his cheek, leaving a wide band of red where the blood seemed to spurt
from every vein.

With a yell of sheer terror which came quicker than even his sense of
pain, the man leaped back, dropping as he did so the rope which held
back the iron door. I jumped for it, but was too late, for the cord ran
like lightning through the pulley-block, and the heavy mass fell forward
from its own weight.

As the door closed I caught a glimpse of our poor companion's face. He
seemed frozen with terror. His eyes stared with a horrible anguish as if
dazed, and no sound came from his lips.

And then the spikes did their work. Happily the end was quick, for when
I wrenched open the door they had pierced so deep that they had locked
in the bones of the skull through which they had crushed, and actually
tore him--it--out of his iron prison till, bound as he was, he fell at
full length with a sickly thud upon the floor, the face turning upward
as he fell.

I rushed to my wife, lifted her up and carried her out, for I feared for
her very reason if she should wake from her faint to such a scene. I
laid her on the bench outside and ran back. Leaning against the wooden
column was the custodian moaning in pain whilst he held his reddening
handkerchief to his eyes. And sitting on the head of the poor American
was the cat, purring loudly as she licked the blood which trickled
through the gashed socket of his eyes.

I think no one will call me cruel because I seized one of the old
executioner's swords and shore her in two as she sat.