His hands were now in the exact position that Huldricksson's had been on the Brunhilda but with cords and knots hanging loose.

Then Da Costa reached down his head, took a leather end in his teeth and with a jerk drew the thong that noosed his left hand tight; similarly he drew tight the second.
He strained at his fetters.

There before my eyes he had pinioned himself so that without aid he could not release himself.

And he was exactly as Huldricksson had been! "You will have to cut me loose, sair," he said.

"I cannot move them.
It is an old trick on these seas.