rob did not have any time to speculate about the apparently violent motive as to why this stranger should be standing here at this unusual hour , before a slight noise immediately behind him caused him to turn his head and , before he could see his second adversary , strong arms gripped him in a bear-hug embrace around his waist and he was bodily lifted off the ground and thrown unceremoniously in a heap , landing painfully on a protruding root at the base of the rendezvous tree .