Juve at once had the ladder put to the first story window and made his way into the pugilist's room. The men's description was correct. No disorder reigned in the chamber, at the far end of which, on a great brass bed, a sturdy individual, his face worn with suffering, lay stretched. In two words Juve introduced himself to the doctor; then expressed his sorrow for Dixon's plight. "These are only contusions, M. Juve. Serious enough, but nothing more. By the by, M. Dixon may congratulate himself upon owning muscles of exceptional vigour. Otherwise, from the grip he must have undergone, his body would be no more than a shapeless pulp." Juve pricked up his ears. He had heard before of bones snapped and broken under a strain that neither flesh nor muscle could resist. The mysterious death of Lady Beltham at once occurred to his memory. "Mr. Dixon, you will tell me all the details of the tragic night you have passed through. You probably dined in Paris last evening?" The sick man replied in a fairly firm voice: "No, sir, I dined at home alone." "Is that your usual habit?" "No, sir, but between five and seven I had been training hard for my match which was to have come off to-morrow with Joe Sans." "Do you think your opponent would have been capable of trying to injure you to keep you out of the ring?" "No, Joe Sans is a good sportsman; besides, he lives at Brussels, and isn't due in Paris till to-morrow." "And after dinner, what did you do?" "I fastened the shutters and doors, came up here and undressed." "Are you in the habit of bolting yourself into your room?" "Yes, I lock my door every evening." "What time was it when you went to bed?" "Ten at latest." "And then?" "Then I went fast asleep, but in the middle of the night I was waked by a strange noise. It sounded like a scratching at my door. I gave a shout and banged my fist on the partition." "Why?" asked Juve, surprised. The American explained: "I thought the scratching came from rats, and I simply made a noise to frighten them away. Then, the sound having ceased, I fell asleep again." "And afterwards?" "I was waked again by the sound of stealthy footsteps on the landing of the first floor." "This time you went to see?" "I meant to do so, I was about to get up. I had put out my arm to get my matches and revolver, when suddenly I felt a weight on my bed and then I was corded, bound like a sausage, my arms tight to my body! For ten minutes I struggled with all the power of my muscles against a frightful and mysterious grip which continually grew tighter." "A lasso!" suggested Doctor Plassin in a low voice. "Were you able to determine the nature of the thing that was gripping you?" asked Juve. "I don't know. I remember feeling at the touch of the thing a marked sensation of dampness and cold." "A wetted lasso, exactly. A rope dipped in water tautens of itself," remarked the doctor. "You had to make a great effort to prevent being crushed or broken?"