that the rest of him extended downward. I therefore seized his body
in my arms, threw myself out of the aperture, and began to slide down.

"In a very short time I found that I had reached the snake portion of
the creature, and, throwing my arms and legs around it, I endeavoured
with all my strength to prevent a too rapid descent; but in spite of all
my efforts, my downward progress was faster than I would have wished it
to be. But there was no stopping; I must slip down.

"In these moments of rapid descent my mind was filled with wild anxiety
concerning the serpent-like form to which I was clinging. I remembered
in a flash that there were snakes whose caudal extremity dwindled away
suddenly into a point. This one might do so, and at any instant I might
come to the end of the tail and drop upon the jagged stones below.

"Calculation after calculation of the ratio of diminution flashed
through my mind during that awful descent. My whole soul was centred
upon one point. When would this support end? When would I drop?

"Fortunately I was on the leeward side of the tower, and I was not swung
about by the wind. Steadily I descended, and steadily the diameter of
the form I grasped diminished; soon I could grasp it in my hand; then
with a terrified glance I looked below. I was still at a sickening
distance from the ground. I shut my eyes. I slipped down, down, down.
The tail became like a thick rope which I encircled with each hand. It
became thinner and thinner. It grew so small that I could not hold it;
but as I felt it slip from my fingers my feet rested on a pile of
stones.

"Bewildered and almost exhausted, I stumbled over the ruins, gained the
unencumbered ground, and ran as far from the tower as I could, sinking
down at last against the trunk of a tree in a neighbouring field.
Scarcely had I reached this spot when the fury of the wind-storm
appeared to redouble, and before the wild and shrieking blast the tower
bent and then fell with a crash upon the other ruins.

"The first thought that came into my mind when I beheld the dreadful
spectacle concerned the creature who had twice saved my life. Had he
escaped, or was he crushed beneath that mass of stone? I felt on either
side to discover if he were near me, but he was not. Had he given his
life for mine?

"Had I been stronger I would have searched for him; I would have
clambered among the ruins to see if I could discover his mangled form.
If I could but reach his