Frank stopped a brief moment for a word of farewell to Lord Hastings and then expressed his thanks to the Czar.
“There, there!” said the latter with a laugh. “No thanks are necessary. I am glad to give you a chance of seeing Siberia with an opportunity of coming back. Run along now.”
Frank hurried after General Burgoff. And as he moved quickly along he muttered to himself:
“Poor old Jack! All alone away up there in Siberia. I’ll bet he is having a terrible time and looking for me. Well, I’ll be there before long, Jack, old boy!”
CHAPTER XX.
CRUELTY BECOMES UNBEARABLE.
“That’s enough. I’ll save the extra lashes until he is in a condition to feel them. Take him back to his dungeon.”
It was General Surgoff who spoke. He looked down upon the prostrate form of Jack, who, shirt again stripped from his shoulders, had fallen beneath the terrible blows of the lash in his second whipping.
It was at the tenth blow that Jack had fallen forward on his face, unable to bear the pain any longer. General Surgoff decided that it was useless to waste blows on an unconscious enemy, so he had called upon his men to hold their hands. However, he had no intention of letting Jack off, and in his memory he made a note of the fact that there were additional blows coming to the lad.
The two men dropped their whips. One took Jack by the head and the other by the feet and they carried him back to his dungeon. There they left him, after first thrusting a pan of water and a small piece of bread into the cell.
Jack was brought back to himself by something cool upon his head. He stirred a bit and when at last he was able to sit up he became aware that his head was supported on a man’s knee, while his temple was being bathed with cold water.