Bruce Duncan lay on the stone floor, watching the preparations for his interment. He was bound now, his wrists and ankles held with stout rope. He had been gagged with a handkerchief. Frenchy sat upon his body to prevent him from moving about. Duncan's captor appeared to view the proceedings as a huge entertainment.
Chefano ordered Jupe to the corner where the boxes lay. The ape-man carried one of the improvised coffins with ease and laid it on the floor beside Duncan.
"Take it outside, Jupe," ordered Chefano. "Out by the big hole I dug."
The monster obeyed. While he was gone, Chefano produced three shovels, a bag of nails and two hammers, which he muffled with cloth.
"I'm sorry old Coffran isn't here to-night," said Chefano. "He would enjoy this."
Jupe returned. At Chefano's command, he picked up Duncan's body and flung it across his shoulder.
Chefano uttered his hissing whistle.
"Don't hurt him, Jupe," he said.
Frenchy took the lead, holding Duncan's loaded automatic at the ready in his overcoat pocket. Then came Chefano with a shovel, nails, and a hammer.
Jupe followed, toting the prisoner. Bound helplessly, Bruce Duncan shivered as the party entered the graveyard. He was resigned to his fate, yet he regretted that he had not shot Chefano and the ape-man the instant he had walked into their underground den. He was going to a horrible death — one to which none but fiends would assign a living creature.