It was only a matter of seconds before they were almost dragging me asunder as they hauled, two hags to a rope, and every one of them straining as if the game were tug-of-war.
There was nothing else to do, and plenty of inducement, so I did it.

I yelled.

I sent my voice bellowing through those echoing halls to such tune that if King were anywhere in the place he would have to hear me.
But it did me no good.

They only produced a gag and added that to my discomfort, shoving a great lump of rubber in my mouth and wrapping a towel over it so tightly that I could hardly breathe.
Then came Yasmini, gorgeously amused, standing at the top of the steps where the inner hall was raised a few feet above the outer, and ordering me blindfolded as well as rendered dumb.
"For if he can see as well as he can roar he will presently know too much," she explained sarcastically.
So they wrapped another towel over my eyes and pinned it with a cursed export safety-pin that pierced clean through my scalp.

And the harder I struggled, the tighter they pulled on the ropes and the louder Yasmini laughed, until I might as well have been on that rack that King and I saw in the cavern underneath the temple.
"So strong _Ganesha-ji_!" she mocked.