about to receive its reward. Prayers and
entreaties shall not avail you; and to put an end to them, as well as to
prevent you from yelling out in your agony--by which people would be
attracted hither--I will take the liberty to _gag_ you.'

In forcing the jaws of the Dead Man widely apart, in order to accomplish
that purpose, the victim contrived to get one of his tormentor's fingers
between his teeth, and it was nearly bitten off ere it could be
disengaged. This enraged the Doctor so that he was about to kill his
enemy instantly, but he checked himself; and having effectually gagged
him, he prepared to commence the terrible ordeal.

Taking a lancet from the case, he made an incision in the subject's
right arm; then, in the wound, he poured a few drops of the contents of
the phial. The effects were instantaneous and terrible; the poison
became infused in every vein of the sufferer's body, and his blood
seemed changed to liquid fire; he writhed in mighty agony--his heart
leaped madly in his breast, in the intensity of his torment--his brain
swam in a sea of fire--his eyes started from their sockets, and blood
oozed from every pore of his body.

These awful results were produced by a wonderful chemical preparation,
known to but few, and first discovered in the days of the Spanish
Inquisition. It was then termed the 'Ordeal of Fire;' and the infernal
vengeance of hell itself could not have produced torment more intense or
protracted; for though it racked every nerve and sinew in the body,
filling the veins with a flood like molten lead, it was comparatively
slow in producing death, and kept the sufferer for several hours
writhing in all the tortures of the damned.

For two mortal hours the miserable wretch endured the torment; while the
Doctor stood over him, viewing him with a fixed gaze and an unmoved
heart. Then he removed the gag from the sufferer's mouth, and poured a
glass of water down his throat, which temporarily assuaged his agony.

'Doctor,' gasped the dying wretch--'for God's sake stab me to the heart,
and end my misery! I am in hell--I am floating in an ocean of fire--my
murdered victims are pouring rivers of blazing blood upon me--my soul is
in flames--my _heart_ is RED HOT! Ah, kill me--kill me!'

The Doctor, after a moment's deliberation, again took an instrument from
his case, and skillfully divided the flesh in the region of the abdomen,
making an incision of considerable extent. He then produced a s