The Big Business Man ran towards the paper-weight. "I'll hit it with this," he said. "You can't," said the Doctor, "you might miss. We haven't time. Look at it," he added. The cockroach was noticeably larger now--considerably over two feet; it had turned away from the wall to face them. The Very Young Man had said nothing; only stood and stared with bloodless face and wide-open eyes. Then suddenly he stooped, and picking up a small rug from the floor--a rug some six feet long and half as wide--advanced slowly towards the cockroach. "That's the idea," encouraged the Doctor. "Get it under that. Here, give me part of it." He grasped a corner of the rug. "You two go up the other sides"--he pointed with his free hand--"and head it off if it runs." Slowly the four men crept forward. The cockroach, three feet long now, was a hideous, horrible object as it stood backed into the corner of the room, the front part of its body swaying slowly from side to side. "We'd better make a dash for it," whispered the Very Young Man; and jerking the rug loose from the Doctor's grasp, he leaped forward and flung himself headlong upon the floor, with the rug completely under him. "I've got the damned thing. I've got it!" he shouted. "Help--you. Help!" The three men leaped with him upon the rug, holding it pinned to the floor. The Very Young Man, as he lay, could feel the curve of the great body underneath, and could hear the scratch of its many legs upon the floor. "Hold down the edges of the rug!" he cried. "Don't let it out. Don't let it get out. I'll smash it." He raised himself on his hands and knees, and came down heavily. The rug gave under his thrust as the insect flattened out; then they could hear again the muffled scratching of its legs upon the floor as it raised the rug up under the Very Young Man's weight. "We can't kill it," panted the Big Business Man. "Oh, we can't kill it. Good God, how big it is!" The Very Young Man got to his feet and stood on the bulge of the rug. Then he jumped into the air and landed solidly on his heels. There was a sharp crack as the shell of the insect broke under the sharpness of his blow. "That did it; that'll do it!" he shouted. Then he leaped again. "Let me," said the Big Business Man. "I'm heavier"; and he, too, stamped upon the rug with his heels. They could hear the huge shell of the insect's back smash under his weight, and when he jumped again, the squash of its body as he mashed it down. "Wait," said the Doctor. "We've killed it." They eased upon the rug a little, but there was no movement from beneath. "Jump on it harder," said the Very Young Man. "Don't let's take a chance. Mash it good." The Big Business Man continued stamping violently upon the rug; joined now by the Very Young Man. The Doctor sat on the floor beside it, breathing heavily; the Banker lay in a heap at its foot in utter collapse.