He saw their maneuver and made a spring forward—going toward the house instead of away from it.
As he passed at a bound the eunuch waiting for him, Max put out his left foot and tripped the fellow up.
As ill luck would have it—or perhaps it was Max’s good luck—the man fell on his face in a bed of euphorbia splendens, a plant commonly known as the “crown of thorns.”
The sharp thorns tore the man’s face in a criss-cross fashion and made him wish he had never been born.
Max was now pursued by the others.
He ran fast, and when he saw an opportunity, doubled on his pursuers.
Two of them he tripped up, and thus gained another advantage.
He thought if he kept by the wall he would be able to find some means of exit.
But again he was mistaken.
He, however, found something he did not bargain for, and that was a trap or cellar door.