ached, the
wretch soon reached my bedside, peered a moment into my face with his
hideous white eyes, laid down the lamp, then grasped the bar of iron
firmly in both hands, and raised himself up to his full height. I made
a desperate effort to cry out for help. My voice was utterly gone. I
could not even move my lips. But why prolong the dreadful scene? One
more glance with the fierce white eyes, a deep grating malediction,
and the ruffian braced himself for his deadly job. He tightened his
grip upon the bar, swung it high over his head, and with one fell
blow--DASHED MY BRAINS OUT!!

* * * * *

Don't believe it, eh?

Well, sir, you would insist upon my telling you the adventure, and now
I stand by it! If it be your deliberate opinion that my statement is
not to be relied upon, nothing remains between us but to arrange the
preliminaries. I have no disposition to deprive my publishers of a
valuable contributor, or society of an ornament; but, sir, the great
principles of truth must be maintained. As it will not be convenient
for me to attend to this matter in person, you will be pleased to
select any friend of mine in California who may desire to stand up for
my honor; place him before you at the usual distance of ten paces;
then name any friend of yours at present in Europe as a similar
substitute for yourself--the principals only to use pistols--notify me
by the Icelandic telegraph when you are ready, and then, upon return
of signal, pop away at my friend. But, since it is not my wish to
proceed to such an extremity unnecessarily, if you will admit that I
may possibly have been deceived--that there may have been some
hallucination about the adventure--that strong tea and nervous
excitement may have had something to do with it, then, sir, I am
willing to leave the matter open to future negotiation.

It is true I found myself in my room at the _Hotel de Venise_ when I
recovered from the stunning effects of the blow; also, that the door
was locked on the inside; but I am by no means prepared to give up the
point on such flimsy evidence as that. Should the physiological fact
be developed in the course of these sketches that there is still any
portion of the brain left, and that it performs its legitimate
functions, of course I shall be forced to admit that the case is at
least doubtful; yet even then it can not be regarded in the light of a
pure fabrication. Has not Dickens given us, in h