"But he must be gagged.

Turn your face to the wall, my man!" The poor wretch complied with gratitude.

In a twinkling the Paduan's huge fingers closed round his neck, and over his wind-pipe.

"Now strike," the big man hissed.

"He will make no noise!" With a sickening thud Grio's knife sank between the shoulders, a moment the body writhed in Basterga's herculean grip, then it sank lifeless to the floor.