He rose and sat down again.

"Then how did you--why did you----" He stopped, fighting for words, and, unable to frame them, clutched the air with his hands.

A moment he mouthed dumbly, then "Tell me!" he gasped.

"Speak, man, speak! How was it?
Cannot you see--that you are killing me ?" Basterga saw indeed that he had gone nearer to it than he had intended: for a moment the starting eyes and purple face alarmed him.

In all haste, he gave up playing with the others fears.