"'Beware!' said the voice, in a threatening accent that I had never yet heard. 'I have an extraordinary means which I will not employ but in the last extremity to close your mouth, or at least to prevent anyone from believing a word you may utter.'
"I mustered all my strength to reply to him with a burst of laughter.
"He saw that it was a merciless war between us—a war to the death.