rified, I struggled to
my feet and looked in the direction of Morgan's retreat; and may heaven
in mercy spare me from another sight like that! At a distance of less
than thirty yards was my friend, down upon one knee, his head thrown
back at a frightful angle, hatless, his long hair in disorder and his
whole body in violent movement from side to side, backward and forward.
His right arm was lifted and seemed to lack the hand--at least, I
could see none. The other arm was invisible. At times, as my memory
now reports this extraordinary scene, I could discern but a part of his
body; it was as if he had been partly blotted out--I can not otherwise
express it--then a shifting of his position would bring it all into view
again.

"All this must have occurred within a few seconds, yet in that time
Morgan assumed all the postures of a determined wrestler vanquished by
superior weight and strength. I saw nothing but him, and him not always
distinctly. During the entire incident his shouts and curses were heard,
as if through an enveloping uproar of such sounds of rage and fury as I
had never heard from the throat of man or brute!

"For a moment only I stood irresolute, then, throwing down my gun, I
ran forward to my friend's assistance. I had a vague belief that he was
suffering from a fit or some form of convulsion. Before I could reach
his side he was down and quiet. All sounds had ceased, but, with a
feeling of such terror as even these awful events had not inspired, I
now saw the same mysterious movement of the wild oats prolonging itself
from the trampled area about the prostrate man toward the edge of
a wood. It was only when it had reached the wood that I was able to
withdraw my eyes and look at my companion. He was dead."

III

The coroner rose from his seat and stood beside the dead man. Lifting
an edge of the sheet he pulled it away, exposing the entire body,
altogether naked and showing in the candle light a clay-like yellow. It
had, however, broad maculations of bluish-black, obviously caused by
extravasated blood from contusions. The chest and sides looked as if
they had been beaten with a bludgeon. There were dreadful lacerations;
the skin was torn in strips and shreds.

The coroner moved round to the end of the table and undid a silk
handkerchief, which had been passed under the chin and knotted on the
top of the head. When the handkerchief was drawn away it exposed what
had been the throat. Some of th