The victim struggled, his eyes, protruding from their sockets, pleaded for mercy, and his speechless tongue hung swollen from his lips. Voices were heard approaching him, but the infuriated and frenzied man did not heed them. The higher man had, for the time, been lost in the maddened animal. “You snake! It is a joy to throttle you, to see your lying tongue palsied! Your forked tongue that has stung with its venom God’s best and purest. A thousand deaths could not pay for the ruin you have made, you viper!” and the Major’s eyes, red with passion and fury, glared into the terrified ones beneath him. It is a fearful thing to see a man, made in the image of God, unchain the passions of his soul and allow them to control him. Major Walden was, for the time, a madman. “Hold on, what’s the matter here?” cried a voice, and a hand grasped the collar of the would-be murderer. “I should think the fellow was holding on with a vengeance,” said another voice. “Come, let up that fellow, or you’ll be an assassin.” Releasing his hand from his victim’s throat, Major Walden wrenched himself free from the intruder’s clutch, and planting his foot upon the prostrate man, turned defiantly. “Is it murder to kill a reptile—a miserable, venomous viper?” he hissed. “Good God! It is the Major. Have you gone mad, friend? What does this mean?” “It means that I’ve nearly or quite squeezed the life out of that villain Teasdale. I’ll assure you I shall not let him go till I’ve finished him.” “Markham! O Markham!” “Agnes!” he faltered, as he heard the tones of her voice, so pathetic in its intensity. She stood before him, her hands clasped, her pale face agonized with fear and supplication. It was a scene for a painter. The gladiatorial attitude of the Major, the frightened faces of Lissa, Elinor, and Alice, with Nathan and Mark standing at either side as rescuers. “‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord,’” feebly quoted Agnes. The Major’s hands fell. He took his foot from Teasdale’s body as the man began to breathe and struggle to rise. Mark bent forward to assist him, then started back in disgust. “It’s that contemptible hound Russell,” he said, with a gesture of abhorrence. “Lie where you are, sir, you travesty upon man, until we see about this! Lie still, or, by the powers, I’ll finish you myself!” “Get him out of my sight, or I’ll not answer for the results!” the Major cried in a hoarse voice. “There is all of murder in my heart, and my conscience would not trouble me more than if I had killed a snake.” “The lock-up’s the place for him. He’s unfit to run loose,” said Mark. “I’m sorry to be found in such company, Captain Cramer, but Nathan will explain to you my cause of provocation,” Walden continued. “And this letter will explain to you,” turning to Mrs. Lucien. He took a letter from his pocket with a dead letter stamp upon it, and handed it to her. “This has but recently been returned to me from Washington.”