ropped over the
edge, seized the end of the front grating, and pulled it frantically
out of the wall.

It came more easily than I could have expected. I rushed across the
room, bearing it with me; but, as I rushed, the accident of my position
put me upon the outer side. Had it been the other way, I might have
come off scathless. As it was, there was a moment's pause as I stopped
it and tried to pass in through the opening which I had left. That
moment was enough to give time to the creature to toss off the coat
with which I had blinded him and to spring upon me. I hurled myself
through the gap and pulled the rails to behind me, but he seized my leg
before I could entirely withdraw it. One stroke of that huge paw tore
off my calf as a shaving of wood curls off before a plane. The next
moment, bleeding and fainting, I was lying among the foul straw with a
line of friendly bars between me and the creature which ramped so
frantically against them.

Too wounded to move, and too faint to be conscious of fear, I could
only lie, more dead than alive, and watch it. It pressed its broad,
black chest against the bars and angled for me with its crooked paws as
I have seen a kitten do before a mouse-trap. It ripped my clothes,
but, stretch as it would, it could not quite reach me. I have heard of
the curious numbing effect produced by wounds from the great carnivora,
and now I was destined to experience it, for I had lost all sense of
personality, and was as interested in the cat's failure or success as
if it were some game which I was watching. And then gradually my mind
drifted away into strange vague dreams, always with that black face and
red tongue coming back into them, and so I lost myself in the nirvana
of delirium, the blessed relief of those who are too sorely tried.

Tracing the course of events afterwards, I conclude that I must have
been insensible for about two hours. What roused me to consciousness
once more was that sharp metallic click which had been the precursor of
my terrible experience. It was the shooting back of the spring lock.
Then, before my senses were clear enough to entirely apprehend what
they saw, I was aware of the round, benevolent face of my cousin
peering in through the open door. What he saw evidently amazed him.
There was the cat crouching on the floor. I was stretched upon my back
in my shirt-sleeves within the cage, my trousers torn to ribbons and a
great pool of blood all roun