Frank hurried after General Burgoff. And as he moved quickly along he muttered to himself: "Poor old Jack! All alone away up there in Siberia. I'll bet he is having a terrible time and looking for me. Well, I'll be there before long, Jack, old boy!" CHAPTER XX. CRUELTY BECOMES UNBEARABLE. "That's enough. I'll save the extra lashes until he is in a condition to feel them. Take him back to his dungeon." It was General Surgoff who spoke. He looked down upon the prostrate form of Jack, who, shirt again stripped from his shoulders, had fallen beneath the terrible blows of the lash in his second whipping. It was at the tenth blow that Jack had fallen forward on his face, unable to bear the pain any longer. General Surgoff decided that it was useless to waste blows on an unconscious enemy, so he had called upon his men to hold their hands. However, he had no intention of letting Jack off, and in his memory he made a note of the fact that there were additional blows coming to the lad. The two men dropped their whips. One took Jack by the head and the other by the feet and they carried him back to his dungeon. There they left him, after first thrusting a pan of water and a small piece of bread into the cell. Jack was brought back to himself by something cool upon his head. He stirred a bit and when at last he was able to sit up he became aware that his head was supported on a man's knee, while his temple was being bathed with cold water. "How do you feel now?" demanded a voice, which Jack immediately recognized as that of the big Russian who had been with him on the first day he had been confined to the dungeon. "Pretty weak," said Jack feebly. "I don't think I can undergo another such ordeal." "A man never knows how much he can stand until put to the test," said the Russian, with a shrug of his shoulders that was imperceptible to Jack in the darkness. "But how do you come to be back in here?" demanded Jack. "You were not here last night." "No," said Boris. "But this morning, just after you had been so severely punished, I could keep quiet no longer and expressed myself to General Surgoff." "With what result?" asked Jack. Again the Russian shrugged, but Jack failed to see the gesture. "The lash," he replied quietly. "Fifteen lashes; then the dungeon again." Jack now got to his feet, though with some difficulty, and leaned on the Russian's arm. "It's no use," he said, after pacing up and down the dark cell for some moments. "A person is a fool to stay here and put up with this sort of thing. Better death in the snow. To-morrow, when I am again led forth for my lashing, I shall make a break for liberty." "It is impossible," said Boris. "You would be shot down before you had gone a dozen yards."