He could still see, and, as the painful hours passed, a number of things were adjusting themselves in his brain.

All this had begun with the man-beast.

It was the man-beast who had taken his mother from him.

It was the man-beast who had chucked him into the dark sack, and it was the man-beast who had FASTENED THE ROPE AROUND HIS NECK.

Slowly the fact was beginning to impinge itself upon him that the rope was to blame for everything.
After a long time they dragged themselves out of the rivulet and found a soft, dry hollow at the foot of a big tree.