His captors were evidently well up to their business, and there was no wriggling out of their neatly-tied bonds.

Nor did the onslaught which the boy made with his teeth on the gag result in anything but disaster.

It loosened at least two of his teeth, and gave him during the remainder of the day considerable pain in some of the others.

As to his eyes, he rubbed his forehead and the side of his head on the floor, in the hopes of shifting the bandage, but all in vain.

He got it over his ears as well as his eyes for his pains, and could scarcely hear a sound.
As the afternoon went on, the sun slanted its rays cruelly through the little skylight on to the spot where he lay, and the flies, attracted by the rare chance, swarmed in under the door and through the cracks to make merry with their defenceless victim.