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Mr Ambrose cocked his head.
‘A bluff?’
Colonel Silveira swallowed. ‘All right. Maybe…not.’
‘I am so very pleased that you agree with me, Colonel. Now - tell your men to throw away their weapons, grab some rope and tie up the rebels!’
‘What?’ Lieutenant de Alvarez demanded. ‘You can’t-’
‘Except,’ Mr Ambrose cut him off, ‘for one, who will then take the rest of the rope and tie up all the imperial soldiers.’
‘What?’ Colonel Silveira exclaimed.
‘I thought I spoke perfectly clearly. But if you wish-’ Shifting, Mr Ambrose pressed the barrels of his guns against the two men’s heads more tightly. ‘-I can let my two metal associates speak for me.’
‘N-no! No need for that. Men, do as he says!’
It all went surprisingly smoothly. I watched, open-mouthed, as enemy soldiers disarmed each other and pulled out coils of rope to tie rebel to imperial and imperial to rebel. Mr Ambrose watched like a hawk, making sure everything went exactly as he had commanded. I had to admire his ingenuity. With only enemies binding each other, it was ensured that nobody would tie a knot too loosely. In the end, all except the officers and one more man were tied up in an impenetrable tangle of ropes.
‘Kneel!’ Mr Ambrose commanded.
The man did as ordered.
‘Now cross your arms behind your back! Mr Linton?’
The call of my name pulled me from the amazed paralysis.
‘Y-yes, Sir?’
‘Tie his hands behind his back. And don’t be afraid to tie the knots too tightly.’
He didn’t have to tell me that twice - or once, for that matter. By the time I was finished with the poor man, he was tied up more tightly than a parcel on its way to Australia.
‘Karim!’ Mr Ambrose called.
‘Coming, Sahib!’
With an earth-shaking thud, the Mohammedan dropped out of a nearby tree, a metal monstrosity clutched under one arm that I assumed was the so-called machine gun. For a moment, I wondered where in hell he had kept this thing hidden before - then I remembered some rather large packages on the back of his packhorse. Of course. Only…there had been more than one such package. What might the others contain?
Mr Ambrose did
n’t leave me any time to ponder the question further.
‘Karim, tie up these two gentlemen here,’ he commanded, nodding to the officers.
‘I’m an officer of the Brazilian Empire!’ Silveira sputtered. ‘You can’t-’
‘And knock them unconscious, for good measure,’ Mr Ambrose added.
Silveira shut up.
‘And me?’ I asked.
‘You, Mr Linton, pack everything up and ready the horses. We’re leaving.’
I was too busy with my own hasty work after that to pay attention to what Mr Ambrose or Karim were doing. But once I had the horses packed and ready to depart, I glanced back at our former campsite, and saw de Alvarez and Silveira bound up along with their men, glowering fiercely up at Mr Ambrose. Karim stepped behind them, raising the butt of his rifle.
‘Not yet,’ Mr Ambrose ordered, freezing him in place. ‘I have something to say to our two friends yet.’
