This was done so suddenly, so unexpectedly, the man attacked found no opportunity to even throw up a hand in self-defence.
The giant Pole flung his whole weight into the crashing blow, and the ex-soldier went down as though struck by a pole-ax.

For an instant, he realized that Sexton was in a fierce struggle; that his assailant stood poised above him ready to land again if he moved; then consciousness left him entirely.
He woke up, sitting in a chair, his hands bound to the arms with strips of cloth.

For a moment everything about seemed tinged with yellow, the various objects in sight vague and shapeless.

It hurt him to move his head, and his mind functioned dully.

He could not think, or bring back to memory a recollection of what had occurred.