“I have come to tell you,” he said, “that I am going away for possibly a week. You shall be kept here until I return. By that time I will have decided just what to do with you. I am taking most of my men with me, but I have no fear of your getting out of this room.”
“We are grateful for your thoughtfulness in letting us know you are going away,” said Hal sarcastically. “I am sure we shall miss you.”
“I am glad of that,” replied Brunnoi. “Your meals will be brought to you at regular intervals. Till I return then.”
He waved his hand airily and stepped quickly through the door, closing and locking it behind him. Immediately he had left the room Alexis jumped to his feet. Hal and Chester watched him in surprise.
The giant Cossack walked over to the bed in which he had slept and quickly stripped it of its coverings. Then, when nothing but the bare frame remained he stepped inside of it. Doubling up his huge fist, he drove it into the footboard with tremendous force. There was a splintering crash and it fell in twain. Wrapping his hardly-used knuckles in a cloth he picked up from the floor, he repeated the operation on the headboard–and the bed lay in four pieces on the floor.
Seizing the first portion by one of the heavy legs, he tore at it with his naked fingers, like a dog at a bone; and soon, exerting his tremendous strength, he had stripped it clean. The second of the smaller legs he treated in the same manner, and likewise one of the larger legs at the head. Then, with these three clubs in his hands, he approached the two boys.
“Here is a weapon apiece for you,” he said, extending one of the smaller legs to the lads.
Hal and Chester each took the proffered weapons. They were ungainly and heavy, but the lads realized that they were indeed formidable weapons. Alexis stood looking at them with the big leg resting lightly on his right shoulder. It was a massive piece of wood, this third leg, a terrible weapon in the hands of a giant like Alexis.
“Now,” said Chester, “we have these weapons, but how are we going to get out of here?”
“Don’t let that worry you,” replied the giant. “As soon as we are certain the bandit king is well on his way, we’ll get out.”