As he was let go he kicked out savagely, ripping open with his terrible claws one of the men who had been holding him.

The next moment he was striding down the steep and stony pass at a speed which, in a few minutes, left the pursuing and shouting Pachatupecs far behind.

The ground was so rough and the descent so rapid that I expected every moment we should come to grief.

But on we went like the wind.

Never in my life, except in an express train, was I carried so fast.