While his own head was forced slowly down in darkness and great pain, the right leg of his captor was being forced in the air.

Burrows swung to and fro with a purple face.

Then suddenly the floor and the walls and the ceiling shook together, as the colossus fell, all his length seeming to fill the floor.

Basil sprang up with dancing eyes, and with three blows like battering-rams knocked the footman into a cocked hat.

Then he sprang on top of Burrows, with one antimacassar in his hand and another in his teeth, and bound him hand and foot almost before he knew clearly that his head had struck the floor.