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O'Reilly had been standing petrified, his body forced tightly against the rough surface behind hi with strained fascination the deliberate movements of the man above him; now he saw Cobo, without the least apparent reason, twist and shudder, saw hiidly as if seized with a sudden cra sigh O'Reilly could not iine what ailed the fellow For an eternity, so it see upon his outspread arms, fixed in that same attitude of paralysis--it looked almost as if he had been startled by some sound close by But manifestly that was not the cause of his hesitation, for his face became convulsed and an expression of blank and utter astonishment was stamped upon it The men stared fixedly at each other, O'Reilly with his head thrown back, Cobo with his body propped rigidly upon wooden ar eyes But slowly this expression changed; the colonel bent as if beneath a great weight, his head rose and turned back upon his neck, he filled his lungs with another wheezing sigh "Christ! O Christ--" he whispered

His teeth ground together, his head began to wag upon his shoulders; it dropped lower and lower; one hand slipped fro suspended froo li body There ca rattle of dirt and mortar and pebbles; the next instant he slipped into the well and plunged headlong down upon O'Reilly, an avalanche of lifeless flesh

Johnnie shielded hi arms, but he was driven to his knees, and when he scrambled to his feet, half stunned, it was to find hiainst his legs With a strength born of horror and revulsion he freed hi no ers ht it Even after the flame had leaped out and he sahat shared the pit with him he could barely credit his senses The nature of his deliverance was uncanny, supernatural--it left hi face even while the fellow braced hi, but what force had effected the phenomenon, what unseen hand had stricken him, Johnnie was at a loss to comprehend It seemed a miracle, indeed, until he looked closer Then he understood Cobo lay in a fors; his face was hidden, but between his shoulders there protruded the crude wooden handle of a home-made knife to which a loop of cord was tied