So when I tripped on a vine and fell, I was scarcely surprised when I found I could not rise.

Men had sprung up silently around me, and I was pinned by many hands.
They trussed me with ropes, binding my hands cruelly behind my back, and swathing my legs till not a muscle could move.

My pistols hung idle, and the ropes drove the hafts into my flesh.

This is the end, thought I, and I did not even grieve at my impotence.

My courage now was of the passive kind, not to act but to endure.