"Me thought him Soma. Me made mistake! Me
going kill Soma, he kill Toni, Toni all same my brother, work long time
with me at Suva!"
"Hurry up and cut these ropes," cried Holman. "There are two more of
those devils and they'll be back before we get the cramp out of our
muscles."
Kaipi sprang to obey, but when our bonds were cut away, we found that we
could not get to our feet. Legs and arms were completely numbed, and the
many abrasions that we had come by during the towing process to which we
had been subjected made Kaipi's efforts to restore circulation by
rubbing a species of torture that would surely have earned the
commendation of Torquemada if it had been brought under his notice.
"Narrow squeak, Verslun," remarked Holman, as he endeavoured to get to
his knees. "I wonder where those two other devils went to work the
machinery."
"They must be close," I whispered. "Drag us over to the edge, Kaipi.
They'll surely come up to see how the job was done or to see what is
delaying their pal."
Kaipi helped us over to the edge of the table, and while he was doing so
he related briefly how he came to be on hand at the opportune moment.
Pages:
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232