It was the rough-box of a coffin! Without a word, and apparently without a signal, the three surrounded him and lifted him bodily into it.

To his surprise he found himself lying upon something soft, as if the interior of his strange prison had been padded with cushions.

Then, with extreme caution, his arms were freed from under his back and strapped to his side, and other straps, broad and firm, were fastened from side to side of the box across his limbs and body, as if there were danger of his flying up and out through the top.

Another moment and a shadow fell above him, pitch gloom engulfed him.
They were dragging on the cover to the box! He heard the rapid beating of a hammer, the biting of nails into wood, and he writhed and struggled to free his hands, to cry out, to gain the use of his legs, but not the fraction of an inch could he relieve himself of his fetters.

After a time his straining muscles relaxed, and he stopped to get his breath and listen.