doesn't want my head, too, does he? Yes, we may as well see him as he has nothing better to do just now."
In the twenty minutes which passed before Hensham brought Baskerville Dick lay motionless, staring at the wall and marshalling his strength. Twice he said through stiff lips "I would rather die," and he knew that he meant it. And a bitter hate surged in him against the luck which had saved him for this. But through the examination following the coming of the grave bearded man to his room he showed far less nervousness than either of the others.
"Yes; the little toe must go," he said when it was over. "But I will hang on to the rest so long as I can, thank you Baskerville.
"If you'll let me operate at once"
"This minute if you like. No, I won't take an anesthetic."
When the men left him Dick turned his face to the wall and lay still. At best this meant some permanent crippling. At worst it meant death. His spirit preferred death. But his body could not. He had too much innate vitality, and he knew that he would struggle for life until the last hour overcame him. But just at present he was facing a struggle which went deeper than this.
Dick's manhood had been his fetish, even as his work had been his pride. Because he had never acknowledged this even to himself the feeling was the stronger. It was strong enough to flail him now when he saw where he stood in that clear sight of his. He was a coward and a deserter. He had sinned wilfully; but he dared not bear the shame. He dare not. Tempest had dared; but then Tempest stood in that vague sexless category of saints and martyrs who do these things because they are not exactly men nor women. Dick believed this for three minutes before the bottom fell out of it. Tempest was very thoroughly a man in his temptation and his fall. He had been very thoroughly a man in his bitter resentment. He was a man, even as Dick. But, as a man, he would not live a lie.
He fought that acknowledge through the whole night, forgetting even Jennifer. For the devil in his blood would not die while that blood ran. But his feebleness pre-
