about midday
The man to whose charge our friends had been committed saluted , and then gave the signal for the prisoners to be led away , adding to his signal the significant order `` Shoot the rascals at once upon the slightest sign of an attempt to escape . '' At a spot among the trees , situated about a hundred yards from where the captain had been standing , the little party came to the place where a dozen pack mules had been tethered ; and a brief search among the heterogeneous articles which comprised the packs furnished the sergeant with a raw-hide rope , from which he cut off a couple of lengths sufficient to securely bind the hands of Phil and Dick firmly behind their backs , and this operation was at once so effectually performed that anything in the nature of escape by simply breaking away and running for one 's life was rendered impossible , quite apart from the sinister and significant order to shoot which had been given to the soldiers . A quarter of an hour later the entire party were on the move , and the two Englishmen had the mortification of finding themselves marched back along the road by which they had come . Shortly after passing the spot where our friends had struck the road , the path -- for it was little more -- curved away toward the left , and led along the top of an extensive plateau of rich pasture land , upon which , about midday , they sighted the first herd of cattle that the Englishmen had seen since their escape from the Mayubuna ; and during the afternoon they saw other herds in the charge of peons , showing that the party were gradually approaching civilised territory ; and about half an hour before sunset they marched into a small village , composed chiefly of adobe huts , where a halt was called for the night , and where our friends were confined in a ramshackle barn of a place in company with the sergeant and ten men . That the sergeant was quite determined not to get into trouble by the neglect of any possible precaution soon became perfectly evident ; for when , about half an hour after the arrival of the party at the village , supper was served , the individual in question gave orders that before the hands of the prisoners were released to enable them to convey food to their mouths , their ankles were to be securely bound together ; and this was done . Then , after supper was over , without unbinding the ankles of the prisoners their wrists were again bound together behind their backs , after which their ankles and wrists were drawn as closely together as they could be induced to come , and firmly lashed behind them ; and in this constrained and exceedingly painful posture they were unceremoniously flung into opposite corners of the hut , where , upon the bare floor , and suffering torments from the vermin with which the place was infested , and from which , in their constrained position , they were helpless to defend themselves , they were left to pass the night as best they might . A seemingly interminable night of torture for the hapless prisoners came laggingly to an end at last when , about half an hour after daybreak , the lashings which had confined their limbs all through the hours of darkness were loosed , and they were allowed to scramble to their feet and walk to and fro for a few minutes before partaking of breakfast .