But what did happen was more startling and incredible yet; he could scarcely believe his senses.
For he felt the hands running down his arm. They fumbled at his wrists for an instant.
And then with a clatter the handcuffs dropped to the ground!
"Merciful heavens!" Clif thought to himself. "Can he be insane?"
For a moment he actually thought so; then it flashed over him that perhaps the fiend was torturing him with the most horrible of all tortures—hope.
"He'll wish he hadn't!" Clif gasped, as he braced his muscles.
But that was not the true solution of the mystery; there were stranger things yet stranger and stranger.
The only things that bound Clif now were the ropes that had held his wrists at first. He tugged at them, but in vain.
There was a moment's silent pause. And then to Clif's unutterable consternation he heard another sound, a sound from across the room—a low, grating sound!
It left him breathless.