Alive or dead he must determine the truth.

He bent over, feeling with his hands in the darkness.

Good God, the flesh was warm; it was no cold corpse he touched, but a living human being; ay! tied like a mummy, unable to move hand or foot.

Then, as suddenly, his groping fingers, eager enough now, discovered the cause of silence--the man was gagged, cruelly gagged, helpless to utter a sound..