“Frankly, I’d rather not talk about that. But having heard so much of the story, I guess you are entitled to the rest. You see, Judson did considerable damage with that pick before he was overcome. Besides the first guard, he felled three more of the Germans before they could subdue him. They couldn’t have done it then except that a guard closed in from behind and shot him through the head.”
“And killed him?” asked Hal.
“No,” said Harding, “the bullet didn’t kill him, worse luck. It would have been better if it had. Now comes the part I don’t like to talk about.” The lads saw the Englishman’s great hands clench and unclench as he talked and they knew that a terrible anger was raging within him.
“What happened?” asked Hal in a low voice.
“Why,” said Harding, “they took Judson to the surgeon, had his wound dressed and gave him some clean clothes. Then, the next day, right at the mouth of the mine as the shafts changed and practically every prisoner in the camp was there, they killed him.”
Hal and Chester shuddered.
“How?” asked Hal softly.
“That’s the horrible part of it,” said Harding in a choking voice. “They tied him to a post stuck in the ground for that purpose. Then a score of guards drew off twenty paces and unslung their lances. These they then began to use as spears, hurling them from that distance. It was plain, of course, that they did not mean to kill Judson instantly—from that distance there are few men who can launch a death throw—particularly with a lance. The first weapon struck Judson a glancing blow in the side—he had been stripped to the waist—it was a terrible sight.” Harding broke off again.
“Why did you stay?” demanded Hal, who was raging furiously within as Harding proceeded with his story.
“There was no help for it,” the man replied. “We were herded there under the guns of a hundred or more guards. Well, every lance thrown brought cheers and jeers from the guards—but there came never so much as a groan from Judson. I don’t know how long it lasted—it seemed like hours, though I suppose it was only a matter of minutes. Pierced in scores of places, Judson at last found eternal peace.”