And from above there mingled with the crash a most horrid clang, for, with the removal of the beam, two trap-doors swung downwards.

Hillyard looked up; he saw the stars, and something falling.

Instinctively he stepped back and shut his eyes.

When he looked again, within the chamber, midway between the floor and roof, two sacks dangling at the end of two ropes spun and jerked--as though they lived.
Rayne had stepped back and stood quivering from head to foot by Hillyard's side; Hillyard himself felt sick.

He knew very well now what he was witnessing--the rehearsal of an execution.