h
ears expanded and his huge claws indenting the ground under them.

The wolf-hounds drew up as reserves in the rear of the mastiff.

Then such silence fell upon all that excited multitude that a dead leaf
might have been heard rustling to the ground; but there followed a deep,
low, fierce growl, like a coming thunderstorm, which sent a shudder
through the crowd.

Suddenly the mastiff sprang forward, the two others followed, and then
for several seconds nothing was seen but a confused mass rolling round
the chain, then blood and entrails mingled flowing over the stones, then
the bear rising on his haunches hugging the mastiff between his terrible
claws, swaying to and fro his heavy head, for a moment and gaping wide
with his crimson jaws, for the muzzle was gone; in the struggle it had
fallen off!

Then a low but rising cry of fear passed over the crowd in the galleries.
No applause now, only a well-grounded alarm! The mastiff was in the
agonies of death, with a rattling in his throat; the wolf-hounds lay torn
and dead on the bloodstained earth; in the stables all round the court
long agitated roaring and bellowing betrayed the terror of the cattle,
whose kicking and plunging made the walls shake; but the bear never
stirred: he seemed to be enjoying the universal alarm.

But lo! in this predicament was heard a slight but unmistakable cracking
like timber giving way, then more cracks; the old rotten galleries were
beginning to yield under the heavy pressure of the crowd; and there was
in this noise, just heard in the midst of the dead silence of suspense,
something so dreadful that I, in my place of safety, felt a cold shiver
pass over me. Taking a rapid survey of the galleries before me, I saw
every face changed in colour, pale with a bluish, ashy paleness; some
open-mouthed, others with bristling hair, listening intently, holding
their breath. The capuchin friar Johannes seated on the banister had
turned from crimson to a greenish hue, and the big red nose of Doctor
Melchior had turned from red to sallow the first time for twenty years;
the poor little women trembled without stirring from their places,
knowing that the least agitation would bring down the whole place.

I could have wished to fly too. I fancied I could see the thick oaken
pillars of the gallery bowing to the ground. I cannot tell whether this
was illusion or not, but in a moment the principal beam gave a loud crack
and became depressed by three in