Content
While Sola was away I took occasion to examine more minutely the room in which I found myself captive.
As he banged me down upon my feet his face was bent close to mine and I did the only thing a gentleman might do under the circumstances of brutality, boorishness, and lack of consideration for a stranger's rights; I swung my fist squarely to his jaw and he went down like a felled ox.
There was no stairway, but a gentle incline to the first floor of the building opened into an enormous chamber encircled by galleries.
He exchanged a few words with his men, motioned to me that I would ride behind one of them, and then mounted his own animal.