IN EVIL PLIGHT 189

“T would die rather than make a false accusation.”

“Tisten to me,” the Jew said sternly. ‘‘You are weak
now, too weak to suffer much, this day week I will return,
and then you had best change your mind and sign a docu-
ment I shall bring with me, with the full particulars of the
plot to murder the king, and the names of those concerned
in it. This you will sign. I shall take it to the proper
authorities, and obtain a promise that your life shall be
spared on condition of your giving evidence against these
persons.”

“T would never sign such a villainous document,” Charlie
said.

“Vou will sign it,” Ben Soloman said calmly. “When
you find yourself roasting over a slow charcoal fire, you will
be ready to sign anything I wish you to.”

So saying, he turned and left the room. He talked for
some time to the men outside, then Charlie heard him
ride off.

“Vou villain,” he said to himself, “when you come at
the end of a week you will not find me here; but if I geta
chance of having a reckoning with you, it will be bad for
you.”

Charlie’s progress was apparently slow; the next day he
was able to sit up and feed himself, two days later he could
totter across the room and lie down before the fire. The
men were completely deceived by his acting, and consider-
ing any attempt to escape in his present weak state alto-
gether impossible, paid but little heed to him, the peasant
frequently absenting himself for hours together. Looking
from his window, Charlie saw that the hut was situated in
a thick wood, and from the blackened appearance of the
peasant’s face and garments he guessed him to be a charcoal-
burner, and therefore judged that the trees he saw must
form part of a forest of considerable extent.

‘The weather was warm, and his other guard often sat for