With desperate swiftness leaping forward, Valmond caught the half man, half beast--it seemed that--by the throat.

Madelinette fell fainting against the anvil, and, dazed and trembling, Elise hurried to her.
Valmond was in the grasp of a giant, and, struggle as he might, he could not withstand the powerful arms of his assailant.

They came to their knees on the ground, where they clutched and strained for a wild minute, Valmond desperately fighting to keep the huge bony fingers from his neck.

Suddenly the giant's knee touched the red-hot steel that Madelinette had dropped, and with a snarl he flung Valmond back against the anvil, his head striking the iron with a sickening thud.

Then, seizing the steel, he raised it to plunge the still glowing point into Valmond's eyes.
Centuries of doom seemed crowded into that instant of time.