At last the boy succeeded in making a hole through which he could easily approach the back of the monster. It was then midnight, and all was ready for the last act; but now Lex was too tired to do more. Both he and Veritas were so weary that they fell into deep slumber. Just before the sun rose, the slave sprang out of bed to begin preparations for breakfast. He crept into his mistress's room and found that she was asleep. Then he thought that he would take a look at the children. He took a candle, carefully unlocked the door of their prison, opened it a little way and peered in. As he looked more closely he saw the knife still clutched in the boy's hand, and the hole that the knife had made. At once he knew what the young prisoners had been trying to do, and he began to lock the door, so as to keep them confined till he could give the alarm. But all at once, Lex awoke, and gazed into the other's eyes. In a moment the serving man burst into the room and sprang like a wild cat upon the boy, who scrambled to his feet and with his knife stabbed the man in the neck. At this Brutus let go his hold and fled screaming from the room. Of course the struggle awoke Veritas and she slammed the door to and held herself against it, determined to prevent anyone from entering the room. The boy resumed his efforts to cut through the thick hide of the Leviathan. Mendacia was awakened by her man staggering into her room, bleeding from a great gash in his neck. In a few words he told what had happened. Mendacia rushed to the prison-room and tried to enter but the door was held fast. She threw herself against it again and again. The monster began to sway back and forth, and then to thrash the water as the boy dug deeper and deeper into his vitals. Finally the huge creature rose clear off the water, shaking himself violently and wrecking the house completely. Suddenly, maddened by the pain of his terrible wound, he made for the bank and from there scrambled toward the woods carrying what was left of his burden with him. Trees were broken down by his rush as he tore on in his mad dash for freedom. At last he struck an old oak tree and the fastenings of the house gave way, but still the monster ran on. All that night a party of the neighbors had ridden with the distracted fathers of the children looking vainly for their dear ones. Toward morning they heard a terrible noise, and rode with haste to the spot from which it came, and there they found the children lying unconscious by an old deserted house. They brought their lost ones home, all rejoicing. When the children told their story, the people of the village refused to believe them, for they had not seen the beast nor his mistress. It was not until the swimmer who had so narrowly escaped appeared and confirmed their report of the Leviathan, that the people credited the story.