his
body secured by a tight loop over his waist.
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