"Now for thy Saxon!" said Julius to Caius. "I think his hour hath come."
"O jarl!" murmured Wulf. "Is it for this thou didst sail to the Middle Sea? Where is now thy city of Asgard!"
"Hark!" exclaimed Knud the Bear. "Another cometh! Here is more treachery! A tiger!"
Not with a roar, but with a snarl that was dreadful did the Hyrcanian monster rush from his den into the arena. He was more terrible to look upon than was even the lion, and he paused not in his going. He seemed to rush along the ground, crouching stealthily, and he looked longer and larger as he went.
"The jarl is lost!" said Tostig the Red. "O to be near with my spear for one cast. This is twain upon one!"
"This was thy bargain," said Caius to the cunning Julius. "Thy tiger was to contend with the swordsman of my naming. I have appointed this chief."
"So be it!" said Julius calmly. "I accept!"
"Wait!" muttered Ben Ezra to the Saxons. "The beasts have seen each other. Mark now the swift movement of the jarl! The lion is about to spring! The tiger! O God of Israel, aid thou, even though he be a heathen!"
The tiger's rush was rapid and Ulric sprang forward as if to meet him; but the lion was in the air with a vast bound, his black mane streaming and his teeth showing in the cavern of his jaws.
Not upon Ulric did he alight, however, for at his spring and roar the tiger turned in his tracks as toward one who would wrest from him his intended prey. Past both of them darted the jarl as the Numidian fell heavily upon the Hyrcanian; then his turning was as the light in its quickness and he thrust with his might upon the beasts as they grappled each other, rolling upon the ground and tearing.