As though from a great distance, he was aware that he was being beaten.

The last sensations of pain left him.

He no longer felt anything, though very faintly he could hear the impact of the club upon his body.

But it was no longer his body, it seemed so far away.
And then, suddenly, without warning, uttering a cry that was inarticulate and more like the cry of an animal, John Thornton sprang upon the man who wielded the club.

Hal was hurled backward, as though struck by a falling tree.