Page:Hornung - Irralies Bushranger.djvu/126

 "He didn't speak to me like that," muttered the man in the iron-store.

"He's an affected beast!" whispered Irralie, prettily, as she set down the pincers and began taking off the nuts with her naked fingers.

"Steady now, Miss Villiers. It may crack like thunder. Be prepared to run!"

So slowly, however, did she bend the sheet down, and with so firm a hand—slipped gradually to the base—on either side, that the task was accomplished all but noiselessly. The prisoner was revealed hunched up within.

"How have they bound you?"

"The bad hand tight to my body; the other and both my feet to a plough or something."

"I haven't a knife."

"And I lost mine the other day!"

"But I have my fingers—and patience," said Irralie, "if only there is time. Ah, thank Heaven for that!" The opening movement of the "Moonlight Sonata" had