He had left me to finish my cigar in the
billiard-room. I had gone down on my own account to have a last look at
the cat. I had entered the room without observing that the cage was
opened, and I had been caught. How could such a crime be brought home
to him? Suspicion, perhaps--but proof, never! How slowly those dreadful two hours went by! Once I heard a low,
rasping sound, which I took to be the creature licking its own fur. Several times those greenish eyes gleamed at me through the darkness,
but never in a fixed stare, and my hopes grew stronger that my presence
had been forgotten or ignored. At last the least faint glimmer of
light came through the windows--I first dimly saw them as two grey
squares upon the black wall, then grey turned to white, and I could see
my terrible companion once more. And he, alas, could see me! It was evident to me at once that he was in a much more dangerous and
aggressive mood than when I had seen him last. The cold of the morning
had irritated him, and he was hungry as well. With a continual growl he
paced swiftly up and down the side of the room which was farthest from
my refuge, his whiskers bristling angrily, and his tail switching and
lashing. As he turned at the corners his savage eyes always looked
upwards at me with a dreadful menace. I knew then that he meant to
kill me. Yet I found myself even at that moment admiring the sinuous
grace of the devilish thing, its long, undulating, rippling movements,
the gloss of its beautiful flanks, the vivid, palpitating scarlet of
the glistening tongue which hung from the jet-black muzzle. And all
the time that deep, threatening growl was rising and rising in an
unbroken crescendo. I knew that the crisis was at hand. It was a miserable hour to meet such a death--so cold, so comfortless,
shivering in my light dress clothes upon this gridiron of torment upon
which I was stretched. I tried to brace myself to it, to raise my soul
above it, and at the same time, with the lucidity which comes to a
perfectly desperate man, I cast round for some possible means of
escape. One thing was clear to me. If that front of the cage was only
back in its position once more, I could find a sure refuge behind it. Could I possibly pull it back? I hardly dared to move for fear of
bringing the creature upon me. Slowly, very slowly, I put my hand
forward until it grasped the edge of the front, the final bar which
protruded through the wall. To my surprise it came quite easily to my
jerk. Of course the difficulty of drawing it out arose from the fact
that I was clinging to it. I pulled again, and three inches of it came
through. It ran apparently on wheels. I pulled again ... and then
the cat sprang! It was so quick, so sudden, that I never saw it happen. I simply heard
the savage snarl, and in an instant afterwards the blazing yellow eyes,
the flattened black head with its red tongue and flashing teeth, were
within reach of me. The impact of the creature shook the bars upon
which I lay, until I thought (as far as I could think of anything at
such a moment) that they were coming down. The cat swayed there for an
instant, the head and front paws quite close to me, the hind paws
clawing to find a grip upon the edge of the grating. I heard the claws
rasping as they clung to the wire-netting, and the breath of the beast
made me sick. But its bound had been miscalculated. It could not
retain its position. Slowly, grinning with rage, and scratching madly
at the bars, it swung backwards and dropped heavily upon the floor. With a growl it instantly faced round to me and crouched for another
spring. I knew that the next few moments would decide my fate. The creature
had learned by experience. It would not miscalculate again. I must
act promptly, fearlessly, if I were to have a chance for life. In an
instant I had formed my plan. Pulling off my dress-coat, I threw it
down over the head of the beast. At the same moment I dropped over the
edge, seized the end of the front grating, and pulled it frantically
out of the wall. It came more easily than I could have expected. I rushed across the
room, bearing it with me; but, as I rushed, the accident of my position
put me upon the outer side. Had it been the other way, I might have
come off scathless. As it was, there was a moment's pause as I stopped
it and tried to pass in through the opening which I had left. That
moment was enough to give time to the creature to toss off the coat
with which I had blinded him and to spring upon me. I hurled myself
through the gap and pulled the rails to behind me, but he seized my leg
before I could entirely withdraw it. One stroke of that huge paw tore
off my calf as a shaving of wood curls off before a plane. The next
moment, bleeding and fainting, I was lying among the foul straw with a
line of friendly bars between me and the creature which ramped so
frantically against them. Too wounded to move, and too faint to be conscious of fear, I could
only lie, more dead than alive, and watch it. It pressed its broad,
black chest against the bars and angled for me with its crooked paws as
I have seen a kitten do before a mouse-trap. It ripped my clothes,
but, stretch as it would, it could not quite reach me. I have heard of
the curious numbing effect produced by wounds from the great carnivora,
and now I was destined to experience it, for I had lost all sense of
personality, and was as interested in the cat's failure or success as
if it were some game which I was watching. And then gradually my mind
drifted away into strange vague dreams, always with that black face and
red tongue coming back into them, and so I lost myself in the nirvana
of delirium, the blessed relief of those who are too sorely tried. Tracing the course of events afterwards, I conclude that I must have
been insensible for about two hours. What roused me to consciousness
once more was that sharp metallic click which had been the precursor of
my terrible experience. It was the shooting back of the spring lock. Then, before my senses were clear enough to entirely apprehend what
they saw, I was aware of the round, benevolent face of my cousin
peering in through the open door. What he saw evidently amazed him. There was the cat crouching on the floor. I was stretched upon my back
in my shirt-sleeves within the cage, my trousers torn to ribbons and a
great pool of blood all round me. I can see his amazed face now, with
the morning sunlight upon it. He peered at me, and peered again. Then
he closed the door behind him, and advanced to the cage to see if I
were really dead. I cannot undertake to say what happened. I was not in a fit state to
witness or to chronicle such events. I can only say that I was
suddenly conscious that his face was away from me--that he was looking
towards the animal. "Good old Tommy!" he cried. "Good old Tommy!" Then he came near the bars, with his back still towards me. "Down, you stupid beast!" he roared. "Down, sir! Don't you know your
master?"