"Her ladyship didn't carry on too much?"
"She did at first. She moaned and groaned under her hood, until I lost all patience."
"And then?"
"Oh, then! It didn't last long: I stunned her with a good blow of my fist."
"You brute!" exclaimed Vorski. "If you've killed her, you're a dead man."
He plumped down and glued his ear to his unfortunate victim's breast.
"No," he said, presently, "her heart is still beating. But that may not last long. To work, lads. It must all be over in ten minutes."
CHAPTER XIII
"ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!"
The preparations were soon made; and Vorski himself took an active part in them. Resting the ladder against the trunk of the tree, he passed one end of the rope round his victim and the other over one of the upper branches. Then, standing on the bottom rung, he instructed his accomplices: