I was helpless as a baby in his hands.

He forced me to the ground and rolled my face in the sand; then he pulled me to my feet and tossed me backward, till I almost staggered into the pool.

I saved myself, and staggered instead into the shallow at the foot of it, close under the ledge of the precipice.
That morning, when Machudi's men were cooking breakfast, I had figured out a route up the cliff.

This route was now my hope of escape.
Laputa had dropped his pistol, and the collar had plunged him in an ecstasy of worship.

Now, if ever, was my time.