At the beginning of the story, the narrator says: “I was sick... I saw only the decrees of what was destiny for me. .. I had been deceived..." (Quote from the story). The story is told in the past tense, which shows that the narrator was perhaps remembering or telling the story of his past experience. This makes sense because at the end of this story the narrator is saved by the French army and personally by General Lasalle. Telling the past tense from the beginning shows the possible outcome of the future, that everything had already passed and was over