ot hear what she said, I was in
such terrible agitation. And besides, I think she was afraid to speak
too loudly, for fear she might startle the black-and-yellow beast. How I
longed to hear her dear words, perhaps her last! Mayhap she was bidding
me a fond farewell; perhaps she was trying to encourage me and uphold my
heart in this terrible trial. It would be like her; she knows my love
for her, my dear Irene!

"And then, ah yes! it might be that she was asking my permission to
throw herself from the car: that she was beseeching me to turn away my
head that she might leap to the ground, and thus end her anxieties and
her miseries--I might say our miseries; for if the tiger should follow
her he, too, would be killed. I should be left to weep over my dearest,
the joy of my life and my heart. The tiger would be dead. In her last
breath Irene would know that I was safe. That would be like Irene, my
dear Irene! But I would not suffer it. I could not speak, but I shook my
head.

"She did not try to say anything more, but she looked down upon me, and
so did the tiger. The two heads were not far from each other; they were
both regarding me. I grew almost crazy. Never was man placed in more
terrible straits than this.

"Suddenly a thought struck me. I seized more tightly the end of the
rope, and I ran. I ran to the river. I plunged, I bounded, I made such
great haste that sometimes I stumbled over obstacles, and sometimes the
balloon seemed to lift me from the ground; but on, on I went, on to the
river!

"When I reached the edge of the water I took courage to stop and look
up. They were both still gazing over the edge of the car, both with
their eyes strained upon me.

"Then boldly and fearlessly I walked into the river. I walked until the
water was up to my knees; until it reached my waist. I walked until the
surface of the water lapped my shoulders. I was not afraid; I am a good
swimmer. Irene now called down to me. It was plain she was becoming
reckless; she would know what I was going to do, no matter what effect
her words would have upon the tiger. If she thought I was about to
commit suicide, not daring to bear up under her coming fate, she would
dissuade me. It would be like her, that dear Irene!

"'What are you going to do?' she cried. And as I looked upward her eyes
and those of the tiger were steadily fixed on me.

"'You must get on the outside of the car again,' I cried. 'Do it
quickly, without disturbing him