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Mercer stopped The cane dropped froht Kent could see his face turn white

"Don'ta little exercise in the open air If you cry out, I'll kill you!"

He advanced slowly, speaking in a voice that could not have been heard at the s behind hi happened that froze the blood in his veins He had heard the screareat forests, but never a scream like that which came from Mercer's lips now It was not the cry of a man To Kent it was the voice of a fiend, a devil It did not call for help It ordless And as the horrible sound issued fro eyes that accompanied the effort They made him think of a snake, a cobra

The chill went out of his blood, replaced by a fla but that this serpent was in his path Twice he had stood in his way And he hated him He hated him with a virulency that was death Neither the call of freedoeance now Without a sound he was at Mercer's throat, and the screa into flabby flesh, and his clenched fist beat again and again into Mercer's face

He went to the ground, crushing the human serpent under him And he continued to strike and choke as he had never struck or choked another s overwhellish vermin as too foul to exist on the face of the earth

And he still continued to strike--even after the path lay clear once more between him and the river