he devil, he had got the better of me before I had
had the chance to put up even the feeblest struggle. I curse myself now
for my silly bravado in accompanying him when he asked me. I might have
known I wasn't a match for him. But I'll be even with him yet," he said,
his nervous hands fumbling at his collar, "I'll be even with him yet;
I'll bide my time," and never was vindictiveness more savage in human
eyes.

"He didn't allow me to come to my senses until he had carried out his
purpose. When I opened my eyes I was _inside_ the cage of the buoy, with
the bell swinging gently to and fro above my head.

"Have you ever seen one of those buoys? They consist of a pear-shaped
iron cage fixed on to a sort of platform, like the keel of a dinghy, and
the bell hangs between four clappers at the top of the cage, and as the
thing rocks up and down on the swell of the sea the clappers hit against
the bell. There was just room for me to sit on the platform, crouched
up inside the cage. One section of the cage was hinged to open, and the
door thus formed was secured by a padlock; how he had got the key of it
Heaven alone knows. I have tried to convey to you--haven't I?--that he
was a very able and successful fellow.

"When I came to, he was circling slowly round and round the buoy in his
sailing-boat, lounging indifferently beside the tiller, and watching me
with an expression of mockery I can't reproduce in words. I lost my head
then; I leapt up and shook the bars of my cage and screamed to him
to let me out. I can hear now in my ears the futility of my own voice
screaming across the placid emptiness of the water. I must have looked
like a trapped ape--the kind of ape that is most like a man. I shook
the iron bars so violently that the whole of my floating prison jumped
about, and the b ell began to ring loudly. He only lounged and smiled.
No doubt he had looked forward extremely to the moment. His amused
impassivity was the thing best calculated to restore my self-control,
and I try to salve my vanity by thinking that I should never so have
gratified him but for the bewildering effects of the anaesthetic. I
calmed myself down, I tried to reason with him.

"I exhorted him to settle up his wrongs in a more civilised manner. Then,
seeing that every plea was to him a source of fresh delight, I ceased to
argue, and became silent, holding on to the bars of my cage and watching
him as he cruised slowly round and round the buoy. Present