But that strength, at every second, was rendered more and more futile.

The man must have realized it.

For, all at once, he ceased his battery of kicks and blows, and struggled frantically to tear free.
Each plunging motion merely intensified the pain and power of the relentless throat-grip that pinioned him.

And, strangling and panic-struck, he became wilder in his fruitless efforts to wrench loose.

Then, deprived of breath and with his nerve-centers shaken, he lost the power to strive.
It was the time for which Gavin had waited.