ted on four slender iron posts,
ten feet above the floor, and placed between the balcony and the
fountain. Such was Neranya's prison. The pen was about four feet in
depth, and the pen-top was left open for the convenience of the
servants whose duty it should be to care for him. These precautions for
his safe confinement were taken at my suggestion, for, although the man
was now deprived of all four of his limbs, I still feared that he might
develop some extraordinary, unheard-of power for mischief. It was
provided that the attendants should reach his cage by means of a
movable ladder.

All these arrangements having been made and Neranya hoisted into his
cage, the rajah emerged upon the balcony to see him for the first time
since the last amputation. Neranya had been lying panting and helpless
on the floor of his cage, but when his quick ear caught the sound of
the rajah's footfall he squirmed about until he had brought the back of
his head against the railing, elevating his eyes above his chest, and
enabling him to peer through the open-work of the cage. Thus the two
deadly enemies faced each other. The rajah's stern face paled at sight
of the hideous, shapeless thing which met his gaze; but he soon
recovered, and the old hard, cruel, sinister look returned. Neranya's
black hair and beard had grown long, and they added to the natural
ferocity of his aspect. His eyes blazed upon the rajah with a terrible
light, his lips parted, and he gasped for breath; his face was ashen
with rage and despair, and his thin, distended nostrils quivered.

The rajah folded his arms and gazed down from the balcony upon the
frightful wreck that he had made. Oh, the dreadful pathos of that
picture; the inhumanity of it; the deep and dismal tragedy of it! Who
might look into the wild, despairing heart of the prisoner and see and
understand the frightful turmoil there; the surging, choking passion;
unbridled but impotent ferocity; frantic thirst for a vengeance that
should be deeper than hell! Neranya gazed, his shapeless body heaving,
his eyes aflame; and then, in a strong, clear voice, which rang
throughout the great hall, with rapid speech he hurled at the rajah the
most insulting defiance, the most awful curses. He cursed the womb that
had conceived him, the food that should nourish him, the wealth that
had brought him power; cursed him in the name of Buddha and all the
wise men; cursed by the sun, the moon, and the stars; by the
continen