The third robber chieftain, Janko, still remained. He should serve to restore the honor of the vihodar.
The old vihodar proposed to do great things with him. He had the fetters removed from the feet of the delinquent, and would not even allow him to be bound to the stake.
"We will have a dance together!" said he to Janko.
That word was the death of him.
The next moment, such a yell of horror burst forth from the crowd that even Valentine's curiosity was aroused. He looked toward the scaffold, and what he saw there really was astounding.
Janko, the mighty leaper, the instant his chains were taken from his feet, had sprung upon the vihodar, pressed down his chest with his knees, and bit him in the neck exactly on the spot where the great jugular artery is. This he bit clean through, and—as if to justify the fable, that whomsoever Janko bit with his envenomed fangs was a child of death—the old vihodar fell to the ground like a log of wood, and when the apprentices sprang forward to tear the delinquent away from him, the headsman was already dead.
This incident so revolted Valentine that he reeled, and clinging tightly to Simplex, stammered: "I really believe I am going to faint."
"Hold up a little bit longer!" whispered Simplex in his ear.
As soon as the people learnt that Janko had killed the vihodar with a single bite, a fearful tumult arose.
Everyone began to applaud the delinquent and cry: "Vivat Janko," while they pelted the headsman's assistants with stinking eggs and rotten apples.