talked very
savagely. I said in a low tone to one of the men who stood close at my side, " Please don t hang me, but shoot me. That will be better for us all." Maybe it was my boyish face, maybe it was some secret chord in his heart that only my helplessness could touch; I do not know what it was, but he looked at me with a gentleness that I could not mistake, and I knew at once that I had at least one friend among my captors.
I soon found that they had no connection with the soldiers, and that they had no suspicion as to who I was. This was a great relief, and by the time we began to return I began to see a possibility of escape. Soon we came to a little mountain stream. I was feverish and thirsty, and asked for a drink of water. One of the men filled a cup and raised it to my lips. I could not take hold of it, for I was bound like a felon on his way to the gallows. I did not touch the water, but turned away my head, and in spite of all my efforts I broke down utterly and burst into tears.
The men looked the other way for awhile, and then after some consultation they told me if I would promise not to attempt to escape they would unloose my arms. I had never been bound before. To have the spirit of an eagle, and then be fettered like a felon ! That is crucifixion. After two days we reached Shasta city. I could have escaped on the way. I could have dashed down one of the hundred steep and bushy mountain-sides from the trail and
